Members Ryan. Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 One of my favorite quotes is from HC. I'd have to go hunt for it to find the exact quote but it goes something like: How sad is it that most people will pay $1.50 for a soda, or bag of chips, or pack of gum that when all is said and done will turn to piss and {censored}... but they won't pay 99cents for an mp3 that came from someones hardwork and dedication and will last them a lifetime. We don't give away our music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrChrisos Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 If you put music on myspace or anything similar you are giving you music away for free, it's just a case of where you set the goal posts. It's the classic of wanting to turn a profit vs wanting people to be able listen to your music. In physical form - personally I prefer to sell because I think people will value it more. And I meet people at shows who enjoying paying an artist directly for their music - it's something to be proud of making cash from your creativity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members six acre lake Posted October 6, 2010 Author Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 One of my favorite quotes is from HC. I'd have to go hunt for it to find the exact quote but it goes something like:How sad is it that most people will pay $1.50 for a soda, or bag of chips, or pack of gum that when all is said and done will turn to piss and {censored}... but they won't pay 99cents for an mp3 that came from someones hardwork and dedication and will last them a lifetime.We don't give away our music. Exactly my point. Skip the Starbucks and you can afford an EP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NetStar Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 Let's assume for a minute I have a target audience of ten people, but six of them won't pay money to hear my {censored}ty demo and one person won't at all; I put it out for free and I go from hitting 30% to 90% of them with my song. I'd sooner have someone download a free Demo MP3, stick it on their iPod, listen to it on Shuffle, be inspired to pay to see my band live, pay for a t shirt and/or a pin badge, wear said badge in front of their mates and tell them what it's all about. Of course it's a risk - these people might never see the band live - but the chances are I would only charge a small amount for physical release (providing it was anything more than just CDRs). Further than that I haven't even thought about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ben_allison Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 I do not make music to make money. I enjoy making art and it costs money. I want to make the best possible re ord / paintings I can. Sometimes that requires spending a little scratch. Selling the record / merch / paintings etc is a way to not only a way to help recoup the creation costs but it also encourages the creation of more art. With the two records I'm working on, I plan to seed torrents, and also have them for sale... and I have a few novel "ideas" for how to making buying them attractive. So, for people that want to hear, it's there for free. For people that want to buy and help me make more music, they can. And for people that are one the fence, they'll get some nice motivation to toss me a few bucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members devi Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 If giving your music away is the only way that you can find to have people hear your music then you're not working hard enough to reach your audience. That is, unless the audience you want to reach are people who think your music is worthless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members six acre lake Posted October 6, 2010 Author Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 If you put music on myspace or anything similar you are giving you music away for free, it's just a case of where you set the goal posts. It's the classic of wanting to turn a profit vs wanting people to be able listen to your music.In physical form - personally I prefer to sell because I think people will value it more. And I meet people at shows who enjoying paying an artist directly for their music - it's something to be proud of making cash from your creativity. I live in Brooklyn and can't just go see Whores or Moms House Dads House or Ancient Mariner whenever I want. I would like to support these bands because I enjoy their music so I would buy it. Artist have a hard time u derstand ding their worth and importance. Stop giving your creative endevours away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SnorkelMonkey Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 Deep iz deep for me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members claytonjohn18 Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 Digital music is free. If it's free, more people download it. More people listen to it. More people like it. More people COME TO SEE IT LIVE. More people BUY PHYSICAL THINGS AT SHOWS. What's counterintuitive about that? Thinking that your music (in digital form) is worth money is an awfully archaic mentality. There aren't enough people with a) a vested interest in the music you made and b)the finances to buy all the music they want. The cheaper your music is, the more people will listen. It's about listening, not about buying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members six acre lake Posted October 6, 2010 Author Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 If giving your music away is the only way that you can find to have people hear your music then you're not working hard enough to reach your audience.That is, unless the audience you want to reach are people who think your music is worthless. Well said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hand Amputation Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 If giving your music away is the only way that you can find to have people hear your music then you're not working hard enough to reach your audience.That is, unless the audience you want to reach are people who think your music is worthless. sigworthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NetStar Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 I live in Brooklyn and can't just go see Whores or Moms House Dads House or Ancient Mariner whenever I want. I would like to support these bands because I enjoy their music so I would buy it. Download the free {censored} and chuck them a dime, Mr Charidee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members devi Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 If I see a band giving away free music, I don't even give them a second thought. On the other hand, you have bands like Chant (a friend of mine) who {censored}ing hand makes his own box sets and sells them for $40 a piece. Damn straight I'm going to take notice and see what's up with his band over someone saying who's only effort getting their music "out there" involved uploading it to a website and then spamming the internet with the link. /rant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Let It Burn... Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 Nobody would listen to our {censored} if we released it all at once and sold a hard-copy of it on CD. You give stuff away to get band-exposure which leads to as much shows as possible. That's the way we pay for our expenses with TMAG now and it's working out nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NetStar Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 If I see a band giving away free music, I don't even give them a second thought.On the other hand, you have bands like Chant (a friend of mine) who {censored}ing hand makes his own box sets and sells them for $40 a piece.Damn straight I'm going to take notice and see what's up with his band over someone saying who's only effort getting their music "out there" involved uploading it to a website and then spamming the internet with the link./rant Hand Numbered Box includes:enhanced CD, Poster Set, Stickers & Stencil Are you reading this thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members six acre lake Posted October 6, 2010 Author Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 Download the free {censored} and chuck them a dime, Mr Charidee. Buying someones art is not a charity you wanker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Let It Burn... Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 Digital music is free. If it's free, more people download it. More people listen to it. More people like it. More people COME TO SEE IT LIVE. More people BUY PHYSICAL THINGS AT SHOWS.What's counterintuitive about that? Thinking that your music (in digital form) is worth money is an awfully archaic mentality. There aren't enough people with a) a vested interest in the music you made and b)the finances to buy all the music they want. The cheaper your music is, the more people will listen. It's about listening, not about buying. This. I applaud you sir Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NetStar Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 Buying someones art is not a charity you wanker. You're acting like it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TomCTC Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 Ehh. I don't play music to make money. I work to make money. Thats the same extent as people paying for sporting equipment to go out, play with their neighbourhood team every week, and expect to see a salary cut after working their ass off in the game and have the crowd cheering for them when they score those goals. If you have no following and all the talent in the world, its just not going to pay off for you. Maybe you'll make some money, $10 here. $20 there. Good for you. If it becomes more about the money and the recoup costs than the actual product you're essentially pushing to make that cash, then {censored} it. You're in the total wrong business. Modern times dictate that even selling EPs around town isn't going to be profitable. Pressing CDs is just a waste of time, and I won't do it anymore. When I release my band's debut, I'm going to do it on flash drives and practically give them out. They won't scratch, I don't have to print any retarded booklets, and people can just put the tunes on their computers and use the drives afterwards. It's win win over CDs. If people want to pay me for one, that's awesome and I'll take it as more of a gratuity. I'm not writing/recording/playing my tunes to make cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SnorkelMonkey Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 Well said. The problem you face is no one will buy your music unless they hear it first somehow, someway. Maybe they come to your show? They hear you, they buy? It used to be that a band could be signed to a record label and that record label would hire a go between to pay off the radio stations to play your songs. They hear you, they buy? The big labels are loosing their asses and these days they are basically only shelling out the big bucks on sure bet hit producing bands, and paying off radio stations to play their back catalogs. That's why when you turn on "alternative radio" lately it sounds more like classic rock than anything new and cutting edge. So back to what I was saying, if they don't hear you, they don't buy. So what's really the point? If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one to hear it does it make a sound? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alex W Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 So back to what I was saying, if they don't hear you, they don't buy. So what's really the point? If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one to hear it does it make a sound? If a tree in the forest falls on a mime does he make a sound? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SnorkelMonkey Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 If a tree in the forest falls on a mime does he make a sound? Only if it was you who cut down the tree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ben_allison Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 Yeah SAL, the three examples you gave from HCFX are peeps you've talked to here, or at least know of... so there's a relationship justifying the expense. How do you decide to buy music from band you've heard nothing of? There needs to be a point of contact... word of mouth? Internet/satellite radio? Opening for a band you're seeing? At some point... 10 times out of ten, you'd had to have heard their music for free to even know you WANTED to support them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members six acre lake Posted October 6, 2010 Author Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 Yes you need to get folks to hear your music in order for them to want to buy it. What's wrong with putting acouple songs up for folks to listen to, not download, and then have the album available to purchase? Or the way iTunes / amazon / bandcamp gives you a preview before purchasing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 I think there is weight to both sides. If you dig a song that a band played while you drank at some random bar down town, how hard is it to click download on itunes and add them to your collection? On the other hand marketing plays its roll too. Sometimes you give away music because you really do just want people to hear it. But I don't think you'd do that forever right? If you were touring the world in front of 1000s of fans, you wouldn't still be giving away the mp3s would you? Acting like no one pays for digital music anymore doesn't really jive with the fact that millions of dollars go to itunes every year. I don't think I'd give away one mp3 IF I didn't think it was going to get me 2 mp3 sales in the future... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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