A band posted in Leeds Music Forum asking how much, or even they should charge for the debut EP. This sparked a fairly heated and somewhat ideological argument.
Some believed that should charge somewhere between £1-3 so that the band could cover their costs. Others felt that as it was a debut EP and that the band has only a small fan base that giving the CD away could potentially increase their following.
Both of these are valid points. Not wanting to get into an online war of words I declined from entering into the debate but I suppose my feelings are this:
A band should never give their music away at gigs for nothing. By giving away a CD for nothing renders the item worthless, the potential listener has had to make no investment and have had to place no value on the music and therefore they are more than likely to get the CD home and forget about it.
By making people pay a small amount it means that they have placed a value on the item and will more than likely listen to it. the argument for this is aren't you missing out on potential fans? Well if they really liked your music surely they would be happy to pay for it? A pint in most music venues is about £3, I think music worth damn sight more than beer and if a someone is unwilling to part with there cash then it's hard to believe that they'll like you more if it's free.
I highlighted "at gigs" because I do believe that making tracks available for nothing online can be used effectively as either an exchange for details for a mailing list or to boost traffic to a bands site. But the difference between that and giving away a CD is that pressing and packaging a CD takes time and money but if you can offer reasons for people to keep coming back to a website or better still give their details to a mailing list then an investment has been made. Plus a track given away online can be listened to instantly, and while they may decide that they hate the music, at least you haven't wasted a CD that you could have made some money from.
I suppose the wider argument is the value of music itself. Is the notion of paying for music a dying one, should music be free? I don't think so, people have to make a living, and it's not just the bands. Studios, music shops, venues, T-Shirt printers, photographers, graphic designers, (the list goes on) all rely on the economy of music, and this is most important at a local level.
It's hard to place monetary value on music as it is such an emotive and personal part of people's lives. But to say it's worthless is folly and fails to deal with the reality that almost everything costs money in life.
But how much is it worth?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Interesting blog there Mr H.
ReplyDeleteTo throw my two penneth at it, I have to say that while I think free and paid models have merit, the "Pay what you can" model, al la Hope and Social (shameless plug - www.hopeandsocial.com), Radiohead and others has worked sooo very well for us.
There's a few of reasons this method works so well:
- people value the item as they've paid for it
- it creates more sales, ask an audience member if they've enjoyed the show, you put the CD into an audience member's hand and ask the question "so how much would you like to donate for this?"
- if people can't afford it (cover your manufacturing costs for sure) then why not send 'em to your website and have them download it for nowt, or next to nowt?
Over and out!
Hello Mr. Huxley. I was going to mention the 'pay what you like ' method but to be honest I got tired of typing!
ReplyDeleteI think it's an ace method, especialy online. I also think it takes a certain flair to pull it off. You guys have a real certainty in your music and dare I say it product, you demand a respect because of who you are.
I think for a band that are releasing their first EP I think having the confidence to make that model work would be harder, not to be apologetic or even just end giving it away because I think there's a stigma to attaching monetary value to music. I'm not sure if I've made myself clear?