electronic music world
Your Thoughts Please?
This is a re-post of an entry from my own blog (http://popeyedoyle.wordpress.com/).... just wondering what you think about the points raised......
OverKill.com?
25 07 2009
@Autorotation (on Twitter) posted a comment about whether to join “yet another” music site promising ‘increased exposure’, ‘earnings from you music’ and ‘a way to contact your fans’. The issue was that the internet/market/whatever-you-call-it is oversaturated.
I myself have joined many a site which claims to be able to give the artist a portal through which they can upload and sell their music and increase exposure; and the listener a source of free or cheap downloads.
Most sites take the form of a simple band webpage containing a biography, a photo and a flash player for songs.
Some sites go a bit further and offer somewhere to write a blog, a video player, somewhere to put widgets, etc. But they’re all pretty much the same.
The lack of originality employed in the creation of these sites is stunning. The edict seems to be “find a way of repackaging the format of a truly original concept, and then copy it ad infinitum.”
So, for a true original like Last.fm which lists and tracks listening habits and provides tailor-made radio stations, there are clone sites like Rhapsody and Lala, amongst others. For every Reverbnation, there are a whole host of sites which claim to get you more listeners and fans and get you noticed.
There are also social networking sites which ape the format of ‘the big 3′ (Myspace, Facebook and Bebo, which in turn appear more and more to be imitating each other) which allow the inclusion of your music for increased exposure. Some of the newer sites seem to be incorporating elements of all three catergories: internet radio/tracking; promotion; and social-networking.
I currently have my own band profiles on last.fm, ilike, reverbnation, myspace, besonic, facebook, virb, amazingtunes, twones, aralie, soundcloud and many others which, to be honest, I’ve forgotten the names of, and doubt whether they exist anymore! (Bandpump.com anyone?!). And judging by these sites’ membership and listener-bases, nobody actually uses them regularly anyway.
Of course, some natural selection takes place where the fittest or best sites survive. Last.fm has millions of users throughout the world and is some countries’ only portal to new music. My artist’s ‘playcount’ exceeds 30,000 only because the site is so far-reaching. I would never have got so many listeners otherwise. Some artists have really benfitted from this.
It was originally conceived as being the ultimate database of music. Last.fm’s original remit was to catalogue every piece of music ever published, and eventually, provide every track as part of a ‘radio’ stream based on on users’ individual listening habits, tastes and moods. Thus freeing listeners from the dogma of conventional radio programming. It has partly succeeded: you can now have your own radio station which plays Moby, The Stones and Beethoven all in the same ‘programme’. Last.fm benfitted from being technology-savvy, changing with listening trends and employing some great code-writers. However, as with all great internet institutions (ie Google, Myspace, etc), it became too big for its creators to manage and when the corporations came knocking with vast sums of money, Last.fm’s creators gave in and surrendered their dream to CBS. And who can blame them?!
As a result, music on Last.fm is now subject to all sorts of legal wrangling which has compromised the service it set out to provide. But its still the best service of its kind…
As technology changes and user demand trails off, what is needed in this field is true originality. What is the point of regurgitating the same old formula; with site after site providing exactly the same services as one another? And, indeed, what is the point of musicians slavishly subscribing to these sites in the hope that it will get them more exposure when, in fact, it just dilutes their listener-base? There must be an alternative out there, brewing in a creative coder-writer’s mind!
I myself have a wishlist:
A central site which allows the upload of music but which syndicates the music out to all other sites in much the same way as RSS syndicates text. Therefore eliminating the tedious process of uploading music again and again and again and again to other sites which all provide the same content anyway.
Currently I think the best option for musicians is to join one or two of the more established sites and concentrate on promoting the music/ gigs/ etc through them alone. They may be owned by corporate giants, they may be mainstream, but they are so because they have been proven to be successful. Though gone are the days when an Arctic Monkeys or a Lily Allen could promote themselves exclusively on Myspace without any corporate assistance (I’m sceptical as to whether this was actually the case anyway).
OverKill.com?
25 07 2009
@Autorotation (on Twitter) posted a comment about whether to join “yet another” music site promising ‘increased exposure’, ‘earnings from you music’ and ‘a way to contact your fans’. The issue was that the internet/market/whatever-you-call-it is oversaturated.
I myself have joined many a site which claims to be able to give the artist a portal through which they can upload and sell their music and increase exposure; and the listener a source of free or cheap downloads.
Most sites take the form of a simple band webpage containing a biography, a photo and a flash player for songs.
Some sites go a bit further and offer somewhere to write a blog, a video player, somewhere to put widgets, etc. But they’re all pretty much the same.
The lack of originality employed in the creation of these sites is stunning. The edict seems to be “find a way of repackaging the format of a truly original concept, and then copy it ad infinitum.”
So, for a true original like Last.fm which lists and tracks listening habits and provides tailor-made radio stations, there are clone sites like Rhapsody and Lala, amongst others. For every Reverbnation, there are a whole host of sites which claim to get you more listeners and fans and get you noticed.
There are also social networking sites which ape the format of ‘the big 3′ (Myspace, Facebook and Bebo, which in turn appear more and more to be imitating each other) which allow the inclusion of your music for increased exposure. Some of the newer sites seem to be incorporating elements of all three catergories: internet radio/tracking; promotion; and social-networking.
I currently have my own band profiles on last.fm, ilike, reverbnation, myspace, besonic, facebook, virb, amazingtunes, twones, aralie, soundcloud and many others which, to be honest, I’ve forgotten the names of, and doubt whether they exist anymore! (Bandpump.com anyone?!). And judging by these sites’ membership and listener-bases, nobody actually uses them regularly anyway.
Of course, some natural selection takes place where the fittest or best sites survive. Last.fm has millions of users throughout the world and is some countries’ only portal to new music. My artist’s ‘playcount’ exceeds 30,000 only because the site is so far-reaching. I would never have got so many listeners otherwise. Some artists have really benfitted from this.
It was originally conceived as being the ultimate database of music. Last.fm’s original remit was to catalogue every piece of music ever published, and eventually, provide every track as part of a ‘radio’ stream based on on users’ individual listening habits, tastes and moods. Thus freeing listeners from the dogma of conventional radio programming. It has partly succeeded: you can now have your own radio station which plays Moby, The Stones and Beethoven all in the same ‘programme’. Last.fm benfitted from being technology-savvy, changing with listening trends and employing some great code-writers. However, as with all great internet institutions (ie Google, Myspace, etc), it became too big for its creators to manage and when the corporations came knocking with vast sums of money, Last.fm’s creators gave in and surrendered their dream to CBS. And who can blame them?!
As a result, music on Last.fm is now subject to all sorts of legal wrangling which has compromised the service it set out to provide. But its still the best service of its kind…
As technology changes and user demand trails off, what is needed in this field is true originality. What is the point of regurgitating the same old formula; with site after site providing exactly the same services as one another? And, indeed, what is the point of musicians slavishly subscribing to these sites in the hope that it will get them more exposure when, in fact, it just dilutes their listener-base? There must be an alternative out there, brewing in a creative coder-writer’s mind!
I myself have a wishlist:
A central site which allows the upload of music but which syndicates the music out to all other sites in much the same way as RSS syndicates text. Therefore eliminating the tedious process of uploading music again and again and again and again to other sites which all provide the same content anyway.
Currently I think the best option for musicians is to join one or two of the more established sites and concentrate on promoting the music/ gigs/ etc through them alone. They may be owned by corporate giants, they may be mainstream, but they are so because they have been proven to be successful. Though gone are the days when an Arctic Monkeys or a Lily Allen could promote themselves exclusively on Myspace without any corporate assistance (I’m sceptical as to whether this was actually the case anyway).
Tags: downloads, electronica, free music, independent, last fm, music
Add a Comment
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Comment by Pixieguts on August 31, 2009 at 4:34pm - Bandpump, classic, reminds me of the unfortunate name of our old music store - PayLoadz - was a good and useful site but the name always made me laugh. Bandcamp seems much better even if it does sound a bit like we are music scouts and girl guides. :-)
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Comment by dementio13 on August 31, 2009 at 2:20pm - Nightmare Marie! I've got a similar problem at Bandpump.com (terrible name - conjures up any number of unwanted images!!!) .... there doesn't seem to be any option to leave. There ARE regulatory bodies, but I've no idea how to contact them; I think they're all country specific, so the UK has different ones to Stralia, etc. All I can suggest is that you delete all info/pics/etc and leave it (unless, like me with Bandpump, you've forgotten all login info!!!).
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Comment by Pixieguts on August 31, 2009 at 2:06am
- Whatever you do, I recommend NOT joining Music Forte. It's a site I was invited to a couple of years ago and like many it's been pretty useless. Now that I'm trying to cull my excessive sites they won't let me leave! No delete profile button anywhere to be found. I've emailed them directly 3 times over the past couple of months asking them to delete my profile but have had no reply or action. Not getting any more help in their forum. Surely keeping people on a site when they have asked to be deleted is illegal. Anyone know a regulatory body that deals with sites that won't let you leave? It's like the Hotel California over there!
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Comment by northcape on August 30, 2009 at 9:25pm -
As I said elsewhere, good blog! I agree that updating so many profiles is normally a waste of time that would be better spent on music.
myspace, facebook, last.fm, twitter and soundclick are now pretty much all I use. The first two just because of their size (I think its pretty much a rule that every musician has got to have a myspace profile- but don't dismiss the potential to occasionally make very good contacts through myspace as well), last.fm because as you say its still pretty much the best music site out there despite its ongoing problems, twitter because I've got slightly addicted to it - its also a good way to connect with people in a more natural way, and finally soundclick mainly for feedback from other electronic musicians- its not a good site to get any meaningful plays. I've got profiles elsewhere but mostly they are never updated, I've forgotten about some of them and they generally get no plays anyway. I've got tired of most of the sites only frequented by other musicians... I think getting netlabel releases/ radio airplay etc is a better way to get actual listeners.
I also definitely try to direct everything back to my website whenever possible.
@Shmoyko Oliwah-Fellman might be worth investigating artistdata- they are trying to do something like that where you update their site which then automatically updates your myspace, facebook etc profiles. Last time I investigated I didn't actually find it that useful due to the limited number of supported sites, but they may have improved it since then.
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Comment by Pixieguts on August 28, 2009 at 1:44pm
- Seems we need social network sites to be able to connect with new listeners in an ongoing way. Last.fm still seems the best to me for that by far despite other drawbacks. I love Bandcamp because it is such a simple and well run concept - you have to bring in all the listeners but it's effectively your own fully equipped music site with easy PayPal hookup for 100% returns on any paid downloads and no ads (may they not change it!). Reverb, it's the widgets and mailing list management I find useful. I'm also now culling friends/fans who are really just other artists wanting to exchange spam with me without us ever finding the time to listen to each other. I love listening to new music and do it pretty much every day but we are all only individuals with limited listening capacity and too many recommendations coming your way can painfully interrupt your own music listening journey. I know other artists who periodically cull the sites they are on too, haven't really got to that advanced stage myself...
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Comment by dementio13 on August 28, 2009 at 10:10am
- Yeah Pix, I've recently put lots of stuff on Bandcamp also ;) Reverbnation is quite good for posting widgets, etc, but really it can be a pain in the arse.....the number of unsolicited emails I've received through them is ridiculous. Also, there ain't many actual 'listeners' on there, its all musicians, which is fine, of course..... but what about the everyday listening 'customers'? Again, its Last.fm who seem the most suited for this.
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Comment by Shmoyko Oliwah-Fellman on August 28, 2009 at 9:31am
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There seem to be two schools of thought on this. One says that you need to be on them all simply to increase your infinitesimally small chances of gaining more fans or exposure to 'industry professionals'. The other says that you should concentrate on 3 or 4 and build your fan network that way.
I tend to go for the 2nd option, firstly because I haven't got the time for all of them, and secondly, I don't think I'll ever get attention of an A&R person, manager or anyone of consequence through these sites. So, I stick to FB, this site and twitter for talking to people and hopefully gaining a fan or two. Unless I'm mistaken, the rest (including MySpace, Reverb Nation, etc.) are just a waste of time since they don't provide any meaningful means of interaction (and that's what people really want from an indie artist).
A centralised application that would allow us to update them all at once would be good though.
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Comment by Pixieguts on August 27, 2009 at 1:08pm
- sites glorious sites i've almost had enough of 'em, but wait there are more! bandcamp is my favorite of the day.
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