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  • Responses: Breaking Your Band

    December 4, 2008 45 Comments

    Fan Q&A, "Using Advertising To Break Your Band"

    Posted by akitagirl: Mike - Where do you think LP would be today if you were starting out now? Do you guys think you would be signing with a label, using the net etc... I think this can be a really confusing time for new artist starting out and think you have helped shed a lot of clarity on peoples choices and the reality of signing with a label.

    Posted by FCastro: hey Mike, could you give some advice for who's starting and don't know how to across this obstacle? I think you can help who's starting, since you're experienced in that area

    M: It's funny you asked; I just had a conversation with Ian Rogers about this, (Music Marketing: Topspin) and here's basically what I said in my email:

    Our band might have blown up at the best possible time: we were signed before the internet changed the game, and we were able to have a hit album during the last big wave of CD sales. The success of our first record plus the full attention of the label's great promo and marketing staffs helped us to rise above the noise. After that, the success is always been in the fans' hands.

    On the other hand, if we were 18 years old right now, unsigned, and had Hybrid Theory sitting on our hard drives, we could be very disruptive to the record business. In past generations, it would be virtually impossible to record, market, and distribute your album without help. Now, you can do these things alone with unprecedented quality and efficiency. Make a great album on your own, promote it in the myriad social networks, and sell it from your websites. Practice and create an amazing live show, promote online and hand-to-hand, and play live.

    That's the message I'm trying to get out to the next generation: there's a possibility that the next Linkin Park do it without being signed to a major label. That would be mind-blowing...but only if that path is a good fit for you. For the extreme pop or extreme non-pop, the choice is easier. Are you a solo dance-pop singer? Probably go with a major. Are you an eclectic jam band whose strong suit is playing live? Probably go indie or don't sign with anyone. But for everyone in between, it's a difficult decision, one that only the artist should make.

    (more after the jump)

  • Using Advertising to Break Your Band

    November 28, 2008 84 Comments

    I just posted here:

    http://www.boingboing.net/2008/11/26/record-labels-are-b0.html

    regarding this:

    http://www.miller-mccune.com/article/rock-star-brought-to-you-by-huge-advertiser

    Taking my own experiences with my band out of the equation, let me just address this as a fan. There have been artists who use their music as a means to another end for a long time :) From 80's glam rock stars who used their band as a way to get chicks and live the "rock star life," to today's rapper with a yacht-load of endorsements, there is always an "artist" who is eager to sell their art to get what they really want. On the other hand, there are those who are only concerned with the artistic process and don't sell it out for anything. The music career is the goal, and the journey is the destination.

    Most artists sit somewhere in between.

    In general, the way an artist rides the line between best-seller and credibility depends upon their cultural understanding of what's appropriate. They're informed by the music outlets they hear locally and online, the music cultures they choose to be a part of, and what their social/cultural group's feeling about "selling out" is. It goes without saying that if you live in Hong Kong (where super-pop music rules the charts) and your favorite artists are Black Eyed Peas and 50 Cent, your idea of "sell out" is going to be drastically different than someone who lives in Los Angeles and listens to Pearl Jam or Minor Threat.

    The culture defines the threshold. The fans and the artists, together, declare their opinion about when the line is crossed.

    My concern is in the motivation. In addition to the difficult business of "getting noticed" by the fans, some musicians have extra pressure to pay the bills. The music industry is locking new artists into oppressive 360-deal enslavement, and trying to gradually hack away at the rights they initially promised their older acts, in order to protect their bottom line. And as long as the bands allow the labels to take their rights, the artists will have more pressure to look for money elsewhere.

    Although I agree with a good deal of what Klein says in this piece, it is immediately evident that there is no one set of rules that works for everybody...but there are guidelines to help you set up your set of rules, such as:

    • If you license your music, do it with partners who get you, treat you fairly, and whose product is consistent with your message.

    • Do your homework, and know what your rights are worth, so when you trade them for something, you know you're getting a fair deal.

    • Put your brand identity, your credibility, first.

    I'll leave you with a thought from Klein's interview:

    "One of the advertising creatives that I spoke to talked about doing away with the middlemen of record labels, that ultimately music could be released straight through advertisers. And I just thought, “God, that’s so curious that he would see that as doing away with the middleman when it’s clearly replacing the middleman.” And I can’t say for sure whether advertising executives are worse than record executives, but I don’t think they’re better. So, yeah, I think there is a gap here. And what the Internet offers is some possibility of — if not completely removing a middleman — creating a more transparent middleman and one that doesn’t take away so much of the money."

    mike

  • Linkin Park Surpasses 4 Million On iLike

    November 25, 2008 63 Comments

    yo1

    Most of you probably already know iLike, the music-based social network, from your experiences on Facebook. Over the weekend, Linkin Park became the first group to surpass 4,000,000 fans on iLike. This is the largest number of fans that have gathered together in support of one artist on a single social platform.

    Earlier this year, our Linkin Park widget (seen at the bottom of my main blog page) crossed the "100 Million Views" threshold. Now, with the success on iLike, I wanted to take another second to say "thank you" to all of you that support the band and enjoy the music.

    My band and the people at iLike are thrilled about this amazing achievement. We will be hopefully announcing a special event to celebrate. Stay tuned!

    Thanks, mike

    PS: Road To Revolution DVD/CD is now in stores!

  • responses to comments 4

    November 11, 2008 59 Comments

    Some more responses to fans' comments and questions here on MS.com:

    Posted by ritzifying (in response to Music Middle Class): Oh well. Opportunity isn't easy to find in Pennsylvania anyway. I guess not having money and not being from CA or NY, YouTube and MySpace are still the best ways to go. :p

    M: I'm happy to inform you that this is not true; you have access to the entire world online! I'm not going to promote any specific businesses that will partner with you in doing this, but there are a bunch of web-based services you can sign up for to sell your music online. Record your music at home, sell or give away the mp3s online, and promote.

    Posted by ArielCahen (in response to Music Middle Class): I was going to post a comment when I saw this: "I guess this middle class of artists always existed, it didn't evolve all of a sudden. They just needed a platform. and see? Globalization, Internet and social networks provided it (Wasn't that the way LP started out, too?)", by SaraLX. The only thing I do not agree with is that this middle class of artists always existed. They didn't. I think it's a new phenomenon that, yea, became possible thanks to the globalization and the technological revolution (internet and the new medias). Nowdays you can record a song on your notebook, upload it onto myspace and take it out with you on your ipod. It makes it simpler for you to reach people anywhere...

    M: Correct. As few as fifteen years ago, when home recording software and the ease of internet promotion and distribution were not widely available, recording artists were either "signed" or "unsigned." I think it's safe to say those terms are outdated. Today, it's all about creativity, technology, and rights when choosing from the myriads of methods of making and putting out your music.

    Other notes:

    • Chester's back is recovering well. He is still scheduled for regular visits to the doctor, but he's able to go about most of his daily routine. He had a scare the other day when he was recording a vocal; in the middle of a take, his back seized up. he thought he might need to go back to the hospital, but after some rest and doctor's advice, it relaxed again. Things are looking good. Thanks for your support!

    • Chi from Deftones is doing better. He still has a long way to go, but everyone seems optimistic. He's in our thoughts...on a related note, please remember to wear a seat belt. http://deftonesinstudio.blogspot.com/

    Thanks, mike

    Related Posts:

    responses to music biz comments

    music middle class

    how to decide: major or indie

  • Music Middle Class

    November 8, 2008 57 Comments

    Following up on the post earlier this week about Ian Rogers, it should be mentioned that Ian spoke at the Grammy MusicTech Summit in Seattle this week.

    I was unfortunately unable to attend (read: I didn't get an invitation...maybe next year, HA), but one thing that Ian spoke about that i found particularly poignant was the emerging "middle class" of artists.

    The music industry of the past was divided sharply into "big guys" and "little guys," and working or signing with one of the "big guys" was the only was to see big success with your music. Today, there's a new category of people who make music and make a good living doing it, and have virtually no connection to the major-label music machine. For some reason, when these folks sell 10,000 albums in a direct-to-fan format, the major labels still look at it and go, "so what?" mainly because the major labels can't make a profit only selling 10,000 copies.

    That's the problem...for them.

    Before I go, I'll leave you with some things Ian said in his talk:

    "I'm really sick of reading everyday that the music industry is falling apart because the top-line revenue of four companies isn't what it used to be. I really think it's a myopic way of looking at the music business...The physics of media have changed, and as a result, it's really ridiculous to think that the winners, or even the definition of success, will remain constant..."

    "Any of us [in the music industry], myself included, that are not either the artist or the fan, are just potentially in the way. So it's on us to provide value. To provide real value. And that's fine with me. I'm very happy to say, OK, my company has to provide real value. My company is not about lock-in. It's not about me owning your masters. It's about me providing value to you, and if I can't, well, then I should get the hell out of the way."

    "There's certainly a new middle class of artist who's growing up, and success means getting paid to make your art, not getting on the cover of Rolling Stone."

    Sounds a lot like what we've been talking about here on MS.com. Stay tuned. mike

    here's the rest of the article on techflash.com http://www.techflash.com/microsoft/Ian_Rogers_on_future_of_digital_music34038914.html

  • Music Marketing: TopSpin

    November 7, 2008 35 Comments

    Music marketing is a topic that has come up before, here on mikeshinoda.com. This week, I had a great conversation with a guy named Ian Rogers, who runs a company called TopSpin. Since I've posted a few times about the positives and negatives of putting out your own music, I figure I should tell you about TopSpin, a new company that is making tools to help you do it.

    yo1

    One of the founders of the company worked at DigiDesign, inventing ProTools. ProTools and similar programs have leveled the playing field of recording an album. The question is: now that you've recorded a professional-sounding album at home, what do you do with it? These guys want to answer that question: by leveling the playing field of putting it out and promoting it.

    From their website:

    "Topspin is a media technology company dedicated to developing leading-edge marketing software and services that help artists and their partners build businesses and brands. We help artists manage their catalogs, connect with fans, and generate demand for music...Upon full release, the Topspin platform will offer artists a variety of ways to market directly to fans, to find new fans, and to gain maximum return on investment."

    Look at their website, under "For Artists," for info about how to get down.

    http://topspinmedia.com/

    Enjoy, mike

    PS: I hear he's not some poser on that skateboard. Apparently, he can actually skate.
    EDIT: Lowering the character count to 140 in comments was a mistake--it's back up to 700 now. I'm not turning it into Twitter (yet, at least). And no, I'm not on twitter because I don't have enough to say at this point to make it worthwhile.