General Music Chat

Thought about you, Bob, when I saw this.....


"How to make money in the music business" is a title I've seen countless times over the last decade. This guy does a good job of spelling it out and offers a free book as a download

http://www.musicsenseblog.com/how-to-ma ... -industry/




“Pharrell Made Only $2,700 In Songwriter Royalties From 43 Million Plays Of ‘Happy’ On Pandora“


ouch!

I'm guessing its BS. Typical pyramid scheme stuff. Short teaser video, have to pay to see the whole thing. Fake testimonies. When you click on the 'real earnings' link, the numbers are <1% for every level until you get to the bottom:

(% of total affiliates, highest income, lowest income, average income, some garbage #)
Less than $100 (Active Affiliates*) 61% N/A $99 $0 $33 $396
Less than $100 (All Affiliates*) N/A 92% $99 $0 $5 $55

I'm guessing its BS. Typical pyramid scheme stuff. Short teaser video, have to pay to see the whole thing. Fake testimonies.

Your guess is totally wrong. I'm not endorsing the guy or the course he's offering but I looked over it before posting. It is absolutely free because he's trying to mine email addresses, the new currency of the indie artist. It's typical common sense about running a business that creates music.

Not that anyone here is interested in that....

I'll read the ebook and see what it says.

For me $$ would be great. I have no delusions of grandeur. None whatsoever.
When I made the CD I just wanted to have something I could be proud of,
something I could show people and say "hey this is ME."
My CD is about art. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I thought the outcome was way better than I expected. I did some recording on and off for three decades. I used to cringe hearing myself. Now I enjoy listening to me. I've come a long way.

I've got plans for future recordings, one single at a time. I'm going to take longer and put more into each tune. I've got a bunch of great tunes thst I purposely left off the first CD so I could follow them up with more.

At this point it's just art...

Well I think you have a unique album there, Bob. Never heard a three piece bass/drums/sax before.

I love Morphine. I believe you meant from '90 - '00. Come on Bob. Break out the two string slide bass!

Nothing new and groundbreaking in that 33 page e-book from Ted's link. Like he said, it's all about mining email addresses. I use one specifically for this kind of spam. Note this guy also wants you to buy into his videos, and also runs a (free) site where you can upload your music and sell it m- how many more of these sites are needed?

To sum it up:
Have a web presence/site
Have a way for people to buy your music.
Develop a way to capture email addresses.
Have a blog - this one I question on its real use. Does anyone follow any music blogs regularly, specifically those done by a player/band?

I spent a half hour watching one of these sites that tells you 'how to make money with your music' - same thing, a teaser designed to make you pay for further videos. To sum up that one: you need to build up 1000 "superfans" - fans who will spend $100 a year on your stuff - CDs,downloads, merch. That's the purpose of the mailing list. But think about it - excluding (expensive) concert tickets when did you last spend $100 in a year on ANY band/player? But that's what this video series was all about - telling you to 'think outside the box' - in other words sell stuff other than your music, do other music-related things (like giving lessons). That's what most of these 'make money' folks will tell you because the simple fact is that until you get to mega status, these days playing gigs is going to put more money in your pocket than selling CDs and downloads and tshirts.

But think about it - excluding (expensive) concert tickets when did you last spend $100 in a year on ANY band/player? .

Why would you exclude the price someone is willing to pay for a ticket? Seems like the better question would be, "Have you ever spent $100 enjoying live music?"


Make a deep (spiritual) connection with an audience and they will buy anything you put on a merch table and keep coming back for more....

Those other items are not something to sneeze at. Though it might be a repeat of something you already heard several times, there is a reason why it's what everyone is telling ya. If someone really wants to buy everything you have and there is only one CD on the table, you're going to get $15 tops when you might have gotten $100

Yes, it's just plain common sense. But how many even try? Not posting it to make anyone feel inadequate...but can you imagine a grocery store whose only item is one brand of milk by the half-gallon?


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Why would you exclude the price someone is willing to pay for a ticket? Seems like the better question would be, "Have you ever spent $100 enjoying live music?"
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Because we are not talking about the mega stars here. We're talking about people who play locally, or maybe even do some small amount of touring. The mega band's not getting $100 from that $100 ticket - they're lucky to see $20 of it after the venue, promoter and the band's agent and the expenses.
The local player - maybe the venue hits people with a $5 cover charge (if its a bar/club) or if its a ticketed event, $20-30 (again the player doesn't get all that). If the attendees have already bought the performer's last 2 CDs, what are they going to buy - a shirt? Maybe one time in a few years - but I don't think there's much merch business for the smaller players at all. We're not hitting that 1000 fans X $100 range. You can't release 6 CDs a year (@ $15 each) and expect to sell them (I can't imagine making 6 CDs a year with the time involved while playing gigs and everything else involved).


EDITED TO ADD:
Follow-up on the original post link - you have to supply an email address to download the 'free ebook'. 3 'spam' emails since I did that, all trying to push his video series and other crap.

Why would you exclude the price someone is willing to pay for a ticket? Seems like the better question would be, "Have you ever spent $100 enjoying live music?"
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Because we are not talking about the mega stars here. We're talking about people who play locally, or maybe even do some small amount of touring. The mega band's not getting $100 from that $100 ticket - they're lucky to see $20 of it after the venue, promoter and the band's agent and the expenses.

You might be surprised how much of a ticket price the "Mega" band actually gets. They want you to think it's everyone else, but it isn't like playing the bars.

The local player - maybe the venue hits people with a $5 cover charge (if its a bar/club) or if its a ticketed event, $20-30 (again the player doesn't get all that). If the attendees have already bought the performer's last 2 CDs, what are they going to buy - a shirt?

...and a mug...and a sticker....and a vinyl...and a bracelet...and a necklace or two.

If we aren't talking about rock-n-roll, the artist might even have a book!?!


But you also swerved into another axiomatic truth. Bands don't really see any return on selling their recordings until their 3rd or 4th album. What actually separates successful from one-hit wonders is being able to crank out decent quality music as often as possible.

Maybe one time in a few years - but I don't think there's much merch business for the smaller players at all. We're not hitting that 100 fans X $100 range. You can't release 6 CDs a year (@ $15 each) and expect to sell them (I can't imagine making 6 CDs a year with the time involved while playing gigs and everything else involved).

I'm no household name but I have those "superfans" or I couldn't have made it as a recording artist more than a couple of years. I understand how it seems impossible, but really it isn't rocket science to work hard at all aspects of a creative life daily, and then multiply that over thousands of days. What stops most people is that they don't have the faith it will eventually pay off. Those are the people who never invest in their own career.

It looks like our friend, Jookey, is at a time in his life when he can focus on the pure joy of creating music and playing out. Given that, it's only a matter of time before he finds himself busy all the time with it. One day you look up and realize your daily routine isn't what it used to be, and suddenly you can't afford a day job.

Then it becomes a matter of how long you can sustain being productive creatively while performing all the time.

EDITED TO ADD:
Follow-up on the original post link - you have to supply an email address to download the 'free ebook'. 3 'spam' emails since I did that, all trying to push his video series and other crap.

I see your point. I hate that crap, and besides, none of this is really a secret. He's just trying to make money off of teaching people who don't know what it takes already.

How dare him try like that!?


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