The Life: Financing and the Independent

With the emergence of releasing music on the Internet, access to any artist has become virtually easy. But, for the independent upcoming artist, access to a wide range of consumers can be difficult.  This can easily be the end of a great artists career.  Exposure is huge! But it does cost money to be seen on the internet.  
Crowd Funding:
According to NPR.org (2012), "Musicians do have to spend money and a lot of time to hit their crowd-funding goals, so failure is expensive. But for some people, at specific moments in their careers, crowd funding can be a piece of the puzzle." The article goes on to say, "By now, everyone's

heard of Kickstarter, the website that lets people with an idea or project ask other people to contribute toward realizing it. It's called crowd funding, and this summer's big success story was musician Amanda Palmer. She raised more than $1 million to produce her new album. But crowd funding doesn't work for every musician every time." Crowd funding is a viable way to build your brand and increase your demographic reach.  But it does take away from the artistry and musicianship on an individual.  Your job can easily become fund raiser and not singer, songwriter and etc. 
Even though crowd funding can be beneficial, building a business plan to incur finances in traditional ways can be more beneficial.  A business plan can guide you and your project for three years. This can be a great guideline for a musician. So in addition to using the plan to gain funds, the business plan is for you. Artists like Macklemore and Ryan Leslie used business plans to incur funds and it has proved successful for these two artists.  These artists can compete on a major scale and have been able to stay independent.  

Gaining funds and allocating them to the proper channels and hiring the right help is beneficial. An artist one stop shop is look at negatively today. Has an artist ever sent you an inbox message saying, "Download my hot fire!!!" What is your first reaction? Mostly, if you do or don't know the artist, you would see the artist as a pest and overlook the message.  Hiring someone to do this correctly can have a positive effect on the outcome. This sole reason can be the benefit of finding financing for an artists project.  There is a whole article at noiseyvice.com who's title is, "WHY ARE SO MANY MUSICIANS SO BAD AT CROWDFUNDING?". The article talks about how a potato salad crowd fund was better than any musicians." But there are many successes in attaining funds. 
Use your time wisely and plan! Plan to build funds and gain investments financially and non monetary in the form of time from mentors and business PROFESSIONALS. 
References:
http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2012/09/25/161702900/crowd-funding-for-musicians-isnt-the-future-its-the-present
http://noisey.vice.com/blog/why-are-so-many-musicians-bad-at-crowdfunding
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/technology/personaltech/crowdfunding-tips-for-turning-inspiration-into-reality.html?_r=0
http://www.songkick.com/artists/472109-ryan-leslie

The Stage: The Internet V. the Stage

The lights are low as the crowd waits in anticipation.  Ticket holders have stood in line for a good amount of time to see the headliner.  No matter what the weather was earlier in the day or what happened at work, fans wait with the utmost excitement to see and share an experience with an artist.  Finally, the lights come up and the curtain opens.  The announcer screams with the same passion the artists name and all the stress and waiting does not matter anymore.  The show has begun!  This is my experience at live shows and I know that I am not alone.  This post is going to look into the impact of live shows.

According to billboard.com, “Peoples G. (2015) writes, “Acquisitions and steady demand for live music pushed up Live Nation's revenue, but the promotion and ticketing giant saw its bottom line fall in 2014.  Live Nation's net loss to shareholders more than doubled to $186.5 million from $82 million in 2013, as revenue grew 6 percent to $6.87 billion.”  The article goes on to say, “the 76 stadium shows in North America "the strongest driver of fan growth.”  North American attendance grew 5.6 percent to 40 million, while the number of concerts increased a milder 2.4 percent.”  Therefore, people are going to live music shows and the demand is consistently growing for these shows.  Nevertheless, how does this correlate with selling units and independent artists?

In my experience as an independent artist that sells units, it is much easier for me to do this when I create a demand and almost an impulse for audiences to want to buy.  This strategy has been most effective with the accompaniment of a live performance.  Moreover, most people need to see what you have got on stage before you can make an impact with them for digital sales and social media attention. 

Nowadays, most independent, or artists just starting up have seen the light of the “free mix tape.”  Websites like Datpiff.com or hotnewhiphop.com have given these artists the opportunity of viewership in a large pool of other artists with the same ambition.  If you talk to any unknown artist, most would say this is a strategy of theirs, but what do the numbers tell us?  There are literally thousands of mix tapes on Datpiff.com alone.  Nevertheless, there is still light!

According to musicbizacademy.com, Knab C. (2001) writes, “As far as a record label is concerned, the sole purpose of supporting an artist's tour is the strong possibility that sales of the artist's records will increase.  For the independent musician then, the cardinal rule regarding sales at live shows is this: Never perform live without setting up a way to sell your CDs. “ This is the way of a true Jedi!  However, there is a need in today’s music republic to have access to free or streaming music.  My advice to any new or seasoned independent is, NEVER FORGET THE STAGE!

References:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6487350/live-nation-earnings-2014-loss-deepens-as-revenue-soars

http://www.musicbizacademy.com/knab/articles/liveperf.htm

Pics:
http://www.mtv.com/artists/jay-z/photos/4252259/
http://www.learn2rap.com/5-mixtape-sites-to-help-push-your-next-mixtape-release/

The Life: Is Streaming the New CD?

According to theguardian.com, “by the end of 2014, 37m people around the world will be paying for streaming music, while 210m will be listening for free on advertising-supported services.”  Streaming is huge!  With services like Spotify, Pandora and Tidal, streaming music is a reality.  According to billboard.com, Agegote Y. (2014) writes, “Spotify has grown to more than 3 million paying subscribers in less than three years since launching here in July 2011.

The last time Spotify revealed user numbers in March 2013, it had 6 million paying subscribers globally. A key part of Spotify’s strategy is to offer free access to various levels of its service. It now has more than 40 million monthly active users including the 10 million paying subs – one in four.”  With the recent emergence of Tidal, huge entertainment figures are claiming ground in the music-streaming frontier.  Therefore, as you can see, streaming is a viable aspect of music consumption today.  Nevertheless, has it replaced the compact disc?

According to rollingstone.com, Kreps D. (2015) writes, “Digital and CD sales experienced staggering drops as nearly a fifth of music buyers stopped shopping for albums at major retailers.  Only 257 million albums – be it CD, vinyl or digital – were sold in 2014, an 11 percent drop from 2013's 289 million "Total Albums Sold" tally.”

Streaming numbers are up and physical cd sales are down.  With all these things considered, something feels missing.

I consider myself a serious music consumer.  I love to find new and upcoming acts, read bios, view visual art and of course, buy music.  With streaming becoming the industry standard, elements of music consumption are going extinct.  Everyone can remember the tragedy of September 11 2001.  Music was my only escape from the events that happened.  I can still remember everything vividly.  I closed my shop early where I worked.  The only thing open was the music store.  I brought Jay Z’s, “The Blueprint” and Fabolous’, “Street Dreams.”  I can remember ripping the plastic off the CD’s as I made my way home.  As the music blasted in my ears, I looked through the CD booklets’ pictures, lyrics and credits.  I will never forget this experience.  I cannot have this experience with a stream or even a digital I tunes download.  It’s just the music.  The only element of visual or written art included with streaming is usually the album cover.  Not too many artists include lyrics, contributors and additional album art.  Music is suiting itself more for the “leisure” listeners.  Listeners that do not need all the accouterment, just the basic needs; a beat, vocal melody with sparing lyrics.

There are still consumers looking for a solid music experience.  The same article at rollingstone.com, Kreps D. (2015) goes on to say, “Vinyl continues to be a noteworthy music industry trend, and in 2014, the 12-inch had its best year in decades, selling 9.2 million units.  That's a 51.8 percent increase over 2013.”  Vinyl is a very outdated form of audio technology trumped by the 8-track, cassette, cd and now streaming.  People are still buying vinyl.  Vinyl provides a unique experience.  Even the sound of vinyl records is different.  This article can interpret a need for a better-rounded music experience that people need today.

In conclusion, streaming is a great way to consume music.  There are elements missing with this system but there can be technological advances to fill these holes.  I can say personally, I am not a streamer.  I love the physical feel of music.  In the occasion that I do stream, I do not feel the connection from the artist.  The music is more party oriented and the lyrics can be lacking substance to create timeless art.  Is music becoming a business and leaving the realm of art?  This is another discussion…

References:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/29/music-streams-downloads-mark-mulligan

http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/6092226/spotify-now-has-10-million-paid-subscribers-3-million

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/streaming-vinyl-rises-amid-declining-album-sales-in-nielsens-2014-report-20150108

Pictures:

http://worldofgnome.org/goobox-vs-sound-juicer/

http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/03/artist-owned-streaming-service-tidal-promises-to-to-re-establish-the-value-of-music/

The Life: Signed V Unsigned

 There has always been a rift between independent artists and artists signed to a major label.  Which one is better?  Which one has the best chance for exposure?  Which one is the most lucrative?  These are a few points of view from both sides.  These points can suggest which one is better, signed or unsigned.  More recently, especially since I started my radio station, which caters to independent artists; I have noticed something very interesting. Independent artists today follow many music industry trends and laws. This takes the creativity and freedom away from the independent and they may not ever recognize this. 

I wonder why this action has been happening lately. Is it because the independents feel that in order to compete with majors, they have to be just as an artist signed to a major label?  According to Quora.com, Josh Briggs, a music publisher at Terror Bird Publishing writes, "While this would be nearly impossible to calculate, I'd say there are easily tens of thousands, not counting every kid that gets a guitar for his or her Birthday.  The SXSW Festival and the unrelated events surrounding it host upwards of 3,000 bands, the vast majority of which we could define as "independent."  In 2012, "independent" music made up 32.6% of all music sales." To put 32.6% in perspective, an article at Rollingstone.com, Kreps, D. (2015) writes, "Streaming was up in a big way in 2014 with 78.6 billion audio streams to go with 85.3 billion video views.  That marked a 54.5 percent increase over the total streams in 2013.”  Therefore, independents accounted for 53,431,400,000 streams and video views.  That is just streams.  This huge number proves that independents can compete with artists signed to a major label.  Therefore, what is the need to want to do what the industry does?  There are so many great opportunities and demographics an independent can serve.  In addition, there is so much creativity lost when you try to appeal to the massive "Pop" crowd.  Maybe these independents are unaware of this huge number.  Maybe these independents lack the business acumen to complete market research.  After writing this, this may actually be the case.  I do not see many independents watching the careers of fellow hugely successful independent artists like Ryan Leslie.  If you do not feel he meets your bar for successful artists, and article at Huffingtonpost.com (2012) states this, "Singer Ryan Leslie has lost a lawsuit over the reward for a stolen laptop, and must pay $1 million to the man who recovered and returned the computer.”  In order to be sued for that million, I'm pretty sure you have to have access to that type of cash.

So in conclusion, stay strong, remain creative.  Independence is freedom, and freedom is everything.

-City-

Pic Ref: http://www.independentmusicawards.com/imanominee/10th/design/concert-photography