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The book "Free" by Chris Anderson.


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I'm done listening to the book "Free" by Chris Anderson (from WIRED magazine - the guy who wrote "The Long Tail.") I was interested in hearing what he had to say about illegal downloading, musicians giving away music for free, lagging CD sales, and so on. In case you're wondering, you can download the audio version of the book for free. You can also read it online for free.

 

Anyway. Chris doesn't delve too much deeper than the surface level stuff that we all know. He talks about how Prince gave away a few million CD's in the UK and ended up making millions of dollars performing shows. He talks about what Radiohead did with their "name your own price" idea. He talks about how artists are doing 360 deals but the record companies aren't very good at it yet. All the stuff we already know.

 

He also talks about how some of these same things are happening in the publishing world, and the proponents and critics seem to have very similar arguments to their music counterparts.

 

But one thing he said sort of stuck with me. It's not a new original idea, but still... he said that live shows were experiences, and that real live experiences were extremely valuable in this digital cyber world. Actually he said it better than that, but that's what I remember.

 

I've always felt that I should get paid, as an artist. The thing is, I make much more money playing gigs than selling CD's. So should I put my effort into trying to sell more CD's, or trying to get more gigs? If I want to try to get more gigs, wouldn't giving my music away for free online help to do that? I mean, the pitch makes sense... come to my web site, and download my music for free. No strings attached. And hey, I am also available for house concerts, at a reasonable rate. And if you'd like a hard copy of my CD, I can sell you one.

 

And why would someone buy a CD when they've already downloaded the music for free? Maybe because they want a souvenir from the live show. And maybe you put 2 "bonus tracks" on it, that are only available on the CD.

 

After listening to "Free," I'm really wondering if I might be better off putting my energies into getting more gigs that pay better, and using my music to help make that happen.

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Unfortunately, people getting most of the music they want for free is just a reality nowadays. Maximizing income from other sources is the way to go. Trying to fight piracy is just too huge a problem for the music industry to face.

 

I think your right when you mention adding extra tracks as an incentive, it definitely works. However i'd suggest giving at least a couple of tracks away for free in order for people to be given the chance to get into your music in the first place.

 

Concentrate on digital distribution a lot more than physical cd's. Cd's in my experience get pretty costly, you can make better profits selling your music on a site like bandcamp.com! Just lump an exclusive EP with a t-shirt, buttons anything you can think of that your diehard fans would shell out for.

 

As for the live show, i agree that it should be a special experience - definitely!

 

hope im not repeating things you all ready know...

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'Free' is a great book. I'd also recommend 'The Future of Music' as a good follow up (although it was written in 2005).

 

Free (as in, music) is very hard to compete with, so I think the loss leader model is the way to go. Give away the mp3s, offer bonus content and such.

 

Some artists will lament having to use their recordings as gig flyers but music-making, as an activity, has become over-saturated. Everyone's doing it.

 

I will go one further and say the recorded version of music is not so unique. It was compilied in a recording studio; multi-tracked; edited; tweaked; overdubbed; parts were added on different days. It is a representation, assembled with technology and processed to be consumed in bulk.

 

A live gig in front of your eyes... now that is a unique thing indeed. No gig is ever the exact same.

 

The only way musicians used to earn money in the past was by playing live. There were no hotels and rock n' roll lifestyles then either. You earned enough to get by, a bit like the travelling circus act.

 

It was your 'way of life' but you wouldn't become a millionaire doing it. If you ask me, musicians were very fortunate to get rich when they did.

 

But now, people expect it just because they can write great music and people who came before thm made money that way. They feel entitled to it. I know regression is not something people like to do but that's how things are looking.

 

:thu:

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