Every once in a great while a being comes along with a revolutionary idea. The idea itself is ahead of its time, but still exceptionally valid. The messenger of this idea is usually persecuted; 2,000 years ago, it was Jesus, 50 Years ago, it was Martin Luther King, and today… it’s internet radio.

Internet radio may hold the key the music industry is looking for. Here are a few reasons:

F*@% The FCC!!! – You can do, say or play whatever you want on internet radio. This instantaneously solves the problem of marketing bands that aren’t “radio friendly.”

In the olden days of the music industry, a band recorded an album under the supervision of a producer and a staff A&R guy. The album was plucked of 1-4 “commercial-sounding” songs. Said singles were played in order of appearance ad nausea on terrestrial radio stations throughout the world. This over-saturation caused consumers to run out to the local Best Buy or Tower Records to buy the album containing said single, or a 3-track disc of said single. Voila! Everyone from The Beatles to Korn sold records this way.

The great bands that didn’t have “radio friendly” songs were shelved, haphazardly thrown on the market, or in RARE instances… carried on without help from radio.

Sometimes, albums that would have been a huge hit were thrown by the wayside because radio said “No!”

Example: Nada Surf’s sophomore album (would have been HUGE!!!), 311′s “Music,” God Lives Underwater’s “Up Off The Floor,” and especially Jimmy Eat World’s “Bleed American” album (Passed on by Capitol/EMI and eventually released under Dreamworks/SKG under a self-titled guise to a multi-platinum success.)

Internet radio solves this dilemma, and in addition offers unique promotional opportunities. San Diego-rockers, Truckee Brothers released an internet radio exclusive MP3 in spring of 2007 not only to help the cause to save internet radio, but also because the song’s title, “Mayday,” could not be said on terrestrial radio.

Portability and Flexibility - Yes… We all know I’m a fan of the iPhone… Along with the rest of the world. This device has made internet radio all the more beneficial in the days of Apps. With the internet, listeners of internet radio aren’t limited by range. Los Angeles’ main internet radio stations, Kill Radio and Little Radio boast a global audience of thousands.

Famous radio stations across the pond, Virgin Radio and Capital FM, not only broadcast online, but have their own nifty little iPhone app. Pandora also has an app. Why listen to KROQ in the car and be subjected to the same Silversun Pickups song over and over for years when one can listen to anything they want on Pandora (Provided their car is iPod or Bluetooth enabled)?

Most importantly, there’s a station out there for everybody! Like death metal? There’s a station for you. Blues? Shoe-Gazer? Bird Sounds? There’s a station for you too!

Affiliate Ads – Labels can align with stations to drive profits. Some stations have “click to buy” links, and further ad-sharing deals could be worked out to a mutually beneficial end.

The Hullabaloo Over Songwriters – Songwriter are emotional… That’s why they write great songs. Nowadays, they’re emotional about the fact that the internet has put them out of a job (And rightly so!)

When internet radio kills terrestrial radio, and it just may, it has the potential to become very profitable. These profits could be made to trickle down to songwriters, artists, and labels alike.

The Main Reason Every Label and Person Should Have Their Own Station - I can’t think of any reason why one wouldn’t have their own internet radio station.

Labels! Imagine a streaming station with thousands of listeners. You own the station, it plays exclusively your artists, and you sell ads. Smells suspiciously like money, doesn’t it?

People! Rise up against those “evil” labels and play indie artists. This way, the old balance is restored and everyone’s happy : )

Jim Markunas is a music industry futurist and editor-in-chief of Chicks With Guns Magazine. Jim has a decade of new media and music industry experience, he’s run highly successful new media campaigns and has worked with James Brown, Miles Davis, The Walt Disney Company, Truckee Brothers, Mick Fleetwood, and Minty Fresh Records. Currently Jim’s focus is monetization strategies for record labels and digital business development. He’s a free agent available for hire.

Find Jim Online: Twitter – Linkedin – Facebook – Website – E-mail Jim

The revolution has come and gone, now it’s time to talk about money. In this multi-part series, I’ll be focusing on positive solutions to the music industry dilemma. My first discussion is how to maximize DIGITAL touring income.

“What’s digital touring income?” you ask. Good question!

We’re all familiar with traditional touring income, yes? (Band goes on tour, sells tickets to fans; said fans purchase tickets, money trickles to band, promoter, venue, label (if applicable under 360 deal), etc. Maybe said band also secures some sponsorship dollars from Vans or Winterfresh gum as well – This is how it’s been done since the beginning of time, and the model still holds up today.

I’d like to discuss how the digital sphere plays into touring income.

Traditional New Media - In the internet age, the press has moved from print to online. New Media departments, in addition to securing band and record release write-ups on blogs, zines and social networks, are now able to post tour dates in real time with links to buy tickets from Ticketmaster. This has been going on since the inception of the artist website and is nothing new. It’s effective (more so than sending fans to the venue to buy tickets) and makes ticket purchase easier on concert-goers.

How we can add to this…

New Spheres of income - What if tour dates could be further leveraged to generate digital income?

Bible-belt band, Hinder, came up with a physical way to leverage tour income – They record their live set from the venue’s sound board and offer a free burned CD of the live show with purchase of their $15.00 UMG release. Brilliant! It’s a “free” (but not really) give away that stimulates sales.

However… physical records are pretty much dead. Therefore, bands should use this same concept in a digitally appropriate way. Let’s say Papa Roach decides to do the same thing:

They record their live set via the venue’s soundboard; they’ve also brought with them a few computers with iPod docking stations. The deal then changes to: Fans purchase a digital download of P Roach’s live performance for $10.00. The performance is put onto the fans iPod right then and there along with a free copy of “Metamorphosis.”

Global Broadcast – What if I live in Guam and I want to see Papa Roach perform in Los Angeles? Better yet! What if I’m in Chicago and I want to see Papa Roach perform in Los Angeles?

I’m basically screwed unless I wanted to pay for plane tickets to L.A., hotel, and car rental fees. Bummer, right?

Picture this…

Papa Roach goes on tour, as usual, but PRoach Riot members (members of Papa Roach’s fan club) have the option of purchasing what’s called a “digital season pass” that allows them to see every Papa Roach concert appearance via the internet in a live and/or “on-demand” fashion.

This would be uber-cool on many levels! Imagine never missing a single show from your favorite artist; you would be in heaven. This transforms a local concert in Los Angeles to a global concert across the world. As an added bonus, this solution will enable labels and artists to squeeze yet more money from sold out concert dates.

Yes, this solution can significantly increase your profits bands and labels. You’re very welcome!

Jim Markunas is a music industry futurist and editor-in-chief of Chicks With Guns Magazine. Jim has a decade of new media and music industry experience, he’s run highly successful new media campaigns and has worked with James Brown, Miles Davis, The Walt Disney Company, Truckee Brothers, Mick Fleetwood, and Minty Fresh Records. Currently Jim’s focus is monetization strategies for record labels and digital business development. He’s a free agent available for hire.

Find Jim Online: Twitter – Linkedin – Facebook – Website – E-mail Jim

In the olden days, A&R was king in the music industry. Young, hip guys in street clothes found the latest “big thing” in music. The A&R rep romanced said band, persuaded them to sign an exclusive contract (which still exists today), hand-picked tracks for placement on albums released by said band, and more importantly selected which tracks from the album were to be the “singles.”

Said band’s “singles” went on to get major radio play, the radio play led to press coverage and both the press coverage and radio play led to said band’s albums selling off the shelves. It was a GREAT thing to have competent A&R reps with a “good ear” back in the hay days of the music biz when music was an art form above all else.

Then… CD burners happened… Then… Napster happened… Then… CD Baby happened. Nowadays, any band in existence can get their own high-level distribution deal for a mere $30. That’s right, for $30, any band with songs committed to record can have their tracks and albums available everywhere from iTunes to Wal-Mart.com. In addition, consumers can get any song in existence for free on the internet.

The above set of phenomenon has led to the over-saturation and overt over-commercialism of music. Music, although still an art form is now more than ever a commodity; much like burnable DVDs and tulips.

This begs the question, “Is A&R still necessary in today’s music industry?”

Before answering this dire rhetorical question, take into account the following factors:

1. A&R used to be about finding a great artist and picking great singles to drive record sales. Nowadays, records don’t sell; it’s now possible to have a No. 1 radio hit and a corresponding LP that sells a mere 35,000 copies. (Somewhere around 500,000 units is usually the break-even point for most standard recording agreements.)

2. Quality of songs were king and were the driving force behind record sales. Today, quantity of songs are king in the minds of consumers.

3. There were no shortage of bands chomping at the bit to be signed to a major label to be used as necessary. Here and now, bands like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Arcade Fire can sell out arenas and pressings of albums without the help of a major label. There’s a famous industry anecdote in which CYHSY had meetings with several major labels and flatly refused to sign their contracts as the band felt the majors couldn’t do anything for them that they hadn’t already done for themselves – Prior to 2004 this was unheard of!

4. A&R reps were gate-keepers and taste-makers who filtered out the crap. Nowadays, consumers perform that very function on their own via Pirate Bay, Limewire and Myspace.

5. Quality of indie bands have increased, and industry standard sound quality of recorded music has decreased. Back in the day, not many bands could afford to spend $1,000 an hour on studio time, and no one had even heard of the iPod. Today, bands can record their own songs on Pro-Tools in their basements, and the iTunes generation is used to poor sound quality. (The MP3 is not nearly as rich as CD audio or even Vinyl, but kids and adults alike LOVE their iPods that contain low-quality MP4 files from the iTunes store.)

In the future, will labels be as willing to pay high A&R and artist advances? I can’t say for sure. But… I can say that marketing and new media will always be necessary. In the near future, A&R as a whole may take a back seat as “eye-balls” and volumes of demographic information become the new king of the music industry.

Jim Markunas is a music industry futurist and editor-in-chief of Chicks With Guns Magazine. Jim has a decade of new media and music industry experience, he’s run highly successful new media campaigns and has worked with James Brown, Miles Davis, The Walt Disney Company, Truckee Brothers, Mick Fleetwood, and Minty Fresh Records. Currently Jim’s focus is monetization strategies for record labels and digital business development. 

Find Jim Online:
Twitter – Linkedin – Facebook – Website – E-mail Jim

“February 20, 2010, is the day the CD dies.”

I’m not a fan of Michael Jackson… for several reasons (sorry). However… I LOVE Mr. Jackson’s sales record for “Thriller.” This landmark release sold 40 million copies worldwide, and is hailed as the best-selling album of all time.

I assume the album after “Thriller” didn’t do as well because I’m not sure what the follow-up album was called. In my humble opinion, this phenomenon highlights the importance of analytics and direct marketing. I say this because the decade surrounding “Thriller” was a hot time period for Michael Jackson musically. I’m pretty sure the follow-up album for “Thriller” was just as good musically as its predecessor.

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, the music industry had a successful business model. A band would sign a contract with a major label, the label would press an album of songs; they controlled the distribution of said album – Consumers could only purchase the album in a store. The label also paid radio for airplay, thereby driving the only means of promotion (with the exception of print media). You had a single on the radio (anywhere from 1-4 per release depending on sales), and you had an album in stores. Viola! The labels drove record sales, large profits ensued, and everyone was happy (even most of the bands).