As I think about new models in music and money (and whether there is even any reason to try to make music and get it out to people when the musiconomical climate is so bleak), I sometimes come across essays that save me the trouble of having to explore a topic. Here's "Don't Overestimate Free" on Between the Music.
http://cameronmizell.blogspot.com/2008/10/dont-overestimate-free.html
There's a lot of hype about just giving your music away for free.
"Think of the exposure! So many more people will hear it and buy your concert tickets and t-shirts! They'll all want to buy your albums in the future!"
But this is false. It works well in theory, seems to make sense, so it gets all that hype. Using a completely unfounded statistic based on zero research other than what I've been reading by music industry theorists, I've concluded that 99.9% of those that hype the "Power of Free" are not musicians trying to break through obscurity.
Everyone can think of a time they turned down something free. Why'd you do it?
-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-
Posts
1 comments:
Really good point, and the more that I'm in--and study--the business of music, the less-inclined I am to believe that free downloads where the artist gets zero compensation are good for musicians.
I think the argument "musicians don't make much money off of sales, anyway" is rubbish. Sure, the mechanical royalties aren't much, but something is better than nothing. If there's no financial incentive to make music, no one is going to make music.
Post a Comment