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Music on the Internet
It's clear
that on the internet the artist has freedom,
and it's also clear that the listener can
listen to music whenever they want – exactly
as you can do in the real world, putting the
content onto a CD.
Now I'm not
saying that the internet is a waste of time.
It's a very important tool and as Marcelo
Abud, publicist, composer and writer of the
article "Liberty and Independence" said:
"Everywhere,
the artists that learn to administer,
divulge and distribute their own work are
being listened to more and more."
Repeat, ", the
artists that learn to administer...".
The internet
is an important tool just like any other,
but it needs to be used in conjunction with
other tools. It's at this point that a lot
of bands and artists fail. They think that
one tool is enough! It's not true.
Companies like
Trama Virtual (http://www.tramavirtual.com.br)
also say that their services are important,
of course, they are talking about themselves.
If you ask Trama Virtual where the biggest
source of income comes from on their site,
they will say it comes from advertising and
not from the sale of online music. In
monetary terms the artist receives almost
nothing for their investments.
Let's look at
some data.
Without taking
away merit from the good intentions of
Trama, its' site has 8731 pages of musical
archives totalizing 96080 MP3´s sent by
38390 artists. Just for highlighted bands
there are 97 pages, 20 archives per page, or
in other words, 1840 highlights. How can
anybody feel highlighted amongst 1840? And
those bands and artists that are not
highlighted? Where do they end up? Many
times successful bands on this type of site
are supported by the site owners in the real
world to:
Earn money for
the company, just like any band in the real
world. Do the marketing for the company with
the artist saying that they were discovered
on that site and in a short space of time
became a success, insinuating that just
their presence on that site was the
principal motive for their success. The
reality is that each band and artist needs
to follow a direction to earn their success.
John Paterson,
ex CEO of the site http://www.voxpop.co.uk (the
site folded), said in an interview:
"You can't
earn a living selling MP3's.".
He continued
saying that even though his site had been
receiving a lot of visitors, very few would
buy music online, preferring to just listen
to the free stuff.
"A long way
from threatening the musical industry and
major recording companies, online music
still depends on them to survive. Everything
that I hated in the music industry is true.
90% is marketing and media. The public don't
want to decide for themselves, the people
need their friends and the media to say that
something is good. Few people would buy a
song which they have just heard by an
unknown band ".
People buy
what they already know, the majority of the
time through conventional media..
Promotion of
bands and their sites on the internet in the
real world through printed press and their
live presentations will still be vital for
the success of internet marketing for the
future.
Research group
Forrester published a report saying that the
legal downloads market took just 4% share in
the music market during 2005 in the United
States, a long way short of the CD share in
the same market.
"The internet
will not sell music," - declared Neil
Cooper, manager of the band Stumble, which
is distributing its' music at the site of
http://www.peoplesound.com.
"It's just a
means of distribution. You wouldn't just go
into a CD shop in the real world and just by
looking at the CD cover think: - That should
be good, I'll buy it ".
The band owes
part of their success to intensive coverage
of mass media. The secret is to contract a
specialist to deliver your music to
conventional radio stations and convince the
presenters to publicize the address of the
bands' site.
Cooper said:
"Some bands
could put their music on these sites and
think that it's sufficient, that it's just a
case of waiting. But it's like putting your
CD in a shop and ot publicizing the fact
that it's there."
The recording
companies in the real world only select
those artists that they think will make
money. That's no secret. By the way, this
upsets many musicians, especially those who
were not selected!
The recording
companies make sure that the bands have a
good "look", are professional and have a
good recording to be sold.
The problem
with the internet is that it doesn't have
these demanding filters, nobody judges if a
song is worth distributing or not, or that
the band will manage to make a polished
performance onstage (at least two hours of
material) to offer a complete entertainment
package which the consumer is looking for.
Some bands can have a nice photo and well
written release, just to waste the time it
takes to download the archive, of the
visitor because the quality of the recording
or the music is terrible!
Nobody is
supervising the quality of the recording,
nor the production except the musicians who
did the work, and the quality is fundamental
for the end user.
With so many
bands appearing in these types of site,
which bands will be more successful? Those
that are promoted. It's as simple as that.
The major
recording companies, as any well structured
company, have a good reserve of resources in
liquid funds and physical properties.
It's the
smaller independents that can't stand the
backlash of a flop in the market, because
their profit margins are smaller and cash
flow is a lot more restricted, with less
money to be spent on marketing and promotion.
Concluding, a
site on the internet is important, as in any
other marketing action.
It's important
to have YOUR site on the internet and only
use these sites, like Trama or MySpace as an
opportunity to put a link or a gateway to
YOUR site.
Success
Steve Allen
Steve Allen is
consultant and music producer.
Author of "Marketing Your Music – Success
Strategies", "Personal Management in the
Music Industry" and "Street Teams – Expand
your Fan Base"
http://www.marketingyourmusic.net
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