ContentSphere - Music & Media in an Online Culture

I started this article two days ago (which isn’t quite correct because I started writing it about a week ago), though I have yet to come to the main part - the lessons themselves. Hope you enjoy, have your read.
"Music Business: Lessons In Free Strategies From..." vollständig lesen »

If talking to independent musicians about the benefits of distributing content for free you most certainly will come across four arguments in monolithic defense.


Please note: I won’t discuss copyright issues in here. But no matter if you give away your song for free to billions of people or if you sell a licence to one company - your copyright in your song remains unaffected. Please keep that in mind.

"Music Business: Lessons In Free Strategies From..." vollständig lesen »

Dear all,

holding the role of the curator of Forum I (“Collection Societies & Rights Management”), on behalf of all2gethernow e.V., I’d sincerely like to invite you to take part in our press conference in Berlin on 1st Sept. respectively alert you to Berlin’s upcoming




Due to the fact that the invitation for the press conference mainly addresses German visitors, I’d like to forward you to the event’s website for more information.

Basic facts for press conference:




Please register for participation at presse@a-2-n.de.


The programme will be online shortly. In Germany, you can get a copy of the printed version with Berlin magazine “Tip” on 2 Sept.

Don’t forget to join our community/wiki where you are able to suggest your own topics and discuss prepared sessions – even if you won’t be able to participate in person.

Tickets (at prices unbelievably low I might say) are available on the ticket sales page.


Thanks for your attention – and I’m looking forward to see you in Berlin. If you’re coming to all2gethernow don’t hesitate to contact me.


Cheers

Wolfgang Senges

Deutscher Artikel: Siehe “Der Tagesspiegel” vom 26.07.2009. "Die gute Tat der Piraten - von Kolja Reichert" vollständig lesen »

I just stumbled upon this via an article at TechDirt. But, it’s Trent Reznor again who has something to say - and it’s absolutely essential to every musician out there. Maybe labels might consider reading it too. It’s his “thoughts on what to do as a new / unknown artist” these days.

Funny thing is, when posting this to the NIN forum Reznor obviously was on his way to Luxembourg... I’m still suffering from the aggressive light show yesterday. But the NIN gig was a pure intoxication of virtuosity & entertainment.

Reznor’s point is straight forward and easy to understand.

Bottom line is, master music & online tools, work hard, deliver something good - and sell something unique other than music. Because you can’t rely on selling (recorded) music in itself. Music is ubiquitous. And it’s free. Cash is about extras.

Some advice by Reznor is about what to avoid and what to do in particular. The aspects he mentions do remind me a lot of Andrew Dubber’s ebook “The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online”. For a free download go here for the English version (German version).

[Deutsche Version] Earlier in March, I mentioned Michael Masnick was about to hold a keynote presentation at Leadership Music Digital Summit 2009 in Nashville. He announced to update the case study on Trent Reznor (= Nine Inch Nails) he presented at Midem, which was simply brilliant. So the expectation of extending a presentation of this quality requires full attention.

I was hoping for another video of the presentation, and yes, finally here it is. While the first one ran 15 minutes, the keynote clocks in at almost 30 minutes – and every second is worth it. After Midem’s presentation, one of the main issues many people had was about how Reznor’s business model could not apply to less known artists building upon a much smaller fanbase. Hence, Masnick’s pays tribute to this and takes into account several musicians from different success levels.

No spoilers here, just sit back and watch it. And have some good laughs.

Unfortunately, if you’re a major label’s executive chances are you might not be amused at all.

This video is essential for learning.




Leadership Music Digital Summit 2009
Mike Masnick keynote address, 3/25/09
from Leadership Music Digital Summit on Vimeo

Michael Masnick revisits the shutting down of SpiralFrog, putting emphasis on the fact that however a new idea in online music business gets hailed, there still is at least one predominant reason for failure. To succeed, you have to offer more than what you can get for free using bit torrents. As I mentioned before, quite along the lines of Michael Masnick’s Reznor case study, you need real added value. It’s what Masnick calls the "reason to buy". Add something to the product (= music) to be obtained nowhere else, be it quality, quantity or core competence.

Learn from history or fail to succeed.

Jamendo is the world's first B2C music download service offering all tunes under the Creative Commons license. At least that is Jamendo's claim. Also, I do not know about any other one either. If there are small ones or large ones out there handling their business that way – please contact me. I really would be interested in your experience.

The Land of Digital Milk & Honey

Most importantly, any music offered on Jamendo is legally free for download. This is rather surprising to say the least. Yet all of us should have been prepared since OpenSource software like Linux is something we take for granted. But music? It feels like the Holy Grail being one-way used in a fast food restaurant and thrown into the litter box right afterwards.

"Can artists make a living without ASCAP et al.?..." vollständig lesen »

At this year's Midem, Mike Masnick from Techdirt gave a presentation focussed on how Trent Reznor/NIN is doing music business. It is worthwhile watching the video. Masnick's accompanying article can be found here. You will find additional comments there.

Unsurprisingly, there are some issues mentioned which might be familiar if you read my previous articles on here. Discussing the "Ralph Lauren Model" I pointed out how important the added value to a generic content is. Masnick again summarises the five most important facts:

• Motivate consumers by involving them.


• Add real value to generic content.


• Create hype to promote the product in the long run.


• Implement a pricing strategy that makes use of long tail strategy.


• Most importantly: There's a wide variety of strategies to choose from. Be creative.

In case you are reading this within your email feed, the video might be missing. Do yourself a favour and visit my blog to watch it.

At SIIA Industry Summit 2009, Pearson CEO Marjorie Scardino described the framework for Financial Times' digital and pricing strategy. Financial Times is published by Pearson.

Sardino, referring to print content, stressed the difference between generic content such as news and the value Financial Times provides by quality analysis. Apart from the brand value, it is in particular the supplier generated extra content which defines the product's market value.

But where is Ralph Lauren?

The newspaper's price has been increased which led to an increase in number of readers too. Now this is what Scardino calls „The Ralph Lauren Effect", in marketing more commonly known as snob effect.

Certain target audiences have a need to "feel" quality and identity of a product by price. Customers expect exclusiveness and social prestige in buying. You might compare it to car enthusiasts buying a Porsche's sound, or like the fact a vacuum cleaner has to be noisy to be efficient. It is about feeling the product and consumer’s identification with it. Lower the price or reduce the noise – sales figures will go down.

This phenomenon works well with exclusive goods. The price indicates the quality of product.

Print vs. music media

So can digital distribution in print media be compared to music in terms of pricing and product structure? Is it possible to transfer the Ralph Lauren model?

Let us start with one premise: The basic situation to be analysed here differs in print and media. Scardino refers to standing the competition within several print outlets. The core issue in music business is not based on rivalry. It is about 1) Upon which sources do I generate revenue? and 2) Is there a way to beat piracy?

"Might Ralph Lauren Save Digital Distribution of..." vollständig lesen »