Music as a startup, or why iTunes is evil
My name is Vasily Gustelev, I am one of the authors of the project “Music of the Invisible People”. When our music was not taken on any label, we created our own. Releasing a dozen releases per year, you quickly begin to understand something. It turns out that a lot of musicians can learn from startups, and the release on iTunes is the most recent thing an independent artist should do.
Listen to our music while you read.
Generally, if you are an independent musician, then placing on iTunes will cost you money. For example, on Tunecore, the price for placing an album is $ 30 for the first year and $ 50 for each subsequent one. But at the same time, the musician takes 100% of the profits for himself. Just put your catalog written in for many years comes out very expensive.
Therefore, as soon as we found people who organized a publication for us for 30% of royalties, we immediately opened the label and offered all of our musicians friends to upload the contents of the archives to the network. Simple mathematics suggests that this option is more profitable if the income from the album does not exceed $ 160 per year.
')
A terrible secret is this: in the four years of work of the label with aytyuns, we only bred four thousand rubles once. In the rest of the releases earn around five hundred rubles a year. Venues like Bandcamp give significantly more serious sums! And, looking at all these reports, I want to state with confidence that the only benefit of aytyuns for an independent musician is to show her friends at the bar that you really are a musician. Call it a reputational moment. If girls in bars and so trust your status as a musician, it’s better not to post music on iTunes at all.
Let's look at the activities of indie group, as a startup. You release the goods - musical compositions. And some of you, on the basis of this product, provide the service “live music program”. How do we ensure a steady increase in sales? I am sure that the basic strategy of an indie musician should be to collect a base of subscribers . The subscriber base is a key resource, and it is the main indicator of group success.
What is the subscriber base? This is a list of any contacts of people who like your music, and having received a message from you, they will not throw it into spam. We collect the following info: name, phone, email, address in social networks and city.
How to use the subscriber base?
When you come out new music - you tell it to the entire base. It would be nice to be able to verify that the message was delivered.
When you have a concert announced - you choose from the subscriber database from the desired city and inform them.
If you have a good collection of contacts, you will be able to provide a certain amount of ticket sales, and orgs will adore you for it. In small clubs, orgi themselves do not have a base of their regular visitors!
How to build a subscriber database online? I will write our ideas:
1. The obvious way is the social network. We get acquainted through drugs with people who have joined your public / meeting or like music, and if they go to contact, we add them to the list.
2. Give music to download for free if you leave your email. On bandcamp this functionality is available by default!
3. We organize online contests in which you can participate by leaving your contacts.
How to build a subscriber database offline?
In fact, none of my familiar musicians are not collecting subscriber lists offline, but only filtering those who joined the meetings. Meanwhile, the people who raised their fifth point from the sofa and came to your concert is the most loyal audience. If a concert has been rolled in, they are completely yours. First of all, they should form the basis of your base. Look for ways to collect their contacts! Here are a few ideas:
1. Just hand out a questionnaire at the entrance, which will include questions like "which song you liked more," and of course the contact details. Then do not forget to send them a letter with gratitude!
2. Give a discount on merchandise if you fill in the form
3. Play prizes among those who filled out the questionnaire
4. Collect contacts under the pretext that you will send pictures from the concert
5. If you are recording a concert, offer to leave contacts to those who want to get the record before anyone else.
Why are aytyuns evil?
Because you do not know who is listening to your music. Some anonymous people listened to your tracks for half a beat, and from this neither money nor pleasure. It is very difficult on aytyuns to get into some kind of playlist or hit parade, so that some new audience will meet you. Indie music is unlikely to fall into recommendations. You are lying there on the far shelf, and only those people whom you sent there yourself will listen to you. At the same time, aytyuns takes a lot of money for yourself!
Now compare with bandcamp : you know the mail of everyone who downloaded your music. You immediately get the grandmother with each sale, and the proportion there is very honest. And you can sell merch through the same platform.
The same, by the way, I can say about the audio recordings of VKontakte . A tremendous number of people listen to your music on VKontakte, but you do not know about it. Try to the last not to merge Mouzon VKontakte, otherwise you will disturb yourself to collect the contact list!
Bonus track: how to take money on bendkemp?
I am often asked how to take the loot at the bendcamp. The problem is that BendCamp does not accept payment in rubles, and it is forbidden to sell something in foreign currency on the territory of our country. Paypal very strictly complies with the laws, and prohibits citizens of the Russian Federation to sell music for currency. The solution is very simple: deceive Paypal and pretend that you are Europeans. In Europe, citizens can sell their music for any currency. Specifically, we did this: our partner lives in Belgium, he has a local plastic card there, to which he tied Paypal. It was this account that he tied to Bandcamp. Foreigners are simply calculated in currency, and if the purchase is made by Russian, then no violation occurs: he buys, as it were, from abroad. Then we transfer this money to ourselves somehow.
The main problem is that ordinary Russian people do not always have paypal :( And your Russian fans may have difficulty buying your music. We’ll discuss this next time.
All our albums can be downloaded for free by specifying an email: because the subscriber base is more valuable than dollars. Here it is worth going back to the start-up analogy. Remember: a lot of start-ups like dropbox for quite a long time gave their service completely free, until they had accumulated a million base of subscribers. You must act the same way, friends!
I summarize: collect subscriber base, use bandcamp or similar services, aytyuns - evil.
Creative success to you!
PS literally tomorrow The Music of the Invisibles begins recording a new album.
Listen to our music while you read.
Generally, if you are an independent musician, then placing on iTunes will cost you money. For example, on Tunecore, the price for placing an album is $ 30 for the first year and $ 50 for each subsequent one. But at the same time, the musician takes 100% of the profits for himself. Just put your catalog written in for many years comes out very expensive.
Therefore, as soon as we found people who organized a publication for us for 30% of royalties, we immediately opened the label and offered all of our musicians friends to upload the contents of the archives to the network. Simple mathematics suggests that this option is more profitable if the income from the album does not exceed $ 160 per year.
')
A terrible secret is this: in the four years of work of the label with aytyuns, we only bred four thousand rubles once. In the rest of the releases earn around five hundred rubles a year. Venues like Bandcamp give significantly more serious sums! And, looking at all these reports, I want to state with confidence that the only benefit of aytyuns for an independent musician is to show her friends at the bar that you really are a musician. Call it a reputational moment. If girls in bars and so trust your status as a musician, it’s better not to post music on iTunes at all.
Let's look at the activities of indie group, as a startup. You release the goods - musical compositions. And some of you, on the basis of this product, provide the service “live music program”. How do we ensure a steady increase in sales? I am sure that the basic strategy of an indie musician should be to collect a base of subscribers . The subscriber base is a key resource, and it is the main indicator of group success.
What is the subscriber base? This is a list of any contacts of people who like your music, and having received a message from you, they will not throw it into spam. We collect the following info: name, phone, email, address in social networks and city.
How to use the subscriber base?
When you come out new music - you tell it to the entire base. It would be nice to be able to verify that the message was delivered.
When you have a concert announced - you choose from the subscriber database from the desired city and inform them.
If you have a good collection of contacts, you will be able to provide a certain amount of ticket sales, and orgs will adore you for it. In small clubs, orgi themselves do not have a base of their regular visitors!
How to build a subscriber database online? I will write our ideas:
1. The obvious way is the social network. We get acquainted through drugs with people who have joined your public / meeting or like music, and if they go to contact, we add them to the list.
2. Give music to download for free if you leave your email. On bandcamp this functionality is available by default!
3. We organize online contests in which you can participate by leaving your contacts.
How to build a subscriber database offline?
In fact, none of my familiar musicians are not collecting subscriber lists offline, but only filtering those who joined the meetings. Meanwhile, the people who raised their fifth point from the sofa and came to your concert is the most loyal audience. If a concert has been rolled in, they are completely yours. First of all, they should form the basis of your base. Look for ways to collect their contacts! Here are a few ideas:
1. Just hand out a questionnaire at the entrance, which will include questions like "which song you liked more," and of course the contact details. Then do not forget to send them a letter with gratitude!
2. Give a discount on merchandise if you fill in the form
3. Play prizes among those who filled out the questionnaire
4. Collect contacts under the pretext that you will send pictures from the concert
5. If you are recording a concert, offer to leave contacts to those who want to get the record before anyone else.
If you made a concert and didn’t collect new subscribers there - I don’t understand why you made the concert.
Why are aytyuns evil?
Because you do not know who is listening to your music. Some anonymous people listened to your tracks for half a beat, and from this neither money nor pleasure. It is very difficult on aytyuns to get into some kind of playlist or hit parade, so that some new audience will meet you. Indie music is unlikely to fall into recommendations. You are lying there on the far shelf, and only those people whom you sent there yourself will listen to you. At the same time, aytyuns takes a lot of money for yourself!
Now compare with bandcamp : you know the mail of everyone who downloaded your music. You immediately get the grandmother with each sale, and the proportion there is very honest. And you can sell merch through the same platform.
The same, by the way, I can say about the audio recordings of VKontakte . A tremendous number of people listen to your music on VKontakte, but you do not know about it. Try to the last not to merge Mouzon VKontakte, otherwise you will disturb yourself to collect the contact list!
Bonus track: how to take money on bendkemp?
I am often asked how to take the loot at the bendcamp. The problem is that BendCamp does not accept payment in rubles, and it is forbidden to sell something in foreign currency on the territory of our country. Paypal very strictly complies with the laws, and prohibits citizens of the Russian Federation to sell music for currency. The solution is very simple: deceive Paypal and pretend that you are Europeans. In Europe, citizens can sell their music for any currency. Specifically, we did this: our partner lives in Belgium, he has a local plastic card there, to which he tied Paypal. It was this account that he tied to Bandcamp. Foreigners are simply calculated in currency, and if the purchase is made by Russian, then no violation occurs: he buys, as it were, from abroad. Then we transfer this money to ourselves somehow.
The main problem is that ordinary Russian people do not always have paypal :( And your Russian fans may have difficulty buying your music. We’ll discuss this next time.
All our albums can be downloaded for free by specifying an email: because the subscriber base is more valuable than dollars. Here it is worth going back to the start-up analogy. Remember: a lot of start-ups like dropbox for quite a long time gave their service completely free, until they had accumulated a million base of subscribers. You must act the same way, friends!
I summarize: collect subscriber base, use bandcamp or similar services, aytyuns - evil.
Creative success to you!
PS literally tomorrow The Music of the Invisibles begins recording a new album.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/303354/
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