“…If you’re giving away music, at least value your product – and yourself – enough to collect something in return…”
I generally believe the old adage, “you get what you pay for”, but these days does it really apply to music anymore?
In my rant last week about U2, I briefly mentioned the idea that “a band of multi-millionaires who scored a cool $100 million to give away their album” is NOT a model to encourage in this industry. (Just today I learned The Beatles are getting in on the act, too). There are countless bands who can’t afford that, yet fans have just been told “even music from the most famous artists should be free” – and how many of them are thinking / caring whether at any stage the band got paid or not?
As musicians, we are CONSTANTLY giving things away for free, our recordings, our performances, our merchandise, our dignity – oh wait, that last one is just U2.
Really, guys? Hmm.
The “incentive” is that the exposure will earn more fans …um, who then get everything for free? yada yada yada.
This is not evil in theory. Who doesn’t love a free sample? Key word being “sample.”
I adore gift bags of makeup in trial sizes, and never miss a chance to follow the ‘Yellow Brick Road’ at the Royal Show to collect a swag of goodies. But even in these cases, it’s not technically free. Those ‘gifts’ come with a purchase. Somebody pays, somebody profits. And if I like the free sample enough, I’ll go buy the full size product. Mission accomplished.
There’s another scenario at the Royal Show that’s not quite as appealing. My friend runs her own business making tasty condiments + dips, and one year she set up a booth in the ‘Tasting SA’ section. She was horrified. Free samples are pretty much expected there, but the locust-like hordes that swarmed past her booth barely looked up to catch the name of her business. Grab a bite, move to the next booth, repeat. A huge waste of time & money on her part. I can’t help thinking this is kind of how it feels to be an independent musician sometimes…
If you’re giving away music, at least value your product – and yourself – enough to collect something in return. Email addresses are good commodities, for instance. In the Yellow Brick Road, every ‘free’ item came with a brochure about the producer, so my eventual attention is the commodity. Risky, but better than my poor friend’s example.
Playing for free is a trickier topic (and is admittedly a bugbear of mine). If you MUST play without pay, make sure you actually leverage that opportunity in a way that’s meaningful. Invite industry to the show and use it as a showcase, or really plug yourself to the audience and get them to join your mailing list – or hey, to buy your music!
(A quick aside to venue & festival bookers: if you only book bands who offer to play for free or vastly undersell themselves, maybe you DO get what you pay for in terms of quality…).
Some bands give away their entire catalogue, but they make a killing at live shows in merch and door sales. Fair enough. There’s not one model to fit all. But in each case, if YOU don’t decide what your effort is worth, the audience will. The latter actually worked in Radiohead’s case, and plenty of bands offer the ‘pay what you want’ option on Bandcamp. Again, that’s fine. At least the audience has to put some thought into it.
Radiohead. Not really my thing, but they do make ‘cool’ seem effortless
(which is how ‘cool’ should be).
But if audiences are constantly TOLD all music is free – free meaning $0 – then it’s worth… $0.
By all means give things away when you need to do so. Just know the true cost.
– Dr Elizabeth Reid
Music SA Digital Marketing Manager
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