Is there really any point making music to sell anymore ?

[DarthPaul]

Came around this forum topic looking for anything to read, as I have 6 major tracks for release independently.

My business plan for it goes like this:

Release versions for digital streaming. Withhold a Bandcamp version that will contain 1 extra layer of instrumentation as well as the backing vocals.

I plan to sell both. Digital streaming for notoriety , and Bandcamp version for higher musical fidelity and extra harmonious parts.

I find that committing to selling music affects the way I arrange, record, and envision each track. I hope this can become a upward trend for popular music, 2021 going forward.

Good luck with your releases, wearashirt, please let us know how well it works for you.

[N i g e l]

Trying to think of current artists that impress me and weren't around 20 years ago ...
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Any suggestions?
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David Guetta ?

just sold back catalogue for £72m

[Drew Stephenson]

If you’re a successful, popular musician, you need to make money, it’s not an option, you’re paid to sit at home all day and write the stuff, you don’t work in Tesco’s and treat it like a hobby.
That’s the problem nowadays, we need the big advances, the record company machine, thats where the internet is a massive failure, some of us aren’t web designers, PR people, accountants, or promotors, we don’t want to be, also, we don’t have the connections, or move within the music business network, we need the guys with the big cigars, whether we like it or not. They make the all important circuit, they "know" they can make money out of us, and in return, we get paid to sit at home being inspired.

Ah - but they tend to interfere with the process of sitting at home being inspired!

They do still exist of course, but they have become increasingly risk-averse during all the transformation to a digital economy. As a result they only tend to write those big advances to acts that have already established a following and reputation.

[Marbury]

You get some fortunate artists like Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno who have one foot in the "Arty" camp and manage to sell in the popular music field, without compromising too much.

[Terrible.dee]

If you need to ask that question?

DEFINITLY not.

[The Red Bladder]

No! No! No! No! No!

You guys just ain't getting it!

It's show business. That is two words and not one. You have to master both disciplines - the show and the business. No show, no business. No business, no show.

I see bands spending silly money on guitars and keyboards and stupidly expensive drum kits and then ask if they have got £1,000 for a tiny lighting rig. And even those that have some lighting, have absolutely no concept behind that lighting.

So rule one - a great stage show. A show people will remember!

Songs have to have at least five melody lines, fantastic hooks and meaning. Somewhere in that song, there has to be a message and a hook people remember.

Rule two - meaning and hooks have to be memorable.

You must be young and beautiful - or just quirky and different. But you must be photogenic in some way because like it or not, YouTube is where people are going to be looking for you.

Rule three - great videos.

Lastly, look after business. Get a good agent. try to get as many gigs as possible - you will not conquer the world from your bedroom! Get out there and watch them pennies, cos they ain't gonna look after themselves!

Rule four - treat it like a business because that's what it is.

[Drew Stephenson]

It's not often I agree with everything you say in a post TRB but I think I do this time!

[shufflebeat]

No! No! No! No! No!

You guys just ain't getting it!

It's show business. That is two words and not one. You have to master both disciplines - the show and the business. No show, no business. No business, no show.

Duly printed and laminated for distribution at next rehearsal.

This discussion is happening all over the place at the minute. My take is; old rules, new medium.

Might struggle with "young and beautiful".

[Drew Stephenson]

Of course, interesting discussion though it may be, none of this actually helps Marbury; who's trying to sell library music...

[James Perrett]

Following Drew's lead in going back to the original subject...

Check to see if your music is available for use on Tik Tok and other similar platforms. This has been a good income stream for someone I know (though good means good relative to other platforms - he's not making loads of money out of it).

[Albatross]

Rule(s)

Rule 5 - Break all the rules.

Every artist who ever made a real difference ignored all the rules and went their own way.

[shufflebeat]

Rule(s)

Rule 5 - Break all the rules.

Every artist who ever made a real difference ignored all the rules and went their own way.

I think that comes under rule #2

[Marbury]

You must be young and beautiful - or just quirky and different. But you must be photogenic in some way because like it or not, YouTube is where people are going to be looking for you.

You forgot to add tattooed up to the neck.

Btw - this has nothing to do with the kind of genre I am working in. But I agree, it's all about young people these days.

[Sam Spoons]

Might struggle with "young and beautiful".

Yeah but you have quirky and photogenic in spades mate

[shufflebeat]

Might struggle with "young and beautiful".

Yeah but you have quirky and photogenic in spades mate

Thanks Sam but I don't always dress as Posh Spice, that was a special occasion, my heels couldn't take it.

[Drew Stephenson]

Might struggle with "young and beautiful".

Yeah but you have quirky and photogenic in spades mate

I did have a plan for ways around this but couldn't get the band to agree. They're a bit traditional and some of them still cling to the idea that 'the music should be enough'.
As we're all just doing it for a bit of fun I've never pushed it but part of me still has an eye on trying it as an experiment. But it's hard enough finding one reliable band round here let alone trying to start a second!

[shufflebeat]

Might struggle with "young and beautiful".

Yeah but you have quirky and photogenic in spades mate

I did have a plan for ways around this but couldn't get the band to agree. They're a bit traditional and some of them still cling to the idea that 'the music should be enough'.
As we're all just doing it for a bit of fun I've never pushed it but part of me still has an eye on trying it as an experiment. But it's hard enough finding one reliable band round here let alone trying to start a second!

A good band should be a treat for all the senses. That's what draws me inexorably towards folk music.

[Sam Spoons]

Me too (and gypsy jazz) but both those genres seem to place the emphasis on the music and the playing with not too much in the way of theatricals...

[shufflebeat]

Maybe (or maybe not) that's because there's an inherent theatricality in the style(s), since we're not reinventing the wheel entirely and people have an existing expectation, which can also be a total PITA at times, of course.

[Arpangel]

It's not often I agree with everything you say in a post TRB but I think I do this time!

I agree with him on one level, but totally disagree on another.
You’re talking about the "music business" here, with which I have nothing to do with.
I appreciate a good "show" and appreciate how much money goes into them.
Some artists are in one camp or another, art or pure business, some straddle the line, and take from both camps.
For me, money has no connection with music, it’s totally unnecessary, as for a show, I can do that, it comes naturally, simply because I don’t care, if you asked me to play on a stage in front of 500,000 people, I could do that and keep them entertained, but it hasn’t got anything to do with my desire to make money, I’m not in business to make money, I’m in business to make music.
As I keep saying, it’s all a matter of context, some people can manufacture substance out of nothing, others have substance and no need to manufacture a product.
Music is not a business, it’s a gift from heaven that is often abused and misused, to our peril, it is magic, you can choose to practice black, or white.