Growing musician service platform: undercurrent surging, groping forward
"what is lacking is not demand, but the ability to make a profit."
in the 20th century, the music you can hear or consume is usually controlled by a few companies-big record companies, radio stations, or other media predators. Musicians need these channels to become a household name, and similarly, the public is flooded with what these companies consider to be "profitable" music.Today, however, the situation is completely different, and the developed online world allows musicians and listeners to forget about these companies. What we are going to discuss today is the shaping and change of musicians by the Internet.
strong > platform changes / strong >
in 1999, the launch of Napster brought revolutionary changes to the music industry. The new music carrier (MP3) and the new music transmission system (Internet) have brought great impact on people's way of finding and listening to music, and are gradually disintegrating the traditional recording industry. Although it now seems that most of the music on Napster is illegal file sharing, it is it that has cut the first crack in the new music industry and brought much of what was once underground music to the ground for the first time.
however, like all utopianism, there are many failures in the process of the transition between the old and the new, and there are not a few companies that take detours. MySpace, for example, was founded in 2003 as an information-sharing website that provides an DIY home page for artists, with users as well as creators. But the problem is that the net is too big: it's not only an audio player, blog, photo library, but also a video player, a sales window, and a social platform.
although it was well received at the beginning of its launch, MySpace gradually declined with the development of technology and the rise of some new social forms. In June 2011, MySpace was acquired by media advertising company Specific Media and singer Justin Timberlake for about $35 million, and in February 2016, MySpace and its parent company announced the merger of time Inc. (Time Inc.).
therefore, after realizing the disadvantages of MySpace mode, many music-related platforms that only focus on one aspect begin to rise: such as Facebook and Twitter focused on social communication, Youtube focused on video streaming, SoundCloud focused on audio streaming, and Bandcamp focused on retail. Focus on ticketing Songkick and Dice, focus on self-issued TuneCore and CD Baby, and focus on fund-raising Pledge, Patreon, Kickstarter and so on.
for those musicians, the "decentralization" of the music industry also increases their chances of greater development, because they are more able to choose service combinations according to their own needs.
"after Napster, it has become increasingly clear in the music industry that with the help of digital technology, music people will be able to interact directly with fans and cash out directly by selling their own digital albums, peripherals and other products," Tim Clark from music agency ie:music told reporters. "if these musicians are smart enough, they can explore a path of independent development."
in 2017, such an example may be the most obvious in Chance the Rapper. Not long ago, Forbes estimated his total revenue this year at $33 million, and amazingly, all of that revenue had nothing to do with the record company, not even the sales of any physical records.
in fact, before Chance the Rapper, there was already a new generation of musicians who used YouTube to publish and promote their works in the fields of dubstep and grime in the UK.
Electronic musician Luke Hood opened his own channel UKF on YouTube in 2009 to showcase his drum'n'bass and dubstep skills to audiences. In addition to electronic music lovers, UKF subsequently attracted a large number of audiences in other fields. So far, UKF has 6.1 million followers on dubstep alone.
"YouTube is a free platform that everyone can use," Luke Hood said of why you are so obsessed with YouTube. "at UKF, you can interact directly with fans and build real connections that could not have been achieved in the previous era of underground music."
Manchester-based grime musician Bugzy Malone has also gained a lot of followers on YouTube. "YouTube is definitely my main battlefield," he said. "I started almost from scratch on this platform, but in the end I found the law of success. Now, as long as I upload my work, I can get feedback from my fans. " So far, his YouTube channel has nearly 250000 followers, and his first popular video, "Moving", has been viewed about 10 million times.
Bugzy Malone
unlike Luke Hood, Bugzy Malone has signed a record company called ADA while running its own music business. At present, ADA's services for Bugzy Malone include record production, physical and digital album release, marketing and sales report feedback.
although great changes have taken place in functions compared with the past, record companies still need to make a profit, and taking a certain share from musicians is still one of their sources of income. "these guys are cool, and they help me a lot," Bugzy Malone said of ADA. "but they still influence my decision."
as Malone has experienced, there seems to be a tendency for large record companies to tighten control over some independent musician service brands. For example, ADA is a subsidiary of Warner Music, Sony Music also owns independent music distribution company The Orchard, Universal Music owns Caroline International, and Kobalt, which recently completed D-round 's second capital injection, also owns AWAL (Artists Without a Label).
strong > "Direct fans" platform case: PledgeMusic, SuperPhone and EscapeX / strong >
although many musicians' careers are still more or less interfered by the traditional recording industry, it is not impossible for them to be completely independent.
Benji Rogers launched PledgeMusic, a music platform called "direct-to-fan" in 2009, through which musicians can presell, distribute and market their music works. "it turns out that direct interaction can maximize the income of musicians," Benji Rogers said.
Rogers was also an early investor in the instant messaging software SuperPhone, which was founded by musician Ryan Leslie and allows musicians and fans to interact instantly through a phone number on the platform. "he (referring to SuperPhone) may not be mainstream," Rogers said. "he is some kind of definition of independence."
founder Leslie, who used to be a contracted artist for Universal Music, devoted himself to the independent operation of the business after the termination of the contract. The development of technology has given him plenty of choices, and at the same time, he has gradually formed a new mode of getting along with his fans. As a veteran of the traditional recording industry, he is no longer willing to return to that rigid old model.
"Selena Gomez has as many as 128 million followers on Instagram, but in fact there won't be that many people coming to buy her album," Leslie said of the conversion rate of social media fans, which is why he founded SuperPhone. "what I've learned is that the connections created by social media with musicians and fans may not be that close."
Selena Gomez in 2013, he posted his phone number to fans on Twitter and invited them to become SuperPhone users. In six months, 35000 people sent text messages to this number, of which 33000 responded to automatic requests to provide more information about themselves. In 2014, Leslie decided to go on tour and broke the news to his SuperPhone fans. "We ended up selling 40, 000 tickets without record companies, brokers or any PR," he said. "all directly through the SuperPhone platform."
after receiving $75000 in seed-wheel financing, Leslie opened SuperPhone to all musicians, including rappers Lil Wayne and Cardi B. He said that all fans on the platform have passed identity checks to avoid mixing with a large number of zombie fans, so as to better realize the communication and interaction between musicians and fans.
in fact, SuperPhone is also a reaction to the "three-card trick" played by Facebook and the user. According to a previous survey by Ogilvy, if you have 1 million followers on Facebook, up to 2% of your followers will see your tweet unless you pay for Facebook promotion.
"every artist you know actually pays a promotion fee to Facebook or Instagram to reach their fans," Rogers said. "it's actually a very morbid cycle. Will I use Facebook to run my own business? Screw it, not at all. Because in this system, I am only a product, what kind of reward does the platform give me? "
similar platforms include Social APP EscapeX, an APP that also aims to "decentralize social media" and give musicians the autonomy to interact directly with their fans. "it's a completely different way of thinking," says the company's CEO Sephi Shapira. "the question is not how many fans you have, but how engaged your fans are."
in order to better operate its fans, Danielle Cohn, a superstar with 8 million followers on Musical.ly, recently chose to stay on the EscapeX platform. At EscapeX, she offers fans a monthly subscription option, but Shapira says this income accounts for only 10% of an artist's income on the platform. The remaining 90% comes from the fees paid by fans to make the list, and according to the rules of the platform, fans who rank in the top three of the list of fans during a statistical period will be promised to see their idols. As an exchange of benefits, such platforms also provide musicians with some fan data.
strong > conclusion / strong >
although many platforms serving independent musicians have begun to take shape, how to keep users (including musicians and fans) sticky and explore new business models is still a big problem for these platforms.
A few years ago, with the decline of MySpace, a large number of musicians went to SoundCloud, where they chose to upload and share their works. However, SoundCloud is also facing bankruptcy and recently completed 40 per cent layoffs, and although it received a $170 million round of emergency financing in August, how to make a profit remains a huge burden. Once SoundCloud goes bankrupt, independent musicians will undoubtedly lose an important "weapon".
Mat Dryhurst, a musician and technology activist, believes that in a world where "platforms are budding and declining, what is lacking is not demand, but the ability to make a profit." He also made an interesting point that replacing IPO with "ICO (initial coin offering)" will inject more vitality into the industry. "this will facilitate open source utopian developers who can make more potential changes with both a funding and a user base."
whether it is the platform supported by SuperPhone, EscapeX or the envisioned ICO, it is some reflection of the new changes in the music industry after entering the 21st century. Maybe in the near future, musicians will really be able to fully own and control their own careers, whether it's copyright, data, or fan relationship maintenance. However, according to the current situation, this road will take some time to go.
Edit: mary