|
Post by AndruJorj on Apr 25, 2020 18:00:40 GMT -5
How do you feel about artists releasing albums to only a select few people, or making a release a private entity that's only available to a specific group of people? For example, exclusive subscriber content, or invite-only streaming of music.
|
|
|
Post by AndruJorj on Apr 25, 2020 18:44:59 GMT -5
Addendum: As some of you are likely aware, I have recently released a private Aufhocker album. I manually sent out hundreds of emails to supporters of my project Aufhocker. I've recieved a bunch of emails thanking me for the album. That is what prompted this thread; the positive response from my supporters. I'm curious about the genral public, and not just my direct supporters. How do you feel about private/exclusive content? Is it something you would be willing to support on an ongoing basis? A private subscription model to an artists works? Discuss.
|
|
|
Post by krong on Apr 26, 2020 1:29:40 GMT -5
In a world, where the relation and perception of music has changed over the last decades, this is a valid approach to go. I have supported that already and used the system myself.
A subscription based model might scare off people because of a financial commitment you give to a band as long as you keep it relatively low profile - say 2 β¬/$ for one or two exclusive tracks a month. I have seen quite a few artists releasing that exclusive content later also on a nice format fpr subscribers only at a fair price which adds value to it.
I myself used the approach to do an exclusive project on a limited pro-tape and I offered it only to friends and followers for about 1,5 years and then made it public. Means I mailed/told them that there is this exclsuive thing and if they wanted to purchase one, they also got a download code to a hidden page which was made public after 18 months. This approach was widely supported and received as kind of appreciation to loyal supporters.
|
|
|
Post by thekeeper on May 14, 2020 0:06:27 GMT -5
I have a number of 'private tapes' from artists that were made only for contacts and friends, which I think is a kool thing. A number of Til Det Bergens Skyggene tapes were first released as private tapes and eventually made their way to public releases. I did a private edition of The Hyacinth Garden by Graveflowers that I sent to friends only.
In terms of like 'subscriber-exclusive' kind of patreon-style releases, something about that seems off to me but I don't really have an explanation as to why, so I can't justify it well. Just a feeling. It seems slightly less personal and more of a marketing thing I guess. I'm really not interested in much marketing within DS itself since it's usually such an introspective and interpersonal genre. I think the approach you took of sending an album to previous supporters is kool. That's a good way to do this digitally. Could even do like a 'hidden release' attachment to a BC download that people get who actually download the album instead of stream it, kind of a surprise bonus thing. I've gotten a few surprises like that before.
|
|
shalashaska
Squire
Croeso! Shalashaska dw i a dw i'n mwynhau dungeon synth.
Posts: 79
|
Post by shalashaska on Sept 20, 2020 18:05:10 GMT -5
If you want to do them, by all means do but be prepared to have what you've worked on vanish into the mists of time within a few decades if you aren't careful. I'm a firm believer that music should be spread through as many means as possible: through physical media, streaming services, download sites etc. generally everywhere. So many bands lost all trace of their music when MySpace lost all their MP3s and I'm personally very concerned the same could end up happening on other sites. Otherwise, people forget passwords, email addresses or simply lose files over time and again it can become easy for an album only sent to a few people to be forgotten.
Just distributing your music physically has a whole host of other risks. Tapes/CDs/Records all degrade overtime, either through use or other circumstances. While I'm sure we all take good care of our stuff, accidents happen: boxes get lost in shipping, rooms catch fire, we mistake the fancy new bin for our tape deck - shit happens. I'm sure there's a whole host of music our there that was lost to the ages because all the physical copies were lost/destroyed.
Another big annoyance is when an album is super hard to find or ridiculously rare. Usually, this drives up costs and makes great music harder to actually own. I don't really like the idea of having to e-Bay snipe someone or pay an exorbitant price on Discogs for an album I want to hear, especially when you consider anyone else who wanted to hear that album just lost out. That situation sucks for everyone but it can easily be averted with a permanent stream or download link.
So yeah, I don't think you should put out a private/exclusive album, though I'm not going to stop anyone from doing it. I'm just concerned about archiving that work and making sure an earth-shatteringly good album isn't held hostage by some "collector" who realises he can make serious bank just sitting on the only CD copy left.
|
|