Confessions of a Ranting Lunatic

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A NEW ALBUM?

Today’s music industry is a very exciting time for emerging artists and record labels. The possibilities for mass exposure are higher than they have ever been, but as a result of that, the ability to protect your music is becoming increasingly more difficult. The newest challenge for upcoming musicians will be to re-build the model of the music industry, and figure out how to best utilize our new tools.  Social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter offer a line of communication and intimacy with artists that was never possible before, and sites like YouTube and Hulu bring the mass exposure to the table. All of these things should be utilized should somebody release an album in the upcoming year. Furthermore, even though copyright law is in a somewhat unstable state because of digital media, one should still take all necessary precautions and “cover all your bases” by copyrighting your material.
If I were to release an album in 2009, I would of course apply for copyright on my material, but while I wait for that to process, I would make my music accessible from as many places on the Internet as possible. Right away I would post a couple singles from the album on Myspace and Facebook. I would use TuneCore to put my music on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, as well as reach out to Independent, College and Net Radio stations to play my music on the air. I would make a few songs available for free download at these sites, so as to give people a taste of my music. The best strategy would be to put songs up for free download / steam that are 2nd best on the album. The goal would be to catch listeners ears while not giving them the “best” of the record, so if they were to purchase the entire album later (be it in tradition CD format, or digitally,) they would still feel they got new music that was worth their money.
When you put a song up Myspace, or on Facebook, and people become a fan of you page, you have access to information about their age, where they are from, and what other bands they are fans of. Before I decided to do a full album release, I would take time to study this information, to see what age group and geographical region was most interested in my music, as well as to see if any music groups who were in the same niche as me were looking for an opener, or somebody to tour with.  Then that area and that age group is what I would heavily market towards. I would study the same information about people who are fans of musicians that sound like me, or share my niche, and market to those people. This information would not only be helpful for marketing, but for event planning as well.
With a diluted stream of music, thousands of niche market will form. Before, the only music we had access to was the “Top 40” hits, named so by the people who produced these said “Top 40.” Now, we have such a greater selection of music, we have the opportunity to “fine-tune” our music taste, and focus our listening/buying in our niche. The statement “The future of entertainment is in the millions of niche markets at the shallow end of the bitstream”, (Anderson, 1) is one that every new artist should take into consideration. Yes, YouTube, Facebook and all these other communicative websites allow for mass exposure, for millions of people to have access to your music, but what they really do, is allow you to find a niche market for you music in France while you are still in Minneapolis. So that after you have toured around, built a name for yourself and you have the money and time to do an overseas tour, you wont waste your time playing gigs that nobody shows up too. If you search long enough, and give yourself good exposures, you are guaranteed to find a group of people who dig your style.
Example: Kimya Dawson. Kimya was 1/2 of the Moldy Peaches in the mid-to-late 90’s, and has since done 4 solo albums, 2 albums with the group Antsy Pants, and is working on a 5th solo album. Kimya plays obscure, melodramatic, folk songs with her acoustic guitar. Nobody had ever heard of Kimya Dawson, until a song she did with Moldy Peaches, “Anybody Else But You”, was featured in the movie “Juno”. The song immediately blew up and the Moldy Peaches albums sold like hot cakes after that.  As for Kimya, she’s touring and has never had more shows. Kimya has been an amazing artist for 10 years, but nobody knew she existed. The same people that love her music today would have loved it 10 years ago; they just couldn’t find it.  Similarly, because of iTunes and Amazon recommendations, other obscure, melodramatic folk singers are finding a new market in people they didn’t think listened.  It doesn’t take a hit movie to be a star, it takes a clever YouTube video; and it doesn’t take a big label, (or a movie like Juno) to get people access to your music.
Another step in furthering your Internet presence and creating mass exposure is to start a blog. I would start a daily “Journal” blog of my life and activities. I would make sure to update it every day, add links, widgets, and all sorts of interactive features. When I have a large fan base, I want a level of intimacy with my fans to always be prominent. In the upcoming music industry, fans will not rely on us to bring them new music, we will rely on them to pay our habit: making music. If I go the extra mile for my fans, they’ll spend the extra $10 on a sweatshirt on at my show.  To increase activity to my web pages, and my blog, I would also create an Album Review site under an alias and start reviewing albums. On this site, I would review albums that were released by me, or people I am in collaboration with, as well as post links to my other sites and increase traffic between them. Another idea to increase Internet presence is start a YouTube account, and upload videos of artists who already have a fallowing and whom are in your niche. That way, people will start subscribing to your account, and then you can upload your own music videos, which will automatically be emailed to the people who have subscribed to you account. Immediately your video and your music will be in thousands of people’s email inbox.
With music becoming more fluid, and rapidly on the way to becoming free in the “self-listening” format, the only way to monetize our creative expressions will be through live performance, and through merchandise. Albums will only be profitable if they come with a premium. For this reason, people cannot spend large amounts of money on recording albums, and don’t need too. Many places will sell you bundle-packages of recording gear that will allow you to record a decent sounding record in your basement. With brick and mortar record stores all over the country closing, there is almost no need to manufacture physical CD’s, unless they are to be used at each end of the spectrum: free for promotional use, or included in deluxe, limited edition packages for collectors. This is why I would focus mainly on digital sales, and trying to get as much stage time as possible for the first few years. After a fan base grows and my main revenue streams have been established, I would consider releasing albums with special premiums, or special packaging etc… For instance: An album that came with a book of poetry, or a Vinyl that was shaped in a special way, or a box set of some kind. Limited Editions are always a great idea, people love being able to say they have the only one, and will pay surprising amounts to do so.
The trade off for these opportunities is the diminishing capability of the government to help us protect our music. Copyright Law’s foundation is in tangible mediums. When our businesses are digital, most of our communications are virtual, and everything is available over the Internet, than music as a tangible unit is disappearing. We have all witnessed on the news countless people be prosecuted, fined, and even jailed for media piracy. Not to mention Hip-Hop, a music genre that is almost completely based on sampling and remixing music. While punishment for an inevitable act was a temporary scare, it is obviously never going work to the full effect that the present Copyright laws insist upon.

“To the extent that either law or established social practice exists in this area, they are already in dangerous disagreement. The laws regarding unlicensed reproduction of commercial software are clear and stern…and rarely observed. Software piracy laws are so practically unenforceable and breaking them has become so socially acceptable that only a thin minority appears compelled, either by fear or conscience, to obey them” (Barlow).

While the laws that have protected music in its physical form have attempted to keep up with the digital era, they have not. Making minor adjustments to the original laws will not be enough; a entire new format must be created. “We will need to develop an entirely new set of methods as befits this entirely new set of circumstances” (Barlow). As rising artists in a time of such great change in our society, we have an amazing chance to affect the future of our industry. I plan to keep my eye on the changes that the government makes to Copyright, and I feel that every musician should be writing letters to congress, their senator, and voice our opinions on the future of what will protect our creations. It is important that we be apart of these new decisions. “Laws developed prior to consensus usually serve the already established few who can get them passed and not society as a whole” (Barlow). It is up to us to make sure that these new laws sufficiently protect us.
If I were to start a record label, I would take the same route for my artists that I would take for myself. However, in this day in age, a major label’s model of business may not be the best answer. “The major labels are not about talent first, they are about money first” (Lefsetz). I truly believe that major labels will slowly die down and become less and less powerful; while smaller, Indie labels will grow in their numbers, and allow for the future of mainstream to be a smorgasbord of music genres and styles. Music would not exist without the artists who make it; so protecting those artists should be the first priority of a music label. Intellectual Property was created to “preserve Arts & Sciences” in America. In other words, Intellectual Property & Copyright Law was created to promote and protect Art and Education. Promote, and protect. Today’s major label’s are fantastic and promoting, and is great at protecting… themselves. Everything that is done is done with the best interest of the label, not the artist. Now, through years of “sketchy” business, the tables have turned to a position where what was best for the label, may not necessarily be best for the Artist, and vice versa. The artist and the label have been acting as two separate companies, who are buying and selling goods and services from each other. This is not how music and it’s creators can best be protected and promoted. “Want to save the music business? …Nurture talent…Talent. That’s where the business is focused today.” (Lefsetz). If I were to run a label, it would be designed more as a Music “Community”, rather than a label, because it is in a community that you truly work together to build something beautiful, to help sustain it, and to watch it grow. That is what labels should be about for the artists they represent: building a platform for exposure, and nurturing sustainable growth for talent.