RSS
More Musicians Discover That Online Is The Path To Fame
from the and-so-it-goes dept
Whenever we point to examples of musicians succeeding by embracing what the digital world enables, we always get some angry comments, often from folks claiming to be music industry insiders insisting that what we describe is really impossible -- especially for unknown artists. They say this despite repeated evidence this is untrue, including an increasing number of musicians who pulled off success stories. The response is always a search to find exceptions -- especially when it comes to live shows. One popular comment is that it's impossible for unknown musicians to ever get gigs. And, of course, there are some who still insist that you have to spend a ton of money to do a decent recording to get noticed.
This is, of course, ridiculous. The Wall Street Journal pops up with the story of Justin Vernon and his band Bon Iver. Vernon recorded a bunch of songs at his parents' hunting cabin in Wisconsin with a computer and some software, and put them on MySpace, where he was able to build up a huge following -- often by giving the music out for free. While he eventually went a more traditional route -- signing with a music label, his success suggests those criticisms are once again unfounded. This, of course, does not mean that every musician who records some songs on his computer will be a huge success, but those who say it's impossible are going to have to dig deeper, as it appears pretty much every day we hear of a few examples of musicians making all of this work despite the naysayers.
This is, of course, ridiculous. The Wall Street Journal pops up with the story of Justin Vernon and his band Bon Iver. Vernon recorded a bunch of songs at his parents' hunting cabin in Wisconsin with a computer and some software, and put them on MySpace, where he was able to build up a huge following -- often by giving the music out for free. While he eventually went a more traditional route -- signing with a music label, his success suggests those criticisms are once again unfounded. This, of course, does not mean that every musician who records some songs on his computer will be a huge success, but those who say it's impossible are going to have to dig deeper, as it appears pretty much every day we hear of a few examples of musicians making all of this work despite the naysayers.
I’m looking for policy...
Developers On Patents: Five Employees, Six Lawyers
Policy Resources: Data Privacy & Security
I’m looking for research...
Who Are App Developers?
Geography Of The App Economy
I have an app...
Top 5 Reasons Why Mobile Analytics Is Important
Developer Census: Be Counted. It takes less than two minutes.
Reader Comments (rss)
(Flattened / Threaded)
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Indie bands know this
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
"musician"
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
In other words - shock, horror! - quality bands are getting gigs and don't need a multi-million dollar marketing machine to get noticed enough to make a decent living. The attention given to Bon Iver has been for nothing other than people truly responding to the music. this is the lesson the RIAA need to recognise - good music sells, good bands will have no problem finding work.
Not everyone deserves success, and nobody's going to get to be a millionaire with this model, but real musicians don't care as much about that as they do the music.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
You seem pretty sure of that; why?
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
I love Bon Iver
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Add Your Comment