A new business model for musicians

[cymatics]

Here's an interesting approach to circumventing piracy... Check this out

I'm no MBA, but I think it's a great idea... on paper anyway.

I wonder if the RIAA lawyers can find a way to shut this down before it takes off?


- jon

[jbuntz]

Great. So instead of soliciting to record labels, band will now go for soft drinks, candy bars, maybe car companies...

[Randall]

I got dubbs on the Harley Davidson sponsorship

[cymatics]

Great. So instead of soliciting to record labels, band will now go for soft drinks, candy bars, maybe car companies...

Why not? How much worse could it be than a major label?

There is no historical precedent for this kind of arrangement that I am aware of. By creating a fresh template for this venture, maybe bands can find a way out from under the stereotypical 'major label deal' where every expense is recoupable, you don't own the music you put out, etc etc.


- jon

[Midlandmorgan]

Major brand sponsorships have worked well in the past for non-music ventures...a good example is NASCAR - many drivers are now hawking on the airways and their cars products not generally associated with racing (Viagra, Avecor, etc)

I can't help but feel a bit amused at the guy driving the Tampax car...how is HE supposed to sell THAT?

[Bob Olhsson]

This is really just the old old "business model." The thing almost everybody misses is that musicians never made sh!t before the late 1920s when Ralph Peer began paying artists royalties and took the publishing for himself instead of taking a salary from Victor. It took another 30 years for artists to really take control of their careers and by the 1970s a lot of artists were actually earning a decent living from their original music. Before Ralph Peer, artists were lucky to even get label credit.

We don't need any "new business model" that is just a return to patronage and tip jars. The current one is "if you want to hear the music, you gotta pay somebody whose gotta pay the performers." Forget about talk of "exposure." That was bullsh!t in the '20s '30s and ''40s and it's bullsh!t today.

There's also a huge freedom of speech component to this. Corporate and government sponsors ONLY support what they want to as opposed to what people want to hear. You have to look no further than contemporary commercial radio to experience what a corporate sponsored "business model" sounds like. In my opinion, corporate sponsorship is our biggest problem and hardly a solution.

[Old Cane]

Hi, I'm a nail. Ouch. Bob just hit me on the head.

[BevvyB]

I have no idea why people keep talking about 'big business' being needed

Just because the major labels are 'big companies' doesn't mean that big companies are needed to sort out the music business

People seem to have forgotten that one of the biggest companies on the planet, Google, has made it's name by delivering advertising in niche markets, to people who wanted it. This alone should be proof that the 'one big sponsor to sort it all out' model is not just dead and buried, but actually, a nuisance.

You could however, be sponsored, at any given moment, by whoever the person enjoying your material at that moment has previously just bought something from, and doesn't mind that at all, making the sponsorship not only relevant, but also fairly pleasant and even useful.

Come on guys. It's all staring us in the face. It just hasn't blossomed yet. And that's just ONE way that it's going to work out.

[nickynicknick]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

This is really just the old old "business model." The thing almost everybody misses is that musicians never made sh!t before the late 1920s when Ralph Peer began paying artists royalties and took the publishing for himself instead of taking a salary from Victor. It took another 30 years for artists to really take control of their careers and by the 1970s a lot of artists were actually earning a decent living from their original music. Before Ralph Peer, artists were lucky to even get label credit.

We don't need any "new business model" that is just a return to patronage and tip jars. The current one is "if you want to hear the music, you gotta pay somebody whose gotta pay the performers." Forget about talk of "exposure." That was bullsh!t in the '20s '30s and ''40s and it's bullsh!t today.

There's also a huge freedom of speech component to this. Corporate and government sponsors ONLY support what they want to as opposed to what people want to hear. You have to look no further than contemporary commercial radio to experience what a corporate sponsored "business model" sounds like. In my opinion, corporate sponsorship is our biggest problem and hardly a solution.

......thank you Bob