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.

One of those songs was ‘True Magic’, featuring signed artist Skyzoo. This track did a great job exposing hip hop fans to Cambatta’s music, Skyzoo was already an established artist with a big following, so his name garnered a lot of attention for the song. In order to capitalize off this attention, DJ Nice decided to run a remix competition. Producers were given access to the acapella of the song and were asked to come up with their own remix, the winning remix was to be featured on the album. They received a huge amount of submissions for the contest, and as a result, created a lot of buzz for the album.

They also shot a couple of music videos and released them online.

During the recording of the album DJ Nice remained very active in certain online communities, he updated people on the progress of the album as well as getting them involved.

So when the album was released in January of this year, for free, Cambatta and DJ Nice had already built up a lot of hype, gotten various hip hop publications’ support and connected with their fans. In no time at all, ‘The Visionary’ had spread all over the net and, with the help of some viral marketing, the album has racked up over 8000 downloads (and that only includes downloads that were tracked).

A few months after the release they decided to re-launch the album on CD and digital download services so that fans could have the option of paying for album. For this they hooked up with clothing company Narcocorrido Brand and arranged a cross-promotion deal, in which a free t-shirt was bundled with every album sale, and a free copy of ‘The Visionary’ came with every t-shirt sale.

The reason that this project succeeded is one which we talk about here all the time. They connected with their fans, and gave them a reason to buy. Their presence on online communities during the recording and release of the album made people feel like they were a part of it, so of course when it was eventually released they were excited to hear the final product. The album was released for free, this was important because it was Cambatta’s debut effort. Had they released it initially as paid only, they wouldn’t have seen the success they did. Not because the music wasn’t good enough, but simply because it wouldn’t have spread as it did.

For a debut album I don’t think the two could have done much better. They handled everything themselves, from the recording and the album artwork to the marketing and the sponsorship deals. It’s great to see that new artists are coming out with a clear understanding of the current music business and what the future holds.

“We are currently looking to do more promotion deals with sponsors in the coming months such as; cross promotion with another clothing sponsor in a to-be-filmed professional music video, branding/merchandise from a sponsor to be given to fans via contests and giveaways etc.” DJ Nice told me. “Overall we are looking to give people a chance to interact, support, and most importantly feel they are supporting an artist who they can see growing and succeeding.”

‘The Visionary’ is available to buy now from iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody and CD Baby.

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.

Over at Music Think Tank, Keith Jopling asks, “Why didn’t ‘In Rainbows’ open the music floodgates?” He frames the question in a broad sense – why haven’t established bands followed suit with their own foward-thinking, innovative strategies? But for now, I want to focus only on Radiohead’s specific strategy of using the “pay what you want” pricing model.

Established bands are unlikely to adopt such a strategy – Radiohead had left EMI/Capitol and was on its own when it released “In Rainbows.” Call it inertia, risk-aversion, comfort with the status quo, the major labels and the artists they represent move at their own pace.

Emerging bands, on the other hand, are resistant to the “pay what you want” model for other reasons. The only reason it worked for Radiohead, they argue, is because Radiohead already has a huge and loyal fanbase – they could release paper plates and still make money.

So the “In Rainbows” experiment remains an anomaly. But does that mean that the “pay what you want” model itself is necessarily an anomaly? Or can indie musicians learn from Radiohead and find some success from asking fans to choose their own price?

Some have, actually. Magnatune, a hub for independent musicians, offers monthly subscriptions at a “pay what you want” price (although with minimums above free for streaming and downloading) – and splits its proceeds 50/50 with its artists. Again, recent sales numbers are scarce, but based on past numbers, the site seems to be doing well and growing, with several of its artists earning close to 5 figures a year.

Over at Music Think Tank again, Derek Sivers today offered this anecdote illustrating a band using the “pay what you want” model:

Terry McBride of Nettwerk told this story at a recent conference:

A band he was managing was doing the usual thing of selling CDs for $15. They’d mention it once or twice from the stage, and sell about $300 per night on average.

He asked them to try a completely different approach:

1. Say to the audience, “It’s really important to us that you have our CD. We worked so hard on it and are so proud of it, that we want you to have it, no matter what. Pay what you want, but even if you have no money, please take one tonight.”
2. Mention this again before the end of the show, adding, “Please, nobody leave here tonight without getting a copy of our CD. We’ve shared this great show together so it would mean a lot to us if you’d take one.”

It changes the request from a commerical pitch to an emotional connection. (Replace market mindset with social mindset!) Allowing them to get a CD for no money just reinforces that.

Terry said that the band did this for a while, and soon they were selling about$1200 per night on average, even including those people who took it for free! I think the average selling price was about $10.

But the important part came next:

Because every person left each show with a CD, they were more likely to remember who they saw, tell friends about it, listen to it later, and become an even bigger fan afterwards.

Then, when the band came back to a town where they had insisted that everyone take a CD, attendance at those shows doubled! The people that took a CD became long-term fans and brought their friends to future shows.

My advice for independent musicians is to not dismiss the “pay what you want” idea right off the bat. Keep it in your toolbox of business models. It very well may be viable, and may actually lead to more success than going the traditional route in certain situations.

Image courtesy of BockBilbo

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.

• Creating unnecessary mediums instead of utilizing existing ones. While the Bacardi B-Live Share application looked cool (now offline), it was completely unnecessary. Instead of creating a digital dashboard with meaningless graphics, it could have been executed in a much simpler fashion by utilizing existing social networks or filesharing websites. IF you’re going to set up such a thing, then at least make it interactive, social (in terms of enabling users to interact with each other) and add value (with videos or a game for instance). You could even use it to sell other products of the band or artist.

• Expecting people to pay for what they can get for free. People might pay, but most will pick whatever way is most convenient. Usually, this is by remaining seated at your computer and by avoiding complicated online payment procedures. Sure, people should use legal ways to buy music, but the reality is that people go for convenience.

What does work (well)

• Giving fans a reason to buy. Instead of expecting people to pay for something which they can, perhaps more easily, get for free, create added value. This is what Nine Inch Nails, Mos Def and Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse all did very well. Instead of expecting people to pay for the music, they all created something besides the music which people would be more willing to pay for.

• Freemium. By offering something for free, one connects with fans and they will spread the word about you (as long as what you’re offering has value). Once attention has been garnered, and perhaps sympathy has been won, you can offer a premium product. This is how Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have been successful with forementioned albums. First you give something for free, then you market your premium; freemium.

• Understanding that the package IS the product. This goes for all of the cases, except for Groove Armada. In the case of Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse as well as Mos Def, the package was actually the reason to buy the product. In the case of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, they marketed the package as premiums, perhaps understanding that it’s hard to make money if you have to compete with free, meaning music downloads.

• Buzz. By generating buzz, you can turn people just turned on to your product into fans. These fans can then later be marketed to when trying to sell premium packages (or subscriptions for example). Even if they don’t buy, having them talking about your brand or product increases the buzz. This works best if they can give others free samples (free music) to see for themselves how great the brand or product is.

• Co-branding. By co-branding, the two brands can both benefit of each others’ resources and skills. In the case of Groove Armada and Bacardi, the latter benefits mostly from Groove Armada’s image and the ability to promote themselves on all Groove Armada-related products, this includes live performances. Groove Armada on the other hand, benefits from the resources Bacardi has, for instance to set up the website and network for the distribution of the music, as well as their marketing capacities. Both are connected to different audiences and by working together, they can promote each other to their respective audiences, perhaps new ones.

This was a great read and I love the conclusion. I highly recommend you read the entire paper, it’s only 20-odd pages, check it out here.

Image by Gary Simmons.

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!

“We will however sell highly limited edition EP’s (of 4 songs each times 11), and details of how those EP’s will be made available are still being worked out. Because the songs themselves will be free, the EP’s will be more like collectors items for the discerning fan who will want the art itself, along with the highest possible audio quality available. The EP’s will be more like mini-box sets rather than your normal cd single. We may also offer other variations for sale, say for example a digital single with a demo version of a song. The commitment that is most important is the one I’m making to you: that the music of ‘Teargarden by Kaleidyscope’ will be available for free to everyone. All 44 songs: free for ALL.

When the entire album is finished, it will be compiled into a deluxe box set which will also be made available for sale. Those who have bought the EP’s need not worry, as the box set will not be a recompilation of the limited edition pieces.”

I love this model, releasing the songs one by one for free and then offering box sets and special editions. More and more artists are beginning to realise the future of the music business and embracing it rather than trying to fight it. It’s great to see.

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.

Social Networking

The obvious first step is social networks. Hopefully you already have a Twitter, Facebook, Myspace etc. But are you using it in a productive way? I see a lot of musicians that I follow on Twitter only interacting with friends and associates, never their fans. To me that makes them look like they think they’re above conversing with their fans, interestingly enough it’s often the artists who are struggling to stay relevant.

So how can you use social network sites effectively?

• Be yourself. It’s easy to spot a fake on Twitter.

• Tell fans what you’re doing and ask them what they’re doing. Show an active interest in their lives.

• Ask your fans for their opinions on certain matters. Maybe what they think of so-and-so’s new album, or what their view on a political matter.

• Give them something exclusive every now and again; share a photo with them or a snippet of a new song you’re working on.

• Answer fan questions. If you have a lot of followers/friends/fans then just answer a few, show them that you are making an effort.

• Ask for help or advice. This will strike a personal connection with your fans, espcially if you take their advice and thank them for it.

Webcasts

Live webcasts have become quite popular over the last year or so, I see more and more artists using sites like Ustream.tv and Justin.tv to connect with their fanbase. Allowing fans to watch you live in studio sessions, band rehearsal, interviews or just having a general natter is a great idea.

Webcasts are probably better for a Q&A with fans than Twitter because you can answer more questions and it’s a more personal way of doing it.

Something that has become very popular lately is artists doing live broadcasts of their music making process, whether it be songwriting, beatmaking, recording, mixing etc. Giving fans an insight into how you make your music, and even asking for their contribution, is an excellent way to strike a connection and make you fans feel a part of your music.

Free Music

Why not throw your fans the odd free track? This is very common practice in hip hop, where artists often release “throwaway” or unfinished songs to the public. Or tracks that were made for a specific record but didn’t make the final cut. Why keep them locked up? Let your fans hear them: “Here’s a track me and the fellas were working on the other week, never got finished. What do you think?”

Of course they don’t have to be “throwaway” tracks. If you’re a regular GrindEFX reader you’ll know I’m an advocate of free as a business model. I.e. giving the music to your fans for free and encouraging them to spread it around, then making money in other areas.

Fans appreciate free music. If the music is free they are much more likely to share it with their friends, which creates new fans, who will then share it with their friends. Before you know it your website traffic has increased ten fold and you’ll have fans knocking down your door trying to buy merch, concert tickets, CDs, collectors items etc.

Blog

Blogs are free, easy to use and extremely popular with music fans, so it amazes me how many artists don’t have one. Blogs are a great way to share things with your fanbase and keep them updated with what you’re working on.

“Why do I need a blog if I have Twitter?”

Twitter is great for instant messaging and giving quick updates. But your tweets are usually only relevant to those who are online at that very moment, which will always be a small percentage of your fans. Blog posts are more permanent, fans can log on at any time and see what you’re talking about. And with the 140 character limit on Twitter blogs are better for sharing more detailed stories. Having both will ensure all your online followers have something to connect with.

You can set up a blog very quickly, here are some links; Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr.

Newsletter

In my opinion a mailing list is one of the most important things an artist should have. It requires no effort from your fans and you can update them whenever you like.

All of your fans won’t watch your webcasts, or follow you on Twitter, or read your blog. But they all will have an email address, so communicating with them via email is a very strong tool. Set up a mailing list on your website and promote it on your blog, Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, YouTube and wherever else you can. Try to get as many of your fans email addresses as possible.

It’s up to you how you do your newsletter. You can send a weekly update or you can just email them when you have an announcement to make. One thing I will say is don’t send them too often, if you update your fans everyday with crap they don’t really care about then they’re likely to stop reading them, or certainly not read all of them. Then they might miss something really important that you have to say. Keep the emails valuable, so when a fan sees you in their inbox they know it’s something worth reading.

YouTube Videos

YouTube is another great tool that is very popular among musicians. Video blogs (vlogs), like live webcasts, give your fans a visual interaction, making them much more likely to engage. We’ve seen YouTube catapult people to fame and revive careers.

You could argue that having a vlog is more effective than having a blog. First of all it requires very little effort on the fans’ behalf, you can watch a video whilst doing other things, whereas when you’re reading something you have to focus 100% on it. It is also much more likely that a non-fan will stumble across the video and maybe even become a fan. Over a billion YouTube videos are watched every day, that’s a severe amount of traffic and potential viewers. And finally a video is a lot more personal, people can get a far greater sense of who you are through a video than they can through text.

I think it’s perfectly reasonable to have both a blog and a vlog too, as long as they both serve their own purpose. You could turn your blog into more of a diary and just vlog on special occasions, or vice-versa.

Competitions and Polls

Competitions and polls are a great way to get people actively participating and interacting. Set up a bi-weekly poll on your website asking fans for their opinion on something. You could even relate the question to your music, this way you connect with fans and do a bit of market research. When each poll is finished you can post the results on your blog and share your own thoughts.

Competitions are another great way to get fan participation, and I’ve seen them work really well in the past. Try and make the competition and prize unique, for example; ask fans to write a song. You choose a winner, record their song and release it for free download on your website.

Another concept I’ve seen work well are remix contests. Release the acapella for one of your songs and ask fans to make a remix.

Conclusion

I come across aspiring musicians every day, some of them close friends of mine, and when I ask them how it’s going most of the time I get a response such as; “we’re submitting tracks to record labels” or “we’ve got a good connection over at We Will Rape You Records, we’re just waiting for them to call us back”. “Industry” relationships don’t mean shit in the current music business, you should be focusing on fan relationships and doing everything you can to connect with them. They are the ones that decide your fate, not managers, not A&Rs and not record execs, so make them your top priority.

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?

Listeners will be able to access the station through multiple outlets including Last.fm and select CBS RADIO station websites; CBS RADIO’s streaming platform including its partnerships with AOL Radio and Yahoo! Music Radio, as well as mobile applications on the iPhone, iPod Touch and select Blackberry devices.  Music fans with HD Radio receivers in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco will also be able to interact with the multicast station broadcast on CBS RADIO’s WWFS-FM (102.7 HD2), KCBS-FM (93.1 HD2), WXRT-FM (93.1 HD3) and KITS-FM (105.3 HD3), respectively.

While this is an exciting and innovative development, the question remains whether HD radio itself can still catch on. Awareness of the format itself is very low; meanwhile, less than 10% of new automobiles come equipped with factory-installed HD receivers. CBS hopes this announcement – along with Microsoft’s soon-to-be-released Zune HD devices – will spur interest in the broadcast format.

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.

It is also counter-intuitive when one looks at the movie industry and how the release cycle of a typical movie – which has been staggered between theatrical release, dvd release, and television release – has shrunk over the last decade or so.

I’m guessing, though, that the example illustrated in the graphic above is just that – an example. Rather than a one-size-fits-all solution, Forrester is suggesting an approach to music that doesn’t revolve around the traditional album release cycle (release an album – tour – repeat next year). They propose shaking off the “strait-jacket” of the album and thinking of all content generated by musicians and bands as product (backstage footage, mobile apps, merchandise) in order to create a “continual artist-fan relationship with artists delivering a steady stream of creative output.”

Sound familiar?

It sounds a lot like what the major labels had been talking about earlier this year at a 2009 NARM panel. And that discussion sounded a lot like what we here at GrindEFX have been saying.

Ditching the album format as the default container for music and releasing smaller blocks of music more often – that’s the 3P concept.

Building a continual artist-fan relationship to make money outside of selling non-scarce recorded music – none other than CwF + RtB = $$$.

So, while not exactly radical, Forrester’s report does indicate the direction the big players in the industry are heading toward, as well as validate what many of us on the sidelines have been saying.

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.

Further Reading

5 Reasons Why Nobody is Buying Your Music
The Future is FREE