I did some research a little while back about the music business craziness.

Based on the rhetoric thrown about by the RIAA and the lawsuits filed for the “benefit” of small time musicians, it would seem technology has all but crushed the chances for up and coming musicians.

A great deal of negativity is emphasized as resulting from new technology, yet upon careful examination and with an open mind to the thoughts of musicians themselves, the music world may be a changed place, but it may also be that new opportunities have been created.

Emerging musicians cannot afford to focus on lawsuits brought by the RIAA, and suing fans seems counterproductive anyway.  A better model would be to find ways for musicians to use the new technology to take control of their own business and finances.  This model would begin with the realization that the standard model of the record company seems to fail in this new online environment.

People can directly exchange any music files they want.  Sales of CDs will probably never be as high as they once were.   So how can the new musician use technology to take control of his or her own career?

Derek Sivers: A Prototype Solution

When Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby, first wanted to sell his CD online he found no one would sell it unless he had a distributor. Derek Sivers made his living as a musician and then later focused on the business side of the music world.  However, even as he made a living being a musician a working knowledge of business practicalities was necessary.

He resolved to start his own outlet for independent artists to sell their CDs.  Matt Welch describes the method of Derek Sivers as “hippie-capitalist wisdom” and Sivers committed to his principles early on and stuck with them.  He will pay musicians every week, disclose the full name and address of everyone who buys the CD, and does not require a minimum number of CDs to be sold.  If only one person in a course of five years wants  “electronic tuba music” (Goodman 5) then Sivers wants it to be available.  Through partnerships with iTunes and other digital sales venues, an electronic version will also be available.  This electronic version can even be made more readily available since the cost involved is so much less.

In 1997 he built his website.  Two of the heaver expenses, the first in money and the second in time, in doing business online is having a credit card merchant account and building a shopping cart.  These two steps require capital and coding knowledge or the money to pay someone who does.  Sivers had had a successful career as a musician and made enough money through performance to purchase a house and fund his new venture. Once Sivers built the site, a few of his musician friends asked to use it as well.

In 1999 Derek Sivers said, “Man, can you imagine, we might need to really prepare.  This thing might get huge one day.  I mean, we might have 100 artists here.” (Goodman 3).  At this point CD Baby sells the music of about 93,000 independent artists.  The rebellion against major record labels has found a great and realistic business alternative.  If it had existed earlier maybe Prince would have simply gone to CD Baby instead of changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol.  Since he felt powerless in the hands of his record label, Prince changed his name in an act of protest.  Musicians on CD Baby keep the rights to their own music and have much greater control over what they play and how they can make it available to the public.  CD Baby is nonexclusive–Sivers knows that it is difficult to sell music and therefore allows musicians to sell it wherever they please; he simply would like them to also sell with him.  He made his living as a professional musician for years and, knowing the artistic and business issues of the new musician from both sides, wished to create a real service for musicians with CD Baby.  Sivers thought about creating something along the line of iTunes, but before he could act, iTunes exploded in popularity and actually approached him with an offer.  With the rapid success of iTunes, Sivers did not wish to compete with Apple in this market.  He also believes that the partnership between CD Baby and iTunes gives another great opportunity for the people who sell physical CDs on CD Baby.

CD Baby thus serves as a way for all musicians to sell CDs, and as such has given an opportunity to 150,000 independent musicians.  However, technology has changed the business and financial rules of the music world.  Formerly, “It used to be that, as a musician, only 10% of your career was up to you.” (Sivers).  That ratio has shifted completely and now the musician controls 90% of the process. “You have to make a great recording, a great show, a great image.  You have to come up with a plan and make it happen, too.  You have to make thousands of people want your music so much they pay good money for it.  You have to make things happen on your own.  Even if a record label puts it in the stores for you, it’s still up to your own hard work to go make people buy it.”  (Sivers) This feat does not come easily by any means, but the tools and resources exist to make it happen.

In addition to making music, designing a website, and recording an album, doing all the artwork, promotion, and booking would be impossible for a single person to do effectively on a large scale.  However, understanding the elements involved can help tremendously.  As Sivers says, “Business is as creative as music.” (Sivers).  The goals of business can be reached using as much freedom and independent thought as that in creating a musical composition.  Similarly, with an open approach, learning piano in addition to one’s main instrument will improve one’s overall musicality and success is not an unbelievable statement.  “Many great horn players, bassists, guitarists, and drummers have been excellent pianists as well, including Charles Mingus, Joe Chambers, Jack DeJohnette (all three of whom have recorded piano albums), and Joe Henderson.”  (Levine vi)  Likewise, understanding business ideas will help the overall success of a musician.

At first it may be awkward to think about business.  But anything new will take time to become comfortable.  And once someone is more accustomed to thinking about things in a business sense they will feel more confident and able.  Then creativity will flow in your business, marketing, and promotion as well as your music.  “Do with your business what you would tell a new, stiff, scared musician to do with their instrument.”  (Sivers).  You need to relax and eliminate fear of trying in order to succeed.  On that note, I turn to a discipline that may seem quite unrelated to musicians/music.

Two words, to describe your music, can change your career.

David Feder and his band Salagua-Azul always wanted to get into big music festivals.  They had been performing for years, and doing OK, but the agents that book music festivals would never give them a chance.

At a show, a drunk fan said, inbetween songs, “You know what?  You guys are HILLBILLY FLAMENCO!”  The crowd laughed, and so did the band.  They joked about it again on stage that night, and again on the drive home.

The next day they started to notice that they all STILL remembered those two words, “hillbilly flamenco”.  It was funny, but described their music well.   The crowd liked it.  They decided to use it more often.

They started telling the audience, each time they played, “If you are wondering what kind of music this is, this is hillbilly flamenco!”  And the end of the show, they’d ask the audience, “And when you tell your friends what kind of music you heard tonight, what kind of music is it?”  The crowd would say, “HILLBILLY FLAMENCO!”

And believe it or not… it worked!  People started telling their friends about this band, because it was so easy (and fun) to describe.

And then, one day, they were talking to one of those booking agents who books festivals, and told him, “This music is perfect for your festivals.  This is hillbilly flamenco!”  The booking agent laughed and said, “Ok – I’ve GOT to hear this!”

Now David Feder and his band are playing the festivals they always dreamed of.  He told me his career took a definite turn the day they started using those two words to describe their music.
–
Derek Sivers
CD Baby (cdbaby.com) – sales and distribution for musicians
HostBaby (hostbaby.com) – web hosting for musicians

I told you that your marketing should be an extension of your art, so here’s a real-world example:

Back in 1997, when “The X Files” was still on the air, a friend of mine who called himself Captain T put out a record called US Aliens that was all about conspiracy theories, Area 51, alien cover-ups, and the Incredible Hulk. It was intentionally funny, but he would stay in character and play it straight : a guy who was trying to tell the world, through music, about the aliens and conspiracies.

He wanted to send his album to college radio stations, but couldn’t afford to hire a real radio promoter. When we decided to do it ourselves, I was about to do things in a very normal way, but I thought I should take my own advice, and make his marketing an extension of his art, his image, his message.

(Also, I was thinking about that kid in the college radio station that gets 20 CDs a day, all exactly the same, in boring envelopes. I wanted to make his week.)

So – we bought 500 black envelopes, 500 sheets of brown oatmeal paper, 500 alien head stickers, and the best part : 500 huge stickers that said “CONFIDENTIAL MAIL – DO NOT OPEN FOR ANY REASON”.

We did a mail-merge to the 500 program directors at 500 college radio stations, so that each one got a personalized letter that said this:

You don’t know me, but I live in the bushes behind your station.

I have been here for 12 years and your station has saved my life many times over.

The music that you play has kept me going through my darkest of days and for this I owe you everything.

In this spirit, I must tell you that a man named Captain T found me in the gutter yesterday, and he taught me about what is really going on with the government and what really happened down there in Area 51. This man has a message that you have to get out to the world, because people need to know the TRUTH!

Signed,
Man in the bushes, looking through your window right now

We laughed for hours while doing it.

Now, imagine you’re that kid working at the radio station, getting 20 CDs a day with normal boring packages, saying “Please play my record!” Then you get this scary black mess of a package that says “DO NOT OPEN”, and when opened is covered in dirt and says, “You don’t know me, but I live in the bushes behind your station.”

375 of the radio stations played it.

Every now and then, my friend Captain T gets approached by someone that used to work at a college radio station back in 1997. They tell him they still remember it, because it was the coolest package they ever got.
–
Derek Sivers
CD Baby (cdbaby.com) – sales and distribution for musicians
HostBaby (hostbaby.com) – web hosting for musicians