| This is an excerpt of the Introduction to Part One of BE THE MEDIA
by David Mathison. Since this is long, we will be posting this in five parts.
If you like you can download a free version of the full introduction at www.bethemedia.com |
BE THE MEDIA: Introduction to Part One: Rebooting the American Dream
by David Mathison
(PART FOUR OF FIVE)
Example 2: Musicians
Like most authors, many musicians are stuck in the lower left corner of the Curve, giving away free digital song samples and selling CDs. But folks who buy CDs should not be their sole source of income.
To paraphrase musician Robert Rich, “An animal that relies solely
upon the fruit of one tree to survive is following a recipe for extinction.”
If you’re a musician trying to build an audience of repeat buyers, in exchange for a prospect’s e-mail address (again, crucial for building a fan database) you can use free MP3 files as social discovery tools, or use digital artwork, posters, ringtones, or behind-the-scenes photos: whatever your imagination dreams up.
As leads enter the funnel, you can start selling direct from your website or blog.
For example, fans downloaded hundreds of
thousands of free songs from musician Jonathan Coulton’s website. He then sold
songs both directly from his site and indirectly through Apples iTunes, earning
a “reasonable middle class living—between $3,000 and $5,000 a month.”
Selling this way lets you keep most of the income, amass the critical customer contact information, and also earn tip jar donations or advertising revenues from Google.
Further on up the Curve, offers could include digital songs for as little as $0.99, albums for $20. Physical goods could include branded merchandise such as T-shirts and other apparel for $30–$40.
Indirect sales can come through widgets, social networks,
iTunes, eMusic, or affiliates. By using them, you’ll give up a percentage of
revenues, true; but you’ll gain access to a wider potential audience, which is your
long-term goal.
As you move to the right on the
Curve, you’ll see the lucrative option to license to other artists or
corporations.
Since you own the rights, you can also set the terms and conditions, and control all uses of your music. License it to TV shows, cell phones, ads, films, trailers, podcasts, retail, interactive applications, video games, ringtones, samples for other artists, and music libraries.
As ex–Talking
Head frontman David Byrne wrote in Wired,
“I make very little from actual record sales. I make probably the most from
licensing stuff; not to commercials, I license to films and television shows.” (See
Chapters 4 and 11 for more.)
Music fans will gladly pay extra
bucks to get as up-close and personal with musicians as they can, at least in
the experience of Maria Schneider, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and the
German rockers Einstuerzende Neubauten. Their fans buy such items as printed
scores, VIP tickets, autographed posters, “Deluxe Limited Edition” CD and DVD sets,
and access to live webcasts of the band rehearsing, recording, and in concert.
Patrons will also gladly pay for that
scarce commodity—the ability to interact live with the artist. Once you're a
semi-big deal, consider offering premium concert tickets, “meet and greet” sessions,
and personal backstage tours.
Many musicians augment earnings
by helping other artists in a variety of ways, both artistic and technical. Singer-songwriter
Bonnie Hayes consults with songwriters; produces other artists; has written hit
songs for Cher, Santana, and Bonnie Raitt; and is a director and instructor at
the Blue Bear School of Music in
Another way to earn recurring
revenue streams is to start a fan club. Nine Inch Nails members get priority entrance
and/or seating at concerts. Aerosmith’s Aero Force One club offers a host of “flights,”
from a free basic membership in exchange for a fan’s (all important) e-mail
address; to a $29.99 Gold membership in exchange for an Aerosmith T-shirt,
membership card, pin, and welcome letter; to a $59.99 Platinum membership that
includes online video clips. Other perks could include decals, backstage
passes, or preferred parking.
Today’s fans are even funding new
albums. Getting a quality recording with top-flight engineers, producers, musicians,
and studio time used to mean securing a decent advance and a label contract (which, as you know by now, meant losing
rights to the songs). Not anymore.
Instead of going to a label, singer
Jill Sobule created JillsNextRecord.com to solicit donations, ranging from $10
to $10,000, from her fans. She wrote, “It would be sort of a patronage thing,
where you guys are the Medici family” (referring to the dynasty of zillionaires
who supported artists during the Renaissance). Her site features free music downloads,
a discussion board, and funny, engaging, and authentic blog posts. Her fans
feel like they are interacting with the “real” Jill, and meanwhile she is
securing their loyalty by keeping them interested.
Here’s Jill’s bill of fare:
- “MicroPatrons” (mini-Medicis) who donate $10 get a free digital download of the album.
- For $100, they receive an advance copy of the CD and a T-shirt with Junior Executive Producer on it.
- $200 gets fans free admission to Jill’s shows for a year.
- $250 gives fans membership to her “Secret Society Producer’s Club,” a website where she posts rough tracks.
- For $500, she will mention the patron’s name at the end of the CD.
- “Macropatrons” shelling out $1,000 will have a theme song written for them by the grateful Jill.
- $2,500 will get them Executive Producer credit on the album.
- Jill will perform a personal house concert for $5,000
- People parting with $10,000 get to sing on her CD.
Brave Jill. Bravo, patrons!
Her goal was to raise $75,000 in
online contributions; in two months, she raised $85,000. Furthermore, thanks to
fan-financing, this is the first album that Jill fully owns and controls.
Example 3: Filmmakers
Any would-be
filmmaker knows that creating a film of quality can be too expensive even to
contemplate. And, as with music, filmgoers and film renters used to be consumers
only: anonymous people who paid for their ticket with money that, for the most
part, did not go to the filmmaker.
That
reel has changed.
Today, because
filmgoers and film viewers are both identifiable and reachable, filmmakers can go
the extra step by establishing a direct connection with them and thereby solicit
donations.
Director Robert Greenwald sold
twenty-three thousand DVDs of his film Uncovered
through affiliate websites in just two days, and ultimately sold more than
120,000 copies. Armed with e-mail addresses from many of these purchasers, he
now has a large, appreciative audience that can—and sometimes
does—fund new films with donations in exchange for production credits. For his
documentary Iraq for Sale, Greenwald
raised $385,000 in online contributions in only ten days.
Kevin
Smith, who directed Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jersey Girl, also
built a large fan base and has sold lots of merchandise from his website. If he
makes a new film, he could easily generate enough sales on his website alone to
cover a million-dollar budget.
You as
a filmmaker could offer your supporters free video trailers. The e-mail
addresses from that giveaway will help you build a mailing list of buyers who then
might buy the $25 DVD direct from your website. Thus you reap as much as $20 in
profit for each DVD. (According to Peter Broderick, a retail sale of the same
DVD only nets $2.50 via a typical 20 percent royalty video deal.)
If you sell
an educational copy from the website directly to a college for $250 (a typical
price), you can net up to $240.
Higher-value items and “upsells” could include
enhanced versions of the film, related products (books, posters, CDs), branded
merchandise (apparel, and so on), soundtracks, limited editions, and previous
work.
By
owning and controlling your work, you also can create higher-value products by
splitting up and selling various rights. That way, you can make separate or
hybrid deals for theatrical distribution, nontheatrical, retail
(Netflix, Amazon, and stores such as Blockbuster), home video, airlines, television,
cable, advertising, educational, library, nonprofits, video-on-demand, digital
(iTunes and others), and foreign sales. (See Chapters 7 and 8 for more.)
And the Curve Goes On…for Polticians, Activists….
As indicated earlier, the Product Pricing Curve model is not limited to artists, but works for anyone with a message and some marketing savvy. A stunning example is that of the Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign.
- Senator Obama had almost two thousand free videos available
on his site and on YouTube (viewed 110 million times), helping him to attract
an audience to his message of change.
- He built an email list of 11 million
names.
- Over a million people signed up on his website to work on his campaign.
- They held more than eighty thousand offline events, where they were given free
buttons, decals, T-shirts, and bumper stickers to help market their main man.
- Then there were donations. Obama raised over $200 million from more than 1.5 million “micropatrons” who gave an average of $197 each.
As in any field, superpatrons are willing to give more to get more—in this case, a personal audience with the hot presidential candidate. Obama’s higher-value offerings included backstage access to his speaking events, phone calls from him or his staff, autographed photos and copies of his book, a trip to the national convention, and VIP fund-raisers.
In September 2008, he
raised more than $9 million from superdonors willing to spend $28,500
each to spend an evening with the candidate at a
In October, twenty-five hundred people paid between $500 and $10,000 to attend a benefit concert in New York City featuring celebrity musicians Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen.
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