Is There Too Much Free Music?
We all like free stuff, right? Beats paying for it. Unless taking something for free is silently eroding something we’re perfectly willing to pay for.
The amount of music out there right now that’s being either given away, or offered for unlimited free listens, is astonishing when you consider what normal was only a few years ago. On April 30th CMT and American Songwriter magazine teamed up to release a gargantuan 31-song free compilation with a stellar lineup of artists and songs. Even for a music critic that has to employ an intricate file system to deal with the reams of free music being submitted to me daily, I felt guilty downloading this monster. Willie Nelson’s “Country Throwdown” tour has an 8 song free download out right now. NPR’s First Listen allows for people to hear (or record with simple, free software) entire albums from 4 to 5 artists every week. If it is not expected of artists to at some point make their albums or songs completely available to fans for free, then it will be within months, if not days.
When the band Radiohead began this trend in earnest in 2007 by allowing fans to pay what they wanted (including nothing) for their album In Rainbows, suspicion of where this would lead the music industry was all over. The genesis of Radiohead’s idea was to say “…fuck you to this decaying business model”, but the result was a publicity boom and solidified loyalty throughout their fan base. Prince made a similar move a few months before, releasing his album Planet Earth as a free CD in the UK tabloid The Mail. The result was Prince selling out all of his upcoming UK concerts.
One of the rules in the new music reality is that artists don’t make money off of their music unless they’re huge mega-stars, they make it off of touring. So if the recorded music can just pay for itself and help promote the band, the money will get made from concerts. But what if a band or artist is not well-known yet, and can’t draw a crowd? The cart before the horse rule comes into play. So does the big fish eating the small fish.
Observing what bands give away their recorded music and which ones don’t, one of the lines of demarcation seems to be bands with established followings that can ask for guarantees from local promoters and concert venues tend to do it more, while small, up-and-coming bands that may depend on CD sales for the majority of the money they make at a live show do it less. The mega-stars do it less as well, not needing to use free music for promotion.
When Radiohead and Prince gave their music away, it was an event. Now it is passe, or even an expectation. And as consumers are flooded with choices of what free music to listen to, the effectiveness of the “free music” marketing tool is becoming drastically diluted, heading towards being completely impotent. The irony is that before Radiohead, the smaller, independent bands were the first ones to experiment with giving away their music as a promotional tool. Now that everyone does it, people are so bombarded with free music, sometimes you can’t even give music away; people are too inundated to have time to take it.
The cheap music model, like Amazon’s $5 albums, is also losing potency. This used to be a fantastic tool for smaller artists to generate higher sales figures and interest in a project, or get consumers to buy whole albums instead of cherry picking singles. Now there’s so many cheap or free albums, it’s more of a nice surprise when an album happens to be less than $9.99.
Bands like The Grateful Dead, The Black Crowes, and Phish established remarkably loyal fan bases by encouraging bootlegging of live concerts and free music sharing. One of the reasons this was so effective is because it wasn’t the norm.
And maybe there is a visceral element to this dilemma as well that results in a loss for the listener. When you would hear a single first on the radio, with no other way to go back and listen to it but to buy an album, the anticipation of a fresh batch of songs made you impatient peeling back that annoying sticker that ran the length of the CD case.
The new car smell of music is gone when you’ve heard previews on iTunes, the whole album on NPR, already have the two best songs for free from this or that promo, and only had to pay $3.99 for it. It decreases the value and significance of the music more than the sticker price. If you get a song stuck in your head, YouTube probably has it in one form or another. Instant gratification is leading to the death of anticipation and intrinsic value. Music doesn’t sound as good as it used to, because we don’t have to work for it any more. And the dizzying amount of music choices just dilutes music’s visceral effectiveness yet another measure.
Consumers may feel like the winner in the free music model, but at what expense? Where does consumer responsibility come in? Are consumers by demanding music be cheap or free shooting themselves in the foot by diminishing the music experience?
And all these concerns are aside from needing to raise capitol to create an album in the first place. Yes, home recording technology and sites like Kickstarter have made labels and large sums of capitol less necessary for album creation, but this doesn’t solve distribution, promotion, or quality issues.
From 2007 to now, the free music model has revealed itself as an unsustainable promotional practice whose effectiveness is dwindling by the hour. Like so many other practices of the dying music industry, it is trading a sustainable future for a short-term sugar high. For an individual artist or band, it still may be a legitimate promotional option . . . for now, though it soon may be a requirement. Sure, we’ve probably been heading towards the reality of all music being free for years, but for the music industry, corporate or independent, free music is not only a dilemma itself, it is exacerbating many of the other dilemmas facing the industry.
May 12, 2011 @ 12:15 pm
The Troubadour and the Patron: http://indigestmag.com/blog/?p=7937
May 12, 2011 @ 1:12 pm
I see the free music thing comeing to one of two conclusions. 1) The death of albums where we will still half to pay for music but artist will only release one song at a time. 2) All music will be free as you said to promote concerts.
I don’t think option two is a bad thing. I’ve discoverd more artist from free downloads then I have from paying for music. As far as no one anticapating albums anymore I’ve got to say I’m aticapating Shooter Jennings new album more then any other album in a long time.
May 12, 2011 @ 1:55 pm
You may anticipate Shooter’s album now, but by the release date, if you’ve already heard samples or all the songs slowly piecemealed out for promotional purposes, seen them on YouTube etc, then once you get the CD, you already know what you’re getting and the experience may not be as fresh. In theory at least.
May 12, 2011 @ 3:20 pm
That’s the problem I always had with hearing album cuts on the radio before the release date. I like that element of surprise. Doesn’t help matters when you hear those cuts live in concert before the album comes out — as I did with both George Strait and Dierks Bentley in 2005. (I only heard a couple of said album cuts, though, so the surprise wasn’t completely ruined…)
May 13, 2011 @ 9:40 am
If it’s an artist I already like I will purposely steer clear of listening to it before buying. It’s sorta like that Christmas morning feeling. I would much rather be surprised then already know what I’m unwrapping. Now if it’s an artist I’ve never heard before, I will definitely sample all or at least most of the tracks to make sure it’s something I will be in to.
May 12, 2011 @ 1:34 pm
Good article man. I can see where you’re coming from, but I gotta say that I have discovered a lot of music that I wouldn’t have if not for those free downloads. Which in turn has influenced me to buy a lot more music and go to shows that I otherwise wouldn’t have.
May 12, 2011 @ 1:51 pm
No doubt, free music has helped us all discover new bands. I guess what I am trying to say is I want to preserve the effectiveness of free music as a promotional tool, and my concern is that at this point, it is getting drastically diluted.
May 12, 2011 @ 2:02 pm
Yeah I hear ya, and I would agree.
May 12, 2011 @ 1:40 pm
Hey Triggeroleman
You heard of Middle Brother, Apache Relay, Jonny Corndawg, Hayes Carl, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Dylan LeBlanc, Caitlin Rose, Ponderosa, Sons of Bill, Randy Rogers, Robert Eliis, Joe Pug, Andrew Combs, the Civil Wars or any of the other amazing artists on CMT sampler?
Oh yeah…I forgot you haven’t because you didn’t download this awesomely great digital compilation.
Too bad for you, you should be writing about these artists instead of complaining about em.
May 12, 2011 @ 1:49 pm
Huh? What?
I did download the compilation, and who says I am complaining about these artists?
If you’re going to attack me, at least read the article.
I also saw Apache Relay, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Caitlin Rose, and The Civil Wars at the SXSW American Songwriters showcase a couple months back. I’m a huge supporter of many of the bands on that comp.
Completely missed the point.
May 12, 2011 @ 4:15 pm
“I forgot you haven”™t because you didn”™t download this awesomely great digital compilation.”
Sounds like your memory is shot.
May 13, 2011 @ 9:41 am
Dude? What are you smoking? Did you even read the article?
May 12, 2011 @ 2:12 pm
As an economist focused on firm strategy and pricing (and a strong personal interest in music…obviously, since I read this website!), I find this post to be really interesting. You raise a lot of good issues, and many of them have no answers. There are two sides to this story: consumers and record labels.
In a sentimental way, I agree that the massive amount of free information/music makes the “old fashioned” music-buying experience history. I remember when they sold CDs in those massive cardboard rectangular boxes and I’d try and open it neatly so I could save the box. That anticipation and experience is certainly unlike waiting 1 minute for iTunes to completely download an album. Times change, I’m OK with that (I guess). Our expectation of “free” goes way beyond music – I forget to DVR my favorite show and I’m annoyed when the network doesn’t post it online or on Hulu. That’s not changing. Maybe I’m an unfeeling economist but I don’t believe consumers owe for-profit companies anything. I am SOOO glad that many talented musicians have such a passion for music that they try and make a career out of it. My daily life would be worse without those people. But, on the other hand, they’ve made a career choice. Most people with any knowledge of the music industry have at least a rough idea about the financial realities of the industry. If I contribute to a kickstarter project (which I have) it is because I want to hear the finished project…not because supporting low-income musicians is as noble as donating to disaster relief efforts. If a kickstarter project becomes profitable (probably fairly unlikely), do the bands kick back the money? I really don’t know the answer to that one. At the end of the day, this is their job…a job I’m glad they do, but this is not a charity.
Record companies – and this is a WHOLE other post – have a separate problem. I would guess that they are unhappy about the “free” strategy but are scrapping to find something better. Economists would say they may be in a prisoner’s dilemma.
May 27, 2011 @ 12:05 pm
As an economic anthropologist, I’d say that your points about consumers not owing any for profit organization anything is right on. To me, it is all about tracing where dollars go. If you go around the world and look at any economic system, when the exchange or system of reciprocity is direct between producer and consumer, you see a lot fewer problems. In any version of a capitalist economic system where there are “middle men” or “brokers” you find exploitation.
Whether you go the route of purchasing music in digital format, in a cd format, or obtaining it freely from the musicians, your focus as a consumer needs to be on seeing your dollars get into the hands of the people who make the music you love. In a way, the burden IS on the consumer in this context just as it is in stopping Coke from putting BPA in its cans by boycotting the product or Walmart from exploiting its US and Chinese workers by refusing to shop at that store.
I think the problem in the music industry is that it is unclear to consumers how the system works. I know that the way that I try to navigate the ethics of $ and music is by attending as many shows as I can afford, purchasing merch, paying a cover fee, and buying food and drink from the venue while I am there. In this way, I support the venue for bringing in the band, support the band by buying their stuff, and I am certain that very few middlemen are getting any of my money.
I wish that there was another very clear and easy way to ensure that my $ got into the hands of the artists and not any other entity. As of now, I’m not too sure what that is…
May 12, 2011 @ 2:44 pm
I’ll admit I’m tore on this subject as well. We all love free music and listening to free music does make me find new unknown bands and it does make me attend their concerts more often. The reason I love it is that I can’t afford to buy all the albums of all the bands I follow. So the downfall is I do tend to cherrypick and download only a few of the songs of albums, but without that 1 free song off an album i’d probably never check any of the other songs out. MP3’s are convenient but I do miss the album art and lyrics and such.
I always wondered why they don’t start selling albums on flash drives that may include not only the songs, but also album covers, lyrics, music videos, pictures, etc. I think if they did this you could connect more with the band. The packaging for the flash drive could also include album art. You could still download the songs and albums off the internet but if you bought the flash drive you could get the extras sorta like buying a blu ray DVD.
What’s your thoughts on this?
May 12, 2011 @ 2:47 pm
I would love if they provided music videos. That’s one of the biggest draw to me to buy a album sometimes. It led me to buy Jayke Orvis, Hank III, Lucky Tubb, etc.
May 12, 2011 @ 8:14 pm
There is Shooter Jennings’ “Living Album” from Black Ribbons. I still don’t exactly understand it, but it is some sort of USB device that is updated with live concert footage over time.
I don’t know if a flash drive is the best way, but I do think there needs to be more attention to album artwork, and specifically liner notes. Reviewers like me now get stuck mostly with digital downloads, so we don’t get to see who plays what and remark on it in a review, can’t see if songs are cover songs, etc. Some labels like Alternative Tentacles have done a good job putting all of that information online, and that is where I think we’re headed. Each album should have a permanent online portal where you can get as much info as you want, lyrics etc. It blows my mind that in the age of information, album information is dwindling.
The concert footage/ video idea is an interesting one. That might hold the same appeal as vinyl to some. Give people something extra to entice them to buy something physical, and not just get the free download and be done. I think physical art is one way the free music problem can be solved.
May 13, 2011 @ 6:18 am
I agree. I hate not being able to see who wrote a song or in some cases who is singing with an artist on a duet. I downloaded an mp3 of Alabama doing a classic gospel song Will The Cercle be unbroken. About half way through someone besides Randy Owens is singing & I have no idea who.
May 13, 2011 @ 9:45 am
I agree Outlaw. I’ve been listening to a lot of the red dirt stuff and a couple of the songs from Reckless Kelly, and Roger Creager, Jason Boland, etc…. theirs definitely someone else singing w/ them, but I’ll be damned if I know who. I think actually buying a physical album helps you connect better w/ the artist.
May 13, 2011 @ 7:00 am
The lack of liner notes is my biggest hang-up with digital music. That’s one reason if I really love the artist I’ll buy a CD or record. Or if I see them live I’ll buy a CD at the show.
May 13, 2011 @ 3:24 pm
That’s another thing. I hate digital booklets. It might have the info but it just ain’t the same.
May 15, 2011 @ 4:26 am
I really agree with the liner notes thing. It’s crazy a lot of the time you just get the mp3’s. Sometimes not even the album art. I feel like the artwork, liner notes, all of those things are really helpful with reviewing stuff. Sometimes I’ll get a .pdf file with artwork and I think that’s a great way to go. Artwork is super important on the overall aesthetic the album is trying to present and trying to review an album without liner notes can be tough because that information can be pretty important to a reviewier. I definitely think if you are buying it digital on Amazon, iTunes, etc… you should get a pdf of the artwork with it. That’s often times not the case.
May 12, 2011 @ 2:57 pm
I get what you’re saying and completely agree. I believe this happened to me in the Damn Right Rebel Proud CD. I had listened to bootlegs and watched videos of his concerts so much that when I did get the album, I already knew songs. It’s kinda like pre mature ejaculation. It’s good stuff, but it could have been had a bigger kick to it.
As for the small artists who can’t afford to give their music away, I feel sorry for them. I try to pick local artists up from my indie record store and help them out that way, but not everyone has that luxury. Surely people who care about music will soon realize that this promotion tool is ruining the art.
May 12, 2011 @ 3:50 pm
I’m pretty new to downloading music, so free downloads are a new phenomenon for me. So I can only speak for myself. I’m giving my EP away for free, but that’s because it’s a demo. Nobody would buy it, because nobody had heard of me six or seven months ago. I’m hoping that the strength of my demo will lead my fans to buy a CD when I get the resources together to put one out. That is my strategy!
Interestingly enough, I’m considering selling the physical copies of my demo next week when I play a show. Do you think it’s wrong to charge for a CD when the download is available for free? Right now the most important thing is to get my music in the hands of people who will enjoy it.
I hope this isn’t too off topic. Also for the record you can download my EP for free here: http://www.groundswellmediaproductions.com/AranBuzzas.html
Shameless I know, but someone’s gotta do it!
May 12, 2011 @ 7:27 pm
Aran I think you have the right idea. The idea is to let people hear it for free and if they appreciate it they may buy it. I am one of many who do use p2p to hear albums before I buy them. If I like them I buy them in a physical format, if I don’t I just delete the folder and move on. I buy alot of music, and by doing it this way I only buy albums that im going to replay.
I do fear that digital downloads are putting the physical format at risk, There are digital formats that can even come close to the sound from a vinyl, however the norm is mp3. At any format I don’t want to lose having a physical copy that I can appreciate. Most artist that give away free downloads do, at this point offer a physical alternative.
May 12, 2011 @ 8:15 pm
Sell the CD’s if you can. No shame in that.
May 13, 2011 @ 9:55 am
Have you guys ever heard of Brett Detar? He actually did something similar to what is being talked about here. He released his full album free for download but you could also buy it on CD or Vinyl with bonus tracks. If you guys haven’t heard of him you should definitely check it out. Great Stuff.
Trigger, I’d like to get your thoughts on this guy and maybe you could do some research on how successful this venture has been for him.
Here’s the link to the DL:
http://www.brettdetar.com/
May 13, 2011 @ 4:56 pm
Well considering Detar went from emo boy band Goo Goo Doll to “authentic country” overnight, I’m sure he really didn’t have much of a choice than to go that route.
May 15, 2011 @ 1:55 pm
don’t forget Christian as well. Emo Christian bullshit.
May 13, 2011 @ 9:32 am
That actually seems like the way to go if you ask me.. give the MP3’s away, (or do that pay what you want / value for value thing,) and sell the physical CD’s at shows / online, etc.
May 12, 2011 @ 5:45 pm
Trigger this is an interesting dilemma the album as a whole has changed a lot and I tend to agree that by the time an album is released you’ve probably heard it for free streaming somewhere. Or a chunk of the songs have been given to various sites to promote.
I am an album guy. I respect the album and there is something about an artists compiling a group of songs and saying this is my best here you go. As opposed to if you didn’t like that single wait until next week we have something better for you.
However as a music fan I tend to want to hear it as quickly as possible and if I’m really looking forward to it the sooner the better. I remember anticipating albums as a younger guy and having the calender marked and knowing that would be the first time I’d hear the new stuff. There is value and hype in that. It might even make it more enjoyable to an extent. At the same time I probably prefer it now where I can hear some stuff and enjoy some songs in advance. I also think promotional singles help maintain buzz and interest with people’s short attention spans with music these days.
I think it helps and it hurts. I think kickstarter is kind of the way to go anymore. Fans fund the album and get special deals and artists get their album paid for. I can’t complain too much about early music or free music because a lot of artist, labels, management etc. will sometime send stuff months in advance to me to review and I feel like I can’t justify saying I should be able to hear it but others should have to wait until the album release date.
You can’t preview the vinyl online and it always sounds different so you still have that haha.
May 12, 2011 @ 10:24 pm
Most of the artists I like these days are relatively obscure, and although I could probably listen to their stuff via any number of online sources for free, I’m more inclined to purchase their albums now than I have been in the past because I can buy online directly from them- it’s likely they are actually the people getting my money.
May 13, 2011 @ 3:43 am
It seems to be the norm for artists to release a single to radio before releasing the album all it takes is a bit of looking to find this out, George Straight, Alan Jackson, and even Jamey Johnson to name a few. Of course all of the Taylor Swifts and Sugarlands do this as well releasing many singles before the album is released.
May 13, 2011 @ 4:20 am
Maybe they shouldn’t waste time and money doing albums but just go straight to touring.
May 13, 2011 @ 7:54 am
I worry this is a very real possibility. I really appreciate the art of album making, not just as a representation of a band’s music in a recorded format, but the artwork, the album concept, a theme that all the songs might carry together that you may lose with individual songs or in the concert setting.
May 13, 2011 @ 11:21 am
I’m with you, I’m a big fan of albums for all the reasons you mentioned. I worry sometimes about the death of the album with all this digitization of music.
May 13, 2011 @ 5:09 am
this is a huge issue. and i’m impressed by a lot of the pis brought up here.
we built our detroit fay eiher giving away live cd’s or sellin them for a buck or two.
in exchange for that, we got bigger crowdsnd higher guarantees. it worked for that period. it doesn’t work for us now.
prince was an innovater by givin away cd’s with the sale of a concert ticket. i think that was in 2004 or 2005. tom petty gave away downloads with the price of a concert ticket on his last tour. big artists have this luxury.
i love what the pixies did on their first reunion tour…you could walk out of the show and purchase that nights performance on your way out of the building, or, you could tape it yourself.
i dont know what the majors plan next. i could speculate, but, i think they gave it their best shot by trying to sign artists to 360 deals. the worst thing an emerging artist could ever do is sing one of those.
its to bad the general public doesn’t understand tht for artists to make their music, they need $$. its also to bad that the majority of the large music industry lost sight that they need to allow their artists to create, and to do so. the deals need to benefit the artists to a greater degree.
i see good things ahead, for, the more that something fails, the closer it is to becoming something new and different and exciting. each and every day, we get closer to that point.
May 13, 2011 @ 5:11 am
damn crappy phone can’t keep up with my thumbs..excuse the broken sentences..i think i got my point across though.
May 13, 2011 @ 7:04 am
The music industry, like any other business, has to take in account the peaks and valleys. Struggling artists might not be in the position to give away free things, but a lot of times they do. You should always say thank you! Since there are many avenues to obtaining the music, I prefer staying offline and traveling if I can to see the artists I want to see. I will always want the product in my hand because then I have the liner notes to check out and the artwork to enjoy. The speed of downloading and MP3 collections make it appealing for many, but at the end of the day it’s the static of the needle (so to speak) that made me a music lover back in the 70’s.
I think that it’s a fantastic gesture to give away a cd with a ticket purchase. Those arena tickets get jacked up anyhow and that simple gesture makes for good public relations.
May 13, 2011 @ 12:26 pm
i havent really caught on to any free downloading, never really tried. i spend an irresponsible amount of money on music, be it vinyl,cd,or live. speakin of which, i’m ramblin into the big city tomorrow to see Larry and His Flask open for Trampled By Tuurtles where i’ll likely spend more than i can afford to once again but what the fuck.
May 13, 2011 @ 5:02 pm
I know to appease my own personal needs and interests, I buy a vinyl copy of an album that I want in addition to a free download. This seems to be a trend in the industry; so much so that a lot of vinyl LP’s are released with a digital download card included. The labels that are doing this are the labels that are making significant strides to stay relevant and provide their artists with as much exposure and compensation as possible.
Labels and artists that are still in the CD only era are doing themselves a great disservice. Compact discs and digital formats are one in the same. CD’s offer nothing that a digital download cannot provide the listener with. Vinyl, on the other hand, gives us a profoundly enhanced listening experience as well as potentially awesome artwork.
May 27, 2011 @ 12:12 pm
Jeff, I don’t have a turntable that works anymore…but I want one. Honestly, I think that vinyl and a digital download are THE ANSWER to the problem. You can purchase the album, get the art and liner notes, have that rich, thick sound and listening experience of vinyl, and also get the digital files without having to copy them off the vinyl.
The difficult thing with this is when a band doesn’t offer vinyl with a digital download, you have to transfer the vinyl to digital format for your player or your computer. Sometimes the sound doesn’t come out as nice in this process. I like the sound of a cd over the sound of vinyl to digital transfer myself.
Any thoughts on this?
May 14, 2011 @ 6:54 pm
Yet another insightful article Triggerman! I occasionally download these free samplers but actually never end up listening to them. As I only have a little MacBook with tinny little speakers, I can’t bare listening to music on it. When I try and burn these tracks to CD to play on my CD player in my car or lounge, it’s always an epic fail. I’m old fashioned. I love the tangibility of a CD. The cold, hard reality of it.
I like the moral issue you brought up with free music too. I’ve never downloaded music illegally, and don’t intend starting. I have no idea how I am going to get to listen to Hellbilly Joker. I’ll probably just end up ordering it off Amazon 🙁 A friend in the states recently sent me his band’s new CD. It’s fantastic and I actually felt guilty he’d posted it to me as a gift. To me it only seemed right that I buy the CD to support him and his musical endeavours.
I don’t know if American’s know how fortunate they are that they can purchase music so cheaply. It costs a hell of a lot more where I live in NZ. The average cost of a CD is $33. If I wanted to buy a Hank III album it would be an ‘import’ and probably closer to $50 or $60. Our currency is different but we earn the same amount, ie if you earn US$30,000 in the states you earn NZ$30,000 in New Zealand, so it really is dollar for dollar.
May 17, 2011 @ 1:48 pm
We are working on our first release not sure what strategy we are going to use but mostly like we will give away a few of the songs for free. You basically have to now. Hell we might give it all away for free at least digitally. As others have stated I also like having the album artwork, liner notes and etc.
Should Music Be Given Away? | Country California
October 13, 2011 @ 12:50 pm
[…] (It bears pointing out that the “Give Blood” strategy would be untenable for most young indie touring acts, who rely more heavily on merchandise sales to keep the whole enterprise afloat. But you do see many independent artists and labels giving away free song downloads, which have less …) […]