kenken27
Well-Known Member
You guys should check out a few of the Trent Reznor interviews where he talks about the music business and how he has built a business model for himself that has worked in these odd times. Just an example, and I'm not positive on statistics here and am too lazy to Google for them right now, but NIN's last album, The Slip, was given away on NIN.com completely free. I downloaded it the week it came out. Trent said that they had a "donate" option, but noted that only 18% of people actually did. I didn't donate. However, hard physical copies of The Slip were sold in limited quantities, and they nearly sold out immediately. I bought it the day it hit the shelves. The "deluxe" editions of The Slip were limited to, and I'm making a guess here based on memory, 1500-2500 copies? I can't quite remember, but it was an extremely limited amount. I believe each deluxe edition was priced over $100, and they sold every single one of them in under 24 hours. That's $250,000 in one day. Luckily for Trent Nine Inch Nails has a massive fan base that has been built over many years. These kids, including me, are rabid for this shit. After album sales, ticket sales, merchandise sales, etc. etc., Trent made hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nearly all of it was profit. Trent also has the luxury of owning his own studio and having years worth of knowledge in the business that allows him to be almost literally self-sufficient in his craft at minimal cost to him. This doesn't mean that his ideals don't apply to other musicians though.
What I took from this is that it's really hard to make money on your actual music right now. As soon as one person has a physical copy of an album it's leaked over the internet within days. iTunes sells songs and full albums but not enough people buy music from iTunes for it to really generate a profit, and I'm almost positive iTunes, and most other music hosting sites, take a chunk of the cash too. What does sell however are hard goods such as tees, hoodies, hats, buttons, stickers, etc.. Limited quantities of hard goods sell even better such as limited print albums or tour shirts. Ticket sales and venue guarantees have and will always be a good source of income also. The idea behind Trent's model is that if you get enough people to listen to your music, to enjoy your music, that they will want to become a part of it by seeing a live performance, buying merchandise, and collecting limited items. I for one know of a few limited press vinyls i'd like to buy from a few bands, and I don't even own a record player! Times will change someday. There will be some new form of technology that starts restricting the ways people can illegally share music or will make buying music more desirable. Until then we have to learn to use our music as a tool to draw business into other aspects of our brand. Unless your entire fan base is made up of audiophiles and super fans who want actual albums, music sales are pretty much dead right now.
One more thing. Trent also has a few things that him and the NIN team have made to even further the online sharing experience of music. They have made a few viral videos that sent people on a mad scavenger hunt looking for clues and music samples. They've made an iPhone app that allows people to see where other NIN fans are around the world. They've even released master tracks for songs and had contests on fan remixes. All of this, albeit small details, has pulled in an even bigger fan base. More hype, more fans, more people listening to your music, more people seeing shows, more people buying merch, more people getting addicted to everything your brand touches. Trent Reznor could release a limited supply of fucking NIN Nike's or Subway sandwiches and they would sell like crazy simply because they said NIN on them.
So, until the music business curve comes back our way, do what you set out to do in the first place. Enjoy your music! Then sell your brand.
I turned 23 in November. I'm young, naive, and spend most of my free time in front of my computer recording. I've studied music business for 3 years until transferring back to pre med. Not because I don't love music, but because I wasn't learning about what I actually wanted to do (be a producer). What I did learn about the current music business I didn't care for. It's a lot more "business" and a lot less "love for music". I haven't even touched on the topics of major record labels, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, paid session musicians/writers, marketing, touring and recording expenses, advertising, etc. There's a lot that goes into this giant rainbow party we call the music business. I love to learn about anything related to music though, and I'm interested in seeing what others have to say on the topic.
What I took from this is that it's really hard to make money on your actual music right now. As soon as one person has a physical copy of an album it's leaked over the internet within days. iTunes sells songs and full albums but not enough people buy music from iTunes for it to really generate a profit, and I'm almost positive iTunes, and most other music hosting sites, take a chunk of the cash too. What does sell however are hard goods such as tees, hoodies, hats, buttons, stickers, etc.. Limited quantities of hard goods sell even better such as limited print albums or tour shirts. Ticket sales and venue guarantees have and will always be a good source of income also. The idea behind Trent's model is that if you get enough people to listen to your music, to enjoy your music, that they will want to become a part of it by seeing a live performance, buying merchandise, and collecting limited items. I for one know of a few limited press vinyls i'd like to buy from a few bands, and I don't even own a record player! Times will change someday. There will be some new form of technology that starts restricting the ways people can illegally share music or will make buying music more desirable. Until then we have to learn to use our music as a tool to draw business into other aspects of our brand. Unless your entire fan base is made up of audiophiles and super fans who want actual albums, music sales are pretty much dead right now.
One more thing. Trent also has a few things that him and the NIN team have made to even further the online sharing experience of music. They have made a few viral videos that sent people on a mad scavenger hunt looking for clues and music samples. They've made an iPhone app that allows people to see where other NIN fans are around the world. They've even released master tracks for songs and had contests on fan remixes. All of this, albeit small details, has pulled in an even bigger fan base. More hype, more fans, more people listening to your music, more people seeing shows, more people buying merch, more people getting addicted to everything your brand touches. Trent Reznor could release a limited supply of fucking NIN Nike's or Subway sandwiches and they would sell like crazy simply because they said NIN on them.
So, until the music business curve comes back our way, do what you set out to do in the first place. Enjoy your music! Then sell your brand.
I turned 23 in November. I'm young, naive, and spend most of my free time in front of my computer recording. I've studied music business for 3 years until transferring back to pre med. Not because I don't love music, but because I wasn't learning about what I actually wanted to do (be a producer). What I did learn about the current music business I didn't care for. It's a lot more "business" and a lot less "love for music". I haven't even touched on the topics of major record labels, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, paid session musicians/writers, marketing, touring and recording expenses, advertising, etc. There's a lot that goes into this giant rainbow party we call the music business. I love to learn about anything related to music though, and I'm interested in seeing what others have to say on the topic.
It means I can check out the music, but still have the incentive to buy it (Going onto a website to listen to music is a faff, and recording the audio from the sight will just naff up quality etc...)
