トレント様が「まだ有名じゃないアーティストのための処世術」を説いています。
「ネットに無料ツールが山ほど転がってるから上手く使って草の根で売り込め。メジャーレーベルに媚を売った糞アーティストを真似するなよ」おいおい。後者の悪い例として某GAGAちゃんや某コーネルを槍玉に上げています。どんだけ嫌いなんですか。それより「ネットなんてもう嫌いだ」じゃなかったんですか。
あのー、選択肢にGIVE IT AWAY（持ってけ泥棒）を加えるのはあまり良くないような気が・・・。確か、Sonic YouthやMinistryなどもこの風潮に批判的だったような気がしますが、気のせいかしら。
http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?30,767183
my thoughts on what to do as a new / unknown artist
(disclaimer)
This was written on a bumpy Euro-bus ride across the wilderness – may ramble
a bit but I think the point gets across.
TR
I posted a message on Twitter yesterday stating I thought The Beastie Boys
and TopSpin Media “got it right” regarding how to sell music
in this day and age. Here’s a link to their store:
[illcommunication.beastieboys.com]
Shortly thereafter, I got some responses from people stating the usual
“yeah, if you’re an established artist – what if you’re just trying
to get heard?” argument. In an interview I did recently this topic
came up and I’ll reiterate what I said here.
If you are an unknown / lesser-known artist trying to get noticed / established:
* Establish your goals. What are you trying to do / accomplish? If you
are looking for mainstream super-success (think Lady GaGa, Coldplay, U2,
Justin Timberlake) – your best bet in my opinion is to look at major labels
and prepare to share all revenue streams / creative control / music ownership.
To reach that kind of critical mass these days your need old-school marketing
muscle and that only comes from major labels. Good luck with that one.
If you’re forging your own path, read on.
* Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales.
Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you
want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the
only true marketing that matters.
To clarify:
Parter with a TopSpin or similar or build your own website, but what you
NEED to do is this – give your music away as high-quality DRM-free MP3s.
Collect people’s email info in exchange (which means having the infrastructure
to do so) and start building your database of potential customers. Then,
offer a variety of premium packages for sale and make them limited editions
/ scarce goods. Base the price and amount available on what you think you
can sell. Make the packages special – make them by hand, sign them, make
them unique, make them something YOU would want to have as a fan. Make
a premium download available that includes high-resolution versions (for
sale at a reasonable price) and include the download as something immediately
available with any physical purchase. Sell T-shirts. Sell buttons, posters…
whatever.
Don’t have a TopSpin as a partner? Use Amazon for your transactions and
fulfillment. [www.amazon.com]
Use TuneCore to get your music everywhere. [www.tunecore.com]
Have a realistic idea of what you can expect to make from these and budget
your recording appropriately.
The point is this: music IS free whether you want to believe that or not.
Every piece of music you can think of is available free right now a click
away. This is a fact – it sucks as the musician BUT THAT’S THE WAY IT IS
(for now). So… have the public get what they want FROM YOU instead of
a torrent site and garner good will in the process (plus build your database).
The Beastie Boys’ site offers everything you could possibly want in the
formats you would want it in – available right from them, right now. The
prices they are charging are more than you should be charging – they are
established and you are not. Think this through.
The database you are amassing should not be abused, but used to inform
people that are interested in what you do when you have something going
on – like a few shows, or a tour, or a new record, or a webcast, etc.
Have your MySpace page, but get a site outside MySpace – it’s dying and
reads as cheap / generic. Remove all Flash from your website. Remove all
stupid intros and load-times. MAKE IT SIMPLE TO NAVIGATE AND EASY TO FIND
AND HEAR MUSIC (but don’t autoplay). Constantly update your site with content
– pictures, blogs, whatever. Give people a reason to return to your site
all the time. Put up a bulletin board and start a community. Engage your
fans (with caution!) Make cheap videos. Film yourself talking. Play shows.
Make interesting things. Get a Twitter account. Be interesting. Be real.
Submit your music to blogs that may be interested. NEVER CHASE TRENDS.
Utilize the multitude of tools available to you for very little cost of
any – Flickr / YouTube / Vimeo / SoundCloud / Twitter etc.
If you don’t know anything about new media or how people communicate these
days, none of this will work. The role of an independent musician these
days requires a mastery of first hand use of these tools. If you don’t
get it – find someone who does to do this for you. If you are waiting around
for the phone to ring or that A & R guy to show up at your gig – good
luck, you’re going to be waiting a while.
Hope this helps, and I’ll scour responses for intelligent comments I can
respond to.
TR
TopSpin Media info:
[topspinmedia.com]
えー、要するに先日Beastie Boysがアルバムをオプション販売した「革新的」手法を絶賛してるらしいです。ならばそこでなぜジョシュを褒めない！ジョシュなんて自分の乗ってた車まで付けちゃうんだぞ！どんだけバナナの叩き売りなんですか君たちは。
ビースティ
http://illcommunication.beastieboys.com/buy_ic/
ジョシュ＠無謀大魔王
http://www.joshfreese.com/buynow/
アーロンのJubilee（誰も覚えてないか）
http://www.jubilee.la/store/store.htm
レディオヘッド（色々あったなあ＠遠い眼）
http://www.waste.uk.com/Store/index.html
なお、これらの（一部）マイナーなアーティストの音源はiTunesで比較的安価に入手できます。米Amazonの音源は、日本国内からは版権の関係で購入できません。
というわけで、アーティストの創作意欲と資金のために、皆さん、音源はちゃんとお金を出して買ってあげましょうね。トレント様も言ってたでしょう、「俺も落とすけど気に入ったのは後でちゃんと買うから」って。しかし、無名な人が売り出すのはそれだけでも大変だよねー。
MTVが「トレント、さよならツアーにはぜひこの曲をやってくれ」と申し出ています。いや、普通あの曲でしょう、あのこっぱずかしいPVの・・・。DEEPですよ、えっ何か？
http://newsroom.mtv.com/2009/07/08/nine-inch-nails-farewell-setlist-should-look-a-lot-like-this/
今月号のKerrangにはNINが載ってるらしい。フェアウェルだけあって、これから露出が増えそうですね。
http://www2.kerrang.com/newissue/
マンソンの友人のRudy Cobyさんがライブチャットでマンソンについて語っています。彼はマンソンのライブの演出のアドバイザーもしています。（エヴァンドールなどのギミックは有名ですね）
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1775189
