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People Like Free, But Will it Translate Into Sales?
So I had my iTunes on shuffle trying to come up with something to write about when it dawned on me: The West Coast is at the forefront of marketing in the music industry. iTunes played me Crooked I’s Hip-hop Weekly #19. That track was followed up by Bishop Lamont’s City Lights, which was followed up by Problem’s I’m toe up remix. The West Coast is putting out quality music for free, so how will artists make money? Will this tactic of “free music” pan out or will we see another generation of angry West Coast rappers shunned by the industry?
Think about it for a second: Crooked I put out 52 weeks of free music. That’s nearly four albums worth of free music. Bishop Lamont has put out three album quality mixtapes in a little over a year. Artists regularly put fully mixed and mastered tracks on Dubcnn, Lyay.net and countless other media outlets for free. This is a brand new way of marketing and it’s time for artists to take advantage of this new model. Welcome to music 2.0.
Artists are building grassroots fanbases , but are they utilizing them accordingly? In order to succeed, touring, direct to fan sales, and other revenue streams should be examined. For every artist that puts out a track for free, there should a plan to make money behind it. Will that track get that gets the club jumping translate into touring money? Can you license that song about your favorite booze to the booze company for a commercial?
For the New West artists reading this - Imagine for a second that you NEVER made a cent from selling a physical CD or a track online. How would you make money from your music? If you can list three things off the top of your head then you’re in good shape. If not, get brainstorming. Like I said in my last blog post: Throw some sh*t at a wall and see what sticks. Think about different ways of monetizing your music in other ways than just selling tracks or CD’s.
The music industry is going through a sea change, but with the right angle the West Coast can come out ahead. The sooner artists realize the way of making money in the music industry has changed, the sooner they can come up with new ways to get their paper.
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