Putting Labels on Artists: a Thing of the Past
August 20, 2009 by BrentWoody · Leave a Comment
If you do not regularly check out Jason Feinberg’s excellent posts on the music business over at the PBS Mediashift site, you are missing out on some of today’s most relevant commentary on the state of the business in light of the digital revolution. Jason’s most recent post provides an outstanding summation of the state of the labels, where they’ve been, where they are and where they might be headed. He answers some questions and raises others. But what one comes away with is the crystallization of what we’ve known for while. That is, labels are in trouble, labels are not the future of the industry, the time for imagining and implementing new business models is now, and the field is wide open. More than ever, I’m convinced that there’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneurial artist and to pursue the artistic dreams that seemed so far out of reach for so many very talented artists.
![[Post to Twitter]](http://brentmusiclaw.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
To YouTube or Not to YouTube
June 24, 2009 by BrentWoody · 3 Comments
Recently, I spoke with two artists with opposing views. One believes that getting all the web exposure he can possibly get will work to his benefit in the long run. Greater web presence equals greater awareness equals greater fan-base equals more downloads and so on. He’s not the least bit concerned that putting his songs up on youtube or myspace will dilute the market for his music. He cares not one bit about whether his fans infringe his copyrights by downloading his songs, making copies and giving them to all their friends. In fact, that’s just what he wants them to do! The other artist says, man, if he puts these songs out there, even for purchase, no one will buy them because once someone gets one, all the potential buyers will just make illegal copies and pass them around and no matter how big his fan-base is, he won’t be able to make it without traditional CD sales.
I know this discussion isn’t quite this simple. But, still, at its core, we’re talking two different music-sales business models. Which one makes more sense? Which works better in the digital space? And here’s a thought – is the answer different depending on the artist?
Seth Godin writes that “[t]he only way your organization is going to make an impact is to market in the way only you can. Not by following some expert’s rules or following the herd, but by doing it in the way that works. For you.” Wow. Isn’t the way we market as musicians just the opposite? We wait to see what is working, then we plan within that particular business paradigm until it doesn’t work anymore, then wait to see how it changes, and so on. Should artists be following the herd or blazing their own trails?