Thursday afternoon got off to a great start, meeting up with a couple of people whom I’ve been in contact with but not met before in person. Putting faces to blogs and tweets is always a nice thing, and at a relatively small event like this, it is easy to go around and introduce yourself to new faces too.

The artist’s panel on Thursday afternoon was a lively one. The discussion seemed to start from building a buzz around your music / band / etc, touching on PR companies and if they offer value for independent artists. Cutting through the networking and get those CDs to the all-important ears of magazine and radio tastemakers is an crucial matter. Personally, I would say that if you are truly dedicated to your niche genre then you should already have been in touch with these people directly. You listen to the specialist podcasts and shows with similar sounding artists, go direct, send an mp3, send a CD, chase it up, meet the people at shows and events, build a relationship DIRECTLY with your industry peers and the job of PR companies is not only defunct , but you can do a better job by being genuine and approachable.

The topic of musicians ‘working’ for ‘nothing’ was brought up; in other words, free downloading. I have to say that I think a couple of the artists missed the point of how to reap not only useful information but also indirect revenue from free downloading, be that legal or otherwise. Some of the older artists (no offence, but there is a certain amount of generational differences relating to how to conduct your online strategies), were sticking to the old mantra of ‘if you don’t pay for the musician’s music then they will not / can not make any more music’; believing that you cannot build a successful project from giving your music away for free means that you should re-evaluate your ideas of ’success’. Success is not just about selling records anymore. If you do not consider other factors such as building extensive mailing list, concert ticket sales, a busy gig diary, steady merchandise sales and a strong online presence (be that youtube views, twitter followers etc), then you are missing out on great opportunities to build your reputation and career. As an independent artist, you should relish the fact that you can distribute 10,000 digital copies of your song for the same cost as distributing just 1. The tools and advice are all available online to help you promote your music to an immense audience, and you should try and learn to see success in the fact that if, after giving away 10,000 copies, some of those will pass onto friends, create further fans and so on, to the extent that your music can reach more people in more places than ever before. Just because you don’t receive a measly sum from a profitable record label in return doesn’t mean that you are not achieving results (many of them tangible, too). Following the artists panel, I stuck around for a few of the bands, chatted with the Un-convention Belfast contingent for a while, and then headed off for dinner.

On a side note, I didn’t quite expect so much swearing at the discussion – not that i’m adverse at all, but our venue for the discussion is The Sacred Trinity Church in Salford(!) Then again, I had been drinking beer throughout. Stay Tuned for Friday’s thoughts

Lee Jarvis.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Culture, music, beer, sunshine. This weekend sees one of the ultimate offerings of all these elements under one roof. And by roof I mean ‘district’ of London. And when I say sunshine I mean more beer.

The Camden Crawl is a two day event spanning Friday 25th and Saturday 25th April, showcasing 150 bands, artists, poets and film pieces across 40 venues, ending up on Saturday Night at the Roundhouse with performances from Kasabian and Madness.

As a preview, the lovely people at The Londonist have compiled a collection of free, legal mp3s from the majority of the bands performing. There’s 65 free tracks to download, so you can select your favourites, share the love, and make sure you don’t miss out.

Before this starts to seem like a big promotional ploy or sponsorship for event or website, I’ve no affiliation with either. My reasoning is that music discovery has changed. You don’t hear ‘new’ bands on national radio anymore. Up and coming artists aren’t getting the support of CD sales that they used to, and so live events are becoming extremely important for both performer and punter. Yes, the internet is a great source of new music, but you need a very good filter or the patience of a saint to wade through the endless streams of average (and below) music.

Why the Camden Crawl? Why not? It’s today, you have nothing better to do, and the free download taster just tops it all off (oh, did I mention the beer?). Head over there now and buy your tickets before it’s too late.

Unfortunately I won’t be there this year, but you can certainly thank me at future events. I accept beer, in case you’re wondering.

Lee Jarvis.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

My first Mecca when I started DJing and collecting music was Trackmasters in Romford; a great place, run by an awesome guy with a solid knowledge of dance music; it was purely the digital revolution that killed them off. All across the UK, independent music stores are closing at an alarming rate, as the buying habits of the general public have changed remarkably, and the shift from CD to digital is now obvious for all to see.

The ‘adult’ shoppers who were wanting to replace all their vinyl and cassette collection with new CDs have pretty much completed that transition. Getting them into new music on a regular basis is pretty rare. That leaves the general music buying youth, and, well, they are obviously all illegal downloading pirates (according to the RIAA/PRS/ASCAP etc), who rarely set foot in a physical retailer for anything anymore.

There is hope. In order for these traditional retail stores to keep afloat, they must adapt to the new music 2.0 world and attract customers by a variety of means. They must expand their revenue sources in order to survive. I’m sure that some if this will involve mp3s, and developing a working strategy for in-store downloading. For example, a customer can come in with their personal mp3 player, maybe share a few songs with an in-store music specialist, then receive recommendations for new music purchases. A ‘top-up card’ system could be implemented, where a customer can buy 5/ 10/ 25 downloads in advance, select tracks from in-store machines, then insert the card and link up their mp3 player to receive their new tracks. This will also sell well as presents for friends and families at Christmas. Branching into mp3s can also tie-in with the sale of personal mp3 players, mobile phones with music packages and the accessories that accompany them i.e. headphones, earphones and mini-speaker / home stereo link-up systems.

Box sets and limited edition CDs are a good way to add extra value, relative to the price of a ‘normal’ CD. They could have extra features that are not available with the original, such as extra photos and information published in the inlays(s), enhanced CDs that will play music videos in home computers, and possibly bonus tracks / unreleased mixes / original studio recordings / remastered versions. Much of this would not be available online, or at least would mean more to own physically for the loyal fans of each artist.

Brick-and-mortar retail outlets should also consider moving into other products associated with a variety of mainstream and niche artists and strong music brands, from Michael Jackson concert DVDs to Marilyn Manson dolls to Def Jam T-shirts to Glastonbury / SXSW tickets. Supporting local bands is one way they can even have an edge over the large brands such as HMV / Virgin etc. Rather than trying to sell a thousand megastar albums, selling 25 albums of 40 different local acts will create the same income and possible evolve more loyal, longer term custom.

Anything they can do to think outside the box and expand their store into a community once again is the way that the physical retailers can fight back and survive. I, for one, would hate to see the last remaining few disappear from our streets, and honestly think that by becoming more of a community / lifestyle / hang out joint, and turn the shop itself into a trusted, authentic and knowledgeable brand, then they can regain not just one-off customers, but regular long-tail fans.

Lee Jarvis.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

From Guns n Roses to AC/DC! Yes, we really are keeping up with the times! It’s funny how these, ahem, ‘mature’ bands are leading the way with their music strategies.

Anywho, I thought I’d report on the Young Brothers and co, because they recently took a stand against iTunes. They believed that an album should not be able to be broken down and purchased as individual tracks. Something that Apple is very sure should be able to happen, and something that I am sitting on the fence about. If you are going to make a ‘proper’ album (and I wouldn’t do it any other way), then the songs really should come as a package. There’s the mixture of styles, tempos and the interludes and the way it all moulds together to make an album something a bit more special than a compilation. There’s also the fact that many albums I have bought and immediately assumed ‘I don’t like track 3’, only for it to evolve with me and a couple of years later I realise that my favourites are the unknown and once disliked tracks. If, however, you are a current major label pop starlet and you are going to throw together 2 hits and a bunch of fillers in order to get something out in time for Christmas and your album would normally become the staple of car-boot sales around the country, then I can see the appeal of shortening the pain and just purchasing the two tracks. Although, to be honest, you could shorten the pain for all involved by not recording a bunch of rubbish in the first place (that rant is going to continue in a new blog post, I can tell you…).

So, AC/DC’s ‘Black Ice’ album would not be available on iTunes for the above reason. The result? Over 780,000 sales in it’s first week in the US. That’s also thanks to an exclusivity deal with Wal-Mart and strong promotion on their part. I the UK, they outsold Kaiser Chiefs two to one, and I believe that sales hit around the 120,000 mark. Ultimately, they hit the number one spot in an incredible 29 different countries!

Am I saying that we should all now ditch the digital revolution and just sell physical albums? Of course not. AC/DC is in a unique position and can strike up such a deal because of their strong history. Ultimately, the physical only strategy was to their greatest benefit. And I AM saying that you should explore all options to find the greatest benefit to you. Maybe that is physical releases, maybe that is an exclusive digital deal with Stompy, maybe you should give your music away. You decide, I’m just here to open you eyes

Lee Jarvis.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I’ve been thinking some more about my post last week, debating how much you actually earn from selling your music online these days. Coupled with the news that’s been finally weaned from Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’ Album and the fact that the more forthcoming Trent Reznor’s figures on Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Ghosts I-IV’ album, I thought I’d blog further on the topic of what you can earn by giving your music away.

Regarding ‘In Rainbows’,”More than three million people acquired the album,” points out Warner Chappell Music senior vice president of International Legal & Business Affairs Jane Dyball, who admits “I had doubts there was money to be made online”. That figure includes downloads sold across various retailers, and physical packages sold online and through brick-n-mortar stores, and Dyball noted that 1.75 million copies of the physical, full-priced release were shifted. The band may have decided to not give out any specific figures on sales, but that hasn’t stopped people from estimating revenue ($10m in the first week?) and average price paid per album ($5? $8?). Other companies are saying that these figures don’t allow for those who paid $0 for the album (ComScore.com), and Radiohead’s representatives then reply that those figures are inaccurate but don’t give us anything solid to go on. Despite the option of a ‘$0’ price on the official website, between October 10 and November 3 2007, ‘In Rainbows’ was still downloaded from Torrent websites to the tune of 2.3m downloads. So just about no-one can figure it all out once the Torrent numbers are thrown into the mix.

So how about Nine Inch Nails? Front man Trent Reznor must have thought it a huge success. Not only having the respect of your loyal fans and the Music Futurists out there… not only giving the old major labels an e-middle-finger… but also pocketing $1.6 million dollars in revenue in the first week. It must have been a success, as they’ve made the follow-up album ‘The Slip’ available for free download in multiple formats, all DRM-free and encourage you to “remix it, post it on your blog, and share it with strangers”. What an amazing attitude; these will surely go down in history as all-embracing album experiments. It should be right there alongside Michael Jackson being the first black artist with a video on MTV (Billie Jean, 1983). (your random fact for the day )

It wasn’t that easy though – Reznor reported earlier this year that in the two months up to January 2nd, his previous collaboration with Saul Williams consisted of 154,449 people downloading a standard quality of ‘NiggyTardust’ and just 28,322 of them paying the $5 for the higher quality version. In his blog, Reznor suggested that he was “disheartened” by the results.

So, it wasn’t the quality which drove people to illegally download via torrents. Reznor went back to the drawing board and tried a slightly different approach. He now understood the need for a physical product to help launch the album, in fact he released several variations for both CD junkies and hard-core NIN fans (the $300 Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition of Ghosts I-IV immediately sold out its run of 2500).

At 43 years old, technically on the upper end of Generation-Y (if not Generation-X). Reznor is refreshing, and a true pioneer in his actions. Major labels may be starting to offer 360 deals for some artists, but GIVING the music away? That must be a long way off (if at all).

What would you give to have a Reznor in charge of your career? Well, maybe you can… YOU. Maybe Indies are gaining more and more advantages over the majors and you want to choose this path. If so, then this is the place to subscribe – I’ll be talking a lot more about this over the coming months.

Lee.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

If you’ve not left your TV, radio and internet-less cocoon for the last four weeks, then you wouldn’t have realized that Madonna has just released her 11^th studio album, Hard Candy. With all-due respect to the comeback(?) queen of pop (I guess she’s never really been away long enough for a comeback), what really caught my attention was the promotion of the album.

Madonna has always re-invented herself to the new emerging markets, physically and musically. This album is no different, and working with the biggest producers of recent years, Timbaland and The Neptunes, as well as performing alongside Justin Timberlake on the launch single, ‘4 minutes’, ensures that sales are already through the roof thanks to a fresh generation of music buyers and millions of long-term fans.

But the way that this album was also marketed to the new generation of music buyers really struck me. With the release date being 28^th April (in the UK), Warner Bros decided to market the album by releasing seven songs on the seven days prior to this, available to download via mobile phone. Myself growing up with CDs, I quite like the artwork of and album, and I like to read all the inlay notes while I listen to it for the first time (GEEK ALERT!). I’m sure people love vinyl LPs partly for the same reason. However you can’t ignore the streams of ‘yoofs’ around the shopping malls, all playing the latest pop tracks on their mobile phones – the market here is huge! Gone are the days of monotone rings, these are full mp3s, and all the major mobile companies offer various packages and download sites through which they aim to claim back some of the download music monopoly that Apple hold.

I look forward to hearing more about how the move was received by her worldwide audience, and I’m sure I’ll be bringing you more news on this very soon. I think that as much as recent years have been a rocky ride for the digital music industry, the years ahead will be filled with innovative ways to feed the revolution.

Lee.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!