GrindEFX

It’s always nice to hear success stories from artists who put out their own indie releases, but this year I was able to witness first hand, and be a part of, such a project. I want to share with you how hip hop artist Cambatta and DJ Nice released and promoted ‘The Visionary’.

In 2008 Cambatta was an unsigned artist who was was trying to get his name out there, particularly on the mixtape circuit. With the help of old school friend DJ Nice, he decided to start work on his debut release, titled ‘The Visionary’.

DJ Nice was already an established name on the mixtape scene as both a DJ and producer, and with his experience and contacts Cambatta was granted access to many talented producers and artists to work with.

Before the album was released, Cambatta and DJ Nice did a number of things to create a buzz. They released a few collaborations with more well-known artists for free in order to raise Cambatta’s profile. These songs made appearances on many top hip hop websites, enabling Cambatta to reach a wide audience.

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In 2007, Radiohead released its album “In Rainbows” with an interesting twist – along with traditional CD and vinyl versions, as well as 99 cent tracks on iTunes and other digital retailers, the band offered its own digital downloads of the album on a “pay what you want” basis.

While solid numbers are difficult to come by, the experiment appears to have paid off for Radiohead. Along with the huge amount of press the move generated, the band reported over 3 million combined sales (physical and digital), and “rumors, polls, and inside sources” suggest that the average person paid around $4 to download the album. It is also very likely the pricing model itself drove demand for the band – the deluxe edition box set of “In Rainbows” sold over 100,000 copies (at $81 a pop) when it was released three months after the digital release, and Radiohead went on to its most successful tour to date.

But what’s most interesting is how the music industry responded to this experiment – it didn’t.

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I saw Mike Masnick post this on TechDirt a few days ago but only got around to reading it this morning. This is a paper written by Bas Grasmayer as part of the research for his thesis on the future of music distribution. Bas analyses 5 musical releases that used new business models; Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows‘, Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Ghosts I-IV‘, Groove Armada’s ‘Drop The Tough‘, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse’s ‘Dark Night of the Soul‘ and Mos Def’s ‘The Ecstatic‘.

Click here to read.

After analysing each one he draws the following conclusions:

What does NOT work (well)

• Not going all the way. Fans love free music and so do people that are not familiar with the artist’s work, but if you’re going to give something away then really give it away. If you don’t, you won’t get the attention you were hoping and might even disappoint some fans instead of connecting with them.

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Another day, another band bringing their business model into the 21st century. Smashing Pumpkins have announced that their new album, ‘Teargarden by Kaleidyscope‘, will be available to fans for free via download.

“Recording began yesterday, September 15th, 2009 on the new record which will be entitled ‘Teargarden by Kaleidyscope’. The album will feature 44 songs, 4 of which are now being recorded. My desire is to release a song at a time beginning around Halloween of this year, with each new release coming shortly after until all 44 are out. Each song will be made available absolutely for free, to anyone anywhere. There will be no strings attached. Free will mean free, which means you won’t have to sign up for anything, give an email address, or jump through a hoop. You will be able to go and take the song or songs as you wish, as many times as you wish.”

How will they make money? Well with a RtB (reason to buy) of course!

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On GrindEFX we’re always talking about fan relationships. Connecting with your fans is a vital component of marketing your music. If you have that personal relationship with your fans they will want to support you by buying your music, merch, concert tickets etc.

“But what does that mean?”

Well, here are 7 ways you can start connecting with your fans today.

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Radio station to offer web streaming is not news. Web site to offer radio programming is.

CBS Interactive Music Group recently announced that it will begin offering music programming from Last.fm on HD radio stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco beginning October 5th. The stations will effectively hand the broadcasting reins over to the crowd-sourced, music discovery site – bringing listeners “an eclectic mix of music aggregated and influenced by the service’s user-generated weekly charts, combined with live performances and interviews from the Last.fm studios in New York, and event updates.”

According to CBS, this is the “first time a music website has been transformed into its own broadcast entity.”

How to tune in?

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Forrester Research recently released a report that lays out a “radical vision” to “save the music industry from the current Media Meltdown it finds itself in.”

While the actual report is only available to Forrester customers, the company’s blog reveals that the plan involves broad “music release windows,” similar to the chart on the right. “Premium” content is released first, followed by a “mainstream” release at a later time, and eventually wide dissemination to free and “feels like free” services.

Judging by comments on the Forrester blog and elsewhere, many scoff at the idea of regaining content scarcity through this staggered release approach. “What about pre-release leaks?” they ask. True, the industry has increasingly bumped up release dates of albums – Jay-Z’s latest came out three days early today – in part to combat the problem of early copies leaking onto the internet. But it’s important to keep in mind that large swaths of music listeners are not running around downloading leaked copies of albums off torrent sites.

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Owen Kelly over at The Indie Digest has written 4 reasons why giving your music away for free is beneficial to independent artists. It’s a nicely written article with very clear and concise points. Owen talks about things we’re constantly preaching over here at GrindEFX.

I reccomend you read the whole article, here is a shortlist of the 4 points:

1. Maximises the possibility of discovery.
2. Builds attention.
3. Builds your brand.
4. Helps you make money.

Owen obviously has a very clear understanding of the current music business and where it’s heading in the future. He talks about not locking your music behind a “pay-wall”, but rather letting it spread as much as possible. This not only allows more people to discover your music, but it brings people into your network where, if you’re on top of things, the money making possibilities are endless.

I like to think of it as a theme park; allow people to enter for free, then charge them for the rides.

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I’m not entirely sure what people mean when they refer to “music 2.0.” I’m not entirely sure they know what it means either. Perhaps it’s just a buzzword – a way to trick people into thinking Twitter is exciting and useful.

I’m only kidding. “Music 2.0″ is a nebulous concept, but at its simplest, it embodies concepts that enable musicians and bands at all levels to reach new fans and connect with existing fans in a post-record label, post-filesharing, social networking, digital world. The term derives from Web 2.0 -  ”the second generation of web development… that facilitates information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration.”

Perhaps the reason nobody can pin down exactly what Music 2.0 means is that nobody can pin down exactly how musicians can find success in this type of world – this “music commerce frontier” as some have described it. Not the major record labels, not the “experts” of music 2.0, and definately not the musicians themselves. The good news is that whatever Music 2.0 means, it is clear that at its core is innovation. All the individuals and groups mention above are using innovation – thinking outside the box – to find success, and until someone comes up with a bulletproof plan for finding success through music 2.0, all musicians can do is learn from the successes and failures of others.

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More and more established artists and labels are shying away from releasing albums and concentrating on singles and small song blocks.

Last month, Rhino Entertainment announced that it will be releasing a series of “digital 45s” – a bundle of 2 singles and artwork.

In a recent interview, Thom Yorke of Radiohead told Believer Magazine,

None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again. Not straight off. I mean, it’s just become a real drag. It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we’ve all said that we can’t possibly dive into that again. It’ll kill us…. we need to get away from it a bit.

Even the Big 4 have hinted at a desire to release smaller song blocks more often.

This focus on a small amount of tracks rather than full-length albums is nothing new. In the 1950s and 60s, singles – more accurately, 45’s (the single on one side, a different song on the B-side) – were a significant part of any rock or pop label’s business. Even after the advent of the CD and the collapse of the singles market, many genres continued to see releases in the form of singles and EP’s – EDM, punk, and hip-hop to name a few.

Yet, when someone mentions the “death of the album,” inevitably a few still cry that this means the death of music itself. Or more commonly, independent bands and musicians still see releasing an album as the ultimate goal.

Why is that?

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