What to do when there is no show business in the country?
To the listeners - in all possible ways.
Yes, there are few listeners and in all this informational noise it turns out that the listener is in our minority, the other participants in the musical process, if not more, then make much more noise. Moreover, this "little" has a very specific character. Each of the groups can have tens and hundreds of thousands of listeners, except that they are far from close to each other, and therefore not only can they not gather for a concert in sufficient quantity to organize this concert, and most likely the CD will never be in life in the real world will not see. Because it is not possible to organize distribution of discs so that it can be bought with equal success both in Kalinkovichi and in Cape Town.
So in order to turn these conversations into a truly business, the listeners should be, if not more, somehow more elaborate. And to go to them is necessary in all ways. Go yourself, and not wait until they find you and come themselves. Against this background, it seems to me strange how not to pay attention to local radio, or to groups whose recordings either do not exist, then they appear exclusively on discs that can be bought exclusively at concerts.
Even so, a group about which only the name is known, and you can only hear it in “Graffiti” is not a group. It is not a party to the process at all. This is nothing. I could list 50 names of Minsk groups that collected or collected some halls, but for me personally, there is no sound behind the letters of the name. And I am a very interested listener. I am ready to spend time and money searching and I am really interested in Belarusian music. What can we say about people who have nothing to do with work music?
')
Yes, recording live music in decent quality costs money. Yes, release the disc is not so simple. Yes, not everyone can use computers, and the Internet in this country is much more expensive than in the neighboring countries. But if you don’t immediately chase quality at the level of the best Western analogs and don’t try to hinder the distribution of music (fight pirates, forbid spreading mp3 on the Internet and local networks, forbid copying music to friends), then everything becomes much easier. No one will pay the money for your music the first year or two. Well, let these years or two even people who are ready to give their time and attention to this music for this music.
Another thing - the return on the effort. Yes, it is often useless to carry music to Belarusian stations. Yes, there is no particular buzz for 15 listeners. But this is all at a certain level of development of a musician. To play for 15 listeners and 15 concerts in a row - really no use. But if by the 15th concert the councilors didn’t become 150, then you are obviously doing something wrong or not. Specific numbers change over time. Right today, I wouldn’t take active steps myself that will bring to my group less than a thousand potential people who will hear our music. And I wouldn’t have spent time organizing a concert in a hall in which I couldn’t accommodate more than a hundred people. But it's me, and after 7 years of pretty active music. And if I don’t spend strength on something myself, it doesn’t mean that I will refuse if someone else invites me to take this effort on myself.
Music is not just a concert. And not only sold the disc. And not just a release on a cool western label.
If you set a goal to make music with some specific products of your work, then disappointments are inevitable. But the music business is designed so that money often does not live where you are looking for them. And very, very much must be given away for free. More precisely, not even giving away your time and work for free at least a ruble to return at least a penny is simply impossible.
In addition to such sources of money for the musician, as the fee from the concert, the percentage of the sale of the album on CDs or deductions from the fact that the music is played on the radio, there are other options. From work as a session musician to playing corporate events. From the use of music in advertising and soundtracks, to the sound design of computer games. From remixing to sound design. The list is endless. There is money, they are few, much less than in many other areas of activity, but they are and are often in the most unexpected places.
Changing the ways of consumption.
We now live in a time when the structure of the music business, which existed in the 20th century, is changing dramatically. And it is not always clear which way. And if in those countries where show business really existed, there is a redistribution of roles and ways to generate income from music, then the rest of the world for a few years from the opportunity to receive these incomes falls. Somewhere already fell, somewhere will fall tomorrow. Because the changes concern not only and not so much music, but all spheres of life. What kind of electronic payments are there and selling mp3 via the Internet? Even banal mail does not work in Belarus as it should after the collapse of the USSR
Therefore, holding onto those formats and products that are losing popularity may not be as effective as finding new ways. That is why I won’t hit a finger in order to save the radio from 75% quotas or to keep a CD as a product of mass consumption. The faster the old things stop being in the spotlight, the faster people will start thinking in new ways. What you want.
Yes, there are few listeners and in all this informational noise it turns out that the listener is in our minority, the other participants in the musical process, if not more, then make much more noise. Moreover, this "little" has a very specific character. Each of the groups can have tens and hundreds of thousands of listeners, except that they are far from close to each other, and therefore not only can they not gather for a concert in sufficient quantity to organize this concert, and most likely the CD will never be in life in the real world will not see. Because it is not possible to organize distribution of discs so that it can be bought with equal success both in Kalinkovichi and in Cape Town.
So in order to turn these conversations into a truly business, the listeners should be, if not more, somehow more elaborate. And to go to them is necessary in all ways. Go yourself, and not wait until they find you and come themselves. Against this background, it seems to me strange how not to pay attention to local radio, or to groups whose recordings either do not exist, then they appear exclusively on discs that can be bought exclusively at concerts.
Even so, a group about which only the name is known, and you can only hear it in “Graffiti” is not a group. It is not a party to the process at all. This is nothing. I could list 50 names of Minsk groups that collected or collected some halls, but for me personally, there is no sound behind the letters of the name. And I am a very interested listener. I am ready to spend time and money searching and I am really interested in Belarusian music. What can we say about people who have nothing to do with work music?
')
Yes, recording live music in decent quality costs money. Yes, release the disc is not so simple. Yes, not everyone can use computers, and the Internet in this country is much more expensive than in the neighboring countries. But if you don’t immediately chase quality at the level of the best Western analogs and don’t try to hinder the distribution of music (fight pirates, forbid spreading mp3 on the Internet and local networks, forbid copying music to friends), then everything becomes much easier. No one will pay the money for your music the first year or two. Well, let these years or two even people who are ready to give their time and attention to this music for this music.
Another thing - the return on the effort. Yes, it is often useless to carry music to Belarusian stations. Yes, there is no particular buzz for 15 listeners. But this is all at a certain level of development of a musician. To play for 15 listeners and 15 concerts in a row - really no use. But if by the 15th concert the councilors didn’t become 150, then you are obviously doing something wrong or not. Specific numbers change over time. Right today, I wouldn’t take active steps myself that will bring to my group less than a thousand potential people who will hear our music. And I wouldn’t have spent time organizing a concert in a hall in which I couldn’t accommodate more than a hundred people. But it's me, and after 7 years of pretty active music. And if I don’t spend strength on something myself, it doesn’t mean that I will refuse if someone else invites me to take this effort on myself.
Music is not just a concert. And not only sold the disc. And not just a release on a cool western label.
If you set a goal to make music with some specific products of your work, then disappointments are inevitable. But the music business is designed so that money often does not live where you are looking for them. And very, very much must be given away for free. More precisely, not even giving away your time and work for free at least a ruble to return at least a penny is simply impossible.
In addition to such sources of money for the musician, as the fee from the concert, the percentage of the sale of the album on CDs or deductions from the fact that the music is played on the radio, there are other options. From work as a session musician to playing corporate events. From the use of music in advertising and soundtracks, to the sound design of computer games. From remixing to sound design. The list is endless. There is money, they are few, much less than in many other areas of activity, but they are and are often in the most unexpected places.
Changing the ways of consumption.
We now live in a time when the structure of the music business, which existed in the 20th century, is changing dramatically. And it is not always clear which way. And if in those countries where show business really existed, there is a redistribution of roles and ways to generate income from music, then the rest of the world for a few years from the opportunity to receive these incomes falls. Somewhere already fell, somewhere will fall tomorrow. Because the changes concern not only and not so much music, but all spheres of life. What kind of electronic payments are there and selling mp3 via the Internet? Even banal mail does not work in Belarus as it should after the collapse of the USSR
Therefore, holding onto those formats and products that are losing popularity may not be as effective as finding new ways. That is why I won’t hit a finger in order to save the radio from 75% quotas or to keep a CD as a product of mass consumption. The faster the old things stop being in the spotlight, the faster people will start thinking in new ways. What you want.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/16658/
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