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Promoting Musical Artists in the Post-RIAA Music World?
Mattcelt asks: "While we're all discussing the eventual demise of the RIAA and the triumph of the MP3, what should a small independent music publishing company do to sell a new artist to the public? My publishing company recently ran a $4,000 advertising campaign on a local radio station (107.9 the Link in Charlotte, NC). Despite reaching an average audience of more than 10,000 during peak times, we netted *0* sales. That's right, absolutely nothing. I've made the entire album available in MP3 format on the Ephelian Records website to facilitate adoption, and I know some people have downloaded the songs, but I can't figure out why no one has pre-ordered the CD. How does an indie artist make a living when gig prices for unknown artists will barely cover the gas money and CDs won't sell? Are we really wrong about the availability of MP3s affecting music sales?"
I've made the entire album available in MP3 format on the Ephelian Records website to facilitate adoption, and I know some people have downloaded the songs, but I can't figure out why no one has pre-ordered the CD.
Er, dude...
Sorry to be so harsh, but as someone who has sent good money to indie artists just because I liked the MP3s I downloaded for free, if the talent is there, the dollars will follow (well, some at least).
You could've hired me.
Not sure, but how many people preorder anything except what they know is going to be hard to get when it first comes out, like software, consols & games, and certain books.
Unless the band is extreamly hot and popular in the region, why would anyone bother to preorder, when they can just pick it up whenever it comes out, if they want the CD?
Well, I don't know the answer for other bands, but it seems like getting linked on Slashdot is a good approach.
Solution to blink tags: wrap them in another blink tag, with a javascript delay loop, so they cancel each other out
How does an indie artist make a living when gig prices for unknown artists will barely cover the gas money and CDs won't sell?
Get a job.
I've made the entire album available in MP3 format on the Ephelian Records website to facilitate adoption, and I know some people have downloaded the songs, but I can't figure out why no one has pre-ordered the CD.
.nfo describe the release, a .sfv that verifies the checksums, and all packaged in a nice RAR file. Now put it on Kazaa, and share it on "release" priority on eMule on the eDonkey network.
I suggest you encode it in pristine ogg VBR @ 320kbps. Also, include scans of the album cover and back, a nice
Oh, did you ask how to make money off it? Err, nevermind...
Well, one way to make sales would be to post on slashdot mentioning that you might be wavering on your belief that MP3 sharing may not be all it's cracked up to be... Ahh, I see, you're way ahead of me!
"Post-RIAA world"? Quickly, quarentine Cliff - he has Jon Katz disease!
(Actually, this being Memorial Day, I must admit I actually miss JK sometimes..)
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I would ask this: Is your album available in stores, or only via on-line ordering? If it is only available on-line, how easy to remember is the URL?
Consider where people listen to the radio - I would say mostly in their cars. Now, here I am, driving along, and on comes your ad. First of all, my ad filter wetware comes online - I hit the button to skip to a new station, or I blank out what is going on.
OK, so let's say your ad plays a snippet of the music in question, and I listen to it and say "Huh, that's kinda cool. Who is this?" Then your ad says "That was a sample of Scab - Now the Puss Flows Freely, available for download and purchase at www.fbq39x34.com/~tqxir/49912/pxj36.asp". Now, even if you said that slowly enough I could copy it, I'm not going to whip out a pen and paper and copy that while weaving through downtown traffic.
That's part of why the RIAA is still pertainent in this world. If all I can remember is the group name (and maybe not even that all that well) and if the group is in Worst Buy, I can find it. But if I have to find them online, and if all I have is some common words that don't lend themselves to Googling....
Last but not least: how does your website handle orders? Do you hid things behind layers of Flash and Javascript? Do you work only with Exploiter? Do you not accept credit cards?
Ask yourself this: if I wanted to buy that album, how many impediments are in my way?
www.eFax.com are spammers