Price Bumping – Value Jumping

For all of us “legal” music downloader’s, the days of the .99 across the board tracks on iTunes are over.

I’m not surprised because the strategy is tried and true; lure us into a feeling and once we are hooked on it, bump the price of the experience up. Most of us are still hooked into the easy and popular way to legally get our music. So we will whine, but will crave our Apple fix. They do have rebuttals planned for our whining over this price increase, in the form of value added programs that jump at us in the form of “passes” to make us feel special. The Fray’s iTunes “pass” accompanies the release of the featured track. This pass is set at $17.00 and delivers songs, video’s and photos over a time frame in hopes to retain fans over the long haul.

Innovation and freeware supporters, Nine Inch Nails, are coming out with an app for the iPhone in hopes of connecting their fans interactively with the intent of being a fine “up-selling” group. “ One of the biggest wake-up calls of my career was when I saw a record contract," Reznor says. "I said, 'Wait — you sell it for $18.98 and I make 80 cents? And I have to pay you back the money you lent me to make it and then you own it? Who the fuck made that rule? Oh! The record labels made it because artists are dumb and they'll sign anything' — like I did." (NIN iPhone App Extends Reznor's Innovative Run)



So, who will rule? Free and up-selling or expensive and value-added?

-Jodi

Price Bumping – Value Jumping

Impulse Music

When was the last time you purchased music on impulse? When you go to Target or any grocery store they have candy and other treats sitting there waiting for you to buy outside of your normal grocery list. I work part time at a grocery store and so many times while in line, people purchase those items. They pay hundreds for groceries, so what is 89 cents for a Twix? 89 cents lasts 20 seconds, and 99 cents can last a lot longer, so where has the music impulse purchase went? Why is 99 cents too much for a song? Sometimes 89 cents is too much for candy so people steal it and that is a given. I use to be a huge music-downloader, I won't lie. As time goes by and I have a little more money I can now purchase songs. I just bought the new Anthony Hamilton song "Cool" as a impulse buy since I could not find the full song on MySpace or YouTube.

My point? We need a way to put impulse back into music consumerism. If there was a way where we could sell music with limited buyers' remorse (create higher quality music?) it would be the best way to do it. If we punish, then people will continue to try and get their music for free. There has to be something that makes people feel good enough about the purchase to begin trusting there impulse again.

What would you suggest? How would you make people feel good about music and paying money for it?

From the mind of
Keveeno Reeverts

Impulse Music

Royalty Whores

It looks like songwriting/publishing royalties on digital downloads are being disputed, and as a songwriter who isn't even making money from songwriting (yet), it makes me angry.

The current rate is 9.1 cents per track, which is the same for digital downloads, CDs, cassette tapes, vinyl, and anything else that might come around. Right now, the royalty is exactly the same, no matter which medium the song is sold through. And that makes sense, doesn't it? The songwriter is being paid for writing a song, and that song remains the same, no matter how it's sold.

But the Digital Media Association, which represents digital music stores, is proposing a decrease in royalties to 4.8 cents per track. That's almost a 50% decrease! I don't know the last time royalties were so low, but I can confidently say we could measure the time in decades. I'm not sure what the specific argument here is, but the mere notion that royalties should be cut so drastically if at all is insulting to the entire art and profession.

But then there's the National Publisher's Association, which represents publishers and songwriters (who generally split the royalties 50/50). They're proposing an increase to 15 cents a track. Their argument is that distribution and manufacturing have become much cheaper with the digital age, so there should be more profit to be shared. Theoretically, they're right. But in reality, the whole music industry is suffering and we can all see it. And sure, songwriting seems like it should be one of those glamorous music industry jobs that leaves you with more money than you can shake a stick at (that job really doesn't exist), but unless you're Diane Warren or Craig Wiseman, you're not going to be rich. However, if you're truly pursuing the art and profession of songwriting and you have a talent for it, you can earn a comfortable living at 9.1 cents per song--especially if one of those songs ends up on Carrie Underwood's next album.

So let's cut the greed, all of us, and let the industry stabilize a bit before we start demanding more and more for ourselves. We're in the music industry because we love it. Sure, getting paid to do it so we don't have to work elsewhere is nice, but as long as you can pay your mortgage and put food on your table, I'd say you're doing pretty good.

Courtney

Royalty Whores

Free is Free?

According to Sheryl Crow, “Good is good and bad is bad, but you don’t know which one you had”.

Is free good or bad? Does free = nothing? We live in a time and place where “free” is just a tool to get something back. It seems Sheryl is using her clout to attempt to get a zillion people to get out and vote under the “Rock the Vote” campaign.

I support “Rock the Vote” campaign as bringing awareness to the importance of democracy and I support free music as a tool to get people to embrace artistry but I don’t support her attempt to fuel her ego with a free download of “Gasoline” if you give away your email address. Of course the boxes are auto checked to subscribe to getting updates from sherylcrow.com and rockthevote.com. Isn’t un-checking those check boxes backwards voting???

Have you read the lyrics on that track? It isn’t one of Sheryl’s happy-go-lucky tunes we are used to hearing. She certainly shows her views of the oil industry and governments “ways”. Uh huh, that tells you something… Hey did I mention, get three friends to sign up and score her new album for free?

I’m sure her record label will be counting the email addresses and votes for Sheryl’s camp. It looks like we have a bunch of free givers asking for stuff, WTF? I think the price I pay for giving my information away equates to costly.

At what point in time will greed give away to free giving? Why is there a price to be paid on everything?

“Oh everybody, devil take your money, Money’s got no hold on me. Cuz oh, oh everybody’s making love, Cuz love is free”, Sheryl says…

Sorry Sheryl, tricks are for kids and making love made me lose my husband, my job, my house and my life. So much for free...

-Jodi

Free is Free?

Biting the Hand that Feeds You

I have been thinking a lot about connection these days. Namely what makes people connect.

The Internet has become a relatively new catalyst for connection. The written word has become just as powerful as the spoken word and all over the world, people are connecting in ways they never thought possible.

Now not only do I get to go see a new or an old favorite, I can check out any social networking site to find others who enjoy the same and make a new friend by writing to them and sharing experiences near and far; good, bad and ugly.

When I think of the new ‘raw’ entertainment era that we’re in, I look at ways entertainers are reaching out to their people. No longer does a person have to pay for the latest album or movie; it is readily available for download somewhere on the net where you are not supposed to go, right or wrong. I believe, for an entertainer, creating an experience online and offline is the next level of attack and the entertainers are getting it.


NIN seems to think so. Instead of taking the Metallica road to warfare against piracy, they embraced that their fans are loyal, educated and smart; they gave them the experience of free music on BitTorrent, but in addition to that, they told them in writing exactly what to do to get it. This created camaraderie and a good feeling for all, not to mention buco bucks in their other offerings.

Buckcherry on the other hand, has recently played their audience as fools by having their manager, Josh Klemme, release their new track from their upcoming album on a torrent site and fake that it came from God knows where, knowing radio stations monitor the popularity of downloaded songs as a gauge on what to play on mainstream radio. Better yet, that band had the gall to blog about on a July 3rd MySpace posting stating they felt their fans were cheated because they wanted to bring it to their deserving public first.


I understand, publicity is publicity; now they are being talked about and maybe that is what they wanted, but I know that today’s fans are not going to put up with that type of trickery. What fans are looking for is a connection to a group, not deceptive marketing. Time will tell if they bit the hands that feed them and I personally hope they get disengaged but it teaches us all something about true connecting and how a band will hit the next level or maintain their status.

Personally, I want to see bands playing out on the street corner for free once in awhile where they can entertain, interact with humans and share their gift with the world. If they are good, fame, money and respect is sure to follow. If they are well established, they will be reinforcing a bond. Even with the power of the Internet, the lure of true connection will never be replaced.

-Jodi

Biting the Hand that Feeds You