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Why Are You Giving Your Music Away?


six acre lake

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I have seen so many folks here just give their music away for free by offering free downloads etc.


Assuming you and your band spent time and money to make a record wouldnt you want an opportunity to recoup some costs?


Selling your record and other mer h is a great way for a band to make a little scratch. If your record is available for free though what is the incentive for folks to buy the real thing?


I'm just curious about this seemingly counter intuitive marketing plan.

 

 

It's a very 20th century business mindset you've got there.

 

These days, it's becoming more and more common that music is free. Plenty of unknown bands are putting their stuff out there for free. Even some established and wildly popular acts are putting their stuff out there for free. And, even if the artist isn't putting it out there themselves, it's pretty easy to get just about anyone's music for free, if you want to.

 

The genie isn't going back in the bottle. But, there are still a million ways to make a profit off your music, even if you are giving away the recordings for free (see the "How does Facebook make money" thread). You just have to be more creative.

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I'd rather have someone listen to it than no one at all.

 

 

+1

 

Making money should be secondary to sharing the message, your craft, or whatever reasoning you have behind the actual creation/production. Now a days everyone is cheap, I know I am. I spend the money on my family, gear, and a date night or two a month, if we have the rents watch our girl. I ask for CDs for holidays/birthdays but if it's good stuff, I'll buy it, if the funds are available.

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In the meantime, and from now on, media is free once its digital. Stop clinging to it. The last 50 years have been a cultural blip, the likes of which will never be seen again. We're in transition. Transition is scary. So what? Start thinking about what's missing from the picture and how you can make that picture better for yourself and your musical community. Hint: it won't involve anything that was previously considered tried and true. That {censored}'s dead. Looking up in the clouds to rock stars that will never happen again won't help you or anyone else. Look around you, to those right next to you. What do they need to make their lives easier?

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I don't give my music away.

I still pay for music, too.

 

 

 

There is an emotional tug to do that, one that I understand. I pay too, but I'm still aware that musical recordings as a product are more or less doomed as a primary revenue stream. In the future it's going to be supplemental at best.

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There is an emotional tug to do that, one that I understand. I pay too, but I'm still aware that musical recordings as a product are more or less doomed as a primary revenue stream. In the future it's going to be supplemental at best.

 

 

Ha ha. Trust me, I did not mean to imply that my music brings in a primary revenue. Merch sales in the band I recently parted ways with actually was our primary revenue, but I know we were an exception.

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/rant

 

 

Devi..... you're not everyone. Barely anyone but artists and musicians think like that. I'd like your attitude to be more pervasive, more representative of the population, but the amount of people who want to purchase shiny and non-shiny spinning objects is very slim. How do people interact with music on a day to day basis? iPod on public transit and iPod in car (ie 1011010111010 10 1101 10). I agree that it makes it seem more "official" and it certainly makes the album as a purchase seem closer to art, but in the end the amount of people who want the deluxe shiny spinning object with paper ain't gonna pay the bills.

 

Sounds harsh, particularly because I too am a fan of the deluxe shiny spinning object with paper

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no one on HCFX will ever make it past "cover band earning some money to go to the crocodile show with the family".


its a fact


all the good bands that are making money....theyre not sitting on their ass typing at some dumb forum....theyre out there rocking.

 

 

I spent two of the last two-and-a-half years where my sole income was from the band I was playing in and I traveled the world while I was doing it.

I also enjoyed then and enjoy now sitting on my ass for a bit each day and participating in this dumb forum.

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i think its fruitless at this point to frame this as a moral issue. blaming it on illegal filesharing or free d/l is just a pointless dead end. its merely a paltry excuse for WANTING ppl to buy yr crappy-ass music. ppl aren't forced to buy bad records based on hype & "clever" marketing anymore. & now you're mad at ppl whom give it away for free & they get attention and you don't. there was a time when music used to be FREE. you didn't pay for it. you made it on the front porch w/ yr family in the evening or you listened to tribal drums w/ communal singing that contained oral histories in yr village. slaves & sharecroppers sang fields hollers while working backbreakinglabor all day for NOTHING. so {censored} yr little stupid worthless MP3 i want MUSIC.

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So there ia a question here: How important is to make money from music to you?

 

Seems that those that see themselves as an "artist" insist on being paid for their "creations" . But the Market no longer pays for that..

 

For these that see music as a hobby for the soul, but get their income from somewhere else, is easier to them to give it for free, so people will listen. Strangely enough this approach is working better today, as nobody buys CDs anymore but still people is willing to go to live concerts. So live shows is where the remaining money is left.. And you have to be good to keep people comming!

 

I kind of like this second approach.. People will be free again to play whatever they want to, no strings attached to record companies or a bull{censored} pop market.

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