Dear Christian Music Industry (Part 10)
Dear Christian Music Industry,
My, my, my. It’s been a while since my last letter to you. And look at how you’ve grown! Now correct me if I’m wrong but I think even my last letter you to was a bit of an encouragement to you. Was it not? You’ve really taken this whole ‘Social Interaction’ thing to the next level haven’t you?! Some might even say that you’ve surpassed other music genres in the social media arena. I’m like a proud second uncle or something.
Now, let’s see. I’ve done a little research and it looks like nearly every Christian artist is now on Twitter and the numbers are growing every day. Now there are too many Christian Musician blogs to even count, and artists are even branching out and being creative themselves and coming up with different ways to interact with their (uh oh, here comes that word we all know and love) “tribe”. Yeah, I said it. Tribe.
All this to say, I’m happy things are going so well. I love seeing the interaction. And I’m not going to sit here and say that me or SkörInc had everything to do with it, but I hope that we were able to play a part in ‘shaking things up a little’. **And if you are new to these ‘Dear Christian Music Industry’ letters, please go back and check out some of the past letters. Id’ love to know your thoughts. But make sure you start here.**
So now what? Now that everyone and their road manager has a blog and Twitter, what can this letter possibly be about? Who in the Christian Music Industry is still struggling to find a “tribe”? Who’s struggling to interact with a fan base they don’t know they have?
The Record Label. This letter is for you.
What if a record label got a fan base? What if a record label became a living, breathing, likable personality that allowed it’s tribe inside? Into the inner workings of the backbone of the music industry? What if people were allowed to become a ‘fan’ of the label? A fan of the company that is bringing you music that you love.
Some say the record label is dying. People say the record label is the ‘bad guy’. People say that artists don’t need a record label to succeed. All of these things are both true and not true. I think if the labels stay the way they have been for the last several years, yes, they might die. But they aren’t. Label owners aren’t stupid. They are changing with the times and updating their ‘tactics’ the same as everyone else. And they should be. But what if they took it a step further? What if they became something to ‘follow’ along with the artists they are promoting? Would you pay attention?
What if the label allowed an “inside” look into what artists they were considering signing? What if there was an interactive voting system that allowed their ‘tribe’ to vote for their favorite potential artists? What if the tribe was informed on how songs got to the radio, and what all went in to promoting an artist? The packaging, the promotions, the tour schedules of all the artists signed? What if the labels website became not only a place of information, but a place of interaction geared toward the fans of these artists? And in turn, became something worth being a fan of itself? Maybe I’m just a music nerd, but I’d love to follow something like that if I was given the opportunity.
Now, sure, not everything you write about is going to be interesting to everyone, but hey, this letter is probably boring the heck out of my mom. But here’s the thing. Everything is interesting to someone. People care about what labels are doing. People want to know the inside story and they still don’t want feel like they are constantly being sold something. Come on record label. Let’s give it a shot. Let’s start a living, breathing, transparent, “designed for the fan” website and lets see what happens. Who’s up for it?
Your friend,
brody
Read Letters: ”But It’s Still Not Happening 1-4″ and “Dear Christian Music Industry 1-9″ Here.
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Dear Christian Music Industry (Part 7)
Dear Christian Music Industry,
There’s this really cool group of musicians out there, maybe you’ve heard of them. The “Independent” musician. Sometimes people like to call them “Indies” when they want to feel cool, and a lot of times it’s awesome to pass on their music to your friends so they think you are cool too. They call it “hip to the Indie scene” or something like that. All in all “Indie” musicians are pretty decent. They typically will tell you that they are ‘in it for the music’ and come across a little more ‘arty’ than other musicians. And I like that.
You know what else I like about Independent musicians? I like the fact that they care about their careers. You know why they care about their careers? Because if they don’t, they don’t get to eat. They have no record deals, they have no marketing team, and they have no money backing them, and they realize that it really, truly is up to them to succeed. They get that fire under them to create music and then they get that fire under them to spread the word.
And you know what happens when they want to spread the word, Christian Music Industry? They look way down at the bottom of web sites of artists that they feel are doing it right, and they find a logo. They find a logo of the company that these popular musicians are using and they email them wanting the same thing. Because if they get that same thing, they increase their chances of succeeding. Not only do they feel it increases their chances of succeeding, but in talking to this company they realize that so much of the work load of their marketing is lightened in doing so.
You know how I know all of this, Christian Music Industry? I know all of this because I have been on the receiving end of several emails from “Indie” artists over the past few weeks. Emails asking how to do what other artists are doing. How to get their music out to more people. And they want our help. Then we start to talk.
Today SkörInc launched a new site for another Indie guy named Elijah Stephen. He’s an artist who is starting out on the right foot and wants to do as much as he can to succeed. So he called, we talked, and now he has the same service that several other signed artists have. And he’s excited about that. Make sure to head over there and give a big fat hello to him.
Now, here’s the funny part, Christian Music Industry. Are you ready? Elijah paid for it. Yes! Can you believe it. This independent musician searching for ways to better his career paid for services that he thinks are valuable. And he’s getting them.
Now I know there are budgets and flow charts and projections and all that for the labels in the Christian Music Industry. I know that people are paid well to make decisions based on a company and ‘maximizing profits’ and all that. And I think that’s awesome. One thing I’m not too sure about though, Christian Music Industry, and maybe you can clear this up for me. I’m not to sure how an ‘Indie’ artist playing to thirty people or so a night can come up with the money for something valuable, but these major record labels seem to have a hard time finding the budget and need for something like a silly old blog. After all doesn’t MySpace have a blog feature?
Now don’t get me wrong. I know that some of your labels are forward thinking enough to jump on the train, but the majority of your labels refuse to see the need for oh… communicating with your fans… or creating a community or something like that. For years labels have looked at what Independent musicians are doing to succeed and taken those concepts and drug them into a corporation setting. And it doesn’t look like this will be any different. So it’s time to get on the bus Christian Music Industry labels. The hip “Indies” are doing it so why shouldn’t you?
Your Friend,
Brody
Here It Comes
According to an article in Wired Magazine:
“Apple is under pressure from the four major labels to change its pricing model to a tiered pricing structure,” said Susan Kevorkian, an IDC audio analyst. “The way the labels are pressuring Apple is by withholding DRM-free downloads from the service … [while] cultivating other online music services, most notably Amazon’s MP3 downloads store.”
“If Apple tires of butting heads with the labels, it could eventually cut them out of at least part of the equation by forming its own record label to keep a portion of the estimated 65 cents it currently pays out to the labels for each song sold.”
And here’s the kicker of this whole shebang.
By 2012, digital music is projected to account for 40 percent of music sold, according to InStat. If Apple holds onto its current market share, it will account for more than one-quarter of all music sales by its ninth birthday. Not bad for freeware.
Are record labels in trouble if they mess with the beast that is Apple? Sounds to me like it’s time for artists to have a solid online presence more than ever. What do you think?
