8th June 2009

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A little explanation and some of last weeks latest news.

Welcome to the first itieration of the Horizons Management Blog.  As it says in the title lets explain a little bit shall we.  This idea stemmed from an inter-“office” related e-mail in which I was tasked with putting together a list of the best stories in the Industry pertaining to us, the independents.

After doing three or so digests of the best articles, it was decided we should toss a blog up on Tumblr.  Being all for getting our name and this kind of news out to everyone to see and read, as I was once heard, “It takes an oil tanker 7 miles to make a left turn. But in this industry you need to be a speed boat.”  And this is something I firmly believe in with this ever changing industry we call the Music Biz.

I thought the quote by Hunter Thompson gives us a great look at the old business model that we have been plagued with, the sinking ship model so to speak.

So lets kick this into gear and get right into it! I hope you all enjoy it!

(All articles mentioned are at the bottom if you care to read the full articles yourself)

First off, from the Daily Swarm, more artists sound off against the Radiohead/Nine Inch Nails business model (pay-what-you-want) of releasing their new albums.  Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth spoke out against the new business model stating that “it was a great community project, but it wasn’t catered for their musician brothers and sisters.”  Many touring bands can sustain themselves by touring and continually feeding their large fan base, but for smaller, indie bands, its not that easy.  The article then equates Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails to a Wal-Martesque business model keeping the mom and pops away.

Second article I thought was an interesting read was from Derek Sivers blog with the title “Some People Like to Pay. So Let Them”.  Basically a discussion on how he use to get bootleg copies of MS Office, Photoshop, etc. and how he enjoys paying for them now.  He pays for SoudCloud, Pandora, and more types of software and websites that help further his musical work, then he mentions that Radiohead offered InRainbows for free and 40% of the people paid for it.  its this whole idea of perpetuating a standard, if more people like this keep continuing the idea of paying for things, especially music, will hopefully get those who think they deserve it for free, get the idea, and begin to pay for their music.

Lastly, from the gaming blog Kotaku, a small notice from this weeks E3 (Electronic Enternainment Expo) mentions that Microsoft and Last.fm have brokered a deal, in which Last.fm will be available to their paid users to live stream music on to their Xbox 360 systems.  Should be interesting to see how this works out and if artists will be paid per listen/stream of their song over Xbox Live.

Also I have been tracking the ARG (Alternative Reality Game) that Derek Webb has been using to promote his new album, Stockholm Syndrome.  He has been using thumb drives placed across the US, spanning from Tennasee, Texas, California, South and North Carolina, and Washington to deliver the content of the new album.  They are directing community members to coffee shops, venues, and record stores to attain pieces of the album. I will be continuing to follow this and see how exactly they are putting this all together (Community-wise and Promotion-wise) as it is extremely interesting and “new-ish” way to distribute/promote an album.

Stay Tuned for more in the coming week(s)

Hilger


The Daily Swarm
Radiohead Model Hurts Musicians

Sonic Youth’s Gordon: Radiohead Model Hurt Musicians

Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon has spoken out on Radiohead’s “pay-what-you-want” for In Rainbows release and her opinion on the influential scheme kind of echoes Robert Smith’s rant from a few months back.

“[Radiohead] did a marketing ploy by themselves and then got someone else to put it out,” Gordon told The Guardian’s David Peschek. “It seemed really community-oriented, but it wasn’t catered towards their musician brothers and sisters, who don’t sell as many records as them. It makes everyone else look bad for not offering their music for whatever. It was a good marketing ploy and I wish I’d thought of it! But we’re not in that position either. We might not have been able to put out a record for another couple of years if we’d done it ourselves: it’s a lot of work. And it takes away from the actual making music.”

This issue has come up from Robert Smith and others before, including Paul McCartney: Bands that fill arenas are able to sustain themselves entirely by feeding on their own fan base, but smaller bands often need to make more money to keeping going until they can have a big fan base of their own. Have bands like Radiohead or Nine Inch Nails become a Wal-Mart-esque force that drives away Mom and Pops?

Derek Sivers
Some People Like to Pay.  Let Them.

Some people like to pay. Let them.

June 3rd, 2009

I like to pay for things.

For years, when I was broke, I’d use cracked/bootleg copies of expensive software programs like Photoshop, Office, and Windows. Now I’m glad to pay for them, even though I hardly use them.

For years, if I’d see an opportunity (say, for something to promote my music), but saw it cost money, I’d immediately lose interest. Now I’m glad to pay for services (like SoundCloud, for example) that are doing great work, even though I don’t use them much.

When musicians put me on the guest list at a venue, I pay anyway. I like to support the venue and the artist.

I pay Pandora $36 per year to have no advertising when I listen.

At Magnatune, people can pay as little as $5 to buy an album, but the average price paid is $9.82. (Many pay much much more, because they know it goes to the artist.)

Radiohead’s In Rainbows album was offered for free, but 40% of people chose to pay for it anyway.

And I always pay street performers.

The key moment is when I realized that all of these people charging a little money are not greedy, usually not rich, and are just trying to make a living doing something I admire and value.

It’s like donating money to your favorite politician or charity. You don’t have to, but it makes you happy.

So I do my part by paying for things often.

When designing your business, service, or product, even if you’re offering it for free, don’t forget that there are lots of people like me that like to pay! Appeal to this side of people, giving them a feel-good reason to pay.

Tell them what their payment will go to support. Show them how appreciated it is.

Some will feel good about paying. It will actually make them happy to give you money. Let them. Always offer this.

© 2009 Derek Sivers

Kotaku

Last.FM Coming to Xbox Live

E3 2009

Last.FM Coming To Xbox Live

By Mike Fahey, 12:45 PM on Mon Jun 1 2009, 11,723 views (Edit post, Set to draft, Slurp)

Microsoft and Last.FM are making sweet, sweet music on the Xbox 360 this year, with the music listening and discovery service available free to Xbox Live Gold members.

A relative surprise delivered as part of Microsoft’s 2009 E3 press conference, popular music community service Last. FM will be available as a free download for Xbox Live Gold subscribers later this year, allowing them to browse and listen to music, discovering new artists based on their preferences. As McWhertor put it in our live blog of the press conference:

Having Last.fm on Xbox Live is something I didn’t know I wanted. Now I do. Good get.

My sentiments exactly. This is exactly the sort of thing I can turn on and fall asleep to, and if there’s one thing I need it’s more excuses to fall asleep in front of the television.