How do you plan to become/remain profitable in the age of Piracy?

[Kazrog]

In light of a recent thread, in particular relative to what I've put forth as an argument in my latest post, what exactly do you guys plan to do to become or remain profitable in the era of free information exchange and piracy? This question is quite obviously open-ended, practical, not moralistic in any way whatsoever. The question simply is, what do you plan to do? This question applies whether you make music, produce music, or create any other type of intellectual property (software, movies, books, etc.)

I'm curious about this, because so many people are looking to define "the next business model" when in reality, hundreds or even thousands of models will be tried and tested, and there may never be one clear "winner."

 

[Torniojaws]

I'm going to be an IT engineer, so these questions won't directly apply to my work :-q I just do what the customer wants and get paid for it.

As for my music hobbies, it won't matter. It is just a hobby, so I can act quite freely without much thought on the financial side of things, because my income comes from the IT job. That's why I distribute my music freely in mp3 form and do small CD prints of them for those who want a physical copy (including me). My target is self-sustainability, ie. being able to finance the CD print of the next album with the income of the previous album's sales. That requires selling 40 CDs per album, once the initial investments have been returned Anything extra simply allows for better packaging (glass master, super jewel box, and so on), and maybe home studio upgrades too, at some point.

 

[Line666]

Well people in the music industry used to go on tours to sell records, now they make records to sell tours.

So from a music and engineering perspective it'd only be logical to take a larger involvement in the live industry whether as a live engineer or as part of a band.

Having said that however, since we're in all involved in the global economic downturn at the moment I'd expect to see live ticket sales drop as people stop paying for things that are not a necessity for them to stay alive, extravagances like gigs.

The current global situation couldnt have happened at a worse time realistically for the music industry, not only has piracy damaged its fundamentals but the fact that people are cash strapped will harm it further.

One thing's for sure and thats that there needs to be a huge change to the current business model, the fact that multinational global corporations and conglomerates own 80% of the record industry speaks for itself, we've seen music ventures become less risky over the years to reach the point where the commercial industry is chucking out any old scraps to get a few bucks. I'd expect that the major labels will be damaged and that they will put up a fuss about it and squeel to their hearts content but in the era of availability, where every taste is catered for, can we really expect the major labels to survive with their limited product base and riskless output? Well no, because they've been happy to feed us crap for years and now that the internet has become widely available across the world no one wants to put up with a business that's unprepared to take a risk anymore, they want to play it safe, take no risks, sit on their hands, but that's not the financial structure they initially invested into at the beginning of the record industry.

I'd expect the industry to collapse down to its grassroots again, where smaller labels with more ability to take risk will come back with alternative business models instead of this continually decrepit model of failing capitalism.

 

[James Murphy]

yeah Öwen, but people are not only illegally downloading major label albums... they are downloading anything and everything they want, irrespective of how "grass roots" or "risky" the approach to bring it to market was. i don't think downloaders make any distinction whatsoever regarding that sort of thing.

also sounds like you are anti-capitalism. definitely not feeling you there.

 

[Line666]

Maybe, but I don't know if thats entirely true. To say that most people have no ability for identifying a discrepancy between who's taking the hit and who's not is debatable, I think you'd be more happy knowing that some pop star was getting 100 grand less off her yearly wage of a mill than the fact that some poor guy never had enough money to make his new album independently due to shitty record sales.

Either way, now that information is free, unless you go down the policing route - and to look at how successful that is - Apple just removed the DRM from iTunes and people hate being irritated by copyright protection when they've already bought something, then you're relying on some sort of moral integrity or realisation on behalf of the punters who buy records.

Education probably won't work, it'd come as patronising, but at the same time there needs to be an understanding that downloading has reprocussions for the artist, but how do you distill moral integrity, it's a hard thing to do.

Edit: Also, no I'm not really specifically against capitalism, if it stands on its own two feet then so be it, I'm just not happy with the idea of me taking the hit for it if it falls on its arse, like the current banking situation, I'd have protected the punters investments, and let the banks themselves go to the wall, that would be good sound capitalism, they gambled they take the hit for it, but no, we have some half arsed capitalism socialism hybrid where we throw money at the problem until it goes away and joe bloggs takes the hit. But this is an debate for another time

 

[slashvanyoung]

yeah Öwen, but people are not only illegally downloading major label albums... they are downloading anything and everything they want, irrespective of how "grass roots" or "risky" the approach to bring it to market was. i don't think downloaders make any distinction whatsoever regarding that sort of thing.

Right.

It's pretty simple: if your product is digital reproducible without much effort or even is a digital product per se, the principle of shortness of goods takes full effect.

If you don't find a way to maximize the "effort" (including risks) people have to take (to reproduce and distribute your product) to establish a product that is directly profitable (as in direct sales), then you'll be dependent to position your product in a way that it is generating income from second markets (or some sort of hybrid model).

The practical manifestation differs from situation to situation and product to product of course.

 

[Chryst Krispies]

It effects anyone that likes music. If you go to concerts it effects you.

What do I plan to do? Prolly Buck Diddley because I can't do anything about it.

 

[SocialNumb]

Might be of some interest. http://blancodisco.com/2009/02/08/nine-inch-nails-pushes-new-music-business-model/

 

[Ermz]

I don't know whether there is any big secret to it for Producer/Engineers.

Just continue to take work as it comes, use word of mouth as a promotional tool, and the net's more useful tools to get in touch with artists from all over the world! Mixing projects from abroad can fill in the downtime gaps from not having a great few months, on a local level.

 

[J the TyranT]

Im in the process of doing up some shit... should be set up in the next few months. Should be cool if it works out.

 

[AudioPhile777]

oh, wow... looks like I walked in the wrong door... leaving now.

 

[JeffTD]

It effects anyone that likes music. If you go to concerts it effects you.

This is the fourth time today I've seen this mistake (twice by a very well respected member!), and I have a feeling that with these types of discussions it's going to happen many more times! Gotta lay down the English rules!

effect = most often a noun, sometimes a verb.
affect = always a verb.

 

[Chryst Krispies]

This is the fourth time today I've seen this mistake (twice by a very well respected member!), and I have a feeling that with these types of discussions it's going to happen many more times! Gotta lay down the English rules!

effect = most often a noun, sometimes a verb.
affect = always a verb.

You know what. I applaud your grammatical prowess. I was wondering about this for a fucking minute.

WORD.
KEEPIN IT REAL WIT GAMMA N SHIT.

 

[Kazrog]

Might be of some interest. http://blancodisco.com/2009/02/08/nine-inch-nails-pushes-new-music-business-model/

Worth watching the video, even though I was aware/supportive of everything Trent Reznor is doing, and I am a big fan of his latest albums.

 

[JeffTD]

WORD.
KEEPIN IT REAL WIT GAMMA N SHIT.

New sig.

 

[Wolfeman]

I'm seriously thinking about getting into porn.....

Easy money for dudes and you get to fuck halfway decent chicks on a regular basis....

 

[James Murphy]

jeff... you're still in school... easy to remember all that shit when you're still in English class every weekday.... lol. i was an Honor Graduate, and member of the NHS, with 4, count 'em... 4 different English related clasess my senior year. CP English, English Lit., Creative Writing, and Greek/Latin (a class that dissected how Greek and Latin prefixes, roots, and suffixes make up a great deal of English words and how by their study one can derive the meaning of words one has never even heard before)... i aced them all.... but 15-20 years down the line, if one pursues a path in life that does not keep him on his toes regarding grammar and spelling, these mistakes can easily, and excusably, happen.

never mind the fact that fast typing can lead to the use of say, "there" when one means "their", and other homonym related typos (like effect/affect) that just happen despite the fact that the writer knows perfectly well which is the correct one to use... and they aren't caught by spell-checkers because it's a correct spelling, just of the wrong word. i usually only catch these mistakes if i read back what i typed before i post it... .which i don't always do.... ya know.. busy 'n stuff.

let's check back with you in 10 years and see how much [insert subject you wont use in your chosen profession here] you remember by then,

 

[LydonB]

I'm seriously thinking about getting into porn.....

Easy money for dudes and you get to fuck halfway decent chicks on a regular basis....

Great idea if you want the clap

 

[Kadmium]

Great idea if you want the clap

You're muuuuuuuuch less likely to get it from a porn actress/actor than someone you met in a bar. If you can't produce a (less than six weeks old) certificate that says you're totally clean, most porn studios/producers won't hire you.

 

[LydonB]

You're muuuuuuuuch less likely to get it from a porn actress/actor than someone you met in a bar. If you can't produce a (less than six weeks old) certificate that says you're totally clean, most porn studios/producers won't hire you.

This is very true. Only issue is I bet having sex with some of those girls is like throwing a hot dog down a hallway.