torsdag 6 Mar 2008, 14:52
The music industry as it has been up until Radiohead's In Rainbows does not work any more these days with sites like Piratebay.org. Although Radiohead's idea hasn't spread like wildfire yet I am a firm believer of this way of distributing new music.
The ability to release your music on the internet can give the artist freedom that might not have worked within the conventions of a record label(not to mention possibly larger amount of income). In comes Ghost I-IV pretty much unannounced, though they were enough implicit hints, a 36 song lasting a rough 2 hours of just instrumental music. No longer restricted by demands of the record label Trent Reznor has the freedom to do as he pleases. A format like Ghosts I-IV would probably not have passed it were to be released by a record label.
This newfound freedom can enable the artist to write the music he or she feels like writing, no longer restricted by the cd or a standard 'size' of a cd (10 to 15 songs). A result of this can be that the album should be a much purer transition of what the artist wants us to hear. The middle man is out. And as long as the artist controls online release him/herself it can be catered to their wishes. However even though this situation sounds really good it also demands much more from the artist. You have the costs for the website and it's server, possibly the shipping of albums/deluxe versions. Combined with an optional free version you might miss out on more income than you're entitled too. Everyone is still a greedy bastard. You also don't have the PR power of a record label.
Though because of releasing your album on the internet especially combined with an optional free version of it you will reach more people than ever. An internet release is also not affected by borders which means everyone who has internet access is able to enjoy the album on the same day, if the servers don't bog down of course. You can also cater your fans or customers much more. By expanding the variety in which you release your album you can appeal more to the wishes of fans or people who have yet to be convinced by your music.
But looking beyond this you can see that this also opens up the market for those bands who have yet to breach through. Not only do you enlarge your audience extremely by releasing on the internet, the ease of buying rare stuff has become much more accessible. You won't have to wait 5 weeks for your Import cd to arrive but only an hour maybe to download it and then a week or so for your cd.
The options are endless and I think especially with only three artists, as far as I know, active in such distributing the surface has not even been scratched yet.
I hope you enjoyed reading this :)
Jan