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Posted by Richard Ziade on February 20, 2007, 08:50AMIndie Artists, Give Me Your Paypal Account
Dear Independent Artist:
I am a huge fan of music - all kinds of music. Music is such an important part of my life that I seek it out. I don't listen to the radio much so I scour around the Internet for something new to latch on to. I ask friends. I read mp3 blogs. I follow sites like Pitchfork. I'll go just about anywhere to get at some new music that I can enjoy, connect with and fold into my life's soundtrack.
I don't buy CD's. I haven't purchased a CD in a really long time. I really don't have any use for them. I don't even own a CD player. I've got a laptop. I've got desktop speakers. I've got an iPod. I need your music in a DRM-free digital form. My music moves around. I also want to share your music with my friends. Besides, very little of what I want today - with the exception of the occasional hankering for classic rock - is available at Best Buy or Circuit City. So even if I were into CD's as a technology, none of what I want can be found at retail stores.
But even if they did have your music in stock, I wouldn't bother buying the CD's. I want to have your music the moment I realize it's something I want to possess. The moment after I discover it. Better yet, I wouldn't mind having it before I even realize that I want it. In fact, that's pretty much what happens today. A friend will pass along a folder of MP3's. I'll check it out. If I like it, I'll keep it. If I don't, I'll just delete it.
So there's a twisted irony here. Even for the music I like, I'm often not paying for your music. Why? Because it's actually harder to support you - the artist - than to get your music without supporting you. Think about that. It takes more work on my part to support you. On occasion, I've liked someone's music so much that I bought a few copies of your album and never opened them or given them to friends as gifts. I'm not sure what else to do.
I'm lucky enough to live in New York City. It's a great place to find just about any flavor of live music - big or small. I constantly scour sites like Pollstar and Sonic Living to find out when you're going to be in town next. I want to come to your shows and support you. I've heard that touring is just about the only way a small artist makes money (though I don't know that for sure).
I want to support you. Especially if your music means something to me. But it's actually hard to do that in this digital age. I don't want iTunes because I don't want limitations (limitations I'm not even entirely clear about) and your music isn't in the shopping mall shops and Walmart's. And like I said, CD's are relatively useless to me.
What it comes down to is this: I want to give you some money. I'm not entirely sure what I'm willing to pay. I'm pretty sure it'll vary depending on who you are and how much I like your music. There's a good change that an album of yours that was recently released is lousy - to me at least. Then again, your album may be amazing. Or it may just have a few worthwhile tracks. For the artists that contribute to improving my life, I'd like to support you in some way but it's hard to do.
Imagine a world where the notion of purchasing music is entirely thrown out the window. Instead, artists put music out there (you're pretty much doing that today anyway) and a system exists whereby the people that latch on can give something to the artists. This isn't about a commercial transaction or gaining rights to copyrighted work. This is about bypassing the purchase process altogether and rewarding you - the artist. It's a sort of Paypal for artists. It's about decoupling the commercial transaction around obtaining music and focusing on the inimitable relationship between artist and music fan. There are at least ten artists I enjoy today that should get some of my money - at least more than I've given them so far.
I really love Album X, and I'd give the artist $7 in a heartbeat if it was easy to do so. I only liked 3-4 songs on Album Y, so I'm only going to donate $3 to that artist's cause. There's a massive amount of good will out there that artists never get to cash in because there is no simple mechanism to do so.
It is, in effect, donationware for music. And music, unlike software or desktop wallpapers, evokes emotion and loyalty. Software has users. Music has fans. We are fans that want to see more of your music. That want you to have enough money to tour. To keep doing what you're doing. We would kill to have an MP3 of an acoustic session you did last weekend - no matter how sloppy it is. We want to support you so you can keep sharing more of your creations.
So come on Independent Artist, show me an easier way to support you. I'll keep coming to your shows, but the other ways to help you are just too difficult and rife with all sorts of unnecessary hurdles. Let's short circuit everything and go straight to you. I just want to give something back to you - the artist - for enriching my life.
Sincerely,
A Big Independent Music Fan
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Comments
This system sounds great - I have exactly the same problems, I can't find a useful way to "purchase" music (stretching the definition if we're going with your idea), because I rarely buy CD's any longer, and I would never use iTunes in it's current state.
But... I think you're overestimating the generosity of the general population. So many people will simply never donate - how are you going to be able to encourage (or even enforce) this system?
I really like the idea, but I don't know how well it would work in reality. For the time being, my compromise is to buy CD's of artists I know I like due to having downloaded other music them (i.e., I don't buy albums I've downloaded, I'll find something else to buy).
Posted by: Ben Parsons at February 20, 2007 12:02 PMHmm...why not start something akin to a "Next Album Fund" or "help us raise $X and we'll put out this EP."
I dunno, if fans knew the artists depended on it, wouldn't that mean something?
Posted by: Rich Ziade at February 20, 2007 12:11 PMWhat if the amount you want to pay (I think this album is worth $5) is different from the amount the record company or the artist thinks the album should be worth (Epic thinks it's a $15 album)?
Of course, the beauiful thing you are proposing, Rich, is cutting out the label in favor of paying the artists directly.
I think there is a solution and it isn't paypal.
Who can fix this? Apple.
Apple has agreements with the labels and sells DRM-crippled music. That said, there is no reason in the world why Apple couldn't open iTunes to every independent, unsigned band out there and say, we don't care if you don't have a label, we'll sell your music in plain old mp3 format and after we take our cut, we'll send you a check every month. Steve Jobs, you say you think DRM is stupid, but what have you done about it? Everybody talk about the weather, but Steve Jobs is sitting on the biggest weather machine in world...and he's only talking about the weather.
Posted by: Tom D. at February 20, 2007 4:52 PMfrom the stand point of the artist, this is a hard sell. i don't completely disagree with what yre asking for, but i remember discussing this when it was proposed a few years ago. a lot of people felt it cheapens their music. you, as a fanatic, are the exception. i can relate, as i spend a lot on music, even in this age. i go to shows, i buy mp3s when i can. i even buy vinyl, just to record it to mp3. but most people, i think, will take free music and run. and worse, they'll never see it as worth anything because the artist isn't asking for anything for it. a donate button implies that the artist isn't confident enough, isn't big enough, isn't enough of a ROCK STAR to sell their music. i'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here. but i think it's better to jsut offer easy drm-free downloads. i got my last album on itunes on one hand and a site like audiolunchbox on the other. they offer drm-free downloads. you won't necessarily hear of them, but i link to them from my site, so you can get there. a lot of artists i know are starting to use products like www.payloadz.com . personally i think these are a better model.
Posted by: Corey at February 20, 2007 5:33 PMCorey:
Ok, so don't call it donate. Call it something else. I think you make a really good point though: the consumer end still thinks in terms of purchasing as well...
-Rich
Posted by: Rich Ziade at May 14, 2007 6:22 PMPost a comment
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I agree. There was a site set-up for this exact thing a few years back. It never got traction though. Maybe it's time you start version 2.0 =)
Posted by: Tom Ortega at February 19, 2007 9:48 PM