How To Sell More Than Music To Your Fans With Affiliate Products
In today’s music environment many indie and small bands think they have a long term business by selling their CDs to fans online, in stores and at shows. This has been the traditional model of music marketing and sales strategies created by major labels over the past century and it did work pretty well. This system created household artists like Elvis and Michael Jackson. It is even proven for the new school of large pop acts such as Britney Spears and Nickelback.
With the creation of file sharing and the unlimited possibilities of discovering new music, it is very difficult to make a large amount of money by selling a $10 disc. The ideal situation would have musicians creating a catalog filled with backend products, upsells and cross sells, getting their fans prepped to take full advantage of their credit card limits.
For most upstart bands this is not the case. They do not have a back catalog and have a hard time funding the recording of a few solid tracks to burn on a disc. They are also in a hard spot to manufacture thousands of CD’s and hundreds of T-shirts, hats and other merchandise items.
With this objection from most musicians, there is another option to creating new streams of income and joining the new music economy without breaking the bank and the hassle of putting in countless hours to create new products. The answer lies in affiliate marketing.
Carrie Brownstein, former member of Sleater-Kinney and current blogger of NPR’s “Monitor Mix” recently chatted with several indie label owners and managers about the role of the record label. It’s a very interesting read and I would highly recommend you click on the link below and check it out for yourself. In the meantime, here are what I thought were some of the more interesting highlights from the discussion:
When you, as a musician, approach a producer, designer, or venue with big plans to create or perform a monster-project or concert in one day’s time, think twice or be prepared to pay. Time is money and this post will help you to save money and spend your time wisely. I will explain to you the benefits of preparing ahead of time.
After completing their contract with Sony and J Records, Pearl Jam has joined the growing list of empowered unsigned artists just looking to bypass their labels and go directly to their fans. Like their predecessors, it has come down to the ability to control their future, increase their profits and open up a wide variety of inventive bundling options for it’s September 20th release. By using their name, having great songs and hiring the same business professionals that have been working with them in the past they have completely cut out lengthy contracts and undoubtedly will have the same level of results. Why are more and more artists doing this? Major labels have lost their way. Before the Internet boom, when an artist got signed that meant that the label would pour EVERYTHING they had into you. I can’t blame labels at all for being reluctant in this declining music industry; however, it’s the lack of ideas and unwillingness to jump all the way in that is killing them.
describe it in the way Moses Avalon does in his own blog post, “Why We Steal Music.” I won’t go too much into it here because I highly recommend that you read his post yourself, but I must say that he makes some valid points. I’ve always found it interesting how some of the people who download music the most are huge fans of music and will likely claim that “music is my life.” Unfortunately, for artists, these are the people that they depend on to support them. But it seems fairly apparent that many don’t truly understand or realize the value of music, the dollars and cents kind. In other words, how much time and money (and time=money) it takes to create an album or merch or put on a show. Isn’t it a bit odd that the one thing we base our purchasing decisions on when it comes to merch or concert tickets is the music itself, and yet, we feel the music should be free?
We’ve constantly been touching upon the various unique ways artists are making money right now. And usually, when we talk about them, it’s because it’s really cool or helps them build stronger relationships with their fans. Now you may or may not have heard about Maria Carey’s recent endeavor into making money off her upcoming album–Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. Basically, the CD will be accompanied by a booklet with the usual pictures, lyrics, liner notes, etc., but this time you get several extra pages of ads by Elizabeth Arden, Bahamas Board of Tourism, Angel Champagne, etc.
