Should I Give My Music Away?

So, I’ve read a couple of interesting posts discussing the idea of musicians giving their music away for free.  Of course, in today’s world, the idea of giving one’s music away for free has been gaining popularity.   I mean, honestly, if someone doesn’t want to pay for your music, they don’t have to.  And is that always a bad thing?  One study in particular has shown that people who are downloading music illegally are ten times more likely to buy music than those people who do not download illegally.

And of course we have all seen artists such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails giving music away for free.  I just downloaded the new How To Destroy Angels EP from Trent and company last week.   Here it is easy to point to the fact that these groups are wildly famous already.  They are going to continue making millions off of their merchandise and live shows and previous albums in stores.  But what about the indie artists like us?  What about those of us slaving away in our home studios or giving our money to pro studios – investing our time and our money to put out songs and albums, should we be giving our music away?  Don’t we have to eat?

What are the benefits of giving our music away for free versus actually getting paid for our hard work?  These are questions that I’ve been asking myself, and in fact Ryan and I have talked about how to deal with this issue when we get The Compound album done.

Joe Gilder wrote a nice post at his AWESOME blog The Home Studio Corner discussing the question of whether or not to give your music away for free and he made a great comment:

“The record, the album, has shifted from being the product to being the marketing tool.  The product itself is now YOU, the artist.”

And I tend to agree with this.

Andre Calihanna, writing for Discmakers’ Echoes blog wrote about this issue and discussed a couple of books and a blog from both sides of the argument.  In discussing Bobby Owsinski’s Music 3.0, Making Music in the Internet Age, Andre drew attention to several strong ideas presented by the author.  Music is its own marketing tool.  This relates back to what Joe said.  And think about it, as an indie artist, do you have millions to spend on advertising?  Where is your television or radio commercial?  Your billboard?  Maybe there is something to be said for the trade between giving your music away for free and gaining the best possible advertising tool for free – the music.

On the other hand, when discussing Randall D. Wixen’s book The Plain and Simple Guide to Music Publishing, Andre mentioned one of the most horrible things a struggling musician can hear when discussing getting paid: “It’ll be good exposure.”  That is THE WORST.  I’ve also heard the argument that once an artist starts playing “good exposure” gigs, they’ll always be playing “good exposure” gigs.  And exposure for what, getting more gigs that don’t pay?  I spent five years playing in and around Austin.  And in Austin you’re all going to get paid with “good exposure.”  Once one band agrees to it at one club, why is any club going to pay any band for any gig?  They’re not.  “Oh, you won’t play for fuck all?  Then someone else will.”  So yes, I agree that it is gift wrapped horseshit when a club owner tells you to think about the great exposure when you ask him or her how much they are going to pay you for helping to entice paying customers into their club.

So yeah, I say get paid for your gigs – fight for the door and your cut of the bar, but what about giving away your stuff online?  Well, you may have noticed my songs for free over to the right.  That’s not a teaser thing over there.  I’m not giving away a couple of songs and then selling the full albums (which I promise there will be at some point in the future).  I plan on giving ALL my music away for free. And Ryan and I agreed to that with The Compound material as well.

Why?

Well, here the good exposure thing sort of makes sense.  EGOIST is a solo project that will never (in the near future, at least) hit a stage anywhere.  The Compound is two guys in two different countries, so we’re definitely not gigging anytime soon.  How do we get our music out there? Why would anyone come to the site of some unknown artist and take a risk on some unknown music?  They wouldn’t. They are not going to come to our site and pay us money when they have no idea who we are or how good we are.  On the other hand, I’ve downloaded several albums by bands that have given them away for free and I tend to follow their blogs and their Twitter and spread the word.  I want our music to be heard and I know from trying to sell records with The Subtle Creeps, people just don’t like coughing up dough for some unknown band.

I have other motivations as well.  I hate the whole idea of capitalism and the population of brainwashed consumer zombies it’s been breeding for generations.  So I like anything that throws a wrench into that twisted machine.  And if “file sharing” and the home recording movement have done anything, it’s been to redistribute the wealth and accessibility for the musician and music fan alike.  It’s an old cliché at this point to say that the music industry is changing, but it’s true.  I’ve listened to albums from artists that not only would I not have heard of if not for the current state of the music industry, but that probably wouldn’t even be able to exist.  And with “music pirates” being on the cutting edge of new unknown artists and also being ten times more likely to buy music, that’s good news for us unknowns, especially if we are getting our music into the hands of those people who want to discover new music, but who may be willing to do so without paying for it.  I’ve discovered lots of new unknown bands who release their music for free directly on to torrent sites.

And that brings me back to the idea of music no longer being the product, but being the best marketing tool in the hands of the indie musician.  Like Joe was saying, the music is no longer the product, WE are.  Of course, this is going to sound very capitalist coming from a guy who just said he wants to tear that system down, but if we can build a successful brand, then utilize the marketing potential of our music to bring people back to that brand, then we still have the potential to make money.  And in the end, don’t we want to quit our day jobs and just make music?  We are working hard and creating something for people to enjoy and we do deserve something in return.

I mentioned before that live performance is not on the immediate horizon for me (I will get back on to a stage at some point, though.  No bigger rush than putting on a great live performance).  My goal is to build an online following – hence this blog.  I want to give my music away for free and to build a following that will, hopefully, keep people coming back.  Of course, I’m also interested in selling music for television and film, but that’s different.  They would be buying my product for use in their product.  But for people out there who just want to enjoy the music that I am creating both to express myself and to be enjoyed by others, it will always be free.

As I was saying, though, the goal is to build a following, to get people coming back to the site.  If they want to donate money, that option will become available (and a percentage of that will go to charity, and those charities will be named and their links made available for direct donation – if someone has a dollar to give, then give it to the charity now and hit me up later or never or whatever).  Also, I plan on selling merchandise like t-shirts and posters and albums with handmade art, etc., etc….  Calihanna mentioned Owsinski’s idea of selling collectors’ versions, box sets and signed editions and such.  That’s a neat idea for fans who are into that.  But why would they care about me in the first place?  Why would there be fans willing to give me money for signed collectors’ editions?  Because I’ve built an audience using my music.  (Or at least that’s the plan I’m attempting to set in motion.)  By giving your music away for free, you ensure, as an unknown artist, that it will reach a much wider audience right off the bat than if you try to sell it right away.

In fact, if I were able to build a large enough audience here, I could start advertising.  So that would be another way music was helping me earn money indirectly by building traffic around my brand.  And it’d be great to use the site to advertise the type of ethical companies that I support – yet another way to build momentum for a different kind of society.  One free from corporate rule.

In Calihanna’s post he mentions some ideas discussed in blog posts by Dexter Bryant, Jr., and I’ve mentioned it above as well.  Free music is free advertising. And as Bryant puts it, giving your music away for free eliminates the risk and lowers the barriers to entry that a consumer or a new potential fan would face.

Taphead, great artist with a great album: 800 Memories Per Second.  Why do I know about Taphead?  Because they gave their album away with the choice to get it for free, here.  Now look, I’m telling you about them.  I wouldn’t have bought the album since I’d never heard of the band, but I didn’t have to, so there was no risk.

The Land Lovers are another great band with a couple of great albums.  I only know they’re great and am able to spread the word because I was able to download there albums for free from here.  I hadn’t heard their stuff before, but The Sweet Oblivion blog mentioned that they were giving there albums away for free, so I snagged ‘em, risk free.

Just listened to an EP by the band Beta Wolf yesterday that I downloaded for free from their site www.BetaWolfMusic.com.  I hadn’t heard of them the day before and now here I am telling you about them.

There are definitely more that I could mention.  In fact, that’s a good idea.  From time to time I’ll come back to the blog with some great free music that I’ve discovered.  Help spread the word.

Anyway, I started this out with it in mind to make a quick blog post throwing my two cents into the “Free Music” discussion.  Now I’m pushing 2,000 words.  Let me know what you all think.  This is definitely a subject worth discussing and definitely one that has two sides to the argument, both with their strong points.  Go check out Joe’s post at The Home Studio Corner and then Andre’s at Echoes and see what they have to say.  Then let me know how you feel about it.

See you in the comments…

Photo Sources:

• Nine Inches Nails
• Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’
• How To Destroy Angels
• Land Lovers
• Taphead’s ’800 Memories Per Second’
• Beta Wolf