2007 - Rock Star Life Cycle
Bruce Warila
in Promotion, Business Advice For Artists, The Free Music Option
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2 Comments
This is a graphical comment on yesterday's announcement that Universal is stopping artists from posting full songs on MySpace. You can read about the announcement on Wired's website.
When I thought about Universal's edict in terms of the artist mentioned - Colbie Caillat, I thought - Colbie and her signing to Universal, plus Universal's proclamation - fits into a model every artist should think about.
The graph below illustrates round estimates for one artist.
Fan = someone that would buy a ticket, buy music, and/or seriously support the artist.
During the WHAT EVER IT TAKES phase, all of your MP3s should be free. You need to get that first 200,000 fans listening to your music and spreading the word.
Once you get ON THE RADAR, some portion of the population will buy your songs because using platforms like iTunes is more convenient.
Somewhere between ON THE RADAR and ON YOUR WAY a record label gets involved and a logical attempt is made to stop the free-song-party. However, some portion of the population will continue to obtain your songs for free.
Once you become ESTABLISHED, the larger percentage of your songs will be paid for.
Once you become a ROCK STAR you can do what ever you want!
Note: when I refer to "paid", I am referring to all forms of paid music, not just MP3 downloads. The MP3 download business is a model that will be disrupted by new recorded-music products and services in the future.
I realize Universal is halting full-song streaming on MySpace; however, this is an attempt to get "paid" for music by somebody, or some company (Fox). 30 seconds sells songs on iTunes; 90 seconds should get the job done?
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Reader Comments (2)
Given the assumptions that
A) in thes same manner that the universe tends toward entropy, music tends toward getting distributed notionally 10x more than it is paid for (if it is any good),
and
B) musicians enjoy their work, and will do it for free or cheap, but only to a point:
I think we're going to see a business trend towards 'extreme sponsorship'. That is, companies will sponsor bands or singers, who will be part of the product promotion racket, and that will be the primary source of income for the musicians, not album sales. I’m not talking about the Bud Light concert series with a handful of bands that are hoping to get signed. I’m talking about “if you’re sponsored by Bud Light, that’s it, that’s your job”. It is entirely possible that teams of musicians could get traded like football players some time off in the future. I’m thinking that primarily liquor companies would get into the rap business, beer into the rock business, and teen-clothing in the bubblegum pop business.
For instance…what do you think it would do for Gap, if Britney Spears (back in the day) was well known for *Only wearing Gap clothing*. How much money would Gap have made?
Everyone gets what they want (sort of). "Jediah" (we'll use Jed as an example) gets paid for his music, and his music goes nationwide. Bud has an employee paid in the traditional employee-pay sense, regardless of how much they pay him, and he's ostensibly a marketing cost. Jed’s CDs are distributed at venues, but not at stores--they're free. His MP3s are freely downloadable. The key to success is to basically keep "Jediah" branded so heavily with Bud Light that you can't look at Jed without thinking about Bud Light. The artist gets out of the feast / famine cycle of “must release a CD to keep food on the table”, but has steady pressure to promote and market for the company. In a sense, this industry somewhat exists, but in a limited partnership sort of way.
Petey Pablo shouts “I want to send a shout out to Seagrams, because I drink it, and they’re payin’ me for it”. I had to look up who sang the song, but I remembered the shout out to Seagrams.
The only problem with that model is that musicians do things they shouldn’t do. Whereas Axl Rose hooked on heroin sold millions of tapes, and no doubt could sell millions of bottles of Bud, if he was solely sponsored by Bud, Bud would then become a target of anti-drug groups. Axl would be used as a scapegoat for anyone looking to damage Bud. Of course, they sponsor all sorts of stuff that could make you raise an eyebrow, and they’re getting away without a problem.
In the future, musicians will be paid for product endorsement or live shows. Live shows will be local, or they will be on the backs of marketing giants, not record labels. The RIAA can see that record labels are going to go the way of the dodo, and the only people who are going to be unionized are the artists themselves, not the producers of the artists.
I've spent the last hour reading your blog. Thanks for the boost in knowledge and eye opening.