July 7, 2010 Why Music Should Never Be Given Away For "Free"
At this point, most emerging artists are familiar with the (potential) benefits of giving their music away for free:
- Maximizes the possibility of discovery
- Free Advertising
- Can create viral-buzz about your music
But in reality, unless you already possess quite a large fan-base along with the subsequent reach, giving your music away will be the last you hear from most of these new “fans”. This situation is only ideal for artists who have successfully converted people from fans to loyalists - those who not only want to share this music with others, but who actively seek out others who share a common interest in the music. If you are not at this level on a large scale, consider using a slightly different strategy.
What you need, is a way to turn this seemingly one-sided transaction, into one that is mutually beneficial. You essentially want to continue charging for your product, but in a way that replaces value in terms of money with that of brand growth. Consider charging for your music using social currency, which would put you in the position to receive a tangible return that would increase your reputation and reach, rather than increase your bank account.
The following are a few different ways for you to charge for your music using social currency:
Collect e-mails
This is the ideal choice of social currency. Building and maintaining a mailing list has many long-lasting benefits that can be used to leverage fan engagement and can even lead to the necessary conversion of fans to loyalists.
Most importantly, a mailing list gives you a direct channel of communication between you and your fans. You may have 10,000 followers on Twitter or fans on your Facebook fan-page, but if you post up an announcement, how many will actually see it? Social media works in real-time. Unless all of your fan-base is online or is specifically looking for updates from your Twitter/ Facebook account (a typical characteristic of a loyalist), the chances are that the initial announcements will be overlooked. Your mailing list, however, ensures that your reach out to your fans WILL be seen.
As mentioned above, mailling lists also give you the opportunity to leverage additional fan engagement that may cause the conversion from fan to loyalist. Through exclusive benefits such as pre-sale opportunities, additional free downloads, discounted merch, etc. you have a better chance to keep your fans engaged and interested.
Bandcamp: This site offers an app that allows you to build your mailing list in exchange for giving away some music of your choice. Bandcamp allows you to choose whether you want to give away an entire album, a collection of songs or even just a single track, all of which can be downloaded for free as long as the person joins your mailing list.
Exchange Tweet For DL
This can also be an effective form of social currency, and is a great alternative option to give those uninterested in joining another mailing list. However, the effectiveness of this method is entirely dependent on three things:
• The persons involvement and reputation on Twitter
• The time of the tweet
• YOUR involvement and reputation on Twitter
Exchanging a tweet for DL can be very helpful IF all of the above criteria are met, otherwise the tweet will likely be a wasted promotional effort. While this method is much more IF-based than a mailing list, it can be a great way to building up your own presence on Twitter.
Here are a few services that can help you set up “tweet for a download” functionality:
Tweet For A Track: A free and easy service that allows you to not only customize the tweet that will be sent out and can track how many downloads have taken place, but requires the downloader to input an email address as well. Win-Win!
Pay With A Tweet: Similar to Tweet For A Track although it does not require an email address. This service does, however, give you a widget to embed in other places.
NOTE: If you do offer this as an option, make sure that the tweet includes your own Twitter tag.
Exchange FB Share for DL
This also has the potential to be an effective form of social currency, since most of the word is on Facebook and is typically (though not always) connected with friends who share common interests.
Again, the pitfall with this option is that not only does Facebook’s news feed work in real-time, but now uses an algorithm to determine which wall posts appear in other peoples’ feeds. Unfortunately this means your wall may get lost in translation with out ever getting seen.
Cash Music: This non-profit organization has created open-source applications for both Facebook and twitter that allow you to offer free music downloads in exchange for telling others about the music. Ironically, Cash Music has made it a requirement that you also share a tweet or wall post on Facebook in order to download the code for the app.
The idea of accepting social currency as payment for your music will give you more opportunity than ever before to grow your brand throughout different avenues of social media. While the mailing list is the ideal option, it is important to offer a few different ways to allow people to pay with social currency, as not everyone will be interested in joining your mailing list.
This article appeared as a guest blog on Tight Mix Blog on July 1, 2010.
Jon is the co-founder of MicControl, a music blogging network based on a music social networking platform.For guest blogging opportunities or for simply reaching out, Jon can be found on twitter and facebook.
Now that you’re thinking in terms of social currency and not money, what is the best way to ‘sell’ your content? Leave your answer in the form of a comment below.
Developing a Strategy tagged music sales
Reader Comments (62)
Some of your fans will begrudge you a dollar on a tune and circumvent the system to get your music for free, and I'm just saying don't look at that as a bad thing. Find a new way to cash in on the people that aren't going to buy your music online. Entice them with something that is unique and one-of-a-kind. Statistics show that people who download illegal music spend more money on music than people who buy music legitimately. So there's cash to be made in that opportunity. Many artists have seized on these opportunities, and are raking in the benefits. You've clearly captured their attention already, find a different way to monetize. Some artists have free tracks available for download on their website that are still listed in the iTunes Store, and they still make money on iTunes.
Someday it may get to the point where everyone expects to get music for free, or we move past the pay-per-track and pay-per-album business model into subscription-based and/or advertising based business models. The point is that there is nothing you, Crowfeather or I can do to change that. Ultimately the community of music fans as a whole are going to move and shape the direction of the music industry. Artists that understand that the music industry is changing, and is going to continue to change will have a leg up on their competition if they find ways to monetize on these opportunities now.
Think about the war on drugs and how much of an utter failure it has become. The reason why is because the American people love to smoke pot and snort cocaine. The government is going to continue to waste billions of dollars trying to fight the war against drugs, but in the end the will of the people will prevail. Trying to prosecute music piracy is going to lead the music industry down the same dead end road.
Also, there are no better examples than Radiohead and Trent Reznor, because these are artists who have the best of two worlds. They have the experience of being in the music business for a long time coupled with the ability to adapt to changes in the industry.
That's clearer and a lot closer to how it is, thanks DJ Meph.
The war on drugs as a comparison is quite a good one: yes, the war is being lost on certain drugs. But there are many people addicted to prescription drugs and the booze industry does very well, neither are illegal. And the war hasn't stopped because it's been within the government's power to continue it - they have the money and the resources to keep up a war of attrition that probably exists for its own sake. In other words there is still a large element of control by government.
And the major entertainment orgs have similar resources and they will continue their fight until the balance tips against fighting pirate downloads, IE: when it makes no sense financially. (I believe there's a chance they could win, anyway...)
In the meanwhile, yes, promote your music which ever way seems right - freebies, tasters, specials, whatever you want to call it, but also, sell your music any way you can.
When it's over and the fabled monetizing reality has appeared, I'll be adding value with the best of them. But this war (match? Game?) still has a long way to go. I'm tempted to bring up fat ladies here, but you get me.
I have some stuff that I have available for free on my <http://www.silbermedia.com/downloads">website that is also available on iTunes/etc. I have donation buttons on my site & have received a total of about $20 in donations while I have made a couple hundred from the same batch of releases from "traditional download outlets." More recently I have made some digital only releases exclusive to my site that are "pay to download." What is interesting is I've gotten a couple emails from people wanting to know how to get releases they buy directly from me into their iTunes player, which makes me think, "That's who's buying music instead of downloading it! People who don't know how to use their computers!"
This comment is driven in the spirit of other comments more so than the original article.
Adding this to Brian's comment above.
Me: what would make you pay for your music?
16 year-old female music fan: if I really liked it and if I couldn't get it anywhere else.
Pretty straight forward, really.... that's the future and the present all wrapped up in one.
I know the thread is mutating but... this is taken direct from the Indian Music Industry (IMI) website: http://www.indianmi.org
'Despite India’s rich musical tradition; one capable generating sizeable revenue for the country in every genre the music industry has seen a decline in fortunes in the last few years. This is due to the unabated growth of piracy. Like a disease piracy has makes its ugly presence felt with every new launch or hit of music . IMI has reacted to this menace by setting up an anti-piracy operation consisting of more than 80 personnel’s but despite a massive task force to counter it, piracy eludes easy treatment or even containment with alarming ease. In spit of the fact that IMI has been instrumental in conducting hundreds of anti-piracy raids spanning the length and breadth of the country, the Indian music industry has lost of over Rs. 1800 crores in the past three years.'
That's, i think, about 250 million pounds or 385 million dollars.
It's interesting when you put the argument in the context of another society...
By the way, this is mainly CDs and tapes, not downloading.
It's interesting that so many people think you need to give your music away for free as a sample, to get people interested.
The way it used to work, at least for local/regional acts, is that you played a lot of free shows, to get people interested, and then if they liked what they heard they bought the CD. I still think that makes more sense for a lot of artists than giving away the music and hoping fans turn up at a show. There are a lot of people who like music but don't go to many shows because they can't or won't get a babysitter, they need to be up in the morning to go to work, etc. So it is easier for them to catch a free outdoor concert with the kids, or a free happy hour show after work, and then to buy the CD on the spot from the artist. Not as trendy as hunting for free music online, but it is often more convenient for people who have relatively little time.
Great discussion! When it comes to Online marketing, I don't know for certain because I'm still learning and experimenting. I do have my material at Bandcamp -- and at 1st I had it set up as an exchange for e-mail. I recently changed to a "no-friction' approach. This post is definitely making me re think things a little. But although we all have similar obstacles, we also have unique situations. For my plan, playing live is crucial. I will also be doing much more recording now that my studio and engineering chops are "in place". I need to keep adding quality Content...
I have a fairly clear overall vision of what I'm trying to accomplish. I think it's good to take in the experience and opinions of the good peeps on these boards -- but then apply it in my own creative way, and stay flexible and adaptable. Test, then test again.
For me it always boils down to live performances. In that scenario I would agree with others in this discussion based on my own personal experience. When I play live, peeps are hot and it's much easier to connect and sell or collect contact info. Plus it's fun!! And you know that you served society in some way 'cos peeps are uplifted and inspired by your music. It then feels like you're not just about yourself. You experience the reality of creating a benefit for fans.
In my case, my weak point in the past was having no online presence. Now that I've been able to apply myself in that direction -- after a 4 year hiatus and re evaluation period -- my online tools will be mainly for the purpose of "follow through" and staying in touch with the fans I meet playing live. That's where I used to feel like I was spinning my wheels when playing live in the past. Now I can organize the contacts and stay in touch in various fun ways. Plus continue to put my music and in front of them. Simple.
As far as actually getting fans in an absolute sense on the Internet, it's not a major part of my plan at this stage. If it happens, it's more like gravy. I'm still very much involved with building buzz in my geographic location.
Thanks for this post, and best of luck to everyone!
Hey, seems that there are people who were Tom Hess students here...
Some musicians quiver at the potential loss of a 99 cent iTunes sale, however, they forget that giving away free music downloads has promo value.
I think that music should be free because some people aren't able to buy music due to the area their in or plain old can't afford it. Music as said in the article is a universal language that anyone on Earth can enjoy and understand so why can't everyone listen? Its because the music industry has been changed completely in the last 2 decades and now a lot of artists are just doing it for the money and not for the love of music.
Consumers: Next Friday if you ask your boss for your paycheck and he says to you, Im not paying you for your hard work, you will say wtf! Think about the people who work just as hard, probably harder only to have their hard work go unpaid. I can hear "some" of you now, music artists make way too much money, well bang your head into the wall and wake up, I'm guessing 0.001 percent of music artists income is above the poverty level the rest are likely below. And, just cause lots of you steal doesn't make it right. Think of the past, slavery, lots of good folks had slaves but it didn't make it right, not then or now.
If you really like someone's music and you were walking down the street and met them, and they said hey lets go for a coffee, most of you would want to by them the coffee, yes?
Well buy their song and buy them a coffee, well half of one anyway....cause you can't buy a coffee for a buck,
I know most of you are good people. But, following the status quo, when inside we all know its not right, it just makes you a FOLLOWER, sad isn't it...
For the record, I am not one of the artist being taken advantage of, just not a follower,,,, If I hire someone to work for me "I PAY THEM" after-all we're not slaves.
Artists: You artists "Respect Yourselves", don't give your hard work away for free,,,
Cheers!
HTRS (DR)
While t his was a great post, I find that it fails in addressing the fundamental point & that is: How does an artist transition from giving away music to actually selling and making MONEY from it? Maybe the author's post avoided this point because in the culture we are in now an artist can't sell music?