ContentSphere - Music & Media in an Online Culture

Browsing my Google Reader today I stumbled into Kyle Bylin’s interview with Jay Frank of Futurehit.DNA and CMT (a division of MTV Networks) at hypebot. Jay’s new book “FutureHit.DNA - How The Digital Revolution Is Changing Top 10 Songs” you can download for free on his site.

Well, of course the digital revolution has changed music. But there are some claims of his that I do not necessarily agree to in the way Jay puts it. It’s a bit of context that’s missing.

First of all, you might easily forget about the fact that he’s talking about chart music only. During the interview I can’t help getting the feeling the majority of musicians (from Jay’s point of view) are merely in it for the money. Rules to follow, issues to avoid - just to make sure your song makes the Top 10.

Honestly, the probability any song makes it there is very low. Let’s face it: It’s near zero. You might as well spend your time and money on lotteries.

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Georgia Wonder is Stephanie Grant from London and Julian Moore from Portsmouth. We got to know each other via Andrew Dubber’s blog and Twitter. You’re searching for a pop/rock/folk band serving beautiful tunes and a brilliant female voice - buy their tracks. You can even choose if and how much to pay for downloads. Or you may order a physical copy.

Julian Moore and Stephanie are never short of clever ideas to add to their marketing. And they are really running the marketing themselves. Blogs, videos, Bandcamp, iTunes, We7, Twitter, homepage, mailings (email as well as snail mail), Facebook etc. - it is time consuming but they’re constantly connected to their fans.

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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.
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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.

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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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While planning for my upcoming blog posts I thought it might be a good idea to feature some new and rather unknown artists now and then. Hey! This is about music - and if there’s someone real good who deserves to get more attention… let’s do it.

You may remember that when I reviewed the Peter Doherty gig months before I mentioned the opener to be worthwhile getting their own article. Here it is.

The Bony King of Nowhere - that’s what they are called. Actually, “they” means “he”. Because it’s Bram Vanparys from Ghent in Belgium plus supporting musicians.

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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).

03.05.: Peter Doherty, Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg), Rockhal Club

[Deutsche Version] I didn’t quite know what to expect when buying my ticket. I had the Babyshambles’ Down In Albion and Shotter’s Nation playing on iTunes every now and then – random play that is, about 20 songs within a pool of 12.000... The ska/reggae bits I don’t like that much, otherwise I was pleased (and curious) enough to check him out.

Doherty went into his set at about 9:45pm, walking... strolling...erm, well, stumbling on and across the stage. I got this awkward feeling – yes, this is what everyone expects and so he starts to fill this role.

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