My band (Moneyshot) has also been doing a similar thing for the past two years with CDs at shows and we also have our entire discography available for free download from our website.

We haven’t completely abandoned trying to get a little money to cover our CD manufacturing costs because after all we’re not independently wealthy, but here’s what we do…

At the beginning of each show well put a box of cds at the foot of the stage and let the crowd know that they are free for the taking. The only suggestion being that if they enjoyed the show and feel that the want to support the band that they can throw a dollar or two in the CD box if they can afford it (to help cover our pressing costs) but that’s always their choice.

You’d be amazed at how much money the CD box ends up having in it at the end of the night. I’d say the average is about $2 per CD which is slightly more than what it costs us to press them!! Sure some people pay nothing, but then some people throw in ten bucks! or better yet some people might even buy me a beer!

Even if we end up with no money in the box, we can walk aways from the show knowing that 50 or 100 people are now listening to our music, ripping it onto their computers, emailing it to their friends, putting it up on peer to peer networks, and helping us get the music out there!

Plus if people liked our CD then hopefully the next time we come to their town those 100 people might have grown to 200. Then we’ll make more money at the door, sell a couple more t-shirts and hopefully give away even more cds!!

And the same thing goes for our website. We want people to listen to our music so it’s all up there for free. This costs us virtually nothing, so why wouldn’t we??

If they like an album they can mail order a cd directly from us for $5, so I think having the ability to download a whole album front to back has gotten us more mail-order sales than if we only had a song or two available to hear.

We also recently added a paypal donation option if people are happy to just keep the mp3s they’ve downloaded but just want to throw a dollar or two towards helping us continue to make music.

Of course we haven’t completely abandoned the traditional sales models: we have our albums in regional record stores as well as being available on iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, etc; but the number of albums we move via those methods pails in comparison to the number of albums we distribute at shows and via downloads off our website.

Like Drop Dead Genius said there’s no point in making music if people aren’t gonna hear it. Although as you say, it’s a lot easier to pull off this model when we have day jobs to pay the rent!

Anyways, if you care to check us out the address is: www.moneyshot.ca

Take care,
Tyson / MONEYSHOT

Economics?

Let’s discuss shall we?
The total cost of the Cd has been met. That is, Mastering, Manufacturing, and design. We broke even and broke ground with a new fan base world wide. What has greater importantance? Music sitting on a shelf somewhere gathering dust or music stored in kids Ipods? While it is true music that has been paid for sitting in that Ipod is the greatest (In a Biz sense) it is also equally as great that the free tune(s) are there as well. I could have a 50 to 100k ad campaign to get the people to the music. But at no cost to me I could say take the music. Ten times as many will download the music because it is free anyway. That is 10 X’s as many potential future fan’s. Fans will spend money. Ok, maybe not $10 on that stupid little silver disc. Maybe $30 to $50 in merch. You can’t download a T-shirt.

So for me what has a better return a 10k ad campaign or a "Hey Kids our music is free" campaign?

W. Edward Majewski
Majic Management

I’ve actually done a little experiment with your idea and it’s actually working. About a month ago, I was featured on the homepage of YouTube with a song I wrote for fun about YouTube (over a million views now)…instantly, I got a huge list of subscribers (10,000 as of now and growing everyday)…it got me thinking the day my song got featured…I know I’m not trying to become an artist (I’m a signed writer/producer to Warner Chappell), but why not see if this method works…sounds reasonable.

So I personally thanked each person who emailed or messaged me from then on, and also created "vlogs" or video blogs mentioning subscribers by name, holding a contest where I give away money, even had a day where I offered 4 free song downloads from my myspace page (which I got around 30-40k downloads that day).

The cool thing is, I started to notice people kept coming back for more…sure, for the music, but I think it’s because I actually respond to each email….yeah it’s hard as hell to keep up with all of them, but I think it lets the people know I’m "real" and I got more to offer than just music.

And people actually ask me all the time if I’ve come out with a CD. They actually want to BUY my music…

Now one of the downsides I discovered about YouTube is that a lot of the viewers are younger kids who don’t have credit cards…well maybe because of the content of my music.

Anyways, I’m looking forward to see how this YouTube thing will unfold…yes, there’s the Internet Marketing side of the music biz (Ryan Leslie for example broke Cassie through YouTube), but the fan bonding thing is what I’m trying to figure out.

David

www.youtube.com/davidchoimusic

Like yourself, I have never given up the FAN part of my brain. If I hear something I like I STILL obsess on it. I list what I think is all the GOOD new music on my website every month, so that people who have close to the same taste as I do (I said CLOSE TO) can check out great sounds they may not have heard. Hell, I know more about relevant NEW music than I’ve ever known in my whole career. Bands send me emails and thank me for listing them on my site. How did they find out an old man did that? Word of mouth, dudes. This proves it to me. When these bands pass through Boston, I check ‘em out live, take ‘em to dinner, and invite them to the house for a hang. That’s THE FAN that still lives in me. And, so far, they are wonderful people. They are deeply passionate about their music and
so am I. That’s what we have in common. They have a grizzled 63 year old music veteran that GETS WHAT THEY’RE DOING but doesn’t wanna sign ‘ em, produce ‘em (hell there’s nothing WRONG with the music they’ve recorded - that’s what got me in the first place) or change ‘em. THERE’S NEVER ANYONE FROM RECORD COMPANIES OR MANAGEMENT TO ASSIST THEM AT GIGS. They don’t have tour managers. Sometimes a friend will accompany them and drive and set up gear because they are friends. Anybody remember THAT state of mind ???

Deerhoof, Hella, Field Music, Willy Porter, Von Frickle, Shimmer, The Teeth, The Honeydogs - I’ve corresponded/visited with them and hugged them goodbye til next time. And ya know what ? I’m sure they’d all appreciate the same thing from each of YOU. START OUT being a fan with no OTHER motive and see what happens - it worked pretty well for Ahmet & Nesuhi.

I think this is just my version of Bob’s Giving It Away column.

Rock ON at all ages,

Al Kooper

For authors, writing’s just half the job

He repeats it today in his blog http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/03/you_should_writ.html And I think it’s terrific way to create a demand, establish credibility, legitimacy and expertise. It’s a model that could work in other areas of art or intellectual property imho.