There’s a music list upon which I tend to lurk. Mostly because the man that created it had me join a while back. Often it’s filled with people spouting off about different things that are to be related to music and or the business of it. Once in a while someone posts something of no relevance. Those tend to get ignored. There are a couple of people that when you decide to answer them one learns that it becomes a moot point. They might be a bully, they might be stubborn, or they might be to clueless to understand another point of view.
Recently there’s been a discussion started by a bully. Other artists joined in. The nature of which was pointed at an entity that is providing a service. That service costs money, but likes to state that it takes nothing from the artist when it comes to profit on sales. The problem is, said service charges an annual fee. The annual fee is where there’s a sticking point. It’s been going up. Not in little steps, but in recent months one giant step of over 100% increase in cost. Mind you, I don’t use said service. I also don’t mind their business model – I know it doesn’t work for me, which is why I don’t use it.
I’ve had numerous musician friends ask me about the service. To which I attempt to explain the numbers to them. Some ignore me. Some don’t.
The issue is that most artists don’t sell more than a few hundred, maybe a few thousand copies of their CDs (think all musicians and rockstars are rich? Think again). With sales figures like that, they’re not even recouping the costs of the recording, let alone the payment to musicians they’ve hired to play, the costs of replicating the CDs, etc. Digital is a different beast. The file doesn’t cost nearly as much to replicate. But it does cost money to distribute. Even though digital is cheaper, that doesn’t mean a few thousand sales will cover the costs of creating it. Let alone being able to eat, pay rent, buy gas, pay insurance, and generally live.
Said service likes to say: Artists shouldn’t set themselves up to fail by giving away a percentage of the sale. Bold statement that is meant as a dig on yet another service that does not charge an annual fee, but does take a percentage (less than 10%) of the sale. Problem is, after the first year, which is usually the year where a release makes most of it’s sales, the amount of sales decreases dramatically. Thus that annual fee, for most artists, will start to take a much bigger cut of the sales figures. But they hold true to saying that they don’t take a cut of the sale. There are artists that I know personally that are paying more in annual fees than they are making in actual sales, thus they are actually losing money on their music. And yet they don’t remove themselves from the loosing situation.
For each artist that soon understands how they can profit without outlaying tons of money there’s at least 100 that blindly go forward not thinking about it and then wonder why they aren’t getting anywhere. It’s the little steps of success and knowing how to build on it that make all the difference. I know it’s harder to start small and build it, than it is to go big and fail miserably. I’ve done both.
I’ve learned that starting small, working harder than anyone else and building relationships works for longevity. Going big is a crap shoot in hoping that enough people will jump on board and float the artist into the stratosphere – it can happen though you’re more likely to be hit by lightening.
One such artist that I met recently is an artist that on the surface is going for the small and building route. I didn’t get to chat with him at length to know what he’s done as a career path. That didn’t stop me from asking to feature him on the blog and if you’re at Single of the Day today, you’re hearing him right now. Kris Orlowski. He hails from Seattle. I really enjoyed his set that I saw. He’s not working at the rockstar thing. He stands on the stage at the mic and simply plays and sings his ass off. He’s a perfect example of a singer songwriter. Was it entertaining? Not in the sense that I would say would be filling a stadium. No, he is working example of really damn good music. It would be interesting to see him with a band.
His song Steady and Slow is the track your hearing. Based on my recent post on the music list, it’s a great title that makes perfect sense. A sense that the owners of the service conveniently say is a poor business choice because it invites failure. I bet Kris will work out a career if he’s able to work within the means of costs. Something many artists have great difficulty doing. Kris is the real deal. He has newer music coming soon. Keep an eye out for him. Buy it if you love. It’s a win for you, a win for him and that’s a winning combination for everyone.