Music is free. So now what?
Music is free. This should come as no surprise to anyone. Recently I lamented the direction music is heading when someone made no bones in pointing out it’s not headed in that direction. Music is free…now!
Death to the CD, the record, the album or any other name by which you would listen beginning to end to a collection of work by an artist. I wonder why the Grammy’s still have an Album of the Year.
During four song writing sessions of about 90 high school students each, I asked how many had bought a CD in any recent time. A total of about 5 hands went up. It’s a single song, digital download world. But it also a world of piracy and subscription services.
If Music is free, why bother with a physical CD. I find it ironic that for an artist to even get their songs on the listening cue for consideration on Pandora, that you have to have a physical CD to sell on Amazon. And CDBaby tells you to get Amazon Advantage (about $50) so Pandora can recognize the tracks listings.
It takes a huge amount of time to Photoshop your mug shot, yes, so we can all exude the right amount of “cool”. Then there is the layout, jacket art, credits, the CD art. All that is done while we tune up mixes and master the CD so there is some uniformity. Oh, that’s right, you already mastered the song individually but you have to do it again to bring continuity to the project. Then you go to press for at least 1000 CD’s cause that is a respectable price break. At the end you are another couple thousand dollars in the hole.
So here are my reasons why! A physical CD gives you cred when you tell people I am a performing artist. I have one, two, three CD’s. And then they say “wow”. The physical CD is so you look respectable when you meet industry people and give it away for free. Yes it hurts. The physical CD is so a house concert host knows you aren’t a 4 song talent and the rest is ???? The physical CD is so fans can take home a piece of memorabilia after a wonderful performance.
So music is free. The important thing is to get out and share it. Keep active in your artistic community for support. Share with each other. Mentor each other. Perform with each other. Perform each other’s songs. Keep perfecting your craft in pursuit of your own personal growth and excellence. Music may be free but you can still enrich the world with yours.
Music revenues increase for first time since Napster's rise 02/26/2013 08:23:55 AM PST
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_22670995/music-revenues-increase-first-time-since-napsters-rise