What’s a Troubadour to Do?

Mega-selling recording artist Natalie Merchant doesn’t have a recording contract with a major label these days. The digital download era has rendered many top-selling artists, like Ms. Merchant, unattractive and irrelevant as it relates major labels releasing newly recorded CDs.

Writing in the New York Times, John Pareles tells us, “Ms. Merchant is back to the age-old economic model of the troubadour. People who want to hear her latest songs will have to see her perform them.”

The free market has decided it likes its recorded music more or less free and not from buying a music CD. But the free market has also decided it will pay to see a musician perform live, like Natalie Merchant. Her week-long residency at Hiro’s sold-out within hours of being announced and a sixth show was added to meet demand.

Yes, the game has changed, but has it changed as much as Natalie Merchant suggests? Only those few artists in the thick end of the long tail ever made significant money from CD sales. But those musicians in the long tail have made their money from touring and not from CD sales.

Generally speaking, a recording artist on a major label can expect to make $1.00 per CD sold. When an artist (or band) signs with a music label they are given an advance to produce a CD. Out of that advance, the artist must pay for studio time, pay the band, pay a producer, pay most marketing and promotion expenses (which includes the making of any music video), and pay for a slew of miscellaneous expenses. Most musicians exhaust their entire advance to release a major-label CD.

In order to make substantial money from a major label-issued CD, the artist needs to sell A LOT of copies. Those artists in the thick end of the long tail make money from CD sales, while those in the long tail don’t. Artists working in the long tail must tour from city-to-city and earn money from ticket sales, percentage take from drinks sales at the venue, merchandise sales, etc. Essentially, CDs (or MP3s) for long tail artists are marketing collateral pieces to get someone to buy a ticket to see them perform live. This way, the artist makes money.

Knowing all this, what's a troubadour to do?

My advice for Natalie Merchant is to not deprive her adoring fans of hearing new, recorded music. At the least, she should record live shows and sell them to her devoted fans on her website and at her live shows. She should also consider giving away her recorded music for free.

Why give away her recorded music for free? As mentioned, a CD or an MP3 file is essentially a direct mail piece to get someone to buy a concert ticket. If indeed a musician can make more money from selling tickets to a live show, shouldn’t they market themselves to sell tickets and not CDs?

Hmm … maybe that’s what a troubadour should do.

Comments

[finn mckenty]

In order to make substantial money from a major label-issued CD, the artist needs to sell A LOT of copies.

Even then, it's far from guaranteed. The major labels are really good at using tricky legal, accounting, and financial moves to make sure that artists never really see anything from their sales. People have written a ton about this, but I thought this was a good resource for more reading:
http://www.futureofmusic.org/contractcrit.cfm

That said, it's worth noting that the indies are far from perfect. Ask pretty much any band that's ever been on Victory Records, for example (one of the biggest "indie" labels in the US, former home of bands like Taking Back Sunday, Hawthorne Heights and Atreyu). See this discussion for how Atreyu thinks they got screwed:
http://musicfilter.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!1E13828BC4057369!8882.entry
(I don't know a lot about their specific issues but I've had several friends in bands on Victory and none of them had anything good to say)

The bottom line is that it's always been hard to make money in music, and it's only going to get harder. The labels are threatened by digital distribution and don't really know what to do about it yet.

The future of music probably looks something like this NYT article, "Band as brand":
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/arts/music/11leed.html

Sorry to ramble...

[Todd S.]

Here is my addition. A couple years ago, Barenaked Ladies recorded each of their live shows and shold them off their website. In my younger days, I would have been there, but the addition of children slows those things down now.

I gladly bought the show to hear what I had missed. I still listen to it and have added it to the other live experiences of BNL.

I think musicians should gave music away, but there are ways to sell recorded music as well.