A generation after the launch of MTV, major record labels are hoping to revive the music video business online by creating a single digital destination for their artists’ output.
Plans under discussion include: a partnership with Hulu, the online television and film joint venture between News Corp and NBC Universal; the creation of a premium service on YouTube, Google’s video sharing site; or, a standalone venture between some or all of the four largest recorded music groups.
Industry members had hailed deals struck with YouTube last year as a new way of driving profits from the popularity of professional music videos and the soundtracks to amateur efforts on such user generated content sites.
However, some are now questioning whether either side has made much money from arrangements which require YouTube to share advertising revenues and, in many cases, pay a few tenths of a cent to the music company each time a video is streamed, regardless of how much advertising is sold.
Universal Music, the industry leader, has said that it makes “tens of millions of dollars” from YouTube.
Warner Music failed last week to agree a new deal with the site, however, saying it was not being adequately compensated and demanding that the site take down its artists’ videos and amateur content using songs from its publishing arm such as “Happy Birthday To You”.
Representatives of two music companies, who would not be named, said they were in discussions with Hulu, adding that no partnership announcement was imminent but that the site appeared to be the favoured partner. “If it happens at all it will be with Hulu,” one said.
Both added, however, that any such deal to create a standalone music video service would not replace existing deals with YouTube, and that there was interest in supplying content for a potential premium service on YouTube, which has begun to offer high definition videos.
Warner may yet return to YouTube should it agree new terms.
Screen Digest, a media research group, estimated last month that Hulu and YouTube would make about $70m and $100m respectively in US advertising revenues in 2008, but that Hulu would draw level with YouTube next year because advertisers are more comfortable with its professional content.
The industry’s search for new digital income comes amid collapsing compact disc sales, which have not yet been offset by digital revenue growth. Warner, the only quoted music company, reported 39 per cent growth in digital revenues for 2008 to $639m, or 18 per cent of total sales.
EMI, owned by Terra Firma, the private equity group, said full year digital revenues rose 29 per cent to £166m, while Universal, owned by Vivendi, reported 33 per cent growth in digital revenue for the first nine months of its financial year, saying in September it believed digital initiatives could soon return the music industry to growth.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Internet Radio in Your Car?
How About Your Choice of 100,000 Streams?
KVH Industries in Middletown, Rhode Island, wants to put Internet Radio in your car. If you thought Satellite Radio increased your choice universe, imagine what it would be like if you could access any of the Net's audio streams, estimated by some to now surpass 100,000.
Internet Radio in your car isn't just some idle talk, either. KVH already has a system that provides TV and Internet to RVs and boats. The company feels its TracVision A5 antenna could be adapted and developed into a feasible receptor for standard road vehicles to receive streaming audio.
In effect, it will partially work like Satellite Radio. The company will beam digital content via satellite to wherever the TracVision A5 happens to be mounted. Since it's only 5 inches in size, the antenna fits easily onto the vehicle roof.
The user, in turn, will be able to interact with the Internet for channel selection, etc. by sending data back via standard telephone or cell phone. Of course, by the time the company markets Internet Radio for your car, they'll make the installation easy and non-technical.
The ramifications of making Net Radio available to cars will bring a certain legitimacy to Net Radio which it sometimes seems to lack. Granted, there are some great streams online, but at the moment we are all tied to our computers for them.
Even though there are some new products which allow Internet Radio to be "broadcast" from the computer to other radios in the house but, until those streams can be unshackled from the computer chip and the home, they will never rise to the level of acceptance and success that other Radio signals already have.
Check out Slacker Radio....
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2007/03/slacker_radio.html
KVH Industries in Middletown, Rhode Island, wants to put Internet Radio in your car. If you thought Satellite Radio increased your choice universe, imagine what it would be like if you could access any of the Net's audio streams, estimated by some to now surpass 100,000.
Internet Radio in your car isn't just some idle talk, either. KVH already has a system that provides TV and Internet to RVs and boats. The company feels its TracVision A5 antenna could be adapted and developed into a feasible receptor for standard road vehicles to receive streaming audio.
In effect, it will partially work like Satellite Radio. The company will beam digital content via satellite to wherever the TracVision A5 happens to be mounted. Since it's only 5 inches in size, the antenna fits easily onto the vehicle roof.
The user, in turn, will be able to interact with the Internet for channel selection, etc. by sending data back via standard telephone or cell phone. Of course, by the time the company markets Internet Radio for your car, they'll make the installation easy and non-technical.
The ramifications of making Net Radio available to cars will bring a certain legitimacy to Net Radio which it sometimes seems to lack. Granted, there are some great streams online, but at the moment we are all tied to our computers for them.
Even though there are some new products which allow Internet Radio to be "broadcast" from the computer to other radios in the house but, until those streams can be unshackled from the computer chip and the home, they will never rise to the level of acceptance and success that other Radio signals already have.
Check out Slacker Radio....
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2007/03/slacker_radio.html
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Digital Distribution for the Indie Artist
I get many emails asking how I have my music available on many download websites such as iTunes and Beatport. I use 2 different services and will go over them for you now.
The first service is offered through CD Baby. Now at this time, you cannot upload a single track to CD Baby. I have read they are moving in that direction. For what they do offer, it is worth it and from a business perspective is a bit more sensible.
Any CD that you sell through CD Baby you can sign up for their digital distribution. The best thing about their program is they take nothing from you ever. The only thing that is required is a bar code. If you have a bar code for your CD, then you can sign up your CD for free with them. If not, a bar code is 20 bucks. Not a bad deal when you see the digital stores you will be submitted too.
- Apple iTunes
- Amazon
- BuyMusic
- GreatIndieMusic
- GroupieTunes
- iSound
- Last.fm
- Mix And Burn
- MP3tunes
- MSN Music
- MusicNet
- PayPlay
- Rhapsody
- Txttunes
- Verizon
- Zune
The only deal with CD Baby is that you must submit your CD to them to sell to be able to enroll in their digital distribution program. To me, I feel it is worth it. You get your tunes on the bigger websites that are for the consumer or fan. Sites like iTunes & Amazon alone are worth it.
From a business point of view, it is smarter to get the CD out before you start to sell your Mp3s of the CD. Milk your CD sales for what you can for at least 60 days. Then get those mp3s listed and promote it as "Now Available on iTunes!"...
The second service I use to distribute to the DJ consumer would be Symphonic Distribution. They deal with labels only. They supply a wide range of websites that cater to the DJ. Here is a list of some of the stores they distribute too.
- Beatport
- Breakbeat Alliance
- Breakbeat Online
- DJ Download
- DJ Mag.com
- DJ Mr
- Juno Download
- Mixmag
Now Symphonic Distribution does distribute to stores that CD Baby also distributes too. Stores such as Apple iTunes, Amazon, and Rhapsody. You can choose from each service what stores you want them to distribute too. Just tell Symphonic Distribution not to distribute to stores that would be a conflict. Most major stores do not appreciate your music being submitted from more than one source.
Now if you are an independent artist, you will not be able to use Symphonic Distribution. They only cater to labels. The only way to get your tunes on Beatport is to find a label that would submit your music to Beatport. Beatport has strict rules and is one of the hardest stores to get your music on. It is also one of the ones with the strictest rules.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
What Makes A Winning Music Business Strategy?
by Kavit Haria, Music Business Consultant
I asked myself this crucial question when writing my latest e-book, "What are the important skills and practices required to create a winning and profitable music business apart from good music?"
The answer rests in being a good leader of your ship, having a well-designed and communicated strategy and a good marketing plan that can be executed to promote your music in a structured way.
If you re-read that last paragraph, you'll see how much I emphasize the idea of strategy and structure. It is with this careful planning and well-understood principles that your music business will become profitable.
STRATEGY
A strategy comes to life through its ability to influence hundreds and thousands of decisions, both big and small, made by anyone from the director level to the street team level. It is, at its core, a guide to how you behave and provides an external reflection of your music business.
A good strategy fuels and ignites your fire to more compelling actions and results. It leads you to a destination that is clear in your mind. A bad strategy on the other hand leads you to a less competitive, less differentiated position. It is simply a waste of time and energy as it does not move you forward; instead, it keeps you where you're already at.
The word "winning" is important in this context. An average strategy plan, when executed, gets you mediocre results and may not be a fair reflection of your true talent. A winning strategy plan on the other hand transforms your current situation into monster success through developing the right tools, people, techniques and street teams to share your art with the wider world.
As musicians, we are explorers. As explorers, our job is to explore the depths of our hearts and souls to share the music that feels most at home to us. Our job is to experiment, and experimentation takes time before it is successful.
Your music business needs a framework for achieving results that can be built upon to achieve your specific goals in your specific music genre. When you start to put together a puzzle, you would start by finding the corners and the edge pieces before building and assembling the inner pieces. It is the same with putting together the framework for your music business.
Constructing a music business plan is the first step in gaining clarity and direction in what you'll do, how often you'll release an album, how you'll market your music and how you'll make money. The framework of your music business is what holds it all together - the operations, the marketing, the management and the finances. Let's look at each one separately.
OPERATIONS PLAN
Your business operations is the activities your music business will do in order to share your music. These are usually gigs (what type of gigs?), recording (how often? when?), distribution (whom? how?), sponsorship, and other avenues of generating revenue.
MARKETING PLAN
The activities and tactics you will undertake to promote your music through your music business. These may include PR, social networking on Facebook, Myspace, etc, blogging, podcasting, video blogging, flyer and poster marketing, etc.
MANAGEMENT PLAN
Who will form your core team for your music business and what will they do? Regardless of whether you have the capacity to get these people involved, knowing what you want is core to getting a framework to build your music business.
FINANCE PLAN
Knowing what money goes out and what comes in is crucial to understanding how your music business can be successful. My accountant often tells me that the success of my business is equal to how well I can understand the numbers on my cash flow sheet. He is right and I pass this advice on to you.
I asked myself this crucial question when writing my latest e-book, "What are the important skills and practices required to create a winning and profitable music business apart from good music?"
The answer rests in being a good leader of your ship, having a well-designed and communicated strategy and a good marketing plan that can be executed to promote your music in a structured way.
If you re-read that last paragraph, you'll see how much I emphasize the idea of strategy and structure. It is with this careful planning and well-understood principles that your music business will become profitable.
STRATEGY
A strategy comes to life through its ability to influence hundreds and thousands of decisions, both big and small, made by anyone from the director level to the street team level. It is, at its core, a guide to how you behave and provides an external reflection of your music business.
A good strategy fuels and ignites your fire to more compelling actions and results. It leads you to a destination that is clear in your mind. A bad strategy on the other hand leads you to a less competitive, less differentiated position. It is simply a waste of time and energy as it does not move you forward; instead, it keeps you where you're already at.
The word "winning" is important in this context. An average strategy plan, when executed, gets you mediocre results and may not be a fair reflection of your true talent. A winning strategy plan on the other hand transforms your current situation into monster success through developing the right tools, people, techniques and street teams to share your art with the wider world.
As musicians, we are explorers. As explorers, our job is to explore the depths of our hearts and souls to share the music that feels most at home to us. Our job is to experiment, and experimentation takes time before it is successful.
Your music business needs a framework for achieving results that can be built upon to achieve your specific goals in your specific music genre. When you start to put together a puzzle, you would start by finding the corners and the edge pieces before building and assembling the inner pieces. It is the same with putting together the framework for your music business.
Constructing a music business plan is the first step in gaining clarity and direction in what you'll do, how often you'll release an album, how you'll market your music and how you'll make money. The framework of your music business is what holds it all together - the operations, the marketing, the management and the finances. Let's look at each one separately.
OPERATIONS PLAN
Your business operations is the activities your music business will do in order to share your music. These are usually gigs (what type of gigs?), recording (how often? when?), distribution (whom? how?), sponsorship, and other avenues of generating revenue.
MARKETING PLAN
The activities and tactics you will undertake to promote your music through your music business. These may include PR, social networking on Facebook, Myspace, etc, blogging, podcasting, video blogging, flyer and poster marketing, etc.
MANAGEMENT PLAN
Who will form your core team for your music business and what will they do? Regardless of whether you have the capacity to get these people involved, knowing what you want is core to getting a framework to build your music business.
FINANCE PLAN
Knowing what money goes out and what comes in is crucial to understanding how your music business can be successful. My accountant often tells me that the success of my business is equal to how well I can understand the numbers on my cash flow sheet. He is right and I pass this advice on to you.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Brief History of Dance Music Tops
During the eighties, disco was a very important music-style in Holland. Producers like Stock, Aitken & Waterman made hit after hit over here. But in the late eighties this style began to lose interest, and other styles became popular. These styles weren’t successful everywhere, some, like hiphop, became popular in America, others, like dance, in Europe. Hiphop wasn’t very successful in Holland, over here there were just a few HipHop songs who made it into the charts.
A much more popular style was eurodance, which got large influences from the hiphop. And sometimes there were hiphop versions of dance songs like a hiphop version of "I Cant Stand It". Groups with a lot of influence in the Eurodance were Mars ("Pump Up The Volume"), Technotronic ("This Beat is Technotronic") and C&C Music Factory.
In the year 1989 the Dutch producer Ruud van Reijen created Twenty 4 Seven. This became something totally new: a female singer, doing the "angelic refrain" together with a male rapper. This combination together with a very happy sound, a melody, you can’t get rid off, became very popular in the Netherlands and beyond.
Nance Coolen had been chosen to be the female singer and Captain Hollywood became the rapper. They, together with Hanks & Jacks, who did the male backing vocals, made a song called "I Can’t Stand It", which became very popular in the disco’s & clubs in Holland & beyond. But the song entered the charts very carefully, and didn’t reach that high.
After "I Can’t Stand It" Twenty 4 Seven released "Are You Dreamin’" around Christmas 1989 and so in 1990 they released the album "Street Moves".
At the end of 1991, Captain Hollywood had a little argue with Ruud van Reijen and left the band. After this he created the Captain Hollywood Project, a band like Twenty 4 Seven, Hollywood being a rapper and some female singer for the refrain. Only his project constantly changed people, several female singers joined & left his band.
During this time Captain Hollywood became more popular than Twenty 4 Seven. Hits like "More & More", "Only With You" became popular in whole Europe. Twenty 4 Seven seemed to be fallen asleep.
After Captain Hollywood left, things became really quiet around Twenty 4 Seven. Things were that quiet that Nance decided to take a job at a local supermarket. Can you imagine shopping in a store while Nance is sitting behind the counter??? But producer Ruud van Reijen wasn’t planning to stop. He asked Nance to join the group again, and asked if she knew someone instead of Captain Hollywood. That’s were Stay-C enters the scene, Nance knew Stay-C from some concerts, were they both performed, Nance asked Stay-C. He was positive about it and joined the group. The first song they recorded together was "It Could Have Been You". But this song didn’t become a hit at all.
During these years Eurodance became really popular. Bands like 2 Unlimited (same concept, female singer, male rapper), Captain Hollywood, Double You (Cover of KC & The Sunshineband), Def James Dope reached higher and higher in the charts.
A much more popular style was eurodance, which got large influences from the hiphop. And sometimes there were hiphop versions of dance songs like a hiphop version of "I Cant Stand It". Groups with a lot of influence in the Eurodance were Mars ("Pump Up The Volume"), Technotronic ("This Beat is Technotronic") and C&C Music Factory.
In the year 1989 the Dutch producer Ruud van Reijen created Twenty 4 Seven. This became something totally new: a female singer, doing the "angelic refrain" together with a male rapper. This combination together with a very happy sound, a melody, you can’t get rid off, became very popular in the Netherlands and beyond.
Nance Coolen had been chosen to be the female singer and Captain Hollywood became the rapper. They, together with Hanks & Jacks, who did the male backing vocals, made a song called "I Can’t Stand It", which became very popular in the disco’s & clubs in Holland & beyond. But the song entered the charts very carefully, and didn’t reach that high.
After "I Can’t Stand It" Twenty 4 Seven released "Are You Dreamin’" around Christmas 1989 and so in 1990 they released the album "Street Moves".
At the end of 1991, Captain Hollywood had a little argue with Ruud van Reijen and left the band. After this he created the Captain Hollywood Project, a band like Twenty 4 Seven, Hollywood being a rapper and some female singer for the refrain. Only his project constantly changed people, several female singers joined & left his band.
During this time Captain Hollywood became more popular than Twenty 4 Seven. Hits like "More & More", "Only With You" became popular in whole Europe. Twenty 4 Seven seemed to be fallen asleep.
After Captain Hollywood left, things became really quiet around Twenty 4 Seven. Things were that quiet that Nance decided to take a job at a local supermarket. Can you imagine shopping in a store while Nance is sitting behind the counter??? But producer Ruud van Reijen wasn’t planning to stop. He asked Nance to join the group again, and asked if she knew someone instead of Captain Hollywood. That’s were Stay-C enters the scene, Nance knew Stay-C from some concerts, were they both performed, Nance asked Stay-C. He was positive about it and joined the group. The first song they recorded together was "It Could Have Been You". But this song didn’t become a hit at all.
During these years Eurodance became really popular. Bands like 2 Unlimited (same concept, female singer, male rapper), Captain Hollywood, Double You (Cover of KC & The Sunshineband), Def James Dope reached higher and higher in the charts.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Vinyl War Begins
Press Editor Mike Lloyd spotlighted me in his weekly column this past Sunday, and he mentioned I started this blog to track what's going on at independent music stores.
While that's clearly not the only thing I write about, the indie-music world has been a big part of it, and I'm grateful to have a mainstream platform to vent on behalf of a relatively esoteric subculture. Here's one of my quotes from his column I'm rather proud of:
The silver lining for indies in the past few years -- the survivors, anyway -- has been vinyl.
The reasons for the LP's most recent comeback are numerous and well-catalogued, and the benefits for retailers are obvious. The customer base is loyal, and the product can sell at a higher profit margin because not many stores carry it. (Disclosure: I hang out at Vertigo, like, all the time.)
It was with a bit of sadness, then, that I read this article the other day. The big dogs, apparently, have gotten a whiff of vinyl, whose skyrocketing sales couldn't have stayed under the radar for long.
So the indies gear up for yet another fight. But when it comes to the battle over vinyl, my money's on the record-store geeks, not the blue shirts...
While that's clearly not the only thing I write about, the indie-music world has been a big part of it, and I'm grateful to have a mainstream platform to vent on behalf of a relatively esoteric subculture. Here's one of my quotes from his column I'm rather proud of:
- "There are music fans who appreciate the chance to shop at stores where the personnel did more than put on blue shirts."
The silver lining for indies in the past few years -- the survivors, anyway -- has been vinyl.
The reasons for the LP's most recent comeback are numerous and well-catalogued, and the benefits for retailers are obvious. The customer base is loyal, and the product can sell at a higher profit margin because not many stores carry it. (Disclosure: I hang out at Vertigo, like, all the time.)
It was with a bit of sadness, then, that I read this article the other day. The big dogs, apparently, have gotten a whiff of vinyl, whose skyrocketing sales couldn't have stayed under the radar for long.
So the indies gear up for yet another fight. But when it comes to the battle over vinyl, my money's on the record-store geeks, not the blue shirts...
Monday, August 11, 2008
Hammerhead
HammerHead is a simple TR-909-like drum computer program aiming at the dance-scene. You can use it to create perfect Techno loops, Jungle patterns or House beats, but it's also suitable for Hip Hop, Triphop, Rap, Industrial and almost any other music you can think of.
HammerHead features six separate channels, 29 built-in drum sounds, six complete breakbeats and the possibility to import six samples of your own. You can save your patterns to completely noise-free CD-quality wave files to use them with your sampler, tracker or sequencer program.
HammerHead is not Shareware, it's Freeware! No frustrating save-disabling, no grayed-out-menu-features, no paying serious money, no annoying messages and most of all no time limit...
HammerHead is not a Bossa Nova tool. This means that you won't find any Tom-Toms, Shakers, Cowbells, Congas or Bongos in this box. What you will find is cool 909 stuff, bad overdriven bass drums, lots of snare drums, claps, and complete breakbeats to spice up the lot. Buckets-o-fun for making Jungle.
A must-check-it-out for everyone who has always wanted to make his own block-rocking beats!
http://www.threechords.com/hammerhead/download.shtml
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Bands Favoring Web Over Major Labels
Thousands of fans. A jam-packed tour schedule. A CD for sale. And no record label behemoth behind it all?
That’s today’s music business, according to Chris Bowes, the drummer for the Connecticut band Columbia Fields. And such independent success is fast becoming music industry standard for up-and-coming musical acts trying to build a brand, a following and a sound.
Columbia Fields, whose sound Bowes describes as a sort of Dave Matthews Band meets John Mayer, is among a growing number of musical groups making music independently, without a record label.
All on its own, Columbia Fields has amassed more than 14,000 fans on Myspace.com, booked shows in venues across the state and landed airtime on local radio stations WTIC 96.5 FM and KISS 95.7.
Over the past decade, the music industry has changed. It used to be that a band needed a record label to hit it big. Labels had the power to finance, distribute and promote new music.
New Opportunities
But starting with the days of Napster, technology has given emerging acts new opportunities. Now, artists can amass a substantial following through Internet music downloads, social networking sites like Myspace.com and individual artist Web sites. They can produce CDs in the comfort of home and sell them through online record stores like Cdbaby.com.
“I’m one of those guys who, when I was a kid, always saw myself up on stage, playing in front of thousands of people,” said Bowes, who’s been with Columbia Fields for about two years. The band’s first CD, “When the Night Falls,” has sold about 750 copies at shows and through online distribution with Cdbaby.com.
“The industry’s a little different now,” he added. “Bands don’t necessarily need labels to get in front of large audiences.”
“The heart of all the [industry] changes is definitely technology, bottom line,” said Adam Gootkin, co-owner of the recording studio Onyx Soundlab in Manchester. Half of his studio’s business is with major labels, artists and corporations, like Dell; the other half is with independent artists.
Gootkin’s latest project is a new track for R&B artist Brandy.
Marketing Tools
The music industry is going all digital, said Gootkin. Album sales are down, he added, and that means less income for labels, which are set up to sell CDs. Without the need for distribution, record labels become little more than banks, he said. Large labels have yet to adjust their business model to fit the digital times.
Declining revenues from CD sales has had one immediate impact on the industry, namely that labels are becoming more selective in whom they choose to sign, Gootkin said. That means musicians who are looking for the financial backing of a major record label need to come to them prepared, pre-packaged with an image, a brand and a following, he said.
“The closer you are to helping them see the vision, the closer you are to getting a deal,” Gootkin said.
Part of that challenge for young musicians is marketing, said Sheri Ziccardi, public relations manager for The Hartt School, the arts school at the University of Hartford. Ziccardi has spent years helping students in creative fields market themselves. The tools certainly have evolved, she said.
“Thinking about marketing and promoting themselves can be a challenge for creative types, who do not necessarily want to think about the ‘business’ side of the industry they choose to enter,” Ziccardi said in an e-mail. “Fortunately, today’s students have been raised in a techno-heavy culture and are comfortable with utilizing technology for self-expression and communication, so marketing themselves may become easier for them in some ways than it was for their predecessors.”
Staying Independent
If musicians can grasp the ins and outs of the industry, staying independent can be a viable option.
Music industry veteran and songwriting instructor Bill Pere maintains that it only takes a band about 10,000 fans to be able to make music full-time and remain independent of a label. He’s seen it happen, when musicians are industry-savvy.
“A person is now able to get their material to a wide audience,” said the Mystic-based Pere, who has put out 16 CDs but makes most of his royalties from digital downloads. “The trade-off is that in the old school … the record label basically does everything for you,” he added. “And all you have to do is your music.”
But artists attached to a label get a small piece of the pie, if anything at all, he said.
For example, a band signs a contract with a label and gets a $500,000 advance to make an album. Any royalties that come from the sale of the resulting album must first go to pay back that advance, Pere said.
“If you don’t sell enough, you don’t get anything,” Pere said. “It takes a heck of a lot of sales to make any money.”
Keeping Profits
The independent market doesn’t offer the connections or the budget. “But you get to keep 100 percent of everything you make,” said Pere, who has remained independent throughout his musical career. “You are the one issuing contracts to other people to do work the way you want it done.”
Downloadable music has also created the need for a more strategic approach to songwriting, Pere said. Sometimes listeners only get to sample the first 30 seconds of a song before deciding whether or not to purchase it. Long intros won’t get a song downloaded; those first 30 seconds have to rock.
“It’s a totally transformed world, with its good sides and bad sides,” he added. “It’s not a matter or right or wrong. It’s about having your eyes wide open.”
That’s today’s music business, according to Chris Bowes, the drummer for the Connecticut band Columbia Fields. And such independent success is fast becoming music industry standard for up-and-coming musical acts trying to build a brand, a following and a sound.
Columbia Fields, whose sound Bowes describes as a sort of Dave Matthews Band meets John Mayer, is among a growing number of musical groups making music independently, without a record label.
All on its own, Columbia Fields has amassed more than 14,000 fans on Myspace.com, booked shows in venues across the state and landed airtime on local radio stations WTIC 96.5 FM and KISS 95.7.
Over the past decade, the music industry has changed. It used to be that a band needed a record label to hit it big. Labels had the power to finance, distribute and promote new music.
New Opportunities
But starting with the days of Napster, technology has given emerging acts new opportunities. Now, artists can amass a substantial following through Internet music downloads, social networking sites like Myspace.com and individual artist Web sites. They can produce CDs in the comfort of home and sell them through online record stores like Cdbaby.com.
“I’m one of those guys who, when I was a kid, always saw myself up on stage, playing in front of thousands of people,” said Bowes, who’s been with Columbia Fields for about two years. The band’s first CD, “When the Night Falls,” has sold about 750 copies at shows and through online distribution with Cdbaby.com.
“The industry’s a little different now,” he added. “Bands don’t necessarily need labels to get in front of large audiences.”
“The heart of all the [industry] changes is definitely technology, bottom line,” said Adam Gootkin, co-owner of the recording studio Onyx Soundlab in Manchester. Half of his studio’s business is with major labels, artists and corporations, like Dell; the other half is with independent artists.
Gootkin’s latest project is a new track for R&B artist Brandy.
Marketing Tools
The music industry is going all digital, said Gootkin. Album sales are down, he added, and that means less income for labels, which are set up to sell CDs. Without the need for distribution, record labels become little more than banks, he said. Large labels have yet to adjust their business model to fit the digital times.
Declining revenues from CD sales has had one immediate impact on the industry, namely that labels are becoming more selective in whom they choose to sign, Gootkin said. That means musicians who are looking for the financial backing of a major record label need to come to them prepared, pre-packaged with an image, a brand and a following, he said.
“The closer you are to helping them see the vision, the closer you are to getting a deal,” Gootkin said.
Part of that challenge for young musicians is marketing, said Sheri Ziccardi, public relations manager for The Hartt School, the arts school at the University of Hartford. Ziccardi has spent years helping students in creative fields market themselves. The tools certainly have evolved, she said.
“Thinking about marketing and promoting themselves can be a challenge for creative types, who do not necessarily want to think about the ‘business’ side of the industry they choose to enter,” Ziccardi said in an e-mail. “Fortunately, today’s students have been raised in a techno-heavy culture and are comfortable with utilizing technology for self-expression and communication, so marketing themselves may become easier for them in some ways than it was for their predecessors.”
Staying Independent
If musicians can grasp the ins and outs of the industry, staying independent can be a viable option.
Music industry veteran and songwriting instructor Bill Pere maintains that it only takes a band about 10,000 fans to be able to make music full-time and remain independent of a label. He’s seen it happen, when musicians are industry-savvy.
“A person is now able to get their material to a wide audience,” said the Mystic-based Pere, who has put out 16 CDs but makes most of his royalties from digital downloads. “The trade-off is that in the old school … the record label basically does everything for you,” he added. “And all you have to do is your music.”
But artists attached to a label get a small piece of the pie, if anything at all, he said.
For example, a band signs a contract with a label and gets a $500,000 advance to make an album. Any royalties that come from the sale of the resulting album must first go to pay back that advance, Pere said.
“If you don’t sell enough, you don’t get anything,” Pere said. “It takes a heck of a lot of sales to make any money.”
Keeping Profits
The independent market doesn’t offer the connections or the budget. “But you get to keep 100 percent of everything you make,” said Pere, who has remained independent throughout his musical career. “You are the one issuing contracts to other people to do work the way you want it done.”
Downloadable music has also created the need for a more strategic approach to songwriting, Pere said. Sometimes listeners only get to sample the first 30 seconds of a song before deciding whether or not to purchase it. Long intros won’t get a song downloaded; those first 30 seconds have to rock.
“It’s a totally transformed world, with its good sides and bad sides,” he added. “It’s not a matter or right or wrong. It’s about having your eyes wide open.”
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