

Why this new record label is giving away all its music for free - sathishmanohar
http://thenextweb.com/midem/2012/01/29/why-this-new-record-label-is-giving-away-all-its-music-for-free/

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skrebbel
> _Normally, the launch of a new record label wouldn’t be the kind of thing
> we’d cover at The Next Web,_

I can see that. This is like a music blog covering the release of a NoSQL
database. They just don't have a clue.

There have been netlabels with free music downloads on the net since before
mp3s were popular. The days that these only published amateur music of
mediocre quality are _long_ past. Many labels have had mixed free/non-free
downloads for years, too (i.e. some releases are free, some aren't).

ps. if I upload some mp3s to a wordpress blog, do I get to feature on
thenextweb too?

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skymt
This feels like a publicity stunt. DigSin is single-oriented (that's even what
the name means!), and it's far from unusual for labels to release a free
single to promote the album. Meanwhile, plenty of independent artists on sites
like Bandcamp and labels like Quote Unquote Records release _all_ their music
for free w/voluntary donations.

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keithpeter
Well, I had a browse. Bandcamp list under their folk tags an artist called
Daughter. Daughter releases an EP called His Young Heart. Daughter has a gig
at a tea shop in Liverpool on a day when I can't get there, such is life. My
paypal account is £3 lighter and my hard drive 93Mb heavier as a consequence
of all this.

Discoverability is the big nut to crack. Anyone here working on that? It was
easier in the days of 45s and LPs and bins in your local record shop, but, I
suspect there was less.

The issue is cross-silo thinking. Web seems to feedback things I 'like', and
confirm other's likes (people bought this also bought...). Daughter's music is
outside my normal territory but only half a football pitch, not a mile.

The other issue is images. The photo on the EP is important. The artist I
suppose had some input on that.

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mitchie_luna
The producer of this music is a risk taker. Maybe if his stand is, if he can't
beat the piracy, then he will go on a trend. He allowed people to download the
music not necessarily for the money but also for the study purposes. Maybe if
he is able to establish what age listens to certain music genre, then he will
target to produce more music of that kind because he knows many people will
listen to it.

I just hope that he will gain more money through the advertisements so that
his effort will be reciprocated.

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newyear2012
Ugh, I feel bad for them. That is the wrong way to try to drum up interest in
music. It is already free. What they need to provide is something else that
hasn't already been done. Like support online communities for bands that could
write the bands' lyrics and music, if those user had a subscription.

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hammock
Sounds like a spin on the Spotify/Grooveshark model, who give the music away
(maybe with some ads in between) and sell the geodemographic information of
who's listening back to the music labels. The difference is this guy IS the
label.

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qdog
I actually kind of don't get it, MegaUpload made some pretty good money from
showing ads, didn't it? This guy says he doesn't expect to make much from the
ads. As long as he has songs people actually want...

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Jimmie
Megaupload made the bulk of it's money from upselling customers into premium
accounts.

The only way to make good money from ads is if the ads are relevant for the
people who come for the content. I can't imagine many relevant ads for people
who are coming to a new record label's site for a particular band. They'd
probably make more money selling band t-shirts.

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notahacker
For a record label with a big catalogue of artists that don't attract many
paid downloads, selling premium accounts probably isn't the worst revenue
model, at least until it comes to deciding who deserves royalties...

~~~
Jimmie
Allow the customer to assign weighted values to who gets the money from their
premium service.

Or if it's a streaming service divide it among the artists that were actually
listened to.

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tomjen3
I don't much care if it is free, I just want to know if it is any good?

