Making money by giving your music away

Posted on October 4, 2007
Filed Under: Distribution, Promotion, Music Business

At first the idea of giving away your music and simply hoping that someone will pay you for it seems more than a little crazy. After all, who would pay for something that they can get for free? The answer, it turns out, is “anyone who actually likes your music”. The latest news making the rounds involves Radiohead’s spurning of their record label and giving away their new album, In Rainbows, online while allowing people to pay whatever they feel like paying. Has Thom Yorke finally gone off the deep end or is this simply busking for the digital age?

…maybe it’s time to start making your music work for you

Busking, for those who aren’t familiar with the word, is simply the act of playing music in a public place and hoping passers-by drop a bit of money in your hat/cup/guitar case. Everyone has seen people doing this on street corners and in subway stations but can you actually make a decent living at it? Well, not really. More specifically, not if busking is the only thing you’re doing. If all you do is sit on a street corner playing for tips it’s probably not going to cover your rent. Similarly, if all you do is make your music available for download then you’re probably not going to make much either. The key is to reel them in with the download and then offer them more.

Although most people are focusing on Radiohead’s giving away of their album for whatever the user feels like paying, the coverage glosses over what Radiohead is really selling, their discbox that includes the album on both CD and vinyl as well as art, lyrics, and an additional disc of bonus tracks. This is the key to making busking (digital or otherwise) pay for you. You need to offer up another product or package that is compelling enough that people will voluntarily pay you for it even though they’ve already downloaded the free tracks.

…reel them in with the download and then offer them more

Lest you think this can only work for a major international act like Radiohead, there are any number of small acts who have made their start doing the same thing. Once you’ve released your music into the wild there is no controlling who copies or trades your tracks so rather than making the music your product, why not make your music drive people to the rest of your merchandise. Obviously, if you’re just starting out you won’t be able to put together a package like the In Rainbows discbox but that doesn’t mean you can’t offer other exclusive items that are only available to album buyers. Anything from t-shirts to signed posters and CDs to special artwork and packaging, whatever you’re comfortable with and can afford.

The music business is changing and the artists who think outside the box when it comes to marketing and distribution stand to reap the benefits. You love to make music but maybe it’s time to start making your music work for you as well. Set yourself up on a virtual street corner and pass the digital hat. Busking has reached the new millennium.