MySpace
Facebook
iLike
Last.FM
Twitter
Flickr
June 18, 2007
“Devaluing” music and other nonsense
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how the internet messes with basic economics, especially in music. (Duh!)
I give away most of my music for free (or at least in exchange for an email address). This seems to bug other musicians. If you give away art for free, they say, it’s like saying “this music isn’t worth anything” and if you devalue your art, it hurts other artists who are trying to make money.
I think they’re wrong. I don’t think musicians get to assign value to their art anymore. That’s in the hands of the listener now. Actually, that’s probably always been the case.
Have you ever picked up a CD and thought “wow, this costs $18, it’s gotta be good!”
I don’t think people have ever bought music based on price. Lousy music is lousy music, whether it’s expensive, cheap or free. Music is weird that way, because we build so much of our identities around it, but we’re not willing to pay top dollar for it as we would a bottle of expensive scotch or sweet rims.
The real value in music is still emotional, right? It’s about how it makes you feel, what it says to you, what it says about you, etc. Whatever, the point here is that the listener decides if the music has value, and that value may not translate to dollars.
I’m pretty sure that’s the way it’s always been. What’s different today is no one has to wait for the radio to play it or pay $16 for a round piece of plastic.
Then there’s a whole side argument about whether giving away music is “unprofessional.” I don’t know the answer, but I suspect this question speaks volumes about the one who asks it.
I certainly don’t make a lot of money from my music. However, I make more now than I did in 1995, when all I had were CDs, and only radio and limited touring to promote them. More importantly, more people have heard my songs than ever would have back then. Would I turn back the clock? Hell no I wouldn’t.
How can something be unprofessional if it’s not part of your job? You play music because you love it, not because it’s what pays your bills.
Read some Seth Godin. It’s almost a given than those complaining about giving away music just aren’t smart enough to follow your example.
I am notoriously tightfisted; I work hard for my money and don’t waste it. Yet, even though I had every MP3 you’ve given away, I’ve bought ever album you’ve done as it became available. Why? *because I knew your music was great and I wanted to ‘own’ it, not just borrow it*
Even if the artist gives away the MP3, the lack of a physical medium has a de-franchising effect on me (and I suspect, on others.) Similar to (although skewed a little ;) the fact that, since we don’t have my Dad’s ashes in a little urn somewhere, his death 20 years ago is still a little unreal to me.
Humans are visual and tactile. Having an MP3 on our hard drive, however nice it is, doesn’t prevent us from wanting ‘the real thing’ - and giving away your music is *brilliant* marketing, *not* unprofessional behaviour, darnit!
What a timely post, I’ve seen Andrew Dubber and Bob Lefsetz talking about this lately, and I saw a post by a NY Venture Capitalist entitled “Free the New Business Model”. I think younger listeners are used to getting music for free, and it’s got to be at least some part of your strategy anymore. Even the Bare Naked Ladies tried it with Amie Street music, I’d like to know how it’s working for a band with the kind of following they have.
Lets face it, musicians (the kind that didn’t make it by being on reality TV) are natural show-offs. That’s why they slog on doing gigs that don’t pay much, because they like playing, and they like playing for people. The more people that hear them, the better. The money is just icing. I can’t imagine another musician faulting you for giving your stuff away. Maybe it’s sour grape on their part, it’s yours to do with what you want. You’ve got a strategy that’s working for you, a lot of the big labels can’t say the same at this juncture…
I can’t imagine another musician faulting you for giving your stuff away.
Granted, these people are few and far between, but you wouldn’t believe some of the animosity they have towards those who are generally cool with filesharing. They think we are undermining their business prospects.
The argument that one artist giving away his music devalues another artist’s music makes absolutely NO SENSE. You are absolutely right–nobody buys music just because of the price. Music is not a commodity. People buy music because they LIKE the music. You could price an opera CD for fifty cents–I’m not going to buy it because I’m not a fan of opera. I don’t care how little it costs. Price doesn’t change that.
One artist has nothing to do with another artist. This isn’t the same as something like peanuts. If one farmer decides to give away his peanut crop, of course it will affect other farmers because it’s the same product. But a song by Joe Schmoe is NOT the same as a song by Fred Shred.
I see a lot of independent musicians who subscribe to this bizarre logic, and I can’t help but think they are just trying to rationalize and excuse away their own lack of success.
The real problem, if the goal is to make a living in music, is that there are a huge amount of artists in the world compared to the amount of money people are actually spending on music. Unless something is so incredibly unique and irresistable about one’s own music, or one has a really good marketing strategy, then it is not going to be easy to make a living in music. This was true before music was available for free, and I’m sure it is still just as true today.
Nevertheless, I still wonder what will happen as more and more musicians give music away as a part of their strategy. This might ultimately cause the idea of actually paying for recorded music to be old fashioned. Or maybe paying for music will be akin to a donation or like throwing money in a tip jar. Maybe the odds of making decent living by getting people to pay for recorded music will be even less than….the already slim odds of making a decent living by getting people to pay for recorded music. ;-)
A single stream of income is an old-fashioned idea. ‘Selling my music’ has to be a multi-stream concept to work.
I’ve worked for a single employer, taking their firehose of money the whole time. And when it shuts off, I’m scrambling for the next thing. These days, I have my hand in web dev, business analysis, performing, writing (prose and music), promoting, videography, and loads of other little trickles.
If a musician wants to live off the single concept of selling their music, they’re sunk because their business model is wrong, regardless of the quality of their music. Even Mark Knopfler made boatloads of money scoring movies, which he said was much more financially rewarding than recording original stuff and playing the guitar better than anyone alive (my subjectiveness, not his.)
If you get past the obsolete idea of living on a single stream of revenue, giving away MP3s of your music becomes a marketing strategy, a business cost, instead of ‘giving something away’ - and when your competition complains about what you’re doing, it’s a guarantee you’re doing the right thing!
I pretty much agree with spinhead in that there’s a marked difference between making a living making music and making a living selling music. There’s a lot more options with the former — with the latter, you’re more or less confined to selling CDs or MP3s. The question is whether all these smaller streams in aggregate can replace a working wage, I guess.
One thing I myself haven’t explored is licensing. I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to purchase pre-cleared music for commercial use just like clip art. In fact, Getty Images’ acquisition of Pump Audio seems to foretell this.
Seth Godin must have been listening in - this audio bit at Hear2 is a perfect explanation of why giving away music is A Good Thing: http://www.hear2.com/2007/06/7-days-of-set-1.html
And it seems like *everyone* is talking about it; this time, it’s Bob Baker: http://bob-baker.blogspot.com/2007/06/bob-baker-on-nprs-morning-edition-today.html
[...] “Devaluing” music and other nonsense [...]