Are record stores worth saving? More thoughts...
Interesting in hearing what you think. How do you purchase music? Are you still making physical albums or are you releasing everything digitally? Let me know below...
This is a special, Internet-exlusive episode of Music Business Radio featuring Seth Godin. This episode was taped backstage at the 40th annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, TN.
We talked about the changing music business, how musicians and labels can make more money, how to get raving fans, word of mouth, tastemakers (and how to be one), licensing, and much more.
Special thanks to Jeff Walker and the staff of AristoMedia for help with this interview!
For future Internet-exclusive episodes, subscribe to our podcast.
Yesterday, I taped an episode of Music Business Radio with an artist named Geoff Smith. One of the things we talked about was his new album, Ones and 0s, which he calls a "Dynamic Album" and distributes via RSS.
Bonus material has been released with albums for years, many times in an effort to encourage people to purchase rather than download a bootleg copy. The problem, at least when it comes to piracy, is that the bonus material can easily be copied, just like the album itself.
The "Dynamic Album" take bonus material one further in that it is updated over time via a feed, similar to the way a podcast or this blog is distributed, and includes ringtones, videos, bonus songs, and more. If you want the latest stuff as soon as it's released, the easiest way to get it is to buy a copy.
It's a cool concept and I encourage you to spend $15 and buy it, if only to see how it's done.
Get more information on Geoff's new release and the "Dynamic Album" concept here.
There are 10,000,000 music tracks online which have failed find a single buyer. That's out of a total of 13,000,000 tracks available.
Wow. So selling something online is just like selling something offline. Who would have thought?
Music doesn't sell itself. You have to market it.
Thoughts?
Matt Rosoff has some interesting music industry predictions for 2009.
Thoughts?
My friend Craig Havighurst just completed a radio documentary for WPLN called Music City Remixed.
This is a great documentary about how the music business is changing and what's going to happen after the major label shakeout is over. I suggest everybody listen to it.
Download or listen below...
Thoughts?
What happens when you combine Amazon.com with a torrent site?
Don't be pissed. It's happening...
So what is the solution?
UPDATE: Video is no longer available to the public. Read what CNET has to say.
AC/DC has a new record called "Black Ice." Since its release in October, 1,319,914 copies have been sold.
The album was distributed exclusively through Wal-Mart...which may explain why they sold about 2% of last week's 105,146 sales online. None of those sales were downloads, by the way...they were all physical CDs via the Wal-Mart website.
Download numbers for last week? Zero...just like every week. Unless you count the illegal downloads.
The week before the album was released, it's estimated that about 400,000 people illegally downloaded it. Who knows how many people have downloaded it since then.
I supposed you could argue, "If somebody really wants an album, they're find a Wal-Mart, get in the car, fight traffic, and make the effort to jump through all the hoops that AC/DC has put up in order to get the new album."
And that would have been a good argument in 2000, when the last AC/DC album was released.
But this is 2008. Wal-Mart is no longer the biggest music retailer, iTunes is.
What does that mean? It's a vote by music consumers for how they want to buy music.
AC/DC fans aren't typical music consumers though, right? They're old school, hard-drinking, Camero-driving, mullet-wearing guys who want something they can hold, right?
Maybe...although the 400,000 people who downloaded Black Ice would suggest otherwise.
How much does it cost to put a record on iTunes? Almost nothing.
Surely some of those 400,000+ AC/DC fans who downloaded illegal copies of Black Ice would have supported the band by purchasing a legal version...
If you want record sales, you've got to make it easy on people. That means getting the music you have in the format they want.
If people want downloads, give them downloads. If they want cassettes, give it to them. If they want CDs, give it to them.
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