I have three gigs left this week, and then that’s a wrap for 2013, musically speaking!
I crossed the 200 gig marker this year, not including hosting the open mic night at Mash. I estimate 38-41,000 miles of car traveling this year. 2012-2013 has included 13 states, four visits to Canada, and two frets job replacements on my Taylor guitar.
I’m ready to see my new nephew, Houston, soon and tell him all about it!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone! I’m having a holiday sale until the New Year.
Check out my $16 T-shirt/music bundles, including free shipping in the USA!
Buy at my Bandcamp store here!
Music bundles include digital downloads of Burning the Boats EP & my newest single, “Love Birds.” Also, an unheard demo from the Burning the Boats sessions is included!
Shirts were printed by the wonderful VGKids, right from Ypsilanti, Michigan!
I promise your shirt won’t be pre-worn by Lois!
Last week, Megan Gebhart (check out her 52cupsofcoffee) tweeted, “Just reminded myself that every person’s path is different because every person is different. Comparing paths is unproductive.”
I love that reminder.
I’ve been often guilty of overly analyzing the success stories of my musical heroes–combing through bios, reading over Wikis, watching interview videos on Youtube–looking for the holy grail that leads to creative success. While it’s fun to research our heroes’ milestones, it’s more important to allow our lives to pave our own way.
The outside world loves to paint a simplified picture of the path to success; our inner hearts desire to paint our own.
Noisetrade: Fan Generosity > Spotify Revenue
Brannon McAllister from Noisetrade–a site where bands offer music for free downloads–tweeted an interesting observation today: “Just ran some numbers: Artists make as much or more on Noisetrade as Spotify…”
If you are unfamiliar with Noisetrade, I’ll explain: Noisetrade offers users a chance to tip artists when downloading for free. Brannon is seeing that an artist might make more in tips than they do in streaming revenue from Spotify.
This is totally believable.
However, don’t get too excited, DIY folks. Musicians and songwriters shouldn’t see this as a business model; it’s just another reminder about appreciating generosity.
And I’ll repeat, the power of a few people’s generosity is worth more than a streaming company’s revenue share!
* * * What does this mean for the DIY Artist? * * *
Brannon admitted his metrics are based on averages site wide. These are numbers including national and regional acts using Noisetrade, not simply the masses of DIY artists like myself. (Picture the long tail applying here.)
Most of us don’t receive much in tips. However, you might increase tips if you ask for them, or offer your tips to a charity. (I’ll hypothesize those tips encouraged by going to charity/nonprofits are off setting Brannon’s metrics, too.)
* * * My Experiences with Noisetrade * * *
I’ve used Noisetrade over the last two years, and I love the site. I’ve had 1,520 downloads using Noisetrade.
One way I gained some traction was by buying a Noisetrade ad the same week as my release date, so I was on the front page; and then a New & Notable artist ad during the announcement of a DIY tour.
So yes, I did find that you make, $25-50 in tips as a new artist, which will be more than you would earn in Spotify streams that month (maybe year!), but I also needed to buy an AD to get that boast in attention from Noisetraders.
This leaves us DIY artists in the same place; if you are a new artist, don’t worry about the money earnings yet. Get the music out there and expect a slow build.
And try out Noisetrade! It’s a great site to find and share new music.
Today, MLive ran a story about Blimpy Burger‘s IndieGoGo campaign, and the comments section exploded…
It’s unfortunate, but Blimpy Burger has joined the many ranks of those criticized for crowdfunding.
This is a business who had lines out the door in support during the days leading up to the forced closure; but the tides can appear to change quickly in the comments section when media brings attention; often misinformed tides.
Note how many commenters missed a main point of the article, that the owner of the property sold the site to U of M, and Blimpie did not receive any money for that sale; they were a leaser, not owner!
And yes, one pertinent question remains unaddressed in the article. (What happens to the money raised through an IndieGoGo Campaign if Blimpy can’t deliver?) But that’s the risk of supporting anything. And as of now, 156 have not only given some financial support, but also their vote of confidence.
* * * * *
The Blimpie Burger crowdfunding campaign reminds the artist or creator, again, that:
1. you must focus on your supporters and ignore criticizers;
2. you must be impeccable with your word choice during campaigns;
3. you must expect to face criticism if you get media attention; and
4. you must expect grazers of the article to fall into one, or all, of these categories: they don’t read well; they misconstrue information; they might quickly, anonymously criticize in the comment section; they never would have supported your project anyway.
More importantly, the creators and artists are reminded to ignore the comment section, and focus on the supporters. Just because the tides seem to change in the comment section, doesn’t mean the tides actually changed.
