Comments on Yokudo Blog: Selling music - a dead man walking

Soeren Thanks Raub, we will keep you posted. Wher...

2010-10-08T18:57:34.082-07:00

Soeren
Thanks Raub, we will keep you posted.

Where can we listen to your songs btw? If your music comes close to the delicious tasty experience of your muffins, we might become your greatest fans.

Soeren

Raub Hi guys, Raub from Roses Cafe, here(!)... Lo...

2010-10-08T18:57:24.525-07:00

Raub
Hi guys,
Raub from Roses Cafe, here(!)... Looking forward to seeing what you have in mind game-changer wise!
In the meanwhile, here's the site that focuses on providing cheap assistants to do menial duties (posting tourdates, cd assembly, what have you) that I briefly told Heidi about last week: http://sivers.org/muckwork

I'll see ya soon, and will save you a couple muffins!

Raub

Timo Thank you for your answer. There are only few...

2010-10-08T18:57:12.258-07:00

Timo
Thank you for your answer. There are only few things more annoying than some American friend sending you a YouTube link and you can't access it and get a copyright message instead. Only a very few things.

You see, I'm done with today's music business. But I'm done with today's "bestseller authors" as well. I mean, artists want to be free, that's why they are artists. Are they free? But I might be way too underinformed to judge the situation of today's art... My opinion on this is not a dogma.

And yes, I agree, there is no fair solution: then, why not build one :-)? Easier said than done...

Timo

Sören @Timo: Thanks for your open statement. I gue...

2010-10-08T18:56:28.424-07:00

Sören
@Timo: Thanks for your open statement. I guess you are not alone with your view (and your behavior). There are multiple aspects of your perspective that made me think:

1. You seem to know perfectly well that your behavior is illegal, but that doesn't stop you.

2. You perceive the music industry as a "system of unfairness", and, because of that, you see your behavior as kind of moral fight against unfairness.

3. You perceive the music industry as "money-minded" and damaging to the deeper core of the creative class, but you are willing to voluntarily give money to artists directly.

4. Your strong apathy for the music industry affects your behavior, even though you will damage artists as well.

Nobody I talked to in the past year told me that he or she doesn't think creative people should be able to make a decent living. We all seem to agree that artists should make money. However, they make less and less money in our networked world of "digital and free". I am sure, we can agree that that is not a fair solution.

I can also see your point. The established copyright and royalty system of the music industry don't seem to be blessed with fairness either. For example, the multi-million Dollar charges against file sharer just seem ridiculous, as well as the legal challenges your are facing when you start to remix music. And some challenge the idea of copyright completely by claiming that creating a copy of something can't be stealing.

Both sides of the above discussion claim that the other side has to change their behavior and everything will be fine (and fair) again.

So, which fairness is the true fairness here?

Well, to judge the fairness of your own behavior you have to take into account how the people who have to live with your actions perceive them.

Based on this premise, there is NO fair solution for artists AND fans yet.

The gold standard of a sustainable solution for the creative industry will be that artists AND fans embrace it and say it is fair.

Does that make sense to you?

Timo Okay, well, with "commercialism" I ...

2010-10-08T18:56:15.074-07:00

Timo
Okay, well, with "commercialism" I meant "commercialization".

Timo Dear Sören! Lovely post, thank you, just twi...

2010-10-08T18:56:04.721-07:00

Timo
Dear Sören!

Lovely post, thank you, just twittered it. The money-mindedness of the music industry and the commercialism of music has led me to thinking that it's not right to spend money in this "system of unfairness".

It has never been easier to access music (okay, maybe when our forefathers sat round campires and sang, but that doesn't count). If people today like a song they download it whereas they would have had to buy a full album a few decaded ago.

When I listen to music, I do it, because it tells me something, because it has meaning. I would actually love to support musicians because they are artists (and I do sometimes!) and there is nothing I respect more than creative people because they are the driving forces of my and our world: they create, they innovate. I would not (no longer?) love to support a music industry on the other hand. I can't clarify why but I guess it has to do with some sort of deeper feeling. If there was a platform that would let me donate money to musicians directly with no dues for others (e.g. for those adversiting the album, etc.) I'd do it.

Just my two cents.

Wishing you all the best with all the attempts you make,
Timo

Sören @chris: Doctorow certainly has a point with ...

2010-10-08T18:55:52.188-07:00

Sören
@chris: Doctorow certainly has a point with regard to the past and present. It might be the case that MOST artist won't make a living in the era after the web as well. We will see.

Whatever the percentage of artists will be, we need to come up with a solution that funnels MORE money into the creative sector and enables MORE artists to make a BETTER living. The future of our global society seems to be doomed if building and selling more THINGS stays the dominant way to make a decent living.

Fortunately, there is good news: yokudo will launch a service that generates a new income stream for artists that is not based on selling music or ads and therefore is not (negatively) affected by piracy. Stay tuned.

chris doctorow is quite right on this one: "I...

2010-10-08T18:55:43.416-07:00

chris
doctorow is quite right on this one: "In the era of the web, most artists won't make a living. I think, in the era before the web, most artists didn't make a living. I think, in the era after the web, most artists won't make a living. That's just the way it works [...]"... just to bring it back down to earth. that's where we come from... next step?

Sören @Charlie: I couldn't agree more that cre...

2010-10-08T18:55:32.472-07:00

Sören
@Charlie: I couldn't agree more that creators deserve to be paid. I just don't think that they will get paid for the music itself in the long run.

In a networked world, digital music is a pretty powerful tool to build attention. You can distribute it globally without any cost. Unfortunately, digital music tends to be a pretty poor product. There is no real scarcity for digital music. Hence, artists will have to sell something else to make a living.

Sören Moin @PickiHH : ) I see your point. Bundling...

2010-10-08T18:55:22.121-07:00

Sören
Moin @PickiHH : )
I see your point. Bundling can be pretty annoying. Who wants to buy a less useable phone just because it comes with music? Therefore, bundling might at the end not be the silver bullet.

So let's assume for a moment that artists find a different way to monetize the attention of their growing fan base. What if there was an attractive and sustainable revenue stream that is not based on selling music, bundling or ads?

Wouldn't it be the smartest thing to do for every artist to give their music away for free. They should if they want to get more recognition in order to grow a bigger fan base. And wouldn't an artist suddenly be very thankful for every fan that shares the artist's work with friends and puts it on every peer to peer platform?

As soon as we have a more direct way to monetize attention, "piracy" will be the artist's biggest friend.

yokudo is working on such a new revenue stream for artists. If it works out, you certainly will g

Sören @Graham: I totally agree, the fact that most...

2010-10-08T18:55:07.825-07:00

Sören
@Graham: I totally agree, the fact that most musicians (my rough guess is more than 90%) can't make a living with their creative work is the real issue here, and I think it is a highly important problem to solve. All I am saying is that selling music won't be the solution. It just doesn't work. However, there will be smarter ways in a highly networked world.

Charlie It has always been a difficult task to get...

2010-10-08T18:54:58.719-07:00

Charlie
It has always been a difficult task to get kids to understand that music is not just free for the taking, that it is owned by its creators who deserve to be paid for their creative work. Your post seems to infer that the music industry is doomed. I'm not so sure. I think maybe it will be more of a restructuring. I agree that the big business of music may be threatened. However, the artists may actually benefit. Much of the money the generate they never see. With cloud technology, artists can market their products directly and see a bigger piece of the revenue without having to dole it to so many "handlers

Picki Moin Tweetheart :) i could follow your argum...

2010-10-08T18:54:49.406-07:00

Picki
Moin Tweetheart :)
i could follow your argumentation as long as the consumer will always consume music in a bundle with something else (e.g. mobile, ads), cause in this case somebody else will pay for the music. (e.g. nokia).
But what if i what to listen to music adfree and bundlefree, just music?

Graham Glass I find this trend depressing because ...

2010-10-08T18:54:40.899-07:00

Graham Glass
I find this trend depressing because it means that it's become very hard for musicians to earn a good income and focus on their trade. This in turn will be bad for consumers since they'll have less good music to choose from.