Alternative Distribution

I think that the way to saving the music industry is to use inspiring content and distribute them in creative ways. One of my favorite methods is deploying them in video games, specifically Rock Band. Last.fm is also a great way to integrate music with social media with the focus being on music and not necessarily communicating with your peers. CD Baby is a tried and true method but it has a surprising resource that may be valuable.


Rock Band has created the Rock Band Network, which allows users to upload, customize, and distribute their music into the game. Not only does the consumer listen to the music, but they also feel and play the music by themselves or with their friends and family. They can purchase the mp3s for listening on the go or use the artist's avatar in their game for their own playable character. The artist's profile is directly linked with the artists site and linked with social media.


Last.FM is available online and as a mobile app for online radio. It connects and streams artists to users instead of a downloadable feature. It has intuitive music recommendation ability and it updates users with concert information. Fans can connect with other fans and share links to the artists with others. Music is also available for purchase on the website by Amazon.


CD Baby is great for mp3 and CD distribution but what you may not realize is that they also press vinyl. Vinyl records have become increasingly popular among audiophiles and music lovers as they provide a consistent high quality audio source that many mp3s can lack after ripping from compact disks. Digital files are also easily traded and copied to friends or pirated. Vinyl records are a solid piece of audio that will most likely not be copied or reformatted. They can be traded and resold but most likely will be collectable pieces for a collection. They can be included in bundles with other merchandise and mp3s.
 

If You Build It, They Will Come

Over the last year I have had the opportunity to go to Recording Academy events on a regular basis. One of the most reoccurring topic is the continuing relevance of Myspace as an outlet to musicians. Most musicians who are savvy with social media shy away from acknowledging Myspace altogether. Even though its popularity with users is down, many well-known users such as Lady Gaga and Green Day keep their Myspace pages updated and current.

The weaknesses of Myspace for musicians are many. There is little security preventing users to download mp3s and video.  Those who use facebook and twitter frequently may connect their feeds to post onto Myspace and vice versa. This cuts off the ability for users who see this to use one platform to communicate to the artist using another. If the musician posts from Facebook and connects it to Myspace, users who comment on Myspace may not be heard from, as their comments are not fed back into Facebook. Since Myspace is not as popular as Twitter and Facebook, fans move to these other sites. Twitter has created a more direct contact to artists like Billie Joe Armstrong, Fat Mike, Gavin Rossdale and others with it's popularity with fans.

Myspace can be a creative outlet for musicians with interactive artwork and those who feel free to post music on the site. The ability to completely customize a Myspace page that is enjoyable can be compared to the cut and dry pages on Facebook. Myspace has an all-around inclusive site for videos, music, and commentary. A large amount of fans could help show that you have a strong enough following to be signed to a label.  

Though there are strong cons to using Myspace as an outlet for music, it still is a tool available. Would it hurt to have one more site, one more page, one more listing in search engines that bumps your name up in your own search for popularity?