Giving people the chance to hear your music.

March 1 - Giving people the chance to hear your music.

I was going to write this as a message to a friend, but I got part way through and thought it would make an alright blog post instead.

Earlier today I bumped into the friend I was writing to, James of Late Night Fiction outside Jack's in Beverley where we'd both gone to buy our respective lunches. We had a chat about gigging, touring, recording and the rest of it, as we tend to do whenever we bump into each other. (We work on opposite sides of the same street).

James was telling me about an event he had been to, where people from the recording industry, including someone from Polydor, were talking about the internet supplanting CDs in terms of music distribution.

Pictured: CDR production in full swing at Rocky Nest Towers.

Bands like Vampire Weekend can now climb high in the charts using 85 per cent download sales, something which would have been impossible just a couple of years ago. The line James heard was that due to the way the internet has changed things, it might be only a couple of years until the humble CD goes the same way as other now-defunct formats such as the minidisc, the tape and yes, even the wax cylinder.

It sounded really interesting, especially when we in The Rocky Nest are working towards producing a CD (rather than a CD-R) and all the costs that entails. I went away with plenty to think about.

Certainly when I buy a CD, it only tends to have a lazer hit its surface once - as my computer converts it for MP3 use - before it is filed on a shelf to collect dust. Call me old fashioned if you like, I still like having the packaging and artwork, but that is a small concern next to the music.

It took me a few hours, but a counter-argument occurred to me... and I'm sure I can't be the only one thinking it.

I know it might sound like I'm stuck in the past, but I honestly think gigging bands, and especially those without label-support, still need CDs.

Why?

This is in no way a criticism, but labels like Polydor can definitely monetise their operation through iTunes. This is because they have a roster of artists - Athlete, The Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, Lady Gaga, The Saturdays, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (just going on the front of their website) - who are going to be heard in a completely different circumstance than ours.

Many people hear the music of these bands when they are at home, on music shows and channels, on the radio, on adverts, and as incidental music in films and TV shows. Some of them might think "Yes, I like this, maybe I should download it" and there it is, the objective is instantly met.

For bands gigging independently, the aim of the game is often less about making money (because to be fair, just as we don't have the same resources a label has, we also don't have the same overheads) and more getting our music out there and hoping it strikes the same chord with listeners as it did with us as we wrote, played and recorded it.

The first step is to make sure people hear the songs, and it's really up to us to make that as easy as possible.

There is no magic bullet, and most of our recordings are only going to be picked up through getting out there as much as possible - going on tour, playing plenty of gigs, all-dayers and festivals.

So, what we need to do is make it as easy for any person at a gig to actually go home with the music we'd like them to hear. While playing, we need to be able to say something along the lines of: "This next song is on our CD. If you like what you hear you can buy a copy at the table at the back there... or just grab one of us as soon as we're off this here stage."

I think, you could also offer people the chance to go home and download your track, and they might think "Hell yeah, this band is ace, I will definitely download that."

But then they might have a couple more drinks, go home, and wake up the next day, maybe get a coffee, and forget to download it.

Not all of them, obviously. Some of them will remember. But I would be willing to wager that by not offering immediate availability, you will see a drop in the number of people listening to the music.

Basically by offering a download instead of a tangible CD, you've put a big barrier in the way of the audience member actually getting hold of your music, and that just doesn't seem a great idea.

I'm not saying bands shouldn't put their music on iTunes, I think that is also a great thing to do. Perhaps there is a forum out there of people who are interested in you, or people who keep an eye on you because they heard you a year ago, and they will grasp with both hands the chance to download the track. But for most bands, it's the gig goers who are the most likely to connect with the music.

I know, not normal blog fodder, but it got me thinking.

Maybe someone should do a trial, record two singles of roughly equal quality, pop one on CDR and one online, plug them both at gigs, and see which ends up being played more on Last FM.

Hey, maybe put one out on wax cylinder too, while you're at it, hit the all-too-often-overlooked 19th century demographic.

- Jonny Nest