First off – I’m not really going to answer that question, and here’s why:

When you buy an album, or a t-shirt, or a concert ticket, you are making a purchase from a business. A musician has structured his or her business in a way they feel is appropriate, and has entered into binding contracts with people they hopefully trust. Those people are providing services which help the artist to further their career in ways that (again, hopefully) are worthwhile to the artist and worth whichever pieces of the pie they’ve made a decision to surrender in exchange for said services. Why should it be up to YOU to decide which employees of the business get paid? You don’t get to walk into McDonalds’, order a Big Mac and then say “..but I want THIS GIRL to get all the money from my purchase, because this sandwich is the work of HER hands and is going to be delicious.”

Besides, if you DID believe that, you’d be delusional to begin with and therefore incapable of making sound fiscal decisions. Big Macs are gross.

BUT.

But, but, BUT.

I know WHY people always ask me “where should I buy your album so that YOU get more money?” I absolutely understand the good intention and reasoning behind the query. You’re asking because you want to support ME, the artist writing and performing the music you enjoy, and not a faceless corporate entity who scrapes every penny they can from my art and giggles over champagne glasses full of truffles and caviar all the way to the bank in their super-stretch Lamborghini limo.

This is exactly the problem. This is why good people, who would never steal a fifteen dollar t-shirt from a store, don’t blink at stealing an album. They think they AREN’T really stealing from the artists they care so much about – or at least they think they aren’t stealing MUCH. And you know what? In a lot of cases, that’s totally accurate.

We’ve all heard enough stories about artists getting screwed by record companies. We all know that major label artists can sell millions of albums and walk away empty handed. We also know that the majority of music put out by majors is terrible, so if “stealing” an album means depriving an artist we like of the $0.12 they would have eventually had to sue the label to get, with the ADDED benefit of not supporting a label who puts out more bad music than good, who’s the victim? Especially if you make a pledge to see your chosen artist whenever they come to town, buy the t-shirts, etc. (Incidentally, don’t fool yourself. Tons of artists today sign what are known as “360 deals” – which means the label gets their cut of EVERYTHING, including shirts and ticket sales. What you’re actually doing is justifying your theft of an artist’s music by loftily “deciding” not to risk arrest by ripping off a t-shirt you want from a merch table, where there’s a lot more danger of being apprehended. You’re making the decision in your own head, independently of the artist, to get a t-shirt and cd, or concert ticket and cd, without paying for the cd).

Or, in some cases, you decide not to pay for an album because the artist has a private jet and “has enough money”. Problem is, ETHICALLY, this isn’t your call to make. If they’ve created a product that you want, and they’ve put the price where the market will bear it, your only ethical decision is whether to pay the set price for the service they’re providing for you. Why should someone be penalized because they’ve been successful? Why is it less wrong to steal $15 from a millionaire than it is to steal it from the jar of a homeless man? $15 is $15. Money isn’t worth more or less based on whose account it’s in, it holds an intrinsic value independent of its location or owner. That’s what money IS. If you start making these calls based on your assessment of how much one person “needs” the money vs. another, you’re essentially saying that the productivity and efforts of a successful person are INHERENTLY worth less than those of a less successful person. If you’re a collectivist, if you truly believe in the ideal of “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”, then you’re acting in line with your beliefs and we can’t really have this conversation. Or at least, it’s a very different conversation we can have elsewhere.

Back to the matter at hand.

Buying records at stores has a lot of benefits to artists. EVEN IF they never see a penny from your sale, other things happen: the record store makes a small profit, and can keep their doors open a little longer. They report the sale to the artist’s distributor, who decides that the artist is a worthwhile risk and agrees to put more money and effort into getting better placement and visibility for future albums. Numbers get reported to label execs who (as businesspeople) decide to bankroll another album for their artist, enabling that artist to keep doing what they love for a living. This USED to be the way the music industry worked, before people found out they didn’t have to pay anymore.

DON’T GET ME WRONG. The system is and was irrefutably broken. Many, if not most artists were getting screwed. Don’t believe me? Read this article, which has been around forever but eloquently illustrates the problem:

http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

When it comes right down to it, the REASON people are happy to rip off music is that our society has decided that all record labels are corrupt and unforgivably greedy, and that they are unfairly leeching off the artists they claim to champion. In a lot of cases, this isn’t inaccurate. As soon as an indie band gets signed, the fans instantly react as though there’s a vulture circling overhead and that their money will never get to the artist they want to support. Again, an accurate assessment in far too many cases. Some people actually feel like they’re HELPING the music industry by downloading instead of buying music; that they’ll help to reel in the labels and force them to only sign “good” artists who we’ll all want to pay for the privilege of hearing. (That’s not the way it works though – the majors, needing to meet their bottom line, just aim for LOWER common denominators to get bigger sample sizes.)

THE LABELS HAVE LOST WHATEVER CREDIBILITY THEY EVER HAD WITH CONSUMERS. Even the good ones – as soon as you brand yourself a “record label”, you’re the bad guys, and being a “bad guy” is a really hard stigma to shake once it’s on you. Just ask the lawyers.

The thing is: sure, lots of artists are intelligent, business-minded people who with the assistance of amazing free services online (like the ones I’ve written about on this site) can build themselves a viable career and keep it running. Artists are volatile by nature, however. Not every messed-up, self-absorbed prima donna of a trainwreck whose music you enjoy has the means or ability to build a successful business and get their music to you. Does that mean Lou Reed’s music, or Amy Winehouse’s music, or KURT COBAIN’s music is less valuable to you?

A better example: classical music. Without someone using their capital to hire an orchestra, pay for rehearsals, rent a concert hall and produce a recording, you would NEVER hear a new recording of Vaughn Williams’ “Lark Ascending”. The start-up costs for an orchestral recording are staggering, and very few soloists have the money kicking around to bankroll such a recording on their own.

OK. Rambling. No one ever said my writing was structured.

Here’s the thing: record labels need to understand that they’ve lost the mandate of heaven here. A major label is evil come to earth, and people don’t care to hear otherwise. They haven’t reached this conclusion by themselves; they’ve seen evidence to support their grudge time and time again. Thinking about this while making coffee, I had a bit of a cathartic moment (I’m serious, clouds opened, choirs choired, harps harped, the whole shebang).

People really DO want to pay artists for their music! They just don’t want to pay the evil labels!

Here’s my challenge: I want to see a major take the first step, and issue a press release saying “We understand that we’ve become the bad guys, and we’re sick of seeing our artists suffer and have their music stolen by their fans because of OUR sins. We hereby pledge to give our artists 100% of the money made from the sale of their music, after pressing and shipping charges. We’ll make our money from the tours we support, the t-shirts we design and print, the posters we sell and the cameo appearances in Judd Apatow films we negotiate on the artist’s behalf. Thank you, music fans, for keeping music alive.”

What have they got to lose? If everyone’s stealing the albums to begin with (which they keep claiming is the case) they aren’t really losing much money by doing something like this, right? It allows them to put their support firmly behind the artists they represent, wash their hands of the years of dirt accumulated by (as far as fans are concerned) “leeching” off of the creative efforts of their artists, and allows fans to make a decision to directly support artists they love. Considering the frequency with which I’m asked who exactly is getting the money from a cd sold, I have to conclude that a lot of people WANT to pay artists for their music, but are ok with downloading if they think the artist isn’t getting the money. So… GIVE THE ARTISTS THE MONEY. Put the ball back in the listener’s court and ask them: Is that REALLY why you’re ok with downloading? Or do you just not like paying for your music no matter who gets your money? HMMMM?

I’m not suggesting I see this happening, but I’m really curious what would happen to download numbers if, all of a sudden, people had to come to terms with the fact that they were now “stealing” directly from the artists. I think there are a lot of artists out there who DO have a close connection to their fans who would see an immediate increase in their sales numbers across the board. Fans would be motivated to go to a record store and buy an artist’s album if they knew that most of that money was going directly to the artist they’re supporting, with the added benefit of helping the industry know it’s worth continuing to develop that artist’s career. People keep saying that the internet can help artists succeed because it removes all the middle-men: so stop being middle-men! Stop getting between the music and the music fan, stop suing college kids for downloading singles, stop screwing artists, stop being the BAD GUY. There are still indie labels out there who can sell albums to fans of the LABEL, like Sub-Pop used to and Victory and yes, UFO. If fans see the label as a partner of the artist and not an oppressor, I really believe they’ll make the decision to vote with their wallets.

End of rant. For now.

One great (and free) tool I’ve had a chance to play with that really illustrates the difference is

By Demand Media

Demand Media‘s new “live blogging” platform CoverItLive. I discovered CoverItLive through, of all things, the official website of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mike Ulmer, a frequent blogger and contributor for the Leafs, uses CoverItLive to host live “blogs” during certain games, and after participating in a couple of these events I decided to roll up my sleeves and get under the hood.

In essence, CoverItLive is a unique combination of blog, chatroom and live text interview. The interface looks like a classic chatroom, with a twist: users submit their comments or questions, and the administrator receives the posts in a list, after which it’s up to them to publish whichever comments they choose and to respond as they see fit.

Insert interactive polls on the fly

The strength of this system is that it incorporates the advantages and interactivity of a live chatroom with the comment moderation and control of a blog. Admins can use as much or as little of their readers’ input as they desire, and they also have the option of “promoting” any reader to an unmoderated status. Admins can privately message any contributor; they can put certain posts onto a special “hold” list; they can even ban users if the need arises. They can also create “producers”, either by promoting live readers or by invitation in advance. Producers have all the powers of an administrator, and having a couple of producers on hand can be very handy during busy events when the questions and comments are flying.

There are a variety of additional tools available to administrators. For example, you can upload media (photos, videos or music), write blocks of text, or create polls for your users which you can access from a sidebar while your event is live. You can edit or delete posts on the fly, or you can re-visit an event after the fact to edit or fine-tune it.  You can even insert a live video streaming window (through a streaming service like Ustream.tv), although in my limited testing this function seemed a little buggy. Still, CoverItLive is officially in beta, so a few glitches can be forgiven considering how much of their system works flawlessly. I’m sure many companies would be charging handsomely for such a service in its current state, especially since there’s no catch: no ads, no commitments, and no hassle.

On the audience side, things are equally slick. Users can log in through their Facebook, MySpace or Twitter profiles, or not at all (if they can stand being stamped with the dreaded “Guest” label). Demand Media was nice enough to include an API as well, so webmasters  can choose to have their contributors log in with their own custom credentials.

Sharing your event is relatively easy. Just paste the provided code to embed the event window anywhere you like – with certain limitations. CoverItLive is embedded in an iFrame, which makes it hard to integrate into MySpace or Facebook pages, and even sticking the window into my WordPress blog took some messing around. The advantage of an iFrame (if you can get it to work) is that it is rendered the same way on any device – so my CoverItLive event looks just as good on my iPhone as it does on my desktop PC. Still, most people will be hoping to embed their events in all their usual online haunts; iFrames make this a little less convenient. Demand Media’s workaround is to offer standard HTML code, enabling users to view your event in a popup window – not ideal, but definitely better than nothing.

Another great feature of the CoverItLive system is Enterprise Groups. By creating a group and adding events to it, you create a mini and consistent blog window, complete with a list of upcoming and completed events and the ability to “replay” any event you may have missed.

Embed your Enterprise Group window.

The nice thing about Enterprise Groups is that you have the option of leaving certain events live indefinitely. You can invite producers or “panelists” to individual events, so that writers can check in whenever they feel the urge and have full moderation powers – but only for the events you specify. Live events are highlighted in the sidebar, and users can switch between events on the fly as they please. Best of all, when nothing is live, users can enter their email address to be reminded about upcoming events at a preset time (and yes, you can export those email addresses).

Of course, from inside CoverItLive’s administration system, you can view detailed metrics for your events: number of live viewers, number of comments submitted and published, number of replays watched for a given event and more. If that’s not enough for you, just about EVERYTHING is customizable. Turn off reader submissions. Choose to enable or disable reader avatars. Even specify Twitter search terms, and watch as relevant Tweets are posted to your event in real time!

In the dozen or so events I’ve hosted, I’ve had nothing but positive feedback from my audience, and the few bugs I’ve found are quite minor and easily forgiven considering the overall quality of the package. And at “free”, the price couldn’t be more right. Fans love the feeling of watching a blog or interview happen before their eyes, especially when their own questions get answered – and unlike a chat (which can be hard to moderate live) YOU dictate all the live content. No overly chatty or aggressive user can take over the conversation, and you don’t get stuck answering the same questions over and over.

For the blogger looking for an interactive twist or any writer or artist looking to connect more directly with their fans while still maintaining control over their finished product, give CoverItLive a shot! There are a lot of reasons to love this program, and I look forward to discovering the rest of them. Here’s the link once again:

http://www.coveritlive.com

coveritlive rules

In the world of social media, more isn’t always better. It’s hard to figure out just where to spend our time and energy, especially when our efforts rarely produce any instantly quantifiable results. When I first started trying to build my band’s online presence and I sized up all the options, I subscribed to what I now think of as the “Dog Licking Itself” approach: if it’s free, and easy, and produces no noticeable negative consequences, well…. why not?

The longer I’ve been doing this, the more I’ve grown to understand that there ARE negative

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

consequences to this all-inclusive social-media-love-fest way of thinking. We all have only so much time in our day, and unless we’re really lucky (or really good at it) updating social networks doesn’t pay the bills. Setting up accounts everywhere you can splash an avatar may seem like a no-brainer, but there’s one major snag: if your content isn’t current and dynamic, it isn’t exciting. And if your profile or site doesn’t inspire excitement in the people who find it, they won’t come back.

The strength of new media is its interactivity. Fans get excited about your band, or your product, or your ideas, but in order to KEEP them excited, you have to provide them with content. Even if you’re not personally conversing with people on your site or profile, frequent updates and new content will give your audience the impression that you care about communicating with them, and that you feel they deserve your attention.

Consider this scenario: you have gone to the effort of setting up accounts on all the major networking platforms, but you’ve found that Facebook is really much more user-friendly and feature rich than the others, so you have gradually stopped updating your other profiles and you’re really focusing on building your Facebook following.

A potential fan hears about you somehow (radio, blogs, reviews, whatever). They are interested enough to search for you online. They type your name into their favorite search engine, and BANG – there you are! The first link takes them to your MySpace page.

Upon clicking through to your profile, they notice that although there is some content there, YOU haven’t logged in for a few months. Your last blog post is talking about 4th of July celebrations, and it’s now early December. The last comment from a fan is six months old. They poke around, and then navigate back to their search results.

Second on the list is your profile on LinkedIn. This one’s even worse – you DO have a profile, but that’s all – from the looks of things, you’ve NEVER updated anything here. You only have a few dozen fans and it’s obvious the profile is in a coma.

But…. lunch break is over, and your disappointed potential fan hasn’t got time to keep searching. Maybe they’ll try again later – or maybe not. Perhaps they’ll find your beautifully moderated and content-rich Facebook Page and you’ll have a brand-new hardcore fan… or maybe you’ll never even know how close they came to joining your circle.

This is the oft-overlooked danger of jumping into the world of social networks with both feet. Most people don’t stop to consider it, but you’re essentially creating a new website associated with your brand EVERY TIME YOU CREATE A PROFILE. Think of all the time and money we spend trying to keep our homepages fresh and exciting. Does it make sense to clutter up search engines with results that won’t hold a user’s interest? Isn’t it better to figure out where your target demographics are most likely to congregate, and focus your efforts there?

If you’re determined to spread yourself as far and wide as possible online, here’s my advice (for what it’s worth):

1. Use services like Ping.fm to update ALL your social networks at once – send photos from your phone, ask questions, keep people interested.
2. Musicians: make sure you have a service like ArtistData set up so that you can automate as much content as possible: tour dates, blog updates, photo galleries etc. This way, even if you can’t take the time to get personally involved in EVERY network in which you choose to participate as frequently as you’d like, you won’t be left with a bunch of zombie profiles and your presence online will be fresh and dynamic – however someone might find you.
3. Before setting up a new social network, do a little research. Who is using this service? What advantages does it offer over other, more established networks? How much time will you need to spend every week to keep this new profile active and interactive? It’s better to skip a network you won’t use than to let it fall by the wayside and decompose.
4. Make bookmarks for all your sites, and make sure you have a way to remember all the logins and passwords. I keep all my social networking bookmarks in the bookmark bar of my browser AND pinned to my start page. It’s easier to remember to update a profile when it’s constantly reminding you of its existence.
5. Don’t be afraid to close a profile. If it’s not working, you’re not networking.

And always remember the lesson of the overzealous dog: just because you can, doesn’t mean it’s a great idea… and never forget that you’re IN PUBLIC.