GrindEFX

Brian Mazzaferri, lead singer of independent rock back I Fight Dragons, has made a post on We Are Listening about how he and his band made $10,000 in 48 hours by selling ‘Lifetime Membership USB Drives’.

The band, which is only 9 months old, has focused on building a fanbase and giving their fans lots of free music through their mailing list. When they reached the point where they were starting to think how they could monetize off their music, instead of going the traditional (and outdated) route of recording an album and selling it, they came up with an idea that would not only give their fans a lot more, but them also.

The idea they came up with was to sell ‘Lifetime Membership USB Drives’ which were basically USB drives preloaded with all of the music they’ve ever released and they guarantee the owner a free digital copy of anything they ever release, as well as free admission to any live show of ours now and forever. And there were only 100 made.

Needless to say, they all went quickly, but the question is; why?

Brian puts it down to 3 reasons:

We gave a lot of free stuff away. A LOT.

The upside is infinite.

We’re selling Memberships, not Products.

These are all things we’ve discussed before and Brian’s story, once again, proves that you can build a successful business model around free content.

My point is this:  we started our relationship with our fans by giving.  And then giving more.  Then more.  This is the first time we’ve really tried to sell anything to our mailing list, and it’s been 9 months!  Fans jumped at the chance to support us, and many many more were disappointed that we sold out so quickly, because they didn’t get a chance to buy.  We’ve shown our fans that we respect them and support them, and now they want to do the same for us.

This quote from Brian is almost identical to something Amanda Palmer said a few months ago. If you show your fans that you care, they will want to support you in any way possible. Brian even goes on to say that many of their fans felt guilty as they know they are getting way more than $100’s worth of value from the Membership, and they will continue to purchase any future releases, even though they have free access!

Yet another example of Mr. Masnick’s CwF + RtB business model in full effect.