“Most of those people were younger, probably in their early twenties, and they were texting the whole time and not really paying attention,” The Vindits’ 29-year-old vocalist and guitarist said. “They probably found out about the show because they got a text or MySpace message about it from one of their friends. Nowadays, the younger kids, that’s how they hear about bands.”
Despite that they were initially against using MySpace, Lane said The Vindits were forced to establish a presence on the site. “A lot of clubs now, that’s what they ask you for. They say ‘Send us your MySpace’ because it’s the easiest thing to do. Promotion has completely changed.”
Distributing music is easier and cheaper than ever because musicians have the ability to reach anyone with a computer and Internet access, especially as consumers increasingly search for and purchase their music online. According to a 2007 study from media, content and technology market research company Ipsos Insight Media CT, Americans under 25 have between 40 and 50 percent of their music in digital format.
But there has been a conflict between major music labels and consumers looking to download their music. The Big Four – Sony, Universal, EMI and Warner – insisted their music be sold online with DRM (digital rights management) to prevent copyright infringement. Consumers and Internet watchdogs have complained about the inability to transfer legally purchased files from one media device to another, prompting these record companies to concede and release their music sans DRM.
Amazon MP3 became the first store to have the compliance of the Big Four to sell all DRM-free music. Recent rumors suggest Sony will follow suit of EMI and release their music on iTunes Plus, where music fans can pay an extra 30 cents to download DRM-free tracks.
Big record companies are starting to slowly accept the changed landscape of music marketing in the digital age, but many argue they’re far behind. Many musicians have already embraced the Internet as their premiere marketing tool by using social networking sites to acquire new fans and selling their music directly to consumers through online music stores or their own Web sites. With record companies losing profits and frustrating its online consumers, local musicians are leading the front by marketing their music online themselves, potentially leaving record labels behind.
Frustrating fans
When digital downloads became increasingly popular, record companies wanted to protect their music from people using peer to peer networks to freely share files illegally. They supported the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which Congress passed in 1998 to prevent copyright infringement.
However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties group, released a report on Oct. 28 –the 10th anniversary of the DMCA – that stated that the law has limited free expression and scientific research, jeopardized fair use, impeded competition and innovation, and interfered with computer intrusion laws. The report also said that DRM had no effect on deterring piracy.
“DRM has stymied people who want to make fair and legal copies of music instead of stopping dedicated pirates,” Rebecca Jeschke, Media Relations Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation said. “We’re hoping the music industry will come to understand that DRM is not helping them protect their business. What DRM is doing lots of times is frustrating fans and encouraging them to acquire music files illegally. DRM is hurting them, not helping them.”
Several online music stores sought to distance themselves from selling music with DRM but came across additional usability issues. When Yahoo and Wal-Mart wanted to scrap their DRM servers (or in the case of MSN Music, do away with its store completely when it launched the Zune Marketplace), users either had to acquire new licenses in order to play their music on upgraded computers or operating systems or burn all of their music on CDs and recopy them onto their computer. These music users were faced with losing the music they legally purchased, and amid a backlash of disgruntled customers MSN, Yahoo and Wal-Mart promised to keep their DRM servers online. Yahoo, who merged with Rhapsody, offered coupons to its customers for DRM-free tracks at the new store.
The 5 Biggest Music DRM Debacles of All Time - Audiotuts.com
This month Edgar Bronfman, the head of Warner Music Group, said in an interview with Vator News that DRM should have been a less restrictive technology.
“Frankly we never came up with a version of DRM that did what we needed it to do. We're not technology companies,” he said.
In early 2007 Apple CEO Steve Jobs posted a letter on Apple’s Web site for the major labels to release DRM-free music to “create a truly interoperable music marketplace.” But only EMI allows iTunes to sell its tracks DRM-free.
DRM hasn’t gone away yet
Instead of preventing piracy, Congress has sought to increase penalties for those who commit copyright infringement. Last month, President George Bush signed the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2007 (PRO-IP Act), which allows additional resources and funding for punishing pirates and creates a Senate-appointed position to oversee intellectual property cases.
“By becoming law, the PRO-IP Act sends the message to IP criminals everywhere that the U.S. will go the extra mile to protect American innovation,” Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.
Despite some online music stores moving away from DRM software, Senior Research Manager for Ipsos Insight Media CT, Karl Joyce, said DRM hasn’t gone away yet. Apple’s iTunes became the No. 1 music retailer in the U.S., and the majority of its music is still sold with DRM-software.
“The Amazon announcement a year ago is the more important move in terms of moving away from DRM because it obtained the support of the four major companies,” he said.
Vice president and principal analyst for Forrester Research, James L. McQuivey, published a study in February – “The End of the Music Industry as We Know It” – that said this model of selling only DRM-free music will eventually extend across the industry to iTunes and other music stores as well. In this study, he said that social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are the key to getting rid of DRM.
“Even if some young consumers prefer piracy to purchase, they prefer convenience over all,” he said in the study. “Buying a track for $0.99 from a friend’s MySpace page gives legal music the social lift that Napster proved nearly a decade ago could work for music if given the chance. As long as buying is easier than pirating, it stands a chance.”
Dr. Suzanne Fogul, Chair of the Marketing Department at DePaul University, said the absence of DRM music would have a positive effect on sales by expanding the market for music in general.
“The music industry used to be controlled by record companies,” she said. “Musicians had to be signed to a company in order to have a chance for their music to be heard by a large audience. Consumers had to buy all the songs on a record, whether they wanted them all or not. Now musicians can release their music directly to consumers and decide how much to charge, if anything. I think music consumers will buy more.”
Double-edged sword
What does all of this mean for a local band looking for their big break?
Jay Ziegler, guitarist for garage rock band The Code Kids, said the Internet has made communicating with fans faster, easier and cheaper.
“I’m for people getting music whenever possible,” he said. “It’s great because people who are not able to get music in stores can get it, pass it along to their friends, come to shows and support the band that way, which is how bands make more money.”
However, Ziegler said the Internet can be a double-edged sword if people download their music without paying for it. “You’re giving away music that you spent time and money on and not seeing a return on it.”
After only being together for a couple of months, he said his band is more worried about getting their music heard at this point, using social networking sites and making their music available for digital purchase on sites such as SNOCAP.
The Vindits use their MySpace to promote their music too, and they have an album “The Beagle EP” for sale on CD Baby.
“You can get from Band A to Band B to Band C easily,” he said. “It’s the interconnectivity of bands in the city. It’s more prevalent now than before. But you can go to a band’s MySpace page, and you might not like it and not come to the show.”
Jonathan Ifergan, vocalist for pop-rock band Color Radio, said his band tries to cover everything on the Internet to get their music heard. They have their music on iTunes, Amazon MP3, CD Baby, MySpace, Pure Volume, Rhapsody and Napster
“Everything we have an opportunity to put our music on, as long as it’s free and promotes, why not?” Ifergan said. “Music is all going to be free one day anyway.”
Fogul said with the ability to establish an extensive web presence, record labels have less power over musicians and consumers. “The Internet is a great equalizer,” she said.
But a band still has to do more than put their music on as many sites as possible.
“I think you still have to do the legwork and go out and meet people face to face by passing out flyers and telling people about the band,” Ziegler said.
Lane said the Internet is a helpful tool, but bands still have to try more creative ways to get their music heard.
“It’s not like an exact science, or else everybody would do it,” Lane said.
Though marketing music in the digital age has become faster and cheaper than ever, Lane said the marketing power from a major label would make their music more well-known, especially for his band who he said is not as Internet-savvy.
Ziegler said despite the turbulence in the music industry, he would still like to be signed on a label.
“Then it’s not all on your shoulders. With the label’s support, you have people working around the clock trying to promote your music,” he said.
Lane said being in a band is a bad investment.
“After equipment, practice, and transportation costs, you’d be better off working at 7-Eleven,” he said. “But that’s not why people do it. I like that you have to earn your stripes. You never know who might randomly catch your show.”
