Have been to Pandora yet? Sounds great doesn't it? Type in the name of your favorite artist and a station is built that features the music of that artist and those of a similar sound, genre or era. In my opinion, it's a great way to listen to music over the internet.
Recently, Pandora's owner has complained that his company is struggling to turn a profit because more than 60% of it's incoming revenue is going back out in royalties to the artists whose music is streamed on the site. Pandora has been asking the labels and artists to take a reduced royalty rate so that it can remain competitive. The site is ad supported allowing listeners do so for free. Pandora's stocks have been bounced around like a ship on a stormy sea this past year.
I've enjoyed listening to the free music on Pandora, but, maybe, it's time for Pandora to consider a change in it's business model. Perhaps an approach more akin to Spotify is in order. After all, asking artists to take a pay cut when it's their music that makes the whole thing happen, seems kind of backward. In my opinion, those who use the music should be asked to help defray the cost of bringing the music to them. Other streaming sites are already doing this.
In other words, it may be time for a rate hike. Maybe even a tiered structure. Right now you can listen to Pandora ad free for $3.99 a month. This would become the ad supported version and this bottom tier could be called Pandora Basic. A second tier at $4.99 a month could be called Pandora Gold, and a third tier at $9.99 called Pandora premium would have no ads at all.
Users and Fans of Pandora might not like this, but as an artist it just makes more sense. The business of music is not only hard but it can be costly. Lots of money can be poured into the making of just a single recorded release. Reciprocity is all that music makers want
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
At The Art Of It All
I've always been good when it comes to artistic things. Seriously. When I was growing up, it didn't matter what it was, paper, pencil, ink, paint, cardboard, you name it. If you could draw or paint on it or fold and reshape it, I probably used it to turn it into some thing else. In fact, I managed to get straight "A"s in art from kindergarten through grade and high school, and yes, even college. And, while I graduated from the University of Akron in 2009 with a degree in Mass Media Communications, I still retain a certain amount of ability when it comes to things of an artistic nature.
Somewhere along the way, I discovered that music or more to the point, songs, were a way to create something out of seemingly nothing. Once I got the hang of how to organize my musical ideas, I couldn't get enough. It's been like using my mind as a canvas to construct the intangible and then bring it into the world of the physical by way of writing it down.
When I got my first chance to record my ideas, things changed a bit. Learning the language of music seemed to slow the process. That's when I began to pick up instruments and fashion sounds as I heard them without regard for rules. This was fun at first, but then what would happen is, I'd get a great groove with no idea if words would even fit to what I had come up with. I spent a couple of years recording my writings in this way. It wasn't until I tried to relate my melodies from my mind to the instruments that I was playing. Not being a virtuoso on any particular one, left some of my tunes lacking in the beginning. But, a little formal piano took care of that in a hurry. Soon there after, I was going hunting for any little melody that passed through my head.
Over time, I've managed to bring the music to the words in a marriage that has not only been gratifying, but has won me an occasional compliment or two. Which, has led me into believing that I'm on the right track. If there has been a weak point, I think that it would be my singing. Which by the way seems to be what makes my songs work these days... go figure. Personally, I feel that I'm a work in progress. And now, being able to record and produce myself as I do so, I have an even greater opportunity to get everything I can from what I hear in my head.
The point of all of this, is that when a song or album is finished and ready to release to the world, it will go into the market place right along side countless other artists. After years of excepting that what I did with paint and paper was art, there are times when I don't feel the same when it comes to my music. The reason is simple. What makes it's way to the world is as close to what I imagined as possible, but the process of producing a record can be a tricky thing. So, the question then becomes, is it the performance, the arrangement, or the production that makes a piece of recorded music a work of art?
I'm sure that we've all heard a song or two on the radio and thought, "now there's no way that that one should get any air play," only to learn that it's a number one smash. Music is subjective, for sure, and I would say that it's true that most singer songwriters, bands, and musicians are creating sounds with meaning, even if only enough for their own tastes.
Radio is alive and well and not about to disappear anytime soon. However, whenever I'm online and I get a chance to stream some music, I'm always able to find something that sounds so good that I've got to hear it over and over again. I mean, folks whose stuff is more than worthy of air time over the terrestrial airwaves. Things with melody as well as rhythm and rhyme. Definitely worthy of being called art.
It just makes me wonder why it isn't possible to give more people a chance to learn that good music is alive and well and living online.
Somewhere along the way, I discovered that music or more to the point, songs, were a way to create something out of seemingly nothing. Once I got the hang of how to organize my musical ideas, I couldn't get enough. It's been like using my mind as a canvas to construct the intangible and then bring it into the world of the physical by way of writing it down.
When I got my first chance to record my ideas, things changed a bit. Learning the language of music seemed to slow the process. That's when I began to pick up instruments and fashion sounds as I heard them without regard for rules. This was fun at first, but then what would happen is, I'd get a great groove with no idea if words would even fit to what I had come up with. I spent a couple of years recording my writings in this way. It wasn't until I tried to relate my melodies from my mind to the instruments that I was playing. Not being a virtuoso on any particular one, left some of my tunes lacking in the beginning. But, a little formal piano took care of that in a hurry. Soon there after, I was going hunting for any little melody that passed through my head.
Over time, I've managed to bring the music to the words in a marriage that has not only been gratifying, but has won me an occasional compliment or two. Which, has led me into believing that I'm on the right track. If there has been a weak point, I think that it would be my singing. Which by the way seems to be what makes my songs work these days... go figure. Personally, I feel that I'm a work in progress. And now, being able to record and produce myself as I do so, I have an even greater opportunity to get everything I can from what I hear in my head.
The point of all of this, is that when a song or album is finished and ready to release to the world, it will go into the market place right along side countless other artists. After years of excepting that what I did with paint and paper was art, there are times when I don't feel the same when it comes to my music. The reason is simple. What makes it's way to the world is as close to what I imagined as possible, but the process of producing a record can be a tricky thing. So, the question then becomes, is it the performance, the arrangement, or the production that makes a piece of recorded music a work of art?
I'm sure that we've all heard a song or two on the radio and thought, "now there's no way that that one should get any air play," only to learn that it's a number one smash. Music is subjective, for sure, and I would say that it's true that most singer songwriters, bands, and musicians are creating sounds with meaning, even if only enough for their own tastes.
Radio is alive and well and not about to disappear anytime soon. However, whenever I'm online and I get a chance to stream some music, I'm always able to find something that sounds so good that I've got to hear it over and over again. I mean, folks whose stuff is more than worthy of air time over the terrestrial airwaves. Things with melody as well as rhythm and rhyme. Definitely worthy of being called art.
It just makes me wonder why it isn't possible to give more people a chance to learn that good music is alive and well and living online.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
How About That Demo...
When your a DIY or Independent artist, it's very likely that a lot of what gets done with regard to your music is done by you. In other words, you may be wearing all the hats. When it's time to promote your music you have to do it. Or when it time to go to social media in order to spread the word, you're the one whose tweeting, posting, or blogging.
You may be good at making music, but know absolutely nothing about marketing. And, selling your self may not be what you think of as the best way to sell your music. But, it's not enough to record your music and get it into iTunes. Once it's there, it could just sit, receiving little if any attention, until someone finds out about it.
The same is true if you've just made a CD. If you're fortunate enough to get it into a brick & mortar store, you've really got to let the people know or lose your spot on the self.
If you were signed to a label, most likely, a certain amount of resource would have been allocated for promoting your release. Depending on the size of your contract, you're promotion money would be part of a marketing plan or campaign.
This marketing plan, if you're lucky, might include some live appearances by you on local radio or television. May be a few print ads or some Radio or TV commercial. And, if you're really lucky you may get a shot at national radio or TV. At any rate, the formula used my most labels involves knowing who your audience is and getting your name and/or face in front of them as often as possible, or what your promotion budget will allow.
Most record companies use the age group of 14 to 24yrs as their marketing demographic, or audience to which they want to sell most of their releases. The idea is, that people in that age group tend to have a lot of what is know as disposable cash. I mentioned this before in another post, but it something that DIY artists should consider, even if it isn't important for the music that you make. I say this because, and this is just my opinion, you should always know who it is that likes your music enough to buy it. If your music skews older than the 14 to 24 demographic, it's likely that you will be doing a lot more live performances, possible at smaller venues, and your record sales will come partly from these performances, and tend to bring less income than said performances.
If you're not an artist who performs live, use YouTube, Vevo, or GrooveShark as a means of sharing your music visually. There's also video chat and webinars.
I realize that there's no revelation here. But, when you consider how Facebook tends to place most of it's attention on those whose followings are at least 10,000 and up, you have to look for and find as many other outlets for exposure of your music as possible. And while the idea of having and/or using a demographic may seem silly or even useless as an independent or DIY artist, it might not hurt to consider having broad appeal and then giving the people what they want.
You may be good at making music, but know absolutely nothing about marketing. And, selling your self may not be what you think of as the best way to sell your music. But, it's not enough to record your music and get it into iTunes. Once it's there, it could just sit, receiving little if any attention, until someone finds out about it.
The same is true if you've just made a CD. If you're fortunate enough to get it into a brick & mortar store, you've really got to let the people know or lose your spot on the self.
If you were signed to a label, most likely, a certain amount of resource would have been allocated for promoting your release. Depending on the size of your contract, you're promotion money would be part of a marketing plan or campaign.
This marketing plan, if you're lucky, might include some live appearances by you on local radio or television. May be a few print ads or some Radio or TV commercial. And, if you're really lucky you may get a shot at national radio or TV. At any rate, the formula used my most labels involves knowing who your audience is and getting your name and/or face in front of them as often as possible, or what your promotion budget will allow.
Most record companies use the age group of 14 to 24yrs as their marketing demographic, or audience to which they want to sell most of their releases. The idea is, that people in that age group tend to have a lot of what is know as disposable cash. I mentioned this before in another post, but it something that DIY artists should consider, even if it isn't important for the music that you make. I say this because, and this is just my opinion, you should always know who it is that likes your music enough to buy it. If your music skews older than the 14 to 24 demographic, it's likely that you will be doing a lot more live performances, possible at smaller venues, and your record sales will come partly from these performances, and tend to bring less income than said performances.
If you're not an artist who performs live, use YouTube, Vevo, or GrooveShark as a means of sharing your music visually. There's also video chat and webinars.
I realize that there's no revelation here. But, when you consider how Facebook tends to place most of it's attention on those whose followings are at least 10,000 and up, you have to look for and find as many other outlets for exposure of your music as possible. And while the idea of having and/or using a demographic may seem silly or even useless as an independent or DIY artist, it might not hurt to consider having broad appeal and then giving the people what they want.
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