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The future of music sales for independent labels.
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andrew interchill
IsraTrance Junior Member
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435
Posted : May 5, 2011 03:58
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@ iTranscendence - the challenge would be to position this offer in places where people share, and also i suspect there's not a lot of loyalty or love from the sharers in the first place... they seek out what they want, they take it, they move on - they don't close the loop back to the source, or even see why they should. I guess a discount on something uncopyable might be some incentive.
@ V3nom... coating earnings wages - not sure what you mean. costs for artwork ? depends on who does it and the arrangement made. It is not hidden - the amount appears [or should appear] on the royalty statement. It is not public info though. I can tell you that all our album deals are a 50/50 of the profits.
you say.... "Whenever an artist makes a claim against a label nobody base ever put up a contract or any official documentation to support either case. I gather then that real contracts do not exist?..."
non sequitur.... and again, these things are not forum fodder which is why they are not made public - and if there was a disagreement, it isn't going to be resolved in the court of isratrance public opinion. I know of some artists who did not sign contracts with their label, but for the most part contracts are standard. i've seen some pretty dodgy ones and also lots of normal ones. If anyone wants help negotiating a contract we can assist in weeding out the dodgy clauses ! I used to do it as a favor... but now that's part of our business. It pays to know what you're signing.
i don't think music has stopped being an art as you suggest.
We certainly would never try and write in that an artist has to produce a certain sound... if anyone tries that one on then save yourself future pain and move on.
The truth is that most artists are going to be releasing their own music now. Whether it is better or worse, or right or wrong is beside the point. If anyone wants assistance with their projects then get in touch !
  Interchill - Label - Publisher - Consulting - Artist Services |
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grahf
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107
Posted : May 5, 2011 09:33
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I'd just like to say that I love the shit out of Bandcamp because they make it so damn easy to buy, have full previews, and don't charge a lossless tax like Beatport does.
Ten years ago when I first started listening to psy music the only way to "try before you buy" was napster, audiogalaxy, gnutella, etc. I never would have found this music, and begun purchasing it, if it were not for those download services. Now in 2011 we have Bandcamp and Soundcloud where it's easy to give a full album preview, so the need for filesharing is reduced somewhat, at least in my mind. There's plenty enough freely offered music to keep me occupied anyway. I do think that psytrance and chillout labels (whatever you perceive those to be) are largely behind the times - Altar and Interchill have Bandcamp pages and that immediately puts them ahead of most. If an album is only available at, say, psyshop and/or saikosounds - that's an immediate negative - short previews, long and expensive international shipping, inconsistent stocking. It's possible I'll send my money elsewhere unless there's something I really really want.
I seem to buy a lot more music than most of my friends, who are mostly satisfied with free stuff or youtube streams. It's tough - DJs and audiophile fans are about the only consistent consumers, because they care about quality. |
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iTranscendence
IsraTrance Junior Member
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386
Posted : May 5, 2011 11:24
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Andrew, you'd probably be surprised how many would link back to you as long as they knew you weren't going to try and prosecute them for sharing your music.
This may not be the case in the aspect of RIAA labels because they are conglomerates, but small indie labels with niche music have niche listeners who are community based; even within file sharing circles; which means even a filesharer of your type of music is generally going to be the same type of person who pursues your music anyway.
blip.fm/itranscendence |
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andrew interchill
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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435
Posted : May 5, 2011 11:47
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So how to reach these people ?
Interchill - Label - Publisher - Consulting - Artist Services |
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iTranscendence
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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386
Posted : May 5, 2011 14:14
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well there are a couple ways I could see expediting a process like that. One would be to make a decision to reach out to file sharers on any public profiles for a label or artist to make statements. twiter/fb/myspace/homepage . Another would be to themselves or with others help hunt down through every blog tracker etc sharing the work and post comments and message the uploader or poster.
Once you had built a reputation being about something like this however, I'm pretty confident it would become largely self-perpetuating within the sharing community.
blip.fm/itranscendence |
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The Chilling Spirit
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Posted : May 5, 2011 17:42
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I am going to read this thread later but here is a random hippie idea:
I don't like labels, I want to give my money directly to the artist. Period. I also do not want to pay for all my music nor the price an artists might ask. But that is a different topic.
My idea would be that instead of being "booked by"(?) a label, artists could instead form or fund interest groups which would serve for marketing and whatever else they need (anything?!). Artists would give money to those unions/groups for their services. Artists themselves could be the ones who do the work.
Generally about making money with music, I think it is a flawed and ultimately bad idea. I don't think any artist has a "right" to make money by selling recordings/copies of his music. I have zero sympathy for people who sell recorded music and whine about people who download/preview their music for free. I wish people would simply not care about commercial music alltogether.
There is a lot of fantastic genuinely free music out there. It is more than enough for me. There are people who care more about the music than the money. http://enjoys.it |
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andrew interchill
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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Posts :
435
Posted : May 5, 2011 20:08
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@ Chilling Spirit - It does not follow that because someone wants to license or sell their music that they care more about money than they do about music. non sequitur.
You say they don't have a right to make money from selling their music. Explain why a person who creates something should not retain the rights in and to their creation ?
Clearly they have a right to do whatever they want with it. And you say they don't ?
Interchill - Label - Publisher - Consulting - Artist Services |
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BraneFreeze
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Posted : May 5, 2011 22:24
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I think Bandcamp is definitely the way to go for many reasons: full track previews, high quality digital distribution, better revenue splits for artists, ease of purchase, etc. However, if you want file sharers to pay for music then the prices have to come down. Given the total amount of music available from all artists and sources, $10+ for a digital album (ie, $1+ per track) is a deal breaker for me. I have two recommendations. First, the price per track has to come down to somewhere around $0.50 (with an additional discount if you purchase the entire album). Second, single artist albums might do better if there were only 4-6 tracks per album.
I think most people understand that artists deserve to be compensated, but our understanding of fair payment today is not based on historically bloated CD prices. |
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The Chilling Spirit
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332
Posted : May 5, 2011 22:30
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calm down andrew, I put right in quotation marks for a reason. Everyone has the right to do anything he/she wants with their creation. I meant that there is no "law" if that word makes it more clear. They can try selling, but they might utterly fail for various reasons.
http://enjoys.it |
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andrew interchill
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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Posts :
435
Posted : May 6, 2011 00:37
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I'm not sure i fully get what difference putting a word in " " means...
sure - people will succeed or fail for all number of reasons. Nobody has an automatic right to success - is that what you meant ? If so I fully agree.
Bandcamp is good - it was our friend Brett here talking about cheaper lossless downloads that got me to set up our account. Their download codes are also useful for promos.
Interchill - Label - Publisher - Consulting - Artist Services |
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dymons
Dymons
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62
Posted : Jun 13, 2011 03:23
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spatialize
Started Topics :
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59
Posted : Jun 15, 2011 22:11
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Quote:
| My idea would be that instead of being "booked by"(?) a label, artists could instead form or fund interest groups which would serve for marketing and whatever else they need (anything?!). Artists would give money to those unions/groups for their services. Artists themselves could be the ones who do the work.
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you mean like a collective of artists on one website, selling their own music direct via bandcamp and digital stores? and profiting from the association with other similar artists without surrendering the rights in their work to anyone else? i think bakshish was pointing towards this type of set-up....
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andrew interchill
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
26
Posts :
435
Posted : Jun 15, 2011 22:27
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I'm finding bandcamp increasingly useful - especially now with the buy the cd get the download function.
you can make headway with pre -orders and such and then deliver for distribution elsewhere.
it also allows the artist / label a chance to interact with fans. when people get sent to psyshop or beatspace for example, we have zero involvement and about 30% of the income.
these are great times - in spite of all the copying, there are more and more opportunities to get your music out there, get paid and build a fanbase.
Interchill - Label - Publisher - Consulting - Artist Services |
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damon
IsraTrance Full Member
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2122
Posted : Jun 15, 2011 23:10
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I think price drop for digital releases would make a helluva difference.
Remember those days when digital was being advertised as a cheaper alternative to cd? 
http://www.chillumafia.com |
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BraneFreeze
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Posted : Jun 15, 2011 23:35
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Quote:
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On 2011-06-15 23:10, damon wrote:
I think price drop for digital releases would make a helluva difference.
Remember those days when digital was being advertised as a cheaper alternative to cd?
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And CD prices were originally expected to become lower than vinyl LPs, but the record labels never let it happen. So current digital music prices are, to a certain extent, based on vinyl prices from 25-30 years ago.
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