middlemen

Digital v. Physical…

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

michaelbuble-crazyloveI’d like to share a bit of info I got via a tweet by The Dutchman earlier….

New Michael Buble is $14.99 on iTunes, $10.99 on Amazon (digital) $9.99 (physical).

Just read that again if you like….take your time….take it all in…..quite interesting isn’t it??? Charging MORE for mp3s?  Who woulda thunk it!?? If there has ever been an acknowledgment that the CD is dead, this is it.

I can just see the bossmen around the ever shrinking morning meeting, “MP3s are all the rage….we should really be capitalizing on this!!”

Isn’t this what got major labels in trouble to begin with???  Overpricing for CRAP!!?  They used to blame the middlemen…people like the manufacturing companies and the record stores….THEY are the reason that Britney Spears CD has to cost $19.99!

But wait, there is no middleman now, they can just have their intern email iTunes and CC every other digital retailer, and TADAAA, it’s up for the world to listen to! I’m not even gonna get into the facts on why $.99 a song is overpriced for an MP3, I just want to know how an album of MP3s can cost more than a physical disc with all that art and plastic?

Ehh, screw it, if I really want it, I can find it for free somewhere…


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Middlemen…

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 7 Comments

mariokartThe Internet has changed just about every way people do business in the past 10 years.  The middleman is dead…..we can get what we want, when we want it….and at a lower price over here, NO OVER THERE!

Major labels WERE the middlemen of music…..they could get the star to the public, and that was THE ONLY WAY.   Alas, the Internet killed the rock star too.  The days of the major label creating a superstar are over.  Hell, the superstars that still do exist can’t even sell their music.

……

The more I talk to my musician friends, the more I realize how much we all want the same thing….to make a living playing music. We don’t want millions, we don’t want to be on MTV (not that it actually exists anyway), we just want to write and play and be listened to.

These days, my friends and I don’t need a Major Label to get our music out there, but that goes for the hundreds of thousands of other bands out there as well.  We now have more choices, more niches, and more clutter than ever.

So how can we be heard??  Not only how can we be heard, but how can we make money?  Music is free, and anyone who doesn’t think so is fooling themselves.  The real question is how long can we keep it up?  How long can we struggle?  BUT….if this is what we’re called to do, how can we do anything else?

We’re back to the old days….the strong will survive….and they will survive on word of mouth.  The ones who write a song so good, people have to send it to their friends….who make a video so good or so funny or so interesting, that people are gathering around their offices at work to watch it….the ones whose live act is so amazing every fan tells 10 people about the next one.   So grab your pens and paper and guitars…we’ve got work to do….we need to be incredible.

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