quoted 9 lines Hip-hop artists have already found that endorsements can be a strong source of>Hip-hop artists have already found that endorsements can be a strong source of
>revenue. Live performance can (though definitely not always) also provide
>revenue to artists. Peripheral merchandise (t-shirts, bags, posters) have long
>been an additional source of revenue. Anyone have others to add to the list?
>What about new ways that haven't been thought of?
>
>Jeff, are you at liberty to tell us about Ninjatune's plan to weather the
>storm? What about you, Philippe? What about the other label people on this
>list?
I just wonder how much of a storm there will be for the little guys. A lot
of the money "lost" in huge companies can be chalked up to mismatched
promotional budgets compared to the actual sales of CD's. A giant record
label will pay record stations to play their song (although not directly,
but they still do it), buy commercial time on telly, pay MTV to give it a
high rating in their rating shows and to play it a lot when they actually
get around to playing videos, and so on. That takes a LOT of money, and
nearly all of the payout is dependent on record sales.
Small labels don't have that sort of budget, so they simply put out a
record. They hype it up, sure, but usually via mailing lists, perhaps a
few flyers or posters to record stores, maybe some free promo copies to key
reviewers. Doing that is *not* expensive -- I could conceivably manage it
monetarily, and I don't make a heck of a lot of money. The downside is
that they are reliant on what gets sent to them, and they don't have the
resources to get a new sound "made" for them -- they either have to say
"we're looking for an X sound" or simply hope something good gets send to them.
But the promotional costs for a small label are miniscule compared to a
giant superlabel. That Robbie Williams thing, where he'd have to sell 18
million albums to recoup costs, isn't something that even small "idm"
artists worry about. Selling 100-200 albums covers most of the costs, and
larger albums (ones that are guaranteed more sales based on past
performance, not just promotions) generally get more press.
Making a working wage off of a CD while having a small label isn't
difficult, and the "pinch" of p2p probably won't affect that for a long
time, if ever. People still like buying a product, and if you can get
people convinced that a few files on their computer are the same as a jewel
case with art and liner notes, with the music on a tangible, visible disk,
well, I'll give ya $20 :)
I'm really doubtful that a lot of the big record industry fallout will
affect the little people, like nearly *all of us on the list*. Sure, Sony
is pushing for DRM on their disks, but is Ninja Tune or Warp? Log on to
Kazaalite and type in a lesser-known IDM guy. I just tried "Richard
Devine" and I got back 2 tracks. I don't think that's hurting Devine's
sales much. I got more responses for "Mr Scruff," but it was all from 2
people (and I already own the Mr Scruff albums :P ) and Mr Scruff is
actually a pretty popular guy.
Mostly, the smaller labels just need to ask their fans for support, saying
"hey, our artists get the lion's share of the profits from their albums, so
buying their albums actually helps them. Can you buy them if you like 'em,
please?" And it works! Most fans know that small labels and small artists
are likely to stop putting out music if they don't get enough funding, so
they're much more likely to buy an "indie" album compared to one from a
giant megacorp with accounting scandals :)
Imagine that. Justify the reason for buying and then ask nicely
:) Erecting barriers will just cause people to circumvent the
barriers. Appealing to guilt works 9 times out of 11 :)
derek
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