
Your content is more valuable coming from somebody else than it is from you. For example, your song being played on a radio station is worth more to you than the same song on your own site and a good review is worth more in Rolling Stone than it would be on your blog.
Why? For one, the "reach" of other outlets if better will get you in places you couldn't have done on your own. You'll also have an "endorsement" though and that helps a lot when it comes to the increasing positive perception of what you're doing. In short, social proof sells things.
Just got an email from a band I interviewed on Music Business Radio, Computer vs. Banjo. They don't tour, yet have done very well with music licensing. They've licensed songs to MTV's "The Hills", "The Real World", "Road
Rules", "Parental Control", and "Sex with Mom and Dad." You've also
heard their music on "Weeds", "Keeping Up With The Kardashians", "Living
With Lohan", and the film "The Sharp End."
And they've gotten some great press...
Wired said, "Everything from guitars, drum machines and banjos to dobros, synths and mandolins are thrown into the musical blender. The result is a series of tasty digifolk jams from a band who doesn’t need a weatherman to tell it which way the zeitgeist is blowing."
NPR said, "The computer tends to win the battle on the group’s self-titled debut, but countless computerized samples of more traditional instruments give the record an eclectic, genre-bending sound."
How does this happen?
They're just released a second album and here's what they're doing to get the word out. This may seem like a ballsy move, and I'm sure it will scare plenty of short-term thinkers, but remember what I said about how the value of your content increases when it's consumed in places other than your own.
Everybody these days had a "free download" available, but going beyond that and giving people access to the raw tracks makes that 10x more powerful, since they'll be able to use what you've got in coming up with their own music.
Doing this goes way beyond simply generating interest for your music though...
If something happens to the new music that is created, who gets part of the copyright and licensing fees?
Smart move. It's like having all your music creation, licensing, and promotion outsourced.
At the very least, they'll get enough "new" material to release another album.
Here's the email they sent out. Since they're letting you borrow their music, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you swiped this too...
Greetings from Computer vs. Banjo! We are very excited to announce the release of our second full album. This time around we are doing things a bit differently and we wanted to kick it all off by reaching out to those of you who supported the release of our first record. Here is the scoop:
After a widely acclaimed 2008 debut album, Computer vs. Banjo is back with their sophomore release Riverboat Swing. Embracing the current music climate and culture of FREE, all tracks AND multi-track versions of each song, will be made available for free download at the band’s web site. These multi-track files are intended for djs, artists, songwriters, engineers, Garage Band hobbyists, etc… to remix and restructure however they see fit. The band encourages everyone to send their creations to band(at)computervsbanjo(dot)com and they will be posting submissions on their blog in order to share the results of this open source music making experiment.
So download it, share it, re-mix it.... www.computervsbanjo.com
Post your thoughts on the concept and ways to improve or customize it below...
For more information on Computer vs. Banjo, check out computervsbanjo.com or their interview on Music Business Radio.
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