Apparently, yes. Downloading songs for free is destroying the profits of the traditional recording companies. But that doesn’t mean that musicians can no longer make a living creating music. They just have to go about it in a different way.
This week, my favourite podcast, Planet Money (from NPR) did a profile of a successful singer-songwriter (you’ve never heard of) who makes a very comfortable living giving away his music on his blog.
Here’s the Planet Money episode, ‘Is this man a Snuggie?‘ it’s 20 minutes long, and well worth the listen
Jonathan Coulton, the musician in questions, gives music away, yet he makes a (very good) living as a musician. It’s a bit counterintuitive, but here’s how he explains it:
“I give away music because I want to make music, and I can’t make music unless I make money, and I won’t make any money unless I get heard, and I won’t get heard unless I give away music.”
It’s a prime example of how the internet allows musicians to make a decent living if they focus on engaging with a few passionate fans. The ‘1000 True Fans‘ idea is that the internet allows artists to be found by and stay connected with the relatively small number of enthusiastic fans that it takes to provide them with a reasonable living. It’s a fascinating idea that the future of professional musicians lies in engaging powerfully with a relatively small fan base, as opposed to requiring huge numbers of record sales to survive.
What does this have to do with blogging, you ask? Only that Jonathan started with – and still relies heavily on – his modest blog at jonathancoulton.com to connect with fans. He is so successful that record companies have approached him to learn the ‘trick’ of internet music promotion.
His response:
“I wish I could say there was some trick to it, but it’s like starting a fire without matches. Small things first that burn easily, blow on it a bit, wait for it to get big enough so you can add bigger pieces of wood. Sometimes it doesn’t catch and then you start over, maybe you use different materials, maybe you move to some new spot. It’s not like you can throw a switch… it took me years of various kinds of trying and not trying to get traction like Baby Got Back [his first song that had a lot of downloads].”
[Spoiler alert: if you plan to listen to the Planet Money podcast - and you really should - stop reading now. If you don't plan to listen, read on...] I think the most interesting part of this whole profile is when they ask Jonathan if he could have made a living playing music before the internet. He admits that, 20 years ago, he moved to New York City to do just that, and couldn’t make a go of it. Now he makes a very comfortable living (even by NYC standards) by giving away his music, ‘allowing’ people to pay for it, playing gigs, and even organizing on a Jonathan Coulton themed Carribean cruise each year.
