ContentSphere - Music & Media in an Online Culture - Strategies

The Pirates’ Good Deeds - Tomorrow’s markets: How the Internet is shifting powers between artists and companies. [by Kolja Reichert]

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:42:41 +0200

“The Pirates’ Good Deeds” (© Kolja Reichert) has originally been published under the title “Die gute Tat der Piraten” in “Der Tagesspiegel” issued on 26.07.2009. Translated into German by Wolfgang Senges. Translation and publication on ContentSphere.de by courtesy of Kolja Reichert.

Please notice: Different to other articles on ContentSphere.de, this translation has been published under an “All rights reserved” licence by Kolja Reichert.

German version/original text: “Der Tagesspiegel” issued on 26.07.2009.

The New York Times’ online archive holds the oldest message in regards to the topic of piracy in music industry. It originates from 13 June 1897, the founding time of music industry. „Canadian Pirates“ mailed counterfeit records across the border and sold them for a tenth of its real price. Newspapers printed lists of songs available – a kind of early Pirate Bay. The industry bewailed a 50% loss in turnover demanding the postal sevice to filter items out. A rather mild measure compared to the three-strikes-out model the media industry longs to achieve for filesharers today.

The politics response to online piracy is not rigorous enough, claimed Dieter Gorny, CEO of Germany’s Body of Music Industry BVMI (Bundesverband der Musikindustrie) when justifying the cancellation of industry’s Popkomm conference. It’s been widely shared disconcertment his statement earned him. Mark Chung of the Body of Independent Labels VUT (Verband Unabhängiger Tonträgerunternehmen) says: „Strong generalisations are helping no one.“

Actually, Internet is not music’s enemy. It merely is the hard copy industry’s enemy. After the wax cylinder, vinyl, tape and CD, music now has been separated from a physical carrier and can be copied endlessly with little effort. Legal downloads in Germany do not yet reach US numbers that account for 39% of the market. However, first quarter revenues in 2009 are up again by 16%. Despite all arguments dealing with illegal downloading, it’s not about a conflict between artists and audience. This is the showcase the industry raucously propels for years. It is their interests that can be brought together in the most wonderful ways online.

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DIY-Marketing #1: Amanda Palmer's Basics in Donations

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:48:49 +0200

CC-BY-NO Karola Riegler

Actually, I intended to start out with suggestions in DIY marketing for artists today. Suggestions I would have come up with by myself.

Then Amanda Palmer posted her response to the feedback her posting on donations generated. Anyone: Read her response. In full. It is essential and the basics to everything I can tell you. Some of it she already mentioned at Berlin’s all2gethernow.

For all those who don’t have the time to read through Amanda’s terrific response I’m going to highlight some parts.

On her website, Amanda has a page called “The Till”. Anybody who’s willing to can pay any amount as a donation. If you pay you will get no CD, merch or whatsoever.

Why to pay anything? Does she really think there are people crazy enough doing so? - That’s what you might think.

my cellist friend zoe keating (@zoecello), who more or less runs her own business out of her house (and isn’t signed), told me a few days ago on the phone that people have been ordering multiple CDs directly from her website and simply putting, in the comments section of paypal “PLEASE DON’T MAIL ME THESE CDS - i just wanted to send $40 because i want to support you!”.

Please note: Zoe Keating is a rather unknown artist. If you’re regularly reading liner notes though, you may have read her name on covers of Amanda’s works as well as Rasputina’s and others.

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Musicians Can't Cope With Their Own Business

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:34:00 +0200

Please note: If you’re a musician, feel free to make yourself a voodoo doll of me first. But, before putting the needles in, covering it in tar and feathers, tearing off limbs, and finally setting it on fire… give me break. You can do so after reading this post.

Whenever I’m attending any kind of music conference there’s one thing I’m curious about most: How many musicians are to be found at this event? How many of you are attending the seminars, workshops and lectures on schedule? Finally, after resigning once more: Why doesn’t it appeal to you?

Obviously, some events are well-attended by musicians… though the majority is not. Mainly, I’m going to constrain the issue more specifically down to Germany – simply for the reason I’m more familiar with that region.

Most of you will know I’m curator of all2gethernow, a platform and convention for music and culture. Since 2009, we established all2gethernow (a2n) as a conference not to be missed. Though we only went two rounds as of yet, we learned a lot.

Unfortunately, there’s one thing we still are trying to figure out. Even more unfortunately, it is a core issue we have to solve as soon as possible.

Our conference aims at bringing together all stakeholders from the so called music business, including everything related to that in culture. Otherwise, it is not worth tackling any issues and topics. Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure we all agree that it’s most important to get musicians in there. To get them involved. Because we’re doing it for those who create our culture – ok, that sounds pretty pathetic. Kinda like we are their parents (whom we are not)… and it certainly isn’t about “we always wanted the best for you”.

Some simple observations for Germany to start with:

all2gethernow (conference) and Popkomm (trade show) for some part shared the same location in 2010. Admittedly, musicians were to be found at Popkomm while all geeky artists went to all2gethernow.
Frankfurt Music Fair is flooded with musicians.
Any workshop that’s not related to instruments is hard to sell.
Even seminars and workshops that are part of an institutionalised schedule of any academy are fighting hard for scholars.
Nearly all printed magazines for musicians in Germany are published through either PPV or MusikMedia. Last year, the latter has started a comprehensive portal for the first time tackling issues in copyright and online marketing.
There’s just one platform, namely regioactive.de, that overtly pushes both - current issues in music business and live music/booking.

What does that mean?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think there’s a deep gap between “traditional” musicians and “online” artists. Don’t get me wrong… of course most traditional musos will have their own website (at least on Facebook, MySpace etc), and most onliners are sure to perform offline.

Those who stick to print media are pretty likely longing to be signed with a label. Nothing wrong with that, but often they seem to tend towards believing in the mythical part of piracy, in “who killed our business”, and in “free culture” equals “give away for free and earn nothing”. I can only presume that they are also in fear to be urged to deal with business themselves – which is a good reason to hand over any responsibility by signing a contract.

But, please, if any of those musicians I’m tagging “traditional” reads this… there’s even more reason to catch a glimpse of issues in marketing, in how to connect with fans, even in issues in technology. You might have been accusing labels of foul contracts. If you don’t educate yourself in what happens outside, you will be framed by yourself.

DIY does not strictly say “do it all by yourself”. It’s like, be as much involved in business as you are inclined to and let a team of people do the rest. They must be good at what they’re doing, and they must be as motivated as you. Collaborate with fans. Or with a small label. Or with independent professionals.

But be sure to keep track of what happens. You’re the boss. That’s why it’s important to bridge the gap.

Recommended reading (found during writing):

Robin Davey (GROWVision Media) – Do You Really Want A Major Deal? (via hypebot.com)

MIDEM & Nielsen Confirm the Need for Mobile Apps for Artists

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 20:46:00 +0100

Just a hint to another article this time. Referring to my last posting on ContentSphere, I wrote an article for Music Think Tank, “Mobile Connect-with-Fans for DIY Artists - Why, and How?”. Please feel free to comment there.

After having posted on some forums, googling around etc., I finally was able to find services of the kind I was in search for - offering artists apps which they can share with their fans to directly connect. Also, one the companies (Songpier) commented on my article. Other ones are listed in my article on Music Think Tank.

Now, if you needed any further confirmation - please immediately go visit Midem’s website. The Midem blog features an article on “Music mobile apps and music streaming services”, including an excellent study compiled by Nielsen for ~~MidemNet Lab~~ MIDEM (link to download form).

Actually, it’s the result of a survey of well beyond 25.000 online consumers in more than 50 markets worldwide. Do yourself a favour, fill-in the form, and download the study. If you had any doubt about my article - read it.

The Missing Link In Connect-with-Fans

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:40:00 +0100

There are some issues about connect-with-fans strategies which are hard to solve. I’ve mentioned it a few times – to find the ones that fit you and your image (authenticity), to find the time for marketing and music (responsibility), and of course how to discover and develop new ideas in marketing (creativity). Plus, there are more like timing, choice of tools, the transition from connect-with-fans to reason-to-buy etc.

But, just recently, I realised that there is another one. It’s not yet another issue. Actually, it is a crucial gap. It is what keeps DIY artists from managing the next step towards future technologies and therefore, towards new business models.

There has been what is referred to as static Web 1.0. Simple websites, with content difficult to maintain.

Then there is Web 2.0. A term that no serious web developer is eager to hear about his brand new design in 2010. Dynamical content, usually presented along a design with light and shaded colours, rounded edges. Web 2.0 is what brought us blogs – a kind of easy to handle web presence for everyone. Almost easy to handle.

The next wave in internet technology – what is it going to look like? What’s the benefit for music business in particular? This was (and still is) a matter I’m very much interested to hear about. That’s why I set up a panel on this matter for all2gethernow 2010. I knew Eliot Van Buskirk would be interested too, but it turned out that a whole phalanx of big names crushed the gates to get on the panel. Apart from Eliot Van Buskirk (formerly with Wired, now The Echo Nest/Evolver.fm), paticipants included Jean Littolff (CEO - The Nielsen Company/Europe), Kevin Arnold (CEO / founder of IODA), Peter Sunde (formerly with The Pirate Bay; now founder of Flattr), Scott Cohen (CEO / founder of The Orchard), and Panos Panay (CEO / founder of SonicBids) taking the role of the moderator.

Whoah. I hit it.

Allegedly, the big thing about Web 3.0 is real-time content. But it’s more than that. And it has launched already. The main enabler is Apple – iPod, iPhone and iPad are the required hardware ingrediences. Go for any platform you like, Android, Windows, iOS. The core of it all is – apps. It’s not about websites but small applications carrying the content.

Bingo. Wherever you are, werever your fans are – the mobile device is at your side. You don’t need to wait for your fans to come to your site. Just send them a new message via an app. It’s kind of a subscription service.

An app is a brilliant platform to feature new content, teasers, lyrics, links to the shop and a hell lot more. Combine that with social media and there you are.

But, erm, wait…

Recently looked at your local app store (sorry, couldn’t resist)? Let’s see, how many artists are there… I swear, I didn’t come across more than 20 apps for artists. I remember some obscure Italian artist, Take That, Britney (I think so). Oh yeah, NIN of course. See, I can’t even remember more than 5.

Unfortunately, to develop an app that runs on any of the usual platforms easily costs you a fortune of $25k bucks plus. Talking about DIY.

You know of any suitable (or less suitable) options to build your own app? Please tell me. I’m really curious to know.

Why Fans Don't Pay You - And Why They Will: Basics of Customer Relationship Success

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:33:00 +0100

You might have noticed I dropped AdSense. Feels a lot better. Instead, I added a link to Dreamstime for picture licensing (check my articles, I used them more than Flickr I think). Plus, I implemented a plug-in from AdTaily. Nice one, you can have ads on your site and – even more important – you decide whether to accept or to decline.

If you’re asking for the result:

AdSense: 0.57 € (used for a total of 5 months)
AdTaily: 0.00 € (online for a week, no customers yet – of course)
Flattr: 5.24 € (revenue for second half of October)

Well, the Flattr bit kind of surprised me. 6 clicks, 5.24 €. Honestly, I expected something around 0.30 €… I’m flattered (no pun intended). So, thank you very much, dear reader!

From a business point of view, I think when distributing articles or ebooks a PayPal button might be a good option to add. Either you can download the file for free, or you spend some fraction of your Flattr amount, or you are free to spend any amount you think the article is worth.

The currency you are paying me with is your esteem of my work. But your esteem may materialise in different ways. I don’t think that the more esteem you have for my work, the more you will pay. Yet, what you pay certainly is not hard money.

You subscribe to my feed.
You tweet my article.
You recommend someone to read my blog.
You pay me a share of your monthly flattr amount.
You might even sometime donate an amount via PayPal.
You might contact me to collaborate with you on some project.

It is about the relationship.

While esteem is the currency, relationship equals the amount. Relationship means you are willing to purchase services from me. The better the relationship, the more valuable the revenue from the services will be to me.

It’s a vast array of options from free to project payments. This is how to learn to appreciate someone’s work. This is the way to build a business/customer relationship based on credibility, reliability, and confidence.

Now, translate this to making and sharing music.

Artists Can't Maintain A Good Relationship With Fans - Or Can They? But how?

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 09:58:57 +0200

Oh my… I simply can’t make it to my other posts that are in the pipeline. Studying my reader this morning, there was a post at hypebot, leading me to a blog on Seattle Weekly written by John Roderick, singer for The Long Winters.

Interestingly, it’s about the artist/fan relationship. Does that ring a bell? Yep, in the comments to my “Ads vs. flattr” posts I mentioned another article coming up on that issue. Now, before I even could post that, here’s that one by John Roderick. Plus, no other than Suzanne Lainson from BrandsPlusMusic (brilliant writer & strategist) commented on the column. And so did I.

Maybe you’d like to first read John Roderick’s article - that’s best to start with. Here’s the part I added:

There are several points to be made. As Suzanne mentions, the career of the musician and closely linked to that, the relationship between the artist and the fan develops. You can’t accuse Amanda Palmer for working with a growing team of people, including management. Still, she is in contact with her fans (online & offline). Though, there might come a time she can’t afford to write her blog herself.

Suzanne is right - you can’t ignore the correlation of success and fan relationship. More success means more fans, more fans means thinning the relationship. So, what to do to maintain the personal aspect between fan and artist?

In times of Social Media, it’s not only an issue in marketing. It’s also about balancing your career (as an independent artist) and the bad conscience you might have for your loyal fans. Though selling your highly valuable time at “Meet & Greets” appears to be an easy way out, it just deepens the gap.

There you are, the artist, most probably disliking those events. Maybe even more than interviews. Regarding bad conscience, there might even be the scent of prostituting yourselves. Then there’s the fans shelling out the money - I remember numbers of up to beyond $ 1,000. For ONE Meet & Greet. And go figure, fans are happy.

Though, there are fans supporting you in another way. They provide constructive criticism during your career instead of worshipping you. Maybe they won’t pay for Meet & Greets, but they are willing to support you in lots of other ways. These are the people to cater as being your Street Team. This is the core of your fanbase. Sure, they might be intersections, but I think you might divide your fanbase into Street Team, paying ones, and the ones who just like your music.

Again, there are interesting points to be learned from artists like Amanda Palmer - some people in her team have been fans. Core fans. Now they are rewarded. Hell, even Prince did that when he recruited people from fansites. Ok, that’s long ago and may I assume he just did it to achieve more control? Whatever.

It’s time to become aware of the fact that bands & artists are more than those 1 to 5 people. From a certain stage on, they are building hubs. And a hub is more than just a network. A network is what it starts with.

The artist, once established (though not necessarily making a living from music) is surrounded by people supporting him and pushing his career. Before there’s even a manager, there’s backup musicians, or a producer, someone texting at Twitter, someone designing the site. Plus, there’s the core fanbase. All of these are building up to the entity called artist. Of course, the musical creativity part still is up to the musician.

Conclusion: While developing your career and building your hub remember to reward them. Sometime later on, it might be money. Before that, it starts with credits, you might help them in their projects, doesn’t matter. That’s nothing too strange for a designer or producer you work with. But remember your core fans, the Street Team, too.

Upcoming topics in music, copyright & marketing at ContentSphere

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 19:48:00 +0200

Having conceptualised a good part of Berlin music conference all2gethernow's discussion topics (and organised even more), I suddenly find myself with heaps of thoughts and content not published on ContentSphere. Even worse, ContentSphere has been almost plain blank while working on those topics.
It just would be a shame to not make use of it. More than that, these topics are dealing with issues and they are raising questions. I contributed them to a2n because of their relevance in today’s music business.

The abstracts of those topics you will find on a2n’s schedule which is still accessible. The link to each of them I added to the list below. I’m trying to flesh out at least some of them in the near future to give you a bigger picture of what I intended them to be.

As you might have guessed, I was able to witness only very, very few of the events I drafted. But a large number of a2n’s discussions have been streamed, which makes me curiously waiting for the finalised and edited videos. I hope them to be published soon as a part of our documentation, so I can add the actual video of the discussions to my articles.

But – what are those topics and issues I contributed to a2n? Let’s see:

Please don’t get me wrong – the storyline might have been set by me for those panels and workshops. Though, it has been the moderators and speakers who did a brilliant job in breathing life into some sketched out thoughts.

You want to know which ones didn’t make it? Here they are. At least the ones I drafted.

Reforming copyright: Necessity or nonsense?
Collecting societies - foot on the brake or guardian of the Holy Grail?
YouTube - whuzznotup? The Black Screen of Death on behalf of GEMA.
Fail & Success - are traditionel business models the only to survive?
Branded art - when music becomes added value
DIY is a dead end
DIY marketing: The real world
DIY and direct-to-fan marketing - cameo role or serious market factor?
Direct-to-fan marketing
Artists’ perfect 10 in digital distribution - how does the perfect platform look like?
No charts, no breaking - what does it take to become a “breaking artist”?
Workshop: Site design for artists
Fuhgettabout the producer - we can do that ourselves!
Music production on iPhone/iPad? WTF or OMG?
Technology for the masses - does common access increase music quality?
Convergence or transition: About TV, internet & hybrids.
Music collecting: No options to revamp a bad habit beloved?

Why they did they fail? It’s been the usual reasons. Cancellations, invitations not being answered, and most of all - too much content. Some issues were merged and survived, others had to be abandoned. But, you never know… you like some of the ideas and would have loved to see the panel? Please tell me. I’d appreciate it.

Looks like an awful lot of work. Happy to do it. Gonna be fun.

AdSense vs. flattr, Ads vs. Donations - What's Best? You Decide!

wolfgang.senges@contentsphere.de (Wolfgang Senges) — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:32:37 +0200

Not long ago, ContentSphere saw a comeback of GoogleAds. I just wanted to give them a serious second try. Yet, now it gets a new twist. As you can see, I also added flattr buttons for the entire blog as well as separate ones for each entry.

That means: I’m having two additional streams of revenue. Maybe I should replace the term “streams” by “drops”. However. I’m running a kind of study. What’s the best choice to achieve better revenues? Not that ContentSphere has that much readers (360 feed subscriptions). That’s why I’m not expecting big piles of money.

What’s the most attractive and acceptable to you – that’s the question. Ads, or directly asking for financial support?

Plus, as you will see later on in this article, it helps me in advising my customers. Artists, most prominently.

Ads and donations - both approaches might be seen with mixed feelings.

Ads, the way that AdSense provides, rarely meet the requirements the author of a blog has set – no matter what restrictions you define, many advertised products, services and companies appearing on your site you simply don’t really want to see there. Moreover, it distracts from your site’s layout. In particular, it’s the picture ads that do so. Actually, if they were reasonably professional, they would be more useful for integration.

flattr, on the other hand, might be dismissed as begging for money from your readers – or fans. This is something which is discussed quite controversial. Just have a look at older entries at Amanda Palmer’s blog. In my opinion, no matter if you are an artist, journalist, blogger or whatever – as long as you offer anything you are allowed to ask for a price. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be high quality content. Just look at the charts and you will see it’s not always quality that sells. In the end it’s up to you to decide whether to pay anything. Don’t you forget, in the case of flattr you are almost entirely free in deciding how much you are to spend at flattr. The minimum to spend per month is 2 EUR, and each content you flattr receives a fraction of the monthly total.

I don’t want to discuss the issue of ethics here. Similar to the use of Creative Commons licenses, there are artists who are convinced that art should be free for everyone. No work of art should be sold. Though, artists need to make a living. Even those artists who’d like to give away all or parts of their work for free.

Fact is, the most reliable income is based on several streams of revenue. It’s not necessarily a high income allowing for a life in luxury. Yet, it’s more securely distributed over several resources.

Advertisements along your work, sponsorship, endorsement, patronage, donations – any of those and even more should be seen as complementary resources of financial support. Pick the ones that suit you best, and remember to pick those that work for you.

And here we are. I want to be sure that I’m advising artists and customers the right way. Do advertisements help to generate additional income? Is flattr (or any other form of donation) more acceptable? Of course, it depends on your fans and customers, your image and your profile etc.

I’m curious to see how it works in the long run.