Brian Eno’s Recipe For New Music Business Success
"The pressure is on to develop content that isn’t easily copyable—so now everything other than the recorded music is becoming the valuable part of what artists sell. "Of course they’ll still want to sell their music, but now they’ll embed that relatively valueless product within a matrix of hard-to-copy (and therefore valuable) artwork."
"People who won’t pay £15 for a CD will pay £150 for the limited edition version with additional artwork, photos, booklet and DVDs. They often already own the music, downloaded—but now they want the art. They’re buying art, and they’re buying it in a new way. That suggests to me the possibility of a refreshingly democratic art market: a new way for visual artists, designers, animators and film-makers to make a living. So, as one business folds, several others open up."
– Brian Eno @ The Prospect
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Let’s keep in mind that this is applicable only to a small range of artists who have already established themselves and already have a very loyal following. New bands aren’t going to be able to convince anyone to fork over this kind of money for this content. The ability to do something like things comes only after years of delivering consistent value to your fans/customers.
@ Andrew…
Not really, just think about it. If a new band gives you (the listener) more reason to buy then they got you. You don’t have to be a famous artist. If a new band gives me more for my money then I’m more inclined to buy vs a band that only offers music that I probably have already downloaded. The key is to give people something that they cant simply download or create on their own. I don’t need to buy a bands cd to get their songs anymore. But if I want their cool album cover that glows in the dark, or the special dvd that comes only with their album (or whatever it may be) then I must buy the cd to get it. Its about appealing to people and the need we all have to not feel cheated but instead to feel that we really got our moneys worth.
Musicians’ become multi-media artist. Videos, art work,
graphic and web design, writing.
The man is a legend.
Anyone remember Ted Milton and Blurt? He has been selling very fetching individual artwork for years. The problem in his case is distribution.