I've been having conversations lately with artists about this release, trying to hear what their thoughts are and what they think about it. Being that we we're at SXSW this past week (more to come about that), we got some really interesting reactions from artists, independent labels, etc. The majority of artists reactions were that Trent Reznor has spent millions of major label dollars to get NIN to the size it is today, and without having the infratstructure of a fanbase that size, it's not so easy to have sales the way he has. I agree 100% with those reactions, however I also feel if your music is grabbing the attention of people, then those listeners become fans, the minute you build a fanbase is when those fans (not all) will want to support you. Bottom line, Trent Reznor got really creative with this latest release and I applaud him for that.
To all of the artists reading this, it's all about innovation. One of our favorite artists on the site, Jaws Attacks, who is lead by frontman Carter Benson (former Mad Caddies), released a album through Indistr.com last spring for an exclusive amount of time, offering free admission to his shows in California for anyone who showed up with their Indistr receipt from the purchase of the album. I can't publicly share the amount of albums he sold, however it was more than you'd expect. The creative ways of getting fans to consume your music and purchase it, are endless. Get Creative! Stay Creative! You're artists!
1 comment:
Despite my love for the local record shop, I applaud this move (and movement!), finding ways to innovate within the industry.
The one thing that we don't often talk about regarding digital downloads is error. For instance, a friend told me about this NIN album a week or so ago. I went to the to give it a listen (as I'm not normally a big NIN fan), and loved this instrumental album. I went through the rigamarole of signing up for the free download. I downloaded the file, and it was empty. Tried again. Empty.
Sent out an email to the site, but didn't get a response (as I'm sure they were very busy that day). So now I'm stuck in a situation:
I like the album. I'd like to pay for the album. BUT—I don't want to pay for a blank zip file. Do I risk it? So far, I have not.
The same sort of thing happened to me when I picked up Michelle Shaprow's old tracks... before she was on iTunes... but she personally emailed me and sent me the files that were missing. I got what I paid for there, but it could have been easier.
Food for thought: Is there a possibility of losing sales by going all digital? Will people still on dial-up (trust me, they exist) or people with unsatisfactory d/l experiences be lost fans? Are they just considered acceptable casualties to the digital music sales endeavor?
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