The New Economy
Music publishers want Apple to pay more. Not more per song, but for more things per song (in the end adding up to more per song, so I guess it’s all the same, right?) They’re arguing that in addition to paying a royalty when someone buys a song, Apple should also pay when someone downloads a movie or tv show in which the song is played, when someone samples a track, and when someone streams radio through Itunes.
Here’s the deal: I understand that in the past, these folks made their money by figuring out how many different ways they could charge for the same transaction.What they need to understand is that if they want to make money in the economy we now live in, they’ve got to create new things to charge for, not new ways to charge for the same stuff.
Take, as an example, Derek Webb’s latest album launch (note: I still haven’t heard this album. This is simply a discussion of the business wisdom behind it). You can go to a store and buy it, probably for somewhere between 12.99 and 24.99, depending on the store. His label will get paid, and will eventually pay him a pittance.
You can also go to his store. He offers six different ways to buy his new album. There’s a digital download for 7.99, there are options if you want to pay a little more (15.99 gets you a documentary, ringtones, desktop backgrounds, etc, along with the album, and there’s a $60.00 package that comes with the digital copy, two physical copies of the album, the documentary DVD, a t-shirt, and participation in song selection for a cover album). Derek has gone the extra mile to be accessible to every fan possible. Don’t have much cash? Buy the digital download, hear the music, and hopefully love it. Have money and love the artist? Get all the extras.
And, he’s already seeding the concept of his next project. People are going to help him select songs to cover. He’ll then record the covers and put together the album. And then he’ll sell it.
Think about that whole process. What are the chances that someone having invested their time into selecting the songs would turn around and not buy the resulting album? Those people are going to buy. So, Derek builds community, gives his fans a chance to buy extras, and guarantees that his next project (side-project, most likely) will have guaranteed buyers. It’s brilliant!
He’s likely going to make more doing it this way than if he sat back and tried to figure out how to bill the establishment for it three times.
All that to say, the economy has changed. Music publishers, take the warning. Help your people to understand how to sell in this economy. Can you make money in this economy? Absolutely. You just can’t do it the way you used to.
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So being in the publishing industry where do you think this will have to go for them? Digital distrobution (Kindle, Sony E-reader and the fabled Apple Tablet) or is it still in hard cover production, a mixture of the two?
Just wondering what you think since your a little closer to this industry. (I think you might have posted something about it before but can’t really remember)
Brilliant question Joel. I think that what consumers want is content. Ideally, I’d like to be able to pay my 15.99 and get access to the book electronically and a physical copy. I dont’ want to have to buy the same content twice.
From a strict cost basis, I don’t see why that’d be prohibitive. Once the book goes to press, the files that are needed for eBook conversion exist… and at 15.99, if the book plus ebook cost, say, $4.00 per book (on a print run of 5k, that’s 20k… should be doable), there’s still a net of 11.99 to cover marketing, my profit, and paying the author.
Someone will figure out how to bundle this and have it work successfully. The problem currently is that the publishing industry is geared to look at each piece of that transaction separately. “Ooh, I sold the paperback.” “Ooh, I sold the digital edition.”
Consumers don’t see it that way. I’ve never felt the urge to buy a hardcover copy of a book I own in paperback. I already own the content. The publishing industry needs to start seeing it that way.
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