The D.I.Y Musician?
There has been much made of the new possibilities that the internet provides for artists and bands. Some have even gone so far as to say now musicians can pretty much “do it themselves”, that is, set up their own online business to market and sell their music successfully. It is an interesting idea, and it will be interesting to see how far an artist could develop going it alone.
It is undeniable that the internet provides a good marketplace for music. The yearly amount of digital downloads is growing exponentially, with more and more people purchasing their music online now than ever. It is quite inexpensive for an artist to sell music straight from their website (digital or otherwise), and services like Record Union are working hard to make sure that it is possible for any aspiring artist to distribute and sell their music on online music stores around the world.
So the market is there, the capacity to distribute and sell is there, what of marketing music and getting new fans? The internet also ranks quite highly on this front as well. When it comes to developing new fans, social networks are a great way to get people talking about your music and joining your mailing list. There are many great services which are designed to introduce people to new music (such as Last FM and iLike). When it comes to getting people to gigs on the weekend, the internet has made this a lot more transparent. But can artists really “do it themselves”?
The question which arises is, do what themselves. Sure, it seems entirely possible for artists to make a nice little sum of money from selling their music online, play packed venues and achieve a level of respect and notoriety. If one believes “1000 true fans strategy” is realistic, then artists can make a nice salary. But mega stardom? Platinum hits? Champagne baths? It is as yet unclear whether the internet can single handedly produce such “successes”, they require some very well tuned marketing machinery which its diversified and comparatively fragmented environment does not support.
However, you must agree, that If the internet can help more artists make a living doing what they love, this itself is a great achievement. It seems likely that the internet will have its own mega stars, but how they will materialise, or whether this will be achieved separately from the old record structure is hard to say. But at the end of the day, its always good music which will prevail, and the internet does give us access to a lot of this!
Tags: hit, independent, long tail, Music, musicians, new music indsutry, online music, record industry, record union, Recordunion, The new music industry
