NME Daily Downloads
FREE mp3 blog:
http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=122&cat=162
For some insane reason, NME (New Musical Express) has archived some of my mid-period Str8 Sounds music videos, mostly videos I created prior to my experiments with Sony Vegas, Magix, and other video editors.
A few days ago, and it was so special I Twittered about it with links, I downloaded 2 CDs worth of new music mp3s by the hottest bands in the UK. 90% of it is the kind of music I often make: techno pop punk trance house. You know: electronic dance music, blending street aesthetic with disco deconstructions.
I am both challenged and entertained by all this fresh new music, derived FREE from NME. Now, I guarantee you this: I'll be buying at least one CD by some of these bands, like such artists as:
Datarock
Gang of Four
Dinosaur Pile-up
Fan Death
Casio Kids
Boy 8-Bit
Magic Arm
Horse Meat Disco
Marina and the Diamonds
Little Boots
Skream
The Rogues
Thunderheist
FACT
Lemonade
Riton and Primary 1
Japandroids
...and I've barely scratched the surface. NME provides one new mp3 per day. How many CDs is that calculated over a year, 365 songs?
Are the bands and record companies losing money? Why are they giving away all that product for FREE???? They could've charged 99 cents per tune! How much money have they flushed down the toilet?
WTF is wrong with these knuckleheads???
They're smart!
These bands aren't giving away everything for free. Just some free samples of complete songs, EPs, mix tapes, and albums. They want to get their music "into your system" like a drug or medicine.
On NME Download Blog, Horse Meat Disco gives a free 30 minute mix tape, loaded with songs by various bands. I assume they got all the permissions needed before they could present it on NME.
Why free samples? Many reasons.
It's a big commitment, shelling out $10 to $18 per CD. Will you play it a lot once you buy it? Will your friends laugh at you for your taste in music? What if the album only contains a few good tunes?
You can sell individual tunes via iTunes, and whole albums via CD Baby. That's working out well for both famous and unknown bands. But if you aren't handing out some free samples, and showing some music videos, you're missing out on the most effective promotional tools for music marketing.
Showing photos of band members, and blabbing on and on about the music, don't sell shit. Fans want to hear it and see it, they don't want lectures, lengthy biographies, lists of gigs performed, litanies of influences, or preaching.
They want to burn some free mp3s to a CD (or iPod) and play that CD / iPod at parties and in their cars. When people ask, "What was that track that just ended?" and they are told "Oh that was Indian Jewelry", that band just gained a new customer, who will probably buy a CD or some songs on iTunes by Indian Jewelry.
That's how it works today.
There's TOO MUCH MUSIC in the world now. From ancient wire recordings and Edison cylinders to 68 bit recording studio product. Much of the recorded music of the world is now available in some form or other. Vinyl is making a comeback, as are cassette tapes. It's overwhelming.
No matter what genre you love, there's more music than you have time to discover and listen to. It's crazy. Be as insatiable as you want, there's always tons of music you'll never hear.
Everyone can be a musician today. It's easy to get music software, instrument interface equipment, and digital sound lab studios. You can do everything on your computer, all acoustic, concrete, tape, electronic, computer, brain wave, and simulation music is now possible and happening at a frenzied pace.
Sometimes, I get creative due to being inspired by some new composition tool or effects hardware, and I might produce 3 CDs in one week. I put them online at Last.fm and provide selected tunes on MySpace Music and Live Music Peoria. The best songs get music videos that I make with various editing software.
So with all this home-made, DIY, slapdash music being made, much of it really great, what's an old fashioned lug and load band to do? Get hip! Or be left behind in the dust.
You have to provide at least a few FREE mp3s, as complimentary samples. Free samples always have been and always will be powerful marketing tools, when distributed wisely. But even random "tape dropping" efforts can pay off. What matters is getting your music into other people's heads.
Once your music is in their heads, if it's really good, they'll start craving more of it.
That's when you make sales. AFTER you give them a few free mp3s. I speak of this so often, I'll just leave it to your own imagination how a band with free mp3s is strategically superior to a band with 30 second sample clips or no music that can be heard and/or downloaded online.
Free samples push sales of paid product.
All the cool bands are whipping around free mp3s like crazy, even free or pay-what-you-want albums. Why? Because they (1) want you to like them and (2) they want you to get addicted to their sound. The first fix is always free, eh?
NME is setting a good example for all musicians, record labels, and music marketers.
Give free, get known, gain sales.
That's the formula.
I cruise the net labels (digital only, no hard copies of the music, no vinyl, no tapes, no CDs, just mp3s) and traditional record label sites. If there are no free mp3s to download to my hard drive, I'm not the slightest bit interested in the label or the bands.
If a label or artist page contains entire tune mp3s (not those lame ass 30 second clips which cannot possibly give you any feel for the entire song), they seem more friendly, confident, and generous.
Nobody likes to buy shit from tight wads.
People who charge for every fart and burp are pathetic. Don't be like them. They're stingy, miserly, uptight.
The new generation is all about caring and sharing.
Free product yields new fans faster than charging for every morsel. Loosen up. Free will never let you down. It's Business Karma!
If you can't yet grasp the economic punch of free samples, at least provide a music player on your site, like at MySpace Music, to let fans hear complete (not excerpt clips) of your songs.
Give fans videos to watch. Music videos may soon outpace music CDs as lucrative vehicles of musicianship. People are more visually oriented today. They often prefer to WATCH and not just LISTEN to music.
Videos can show the band in all their visual splendor, or can be abstract (like in techno videos), or can tell a story. There are many possibilities for music videos. Experiment with the technology.
Generate good business karma now.
Free samples = More fans = Increased Sales.
Now...today's email from NME:
DEAR MUSIC FAN,
JUST TO LET YOU KNOW - WE RECENTLY REVAMPED WWW.NME.COM. IF YOU HAVEN'T VISITED FOR A
WHILE, COME AND TAKE A LOOK.
MORE THAN A MUSIC SERVICE, WE'RE NOW FIRST PORT OF CALL FOR GIG TICKETS AND TOUR NEWS.
WE'VE ALSO EXPANDED OUR BLOG AND VIDEO SECTION, AND WE GIVE FREE NEW MUSIC EVERY DAY ON
THE DAILY DOWNLOAD BLOG.
IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE, MAYBE YOU'D LIKE TO SIGN UP TO OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTERS, TOO.
THANKS FOR YOUR TIME
LUKE LEWIS
(DEPUTY EDITOR NME.COM)
This is a service email from MyNME to all web registrants.
STR8 SOUNDS latest free mp3 album on Last.fm:
"Enter the Intermaps"
Experimental techno noise trance-house music.
All Str8 Sounds recordings on Last.fm:
http://www.last.fm/music/Str8+Sounds/+albums
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