Music for Nothing and Your Kicks for Free
Giving Away Masters in the Digital Age
originally published March 26, 2008
The Dexateens
On March 11th, 2008, Alabama-based rockers the Dexateens placed a link on their website offering free downloads of their new album, Lost and Found. Though the Dexateens’ previous efforts - including the Patterson Hood-co-produced Hardwire Healing (2007) - all were critically acclaimed and sold strongly, the band and their label, Skybucket Records, decided to try something different this time around: giving away an album of original music for nothing.
Travis Morgan, founder and president of Skybucket Records, believes labels must evolve if they hope to avoid capsizing in the sea change currently reshaping the music industry.
“Providing electronic media is one of the things labels and bands have to do to function in the new music market,” says Morgan. “And because we didn’t have the money to do a full-scale promotional campaign and release Lost and Found on vinyl or compact disc, giving it away for free was a way to get the music heard and potentially establish a broader fan base.”
Singer and guitarist Elliott McPherson of the Dexateens agrees. “I feel like we’re throwing the dice a little bit in giving away an album for free, but at the same time, we don’t really have a lot to lose,” says McPherson. “It just seemed like an experiment worth doing.”
Though artists have been giving away their masters for decades now, of late the movement has taken on new significance. In October of 2007, Radiohead offered their critically acclaimed album In Rainbows via an Internet fire sale that allowed downloaders to name their price. Also in October of last year, Nine Inch Nails provided free downloads of their new album. In a message on the band’s website, singer Trent Reznor said that after 18 years of being under contract with record labels, it gave him “great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience.”
The fact of the matter is that the Old Grey Mare qua record industry ain’t what she used to be.
John P. Strohm is an entertainment lawyer and musician. As former guitarist for Blake Babies and The Lemonheads, Strohm witnessed both the music industry boom in the ‘90s and the bust that occurred around the turn of the century. He believes that the decision to give away masters is sound from a business perspective, and he regularly posts his own masters for free download on his website.
“The vast majority of bands in recording contracts don’t make money selling albums, so it’s not devastating for them to give away their music,” says Strohm. “The album can be a loss leader to generate revenue through merchandise, live performances, etc. For a band like the Dexateens, giving away an album as a free download would potentially negatively impact the bottom line, but it would put them in comparatively the same position as most recording artists under contracts with big labels - who make no money in artist royalties anyway. The independent artist is in a position to make money from masters if they want to.”
Printing and distributing records is an expensive venture, and if the idea is to build a fan base likely to purchase other records, merchandise and concert tickets, then offering free music might actually save a band money, if not even increase its earning potential. McPherson acknowledged that the changing musical climate factored into the Dexateens’ decision to give away Lost and Found.
“People say nobody knows what the new model is for putting out a record,” he says. “Everything is changing in the music industry. We might as well change with it.”
However, in order to understand what the new model might be, it is important to understand how the old model worked. Traditionally, record labels made money by controlling the resources necessary to record, produce and distribute music. In the ‘40s and ‘50s, the high price of recording equipment meant that record labels controlled access to recording studios. After an artist recorded a song or album, record labels would use revenue generated by other artists to buy radio promotion and place the singles, or albums, in stores all over the country.
But as technology developed, the price of recording equipment dropped, and more artists began recording themselves. The advent of the Internet allowed artists to self-promote, as well as to sell their music in a relatively new digital format not requiring a physical product. Consequently, an aspiring musician in his basement in Athens, GA could use his computer to record a professional-sounding album, self-promote it on a variety of websites, and then distribute and sell his songs in electronic formats. Transaction costs were sliced, and record companies no longer were necessary parties, at least not to the extent that they were in the industry’s heydays.
Says Strohm, “The result of all of this is that now the ultimate goal for a band is not signing with a major label. The ultimate goal is building a career, and labels aren’t necessarily the best way to do that anymore.”
Not surprisingly, smaller labels have been quicker to alter business practices to suit the changing musical climate than have bigger labels. Smaller labels typically also allow bands more leeway to experiment with different marketing techniques, including - as in the case of Skybucket Records and the Dexateens - offering their music for free.
Once a skeptic of the new system, Morgan is now sold on the idea.
“I resisted this ‘future of music’ download thing for a while,” he says. “But I have finally come to accept that it’s not all bad. Sure, I want people to buy the records we put out, but I cannot prevent thousands of people from downloading them illegally. By offering an album for free, we’re inviting people to get involved in the hopes that our overall revenue will increase.”
Adds Morgan, “An unintended consequence of this project is that my perspective on releasing and promoting records has changed forever. My mind won’t stop thinking about how else we can amplify the listenership of the records we release.”
Though the death knell signifying the demise of major labels may have sounded prematurely, few would deny that the record industry must evolve if it wants to remain viable. The successful ventures of superstar acts such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails - as well as smaller bands such as the Dexateens - have shown that musicians are fully capable of recording, promoting and distributing their music themselves, absent the paternal - if avaricious - hands of major labels. The Dexateens, however, are not making a political statement with their album giveaway, nor do they wish to be seen as standard bearers for the digital music revolution.
Says McPherson, “For us, it is just about getting our music heard.”
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