Making a professional-sounding recording can be expensive, particularly for ensembles (like rock bands) who want to capture at least some semblance of a live performance.
Sure, you can get an decent recording with a portable stereo recorder, or a couple of inexpensive mics panned left and right and plugged directly into the mixer, but most artists want their music to sound as good as it possibly can--as good as any other artist played on the radio. That takes an array of microphones and other audio gear and somebody who knows what they're doing. In other words, money.
Slicethepie offers an online trading market that lets you speculate on the number of singles and albums a band on the service will sell over two years.
(Credit: Slicethepie)In the post-label world, who funds these recordings? Peter Spellman, director of career development at the Berklee School of Music, explores three fan-funded (or "crowdfunding") options in a blog posting on KnowTheMusicBiz.com.
ArtistShare, which has been around since 2002, allows fans to contribute to particular artists and receive exclusive tidbits, such as in-progress recordings.
SellaBand works more like a small-scale venture capitalist for bands: fans can "invest" $10 apiece, and when an artist reaches $50,000, Sellaband will hook them up with industry professionals, including producers and studios, to record and market an album. Revenue comes from advertisements shown next to free downloads, as well as sales of the finished album, and are split three ways between SellaBand, the "investors," and the artist.
U.K.-based Slicethepie not only allows fans to invest, but essentially asks them to do artist discovery. Fans are compensated a few cents for listening to acts and writing reviews, and bands who score the best end up in a showcase, where labels might find them and offer them a deal.
Fans can also earn money by betting on the success of artists in a stock market. The winner of the showcase gets 15,000 pounds from the organization to fund a recording, while Slicethepie receives some royalties from sales of the album. (I'm always a bit wary of showcase-type models--often bands must pay up front to participate, labels and radio stations ignore them completely, and the only party who benefits is the organizer. In this case, the entry fee for each song appears to be around 20 pounds, although the FAQ isn't entirely clear on this, and entry fees are currently being waived. Still, proceed with caution.)
Whether or not any of these particular organizations actually ends up funding the next Radiohead, it's interesting to see all this business innovation occurring outside the bounds of the traditional label system.
Artist Catalina Estrada's laser-etched creation on a new red Zune
(Credit: Microsoft)Like most news about Microsoft's oddly-named media player, it was leaked well in advance. But now it's official: consumers buying the new Zune devices, which are set to be released on Tuesday, will be able to customize them with laser-engraved text and select artwork.
Now that explains the tag line "you make it you."
Called "Zune Originals," the new Zunes will feature a selection of artwork by 18 artists and design studios: Colletivo Studios, Catalina Estrada, Laurent Fetis, Sam Flores, Klaus Haapaniemi, Pierre Marie, Kenzo Minami, Parskid, Mike Perry, Phunk Studios, Chisato Shinya, Skwak, Iosefatu Sua, Tado, Nobumasa Takahashi, Ramiro Torres, Darvin Vida, and Steve Wilson. 27 total designs will be offered.
In addition, creative Zune buyers can add up to three lines of text (or five lines in place of a design), or a selection of 20 "tattoos" that are independent of the "Artist Series." This will all be offered free of charge.
The Zunes, as previously announced, are going to be available in 4GB ($149.99), 8GB ($199.99), and 80GB ($249.99) versions.
Existing Zune owners will receive a free upgrade to the player's new firmware, which includes revamped search functions and a drag-and-drop organization interface.
Homegrown music talents in the Asia-Pacific region now have a new platform to showcase their latest song creations. The Independent Artists Club Web site launched recently by Nokia aims to promote local artists in the region by allowing them to upload their songs on the Web for music fans around the world to enjoy.
The IAC program will launched in Singapore and Thailand first, before being rolled out over the next six months to selected Asia-Pacific countries including Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand.
With each IAC country launch, selected local artists will initially be invited to upload their tracks. After which the Web site will be open to all artists for song uploading. The Singapore IAC site is expected to open up for the public to upload their songs in mid-December.
Music lovers visiting the IAC Web site can then rate, sample (30-second previews) and download MP3 tracks. The artists best rated for their songs will be listed on Nokia's IAC charts, which will in turn be distributed regularly to the industry. These artists will also be invited to perform at Nokia-sponsored events as well as IAC-related activities.
One of the key unique features of the IAC Web site is that fans can not only access it via PC, they can also surf the site via their handsets. The mobile phone platform, however, allows for only preview streaming and downloading of songs (data charges apply).
According to Lim Wee Khee, senior marketing manager for Nokia Singapore, uploading of songs is currently not available using the phone. She added that the tracks are all Digital Rights Management (DRM)-free and come in the popular MP3 format which is playable on most portable music players.
The only seeming catch for music fans is that you can download only 10 tracks a month for free if you own a Nokia device. Non-Nokia device owners are limited to five downloads per month. There are currently no plans by the Finnish company to charge users for additional downloads, so do choose your songs wisely. Then again, you can always sign up for more than one account.
In line with its Ovi Internet services platform announced earlier this year, Nokia has said it will be rolling out the Nokia Music Store in 2008.
(Source: Crave Asia)
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