This post was written for Bandzoogle, a website platform for musicians. Bandzoogle is a Montreal-based company, founded and run by musicians, and has every tool a musician needs for their website. Visit Bandzoogle.com to take the tour or get started right away and build your website free.
There’s a lot of talk in the music industry about the diminishing value of recorded music and how bands should look for other ways to make money. The argument for giving away your music is that you should simply want to have your music heard, and since people can generally find music online for free, then why bother putting a price tag on it? Live shows, merchandise, licensing, and subscriptions are just some of the ways that bands are encouraged to generate revenue. However, should artists just give up selling their music? Are we to believe that nobody buys music anymore? I’m not so sure that’s the case.
The topic became front and center for me recently after I spent a considerable amount of time following indie artists from all over North America on Twitter. I was shocked at how many would automatically send me a direct message with a link to download their entire album for free. I didn't sign up to their mailing list, I didn’t have to buy other merchandise in a bundled package offer, I simply followed them on Twitter and received a free album of music. I couldn’t help but think: too much, too soon?
I started following the artists out of curiosity, but I don’t know who they are yet, what their personalities are like, etc. It was simply a first step in the relationship, and they’ve already given away what could be their most valued asset: their music. There is a hint of desperation to it, but that’s understandable, because with so many other artists out there, how do you compete? How do you get your music heard? Well, why not give away your music for free to anyone and everyone you can?
Here’s another way to look at it, keeping with the example on Twitter:
One artist sent me a direct message thanking me for following them. The message was hilarious. The artist obviously has a great sense of humour, so I already know something about them that gives me a better sense of who they are as a person. They also included a link, but it was to their website where I could hear their music, not download it for free or buy it, but simply hear it. And because the link took me to their website, it increased the chances of having me see their latest blog posts, watch some videos, to sign-up to the mailing list or even shop in their store. Although I did go to the site, I simply listened to a few tracks, one of which I found kind of catchy, and moved on.
Fast forward to a few weeks later. The artist tweets something I find funny, I tweet back, and they respond to me right away. Awesome, they’re engaged with their fans, I was impressed. A few weeks after that, I tweet something, the artist responds to my tweet with a personalized joke that had me laughing out loud at my computer. The artist is paying attention to their fans’ tweets as well, now I’m really impressed. I went back to the artist’s website, saw that they had a new EP for sale, and bought it for $5.
So what happened here? The artist took time to develop a relationship with me. Once I knew the artist better, once they had made a deeper connection with me by making me laugh and responding to me personally a few times, they no longer felt like just another one of the thousands of other artists out there. They stood out from the pack because they took time to get to know me and I felt like I was a part of their world. Now I wanted to support their career. Could I have bought a t-shirt or a hat? Maybe, but I didn’t want to buy any new clothes, and I didn’t need a new mug or trinket. Could I have bought a ticket to their show next time they passed through Montreal? Possibly, but I wanted to show support in the moment, and given their geographic location, a show here was unlikely. The simplest way for me to show support was to buy their music, which is what I did. And what if they had simply given me their EP for free like the other artists? They would have $5 less in their bank account today.
There’s a lot of talk in the music industry about the diminishing value of recorded music and how bands should look for other ways to make money. The argument for giving away your music is that you should simply want to have your music heard, and since people can generally find music online for free, then why bother putting a price tag on it? Live shows, merchandise, licensing, and subscriptions are just some of the ways that bands are encouraged to generate revenue. However, should artists just give up selling their music? Are we to believe that nobody buys music anymore? I’m not so sure that’s the case.
The topic became front and center for me recently after I spent a considerable amount of time following indie artists from all over North America on Twitter. I was shocked at how many would automatically send me a direct message with a link to download their entire album for free. I didn't sign up to their mailing list, I didn’t have to buy other merchandise in a bundled package offer, I simply followed them on Twitter and received a free album of music. I couldn’t help but think: too much, too soon?
I started following the artists out of curiosity, but I don’t know who they are yet, what their personalities are like, etc. It was simply a first step in the relationship, and they’ve already given away what could be their most valued asset: their music. There is a hint of desperation to it, but that’s understandable, because with so many other artists out there, how do you compete? How do you get your music heard? Well, why not give away your music for free to anyone and everyone you can?
Here’s another way to look at it, keeping with the example on Twitter:
One artist sent me a direct message thanking me for following them. The message was hilarious. The artist obviously has a great sense of humour, so I already know something about them that gives me a better sense of who they are as a person. They also included a link, but it was to their website where I could hear their music, not download it for free or buy it, but simply hear it. And because the link took me to their website, it increased the chances of having me see their latest blog posts, watch some videos, to sign-up to the mailing list or even shop in their store. Although I did go to the site, I simply listened to a few tracks, one of which I found kind of catchy, and moved on.
Fast forward to a few weeks later. The artist tweets something I find funny, I tweet back, and they respond to me right away. Awesome, they’re engaged with their fans, I was impressed. A few weeks after that, I tweet something, the artist responds to my tweet with a personalized joke that had me laughing out loud at my computer. The artist is paying attention to their fans’ tweets as well, now I’m really impressed. I went back to the artist’s website, saw that they had a new EP for sale, and bought it for $5.
So what happened here? The artist took time to develop a relationship with me. Once I knew the artist better, once they had made a deeper connection with me by making me laugh and responding to me personally a few times, they no longer felt like just another one of the thousands of other artists out there. They stood out from the pack because they took time to get to know me and I felt like I was a part of their world. Now I wanted to support their career. Could I have bought a t-shirt or a hat? Maybe, but I didn’t want to buy any new clothes, and I didn’t need a new mug or trinket. Could I have bought a ticket to their show next time they passed through Montreal? Possibly, but I wanted to show support in the moment, and given their geographic location, a show here was unlikely. The simplest way for me to show support was to buy their music, which is what I did. And what if they had simply given me their EP for free like the other artists? They would have $5 less in their bank account today.
But Aren’t Music Sales Tanking?
Let’s take a quick look at the numbers:- Digital distributor TuneCore boasts over 45 million in music sales through their service
- CD Baby reported music sales of almost $40 million in 2010 alone
- Our very own Bandzoogle members recently crossed $4,000,000 in music and merchandise sales.
How to Create Value
So if the key to selling your music is to create value for it, how can you go about doing that? Here are some ideas to get you started:- Develop a relationship with your fans
- Generate lots of content
- Be genuine, be your unique self
- Use emotion
- Bundled options
- Release great music