Internet and Merchandising Good For Indie Media

Snotty Pippen writes "A new study online (and its long) compares online revenue streams with brick and mortar ones for converting content into cash, and uses web comics as a basis of comparison. Metrist Partners note the study agrees with looks at indie music, that indicate the web is the place for distribution and that merchandising is where the real money is. T Campbell, who writes a bunch of web comics and edits Graphic Smash, bemoans it didn't come out before he wrote the chapter on money for his forthcoming book on web comics."

Comments

Re:Indie Music

[saddino]

Check out Not Lame for a site with a similar indie vibe, though more geared towards indie/alt power pop.

CD Baby, by the way, is a great way for indie and unsigned bands to get online music service distribution as well as CD sales. The tracks off my band's CD are just about on every online music store (iTunes, Rhapsody, etc.) thanks to CD Baby. Did I mention how cool CD Baby is? :-)

It's just the long tail at work here

[Skim123]

A short number of publications (be it art, music, novels, journalism, etc.) are 'hits.' The vast, vast, vast majority are non-hits. But with the Internet's capability of having virtually unlimited shelf space, along with the ability to have 'recommendations' from like-minded folks, the revenue generated by long tail items typically exceeds the revenue generated by the concentraded number of 'hits.'

This concept is explored in much greater detail in Chris Anderson's blog, The Long Tail, and his accompanying article, also named The Long Tail.