Does Even Free Downloading Work?

[elsongs]

As an artist trying to finish a CD project he's been working on for the past few years, I've been getting leery about even coming out with a product at all.

They say downloading is the ticket these days, so just for shits and giggles, and partly to experiment with this whole downloading/promotion thing, I made this comedy rap song for my friends and even made a website. I even initiated the site as a "teaser" before the formal "release" of the "single" which played a snippet of the song. The site has the "hit single" ready for full, free download.

So I sent an email blast to a good number of my friends, I even setup a little "guestbook" on the site for people to leave silly comments.

So what happened? Well after informally polling my friends, most of them heard the song but LESS THAN HALF OF THEM ACTUALLY BOTHERED TO DOWNLOAD IT!

WTF? So not even free music gets you heard these days?

[HKSblade1]

I dont know. Music is getting this "cheap" reputation since many think they are artists and place no value even on even pro recordings of performers.

So many can use the digital toolz and think they're pro's. Exciting one hand, devaluing, discrediting on the other.

I know too many groups that tried everything. Downloads, marketing. There is no big time status. I guess from how I've seen.

Genre, Styles are so bogged down and congested with internet junk, and so called artist attempts you can't find things too easy. It's frustrating, but society of listeners begged for the cheap side of the industry. They're getting it.

You tried isolating a group of fans through email. That is pretty direct. So you have to ask if something in the writing, or demo of your song reached the want factor. Is it more of the same? Questions like that. They can find your stuff for free like they can find the ones in the labels the same way. No value is placed on the craft is what I'm seeing more each day.

Sucks when you bust your tail on a recording. I'm sure even the simplest songs are not created or mastered in 10 minutes.
When it comes to free anything, there is no necessity to have it.

[Taylor Davis]

As an artist trying to finish a CD project he's been working on for the past few years, I've been getting leery about even coming out with a product at all.

They say downloading is the ticket these days, so just for shits and giggles, and partly to experiment with this whole downloading/promotion thing, I made this comedy rap song for my friends and even made a website. I even initiated the site as a "teaser" before the formal "release" of the "single" which played a snippet of the song. The site has the "hit single" ready for full, free download.

So I sent an email blast to a good number of my friends, I even setup a little "guestbook" on the site for people to leave silly comments.

So what happened? Well after informally polling my friends, most of them heard the song but LESS THAN HALF OF THEM ACTUALLY BOTHERED TO DOWNLOAD IT!

WTF? So not even free music gets you heard these days?
It ain't the free part, it's the Listening that strikes a note with the listener. If there is something that draws the listener in, such as THE STORY or RYTHYMS or a bit of theory or some such thing that gets the listeners attention; then you have a kinship with the listener.
I have no way to tell who will like what, yet i'm confident that somewhere, sometime, someone will like at least ONE of my tunes.
I like my tunes so it's alright if "seemingly" no one else does.
So try to like what you do and keep on tryin 'til you finde a formula which works for you.
Work on the song and try to tweak it a bit. Or put it away and start another. Play it next to other songs and try to see if it really works or not.
Cull it down to one guitar/piano and one vocal, if it works then, it'll work as a bigger production.
Goode luck!

[T. Alan Smith]

I put up "sketches" of my stuff for free download. Despite being non-produced arrangements of drum-n-bass or solo bass guitar, I still feel they're pretty decent. Despite having over 5K views on my MySpace, only a handful have been downloaded. Somewhat depressing. But my wife keeps reminding me that my MySpace has only been up since mid summer, and to give it time...so I will.

[sabriel9v]

As an artist trying to finish a CD project he's been working on for the past few years, I've been getting leery about even coming out with a product at all.

They say downloading is the ticket these days, so just for shits and giggles, and partly to experiment with this whole downloading/promotion thing, I made this comedy rap song for my friends and even made a website. I even initiated the site as a "teaser" before the formal "release" of the "single" which played a snippet of the song. The site has the "hit single" ready for full, free download.

So I sent an email blast to a good number of my friends, I even setup a little "guestbook" on the site for people to leave silly comments.

So what happened? Well after informally polling my friends, most of them heard the song but LESS THAN HALF OF THEM ACTUALLY BOTHERED TO DOWNLOAD IT!

WTF? So not even free music gets you heard these days?


Free music does get heard, but more importantly good music definitely gets heard. Did you think about the quality of your comedy rap song before expecting millions of downloads and hits?

[fretwizz]

.

Can you put the link up here so we can have a listen as well?

[elsongs]

Can you put the link up here so we can have a listen as well?

OMG okay here it goes...I never really meant to have this go out to the general public, it's sort of like an "inside joke" to my friends (long story, it had to do with getting massively drunk at a friend's wedding reception a couple years ago), but here it is:

http://kingchocnut.elsongs.com/

I think the recording quality is good, albeit old-school (on purpose). Part of the process included recording heavy-metal guitar powerchords and a group of people chanting, which was layered to sound like many more people). As for the rap, well, it's supposed to be goofy. :)

And here's my more serious music (soul/R&B/funk): www.elsongs.com (http://www.elsongs.com)

[gtrbass]

Unless you've got a lot of money, you are essentially shooting off a flare from a dingy in the Ocean, hoping that a big ship will pick you up.

Before the internet and downloading, before Discmakers & CD Baby, it was still the norm that 94% of all records released did not recoup. For a long time everyone thought it was because the 'evil record men' somehow cheated the artists out of all the money. Sometimes that was absolutely true. Much of the time it was because the record wasn't something the 'evil record men' deemed would sell in significant enough numbers to see a return on investment.

The DIY experiment simply reminds us of the truth about supply & demand. You can make a record and you can get it to the public. You still can't create the differentiators to truly get the public's attention unless you orchestrate a highly strategic and costly marketing campaign to acheive sell through. It isn't easy. It never was. It never will be. It's even harder now because the supply is so massive the public is overwhelmed.

Some artists get lucky. They make a record and it resonates with the public sentiment at the moment. If you explore those scenarios carefully, you ultimately discover that they got to some point where someone with the resources came in an kicked it into overdrive. In short, they got picked up by a passing ship.

[slight-return]

OMG okay here it goes...I never really meant to have this go out to the general public, it's sort of like an "inside joke" to my friends ...



That could seriously be compromising its value as a case study for more general e-distribution

you mentioned most of em heard it (so you got success there), but didn't download it (could be the nature of the beast, being an inside joke/novelty it might not 'travel' or 'keep' that well, the website has the slideshow...so folks might think of that as an intgrted program - oh any number of things could be going down)

hell, a ratio big enough where "half" is a near guidepost (as in "less than half...I gather you mean more like 30%-40% as opposed to, say, 2%) is a mega-stellar conversion rate for a lot of types of marketing

[BonzoMcbrain]

Never mind, it's probably just the whole joke thing.

[Anderton]

A novelty song is usually something you listen to once, then move on. That's probably what happened. Actually, I think a 50% download rate is pretty decent.

[PeterTuneCore]

Wow, take a day off and a big thread just springs up like a mushroom!

This is actually a pretty complex problem. It's easy to confuse the message, the medium, the method, the money and much more. If your song was marketed to reach a very large group with a built-in or pre-existing demand, if they knew it was bonafide and if the quality was there (and if it being free didn't make them distrust any of this!), then your song would have probably done well--provided there was no competition and no barriers to entry (one-button click download, no free streams, etc.).

Change any one of those factors and you might not get a nibble: that's still not a good judge of how well downloading or free downloading is as a transaction medium.

--Peter
peter@tunecore.com

[sabriel9v]

Unless you've got a lot of money, you are essentially shooting off a flare from a dingy in the Ocean, hoping that a big ship will pick you up.

Before the internet and downloading, before Discmakers & CD Baby, it was still the norm that 94% of all records released did not recoup. For a long time everyone thought it was because the 'evil record men' somehow cheated the artists out of all the money. Sometimes that was absolutely true. Much of the time it was because the record wasn't something the 'evil record men' deemed would sell in significant enough numbers to see a return on investment.

The DIY experiment simply reminds us of the truth about supply & demand. You can make a record and you can get it to the public. You still can't create the differentiators to truly get the public's attention unless you orchestrate a highly strategic and costly marketing campaign to acheive sell through. It isn't easy. It never was. It never will be. It's even harder now because the supply is so massive the public is overwhelmed.

Some artists get lucky. They make a record and it resonates with the public sentiment at the moment. If you explore those scenarios carefully, you ultimately discover that they got to some point where someone with the resources came in an kicked it into overdrive. In short, they got picked up by a passing ship.


I like when you say the supply is so massive, the public is overwhelmed. I can't agree with you more on that. Everywhere you look there's some new artist promoting their album, show, tour, t-shirts, whatever. The viewer becomes bombarded with information. It then becomes much easier to rely on the artists who have consistently written good material and had spectacular live shows.

[gtrbass]

There is sounscan data to indicate that the amount of titles available qualified for 'commercial sale' has more than tripled since the late '90's. At the same time, the volume of overall sales has receded by 20%. Everyone blames downloading, etc, but there is evidence to suggest the consumer is overhwelmed by the glut of product available.

The glut of product has little impact on established acts. It has a significant impact in indie and unknown artists vying for breakthrough attention. The 'trees' analogy applies. The tall oaks get plenty of sunlight and sustenance, but the seedlings suffer and die as they are choaking each other over what little sustenance remains. This is a part of the natural cycle and the most resilient will survive.

[sabriel9v]

There is sounscan data to indicate that the amount of titles available qualified for 'commercial sale' has more than tripled since the late '90's. At the same time, the volume of overall sales has receded by 20%. Everyone blames downloading, etc, but there is evidence to suggest the consumer is overhwelmed by the glut of product available.

The glut of product has little impact on established acts. It has a significant impact in indie and unknown artists vying for breakthrough attention. The 'trees' analogy applies. The tall oaks get plenty of sunlight and sustenance, but the seedlings suffer and die as they are choaking each other over what little sustenance remains. This is a part of the natural cycle and the most resilient will survive.

Good analogy with the trees. But I keep thinking about this question. Because people have been overwhelmed with the massive quantities of available music, does this contribute to an overall lack of demand for the product?

[gtrbass]

Many would argue that there isn't a lack of demand so much as a point of saturation. There is great competition for public's discretional dollars whether it's other music, DVD's or games. Does illegal downloading impact the bottom line? It probably impacts the choice to purchase the music you're only slightly interested in. People pay for the stuff they really want, and they probably get copies of stuff they think is mildly interesting.

Many thing have hurt music:
1) The sheer volume of product of good and bad quality.
2) The shift toward portability over sound quality.
3) The trend in Radio to limit exposure of new/diverse material in favor of ultra tight rotation.
4) CONSTANT bad news that no one likes music anymore, music is dead, blahh, blahh, blahh. It sends the message that music is not exciting anymore and is played out.

The storm is so perfect that it makes me wonder if there's actually conspiracy to destroy public interest in music and free expression. It's almost as if Rush's 2112 was a prophecy now coming true. It's goofy, but you gotta say 'hmmm'...

[theextremist04]

Yeah, 50% is a great download rate. I've got right around 10% download rate for all of my music.

[Standard8]

If I start giving away free hot dogs on the street corner, does that make me an Iron Chef?

I like hot dogs as much as the next guy. As a matter of fact, I love hotdogs. Hotdogs are just part of who I am. I love love love hotdogs. I'd take a free hot dog. I'd take two. Onions, pickles, mustard, and a toasted bun for a little crunch. I want grill marks on my hot dog. I want it burnt on one side. It's too bad I can't get it exactly how I want it for free. I have to pay for it or do it myself.

[StratGuy22]

No offence but maybe it's like all the bad poetry on the internet. There's just so much, maybe no one cares anymore.

[dubplated]

Many would argue that there isn't a lack of demand so much as a point of saturation. There is great competition for public's discretional dollars whether it's other music, DVD's or games. Does illegal downloading impact the bottom line? It probably impacts the choice to purchase the music you're only slightly interested in. People pay for the stuff they really want, and they probably get copies of stuff they think is mildly interesting.

Many thing have hurt music:
1) The sheer volume of product of good and bad quality.
2) The shift toward portability over sound quality.
3) The trend in Radio to limit exposure of new/diverse material in favor of ultra tight rotation.
4) CONSTANT bad news that no one likes music anymore, music is dead, blahh, blahh, blahh. It sends the message that music is not exciting anymore and is played out.

The storm is so perfect that it makes me wonder if there's actually conspiracy to destroy public interest in music and free expression. It's almost as if Rush's 2112 was a prophecy now coming true. It's goofy, but you gotta say 'hmmm'...


I couldnt have said it better... let us not also forget the accessibility and affordability where recording equipment is concerned... you could say its as much napsters fault as fruity loops or pro tools... only an example... if you own pro tools then you are probably fairly serious about your music, but nonetheless... I also think that having so much competition cant help but make those that are serious about their careers that much more introspective and driven to perfect themselves as artists... at least thats what happened to me. The cliche "survival of the fittest" stands true today... I dont think there are too many successful artist that dont know how they sound.

sorry for the tangent.:)

[marcellis]

Does Even Free Downloading Work?...most of them heard the song but LESS THAN HALF OF THEM ACTUALLY BOTHERED TO DOWNLOAD IT!


You uploaded it. Most of your target audience heard it.

If the goal was getting people to listen to your music, then
based on your results, free downloading worked seemed to work
in that experiment.

[mikezawitkowski]

Many would argue that there isn't a lack of demand so much as a point of saturation. There is great competition for public's discretional dollars whether it's other music, DVD's or games. Does illegal downloading impact the bottom line? It probably impacts the choice to purchase the music you're only slightly interested in. People pay for the stuff they really want, and they probably get copies of stuff they think is mildly interesting.

Many thing have hurt music:
1) The sheer volume of product of good and bad quality.
2) The shift toward portability over sound quality.
3) The trend in Radio to limit exposure of new/diverse material in favor of ultra tight rotation.
4) CONSTANT bad news that no one likes music anymore, music is dead, blahh, blahh, blahh. It sends the message that music is not exciting anymore and is played out.

The storm is so perfect that it makes me wonder if there's actually conspiracy to destroy public interest in music and free expression. It's almost as if Rush's 2112 was a prophecy now coming true. It's goofy, but you gotta say 'hmmm'...

I agree that the trends are probably accurate, in that overall album sales are decreasing annually while the amount of available catalog for purchase increases dramatically. But niche markets are becoming more and more important, and there's a whole level of direct-to-consumer interaction that didn't exist before. Even if overall sales are down, it's now much more feasible for an artist to make a living selling a hundred CDs with marginal expenses and keeping all the gross profit, vs. having to 1. sign a record deal, 2. have the label spend a ton of money on shotgun-style marketing, 3. live off of an advance while 4. waiting and hoping that after the album recoups, the artist will have money to live on from a .09% royalty...

There's a lot of talk on the web about demassification and decentralization, where there's sustainable business in niche markets, but the point is that the overall figures are not as important to independents as they used to be.

Lastly, music retail seems to be one slice of the pie that an independent artist needs to pursue in order to make money in this trade, with others including licensing, live performance, merchandise, sponsorships, etc.

[Fallacy]

A novelty song is usually something you listen to once, then move on. That's probably what happened. Actually, I think a 50% download rate is pretty decent.



Exactly. Funny songs don't last, or have much repeating value.
Also that's a battle I think everyone has, and really shows who your "friends" are in life. If a friend can't offer you 5 minutes of his/her time to listen to a song that took you hours/days/weeks to work on, then you should really start to assume... they might not be friends in the context you were hoping they would be. As what you stated, is mirrored all over the place. People like music they discover themselves, not being pointed to.

Just IMO.

[Jose Daniel]

Hey elsongs,

Your free music already allowed you to be heard by a number of people. BTW, I like the music. I think you did a good job in gaining some awareness about who you are as a musician, and what you're all about. And I think that's what free music can do to your reputation. I think the next step is to leverage that. How? Try asking the question, "What will trigger me to buy or download (free) music from a small level artist?" You may want to consider writing down all your answers, and then try experimenting all of them. I think it's limiting to do only one process in promoting your product, I think it has to be done in multiple ways.

One of the ways is this... taken from your message about your free music...

"Face it, you're too cheap to buy a CD. Well, the King Chocnut is too cheap to make one. So consider it a win-win situation!"

You might want to consider this, "The greatest desire of any man is the craving to be important." Everyone of us puts more importance to what we want, or what we don't want. You might want to keep that in mind.

Saying that I'm too cheap, hurts my ego, and for me, I become uninterested with the artist just because of this. Think about it, what if someone told you that you were cheap? Yes, your friends did listen to your music, despite this message, because they were your friends.

And saying that King Chocnut is too cheap to make a CD, puts a perception in the reader's mind something in the lines of, "if you're too cheap, why would I even bother to listen to your music, or consider downloading it?" Describing yourself, and your music, is REALLY important. Derek Sivers, the president of CD baby, said so himself. I think you should be thinking how you could be able to create an "interest to the reader's mind." In one of Derek's examples, when someone asks him what kind of music they play, most of the artists would say, "oh? we... play some rock... you know?" But Derek suggested to be more specific and interesting, something like, "our music is like listening to the hulk having sex!"

that's interesting...

I think, people will then be more apt to download or listen to that free music when you have triggered an interest from them about your music or who you are.

Perception is reality. Maybe you'd consider experimenting changing the description of your free download music, and see what happens. While doing that, you might also want keep in mind how you would feel if you were the reader who does not know anything about the artist.

Just some thoughts of mine. Hope this helps, Elsongs!

Cheers,
J

[BlueStrat]

Hi
You are not clear with your thoughts, will you give more information. So I can help you out in this matter.

Oy vey. :rolleyes:

[Screaming Stone]

Honesty can be brutal - and remember, I am just one person. That being said, I listened to your song. Nothing really captured my attention to make me want to return to listen to any of your other music. Basic production, a backbeat that's very generic, samples that I've heard many many times before, the hook wasn't that catchy... You made what appears to be a song for you and your friends (nothing wrong with that - thousands of others do it every day - which also means it's not original.)

If you are looking at expanding your audience beyond your friends, is your other music comedic like this? If it is not, why spend the time marketing yourself using this piece that is not a good example of your work.

HOWEVER - what would've made me interested and possibly forward the link to other people would've been some viral video thing. Maybe with an appearance by some other guy that would have chocnuts - like Obama (I'm guessing that chocnuts are dark colored balls?)

[richardmac]

There are hundreds of thousands of songs on the Internet recorded by people I've never heard of who don't have a recording contract. Here's how I decide whether to buy something or not: Is this music fantastic? Is it something I really want to own? If I can never listen to this song again... will that make me sad? OK, I'm being a bit silly, but that's pretty much it.

And I pretty much apply the SAME criterion to stuff I can download for free.

I don't want to collect music I don't like. Free does not matter to me. What matters is that I want to OWN it. Not the cost.

As a listener, I'm tough to please but willing to spend money. As an artist, I try to keep people like me in mind. From time to time I'll give away some music, and from time to time I sell music online, but it's much easier to sell a CD to someone at a gig.

[Instrospection]

Genre, Styles are so bogged down and congested with internet junk, and so called artist attempts you can't find things too easy. It's frustrating, but society of listeners begged for the cheap side of the industry. They're getting it.

Best words in this whole thread. As they say, "be careful what you wish for....".

[Instrospection]

There is sounscan data to indicate that the amount of titles available qualified for 'commercial sale' has more than tripled since the late '90's. At the same time, the volume of overall sales has receded by 20%. Everyone blames downloading, etc, but there is evidence to suggest the consumer is overhwelmed by the glut of product available.

The glut of product has little impact on established acts. It has a significant impact in indie and unknown artists vying for breakthrough attention. The 'trees' analogy applies. The tall oaks get plenty of sunlight and sustenance, but the seedlings suffer and die as they are choaking each other over what little sustenance remains. This is a part of the natural cycle and the most resilient will survive.

Some great words! Yeah, I think that it all boils down to the survival theory, too.

I think that it's fair to say that if an artist or band is someone or something that resonates in some way with someone--be that emotions of happiness, anger, transcendence, etc--that there must first be that connection with the artist's band or music. I still maintain that the audience is paying you with their time. If they don't, you're making art for yourself, which is nice, but no band or artist recouped expenses by just playing in their basement or to no audiences....whether that's intended or just inadvertently achieved.

[Instrospection]

I agree that the trends are probably accurate, in that overall album sales are decreasing annually while the amount of available catalog for purchase increases dramatically. But niche markets are becoming more and more important, and there's a whole level of direct-to-consumer interaction that didn't exist before. Even if overall sales are down, it's now much more feasible for an artist to make a living selling a hundred CDs with marginal expenses and keeping all the gross profit, vs. having to 1. sign a record deal, 2. have the label spend a ton of money on shotgun-style marketing, 3. live off of an advance while 4. waiting and hoping that after the album recoups, the artist will have money to live on from a .09% royalty...

Great point. It's much more possible for an artist to not be in debt up to their eyeballs to get their expression out there. And the big marketing juggernaut has proven to backfire on the majors---nowadays, that just paints a bigger target on their artists to be downloaded and "tried before buyed". Think of new artists with new albums on majors (what little there are of them)--audiences still want samples, and as much evidence or "proof" that it's of quality. So they'll sample more, and if that more isn't good, they won't pay for it. Even if it's decent.

Lastly, music retail seems to be one slice of the pie that an independent artist needs to pursue in order to make money in this trade, with others including licensing, live performance, merchandise, sponsorships, etc.

Yeah....that seems to coincide with the big artists selling out to jingles or selling only at Wal-Mart or whatever. In other words, the music is becoming less and less about what it was and what it meant. Even bands with supposed integrity (The Clash) have been used to flog product.

[spentron]

As well as the marketing machine, nothing else will make people want something for free quite like knowing it normally costs money.

I think myspace is on the right track by making it explicit that connections are a Good thing. HOWEVER, realize that, to dial-up users, myspace is like a black hole. You can't even download it (if even avail.) if you can't stream it. Even youtube is better, videos are of course larger but their player will let your PC cache up the whole thing. Also the myspace player won't run on slower PCs without flash slowdown warnings. Of course, some dialup users won't expect to be able to download anything large, but with the old "ignore it and let it run" trick almost anything is possible, but it has to work that way. Other ratings: soundclick sometimes OK, tinypic 2 thumbs down.

[richardmac]

I don't think people on dialup should expect decent Internet service, to be honest. People running on dialup are like people still running Windows 98 or Mac OS 9. Some folks have no choice because they live in Backass Nowhere, and I feel bad for them, a little. But if a person has a choice and they choose modem, I have little sympathy about their download speeds.

I agree with you that people like a "deal," so getting something for free that normally costs money will appeal to them.

[YeahDoIt]

You might try different things and see what works.

I suspect now is not a good time. House foreclosure rates are high, lots of jobs moved out of the USA, gasoline prices are high. People might not choose to buy music or musical entertainment now.

[Poker99]

I suspect now is not a good time. House foreclosure rates are high, lots of jobs moved out of the USA, gasoline prices are high. People might not choose to buy music or musical entertainment now.
:facepalm:

[jv17]

As an artist trying to finish a CD project he's been working on for the past few years, I've been getting leery about even coming out with a product at all.

They say downloading is the ticket these days, so just for shits and giggles, and partly to experiment with this whole downloading/promotion thing, I made this comedy rap song for my friends and even made a website. I even initiated the site as a "teaser" before the formal "release" of the "single" which played a snippet of the song. The site has the "hit single" ready for full, free download.

So I sent an email blast to a good number of my friends, I even setup a little "guestbook" on the site for people to leave silly comments.

So what happened? Well after informally polling my friends, most of them heard the song but LESS THAN HALF OF THEM ACTUALLY BOTHERED TO DOWNLOAD IT!

WTF? So not even free music gets you heard these days?

actually its not that..im sorry to say that they are not influenced by your songs anyway you're a filipino right?im pinoy also pm me..

[RobRoy]

21st century paradigm: Recorded music is the equivalent of the free toy in the happy meal.

[RobRoy]

Meanwhile, I've been buying vinyl at garage sales in case lots and just throwing away the junk.

[Music Calgary]

I made this comedy rap song for my friends and even made a website. I even initiated the site as a "teaser" before the formal "release" of the "single" which played a snippet of the song. The site has the "hit single" ready for full, free download.

Let's see it.

[3red]

Yeah....that seems to coincide with the big artists selling out to jingles or selling only at Wal-Mart or whatever. In other words, the music is becoming less and less about what it was and what it meant. Even bands with supposed integrity (The Clash) have been used to flog product.

Eclectic postmodernism refers to an absence of aesthetics or truth in the face of the capitalist market. With a lack of absolute truth in science and historical metanarratives, the only firm system to rely on is capitalism and the mass media. Commodification in its many forms -- fast food, genre films, trendy fashions, etc. -- results in a society embracing a hodge podge of cultures and styles, all superimposed. There is no attempt made at underlying meaning; there are just new forms of quotation. Appropriated images, like the masks in Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, prevail. (Thus exemplifying the irony of critical terminology: this work of Picasso is generally regarded as the birth of modernism in painting, yet this appropriation of cultural imagery also falls within a later "-ism" of postmodernism.) Historical origins and motivations are disregarded entirely. An age of reproducibility often results in nostalgic imitations of yesteryear's mass-produced items (e.g., a CD player in a case resembling an old-time radio).

http://www.music.psu.edu/Faculty%20Pages/Ballora/INART55/postmodernism.html

[jeremy_green]

I dont really think anything has changed... really (grain of salt please).

Actually if anything it seems to have become possibly easier (just speculating stuff here, dont dive all over me please). Everyone these days has tons of music on their iPods and other devices. When I was younger there was basically none of this. Only a handful of my buddies had large music collections or collections at all. We never heard - or had the option of hearing and truly delivering our music to the WHOLE globe. More people are buying music. Sales are up worldwide and as countries like China and India get up to their knees the opportunities grow even further.

So now what?

IMO The key to any and all success is demand. No demand = No value. Most of the great bands in history made their success playing in front of audiences. Perform live - lots, anywhere and everywhere. Gain your following one fan at a time - just like all the bigs did. This creates a buzz and a general interest. THEN you can use your online spots to push your shows and sell merchandise and hopefully some music.

The difference today is that we are mostly complacent, spoiled and lazy. Most of us hope to hit the stars from our bedrooms without breaking a sweat or eating KD in the back of the f$%^ing stupid bus (hells true creation).

If you believe you are good enough to be great - then believe in yourself and get out there. If you dont believe in yourself enough to do this, then why would you expect other people to bestow this belief on you.

Face it, our stuff (at this point) has no value - so you better be prepared to invest in it and give it basically for free ... at least in the beginning. It is no different from starting your own company. Be prepared to spend YOUR money and work for free at first. If you have "it" your time and money will pay you back and hopefully then some.

Not saying I can do any of this crap - Just the view from my couch ... which is quite comfortable I may add!!

[MV4824]

I used to advertise it to my friends, it was cool at first they slowly lost interest. From there I gained a large number of "friends" on myspace and discuss compositions with people from around the world day to day. It is truely amazing.. my friends do listen to my stuff now and then I'm sure they'd download an album If I ever put it out.

"Online Distribution" is the 'modern' way to get an album out there, I guess it's all in the way you advertise it!