Joe Wikert has another post about an alternative revenue model in the book industry that I suspect we’ll soon see applied to music – if it hasn’t been done already.
“Shanghai-based Bookgg is exploring a new advertisement-powered free book business model. The consumer selects the book and then selects the sponsors with their placement in the book until the price of the book drops to zero. The book is then printed and posted.”
There’s a kind of ‘Perfect Storm’ brewing for things like this. On the one hand, consumers have varying degrees of resistance to paying outright for content. On the other, you have advertisers desperately trying to reach consumers in the age of TIVO, useless banner ads and intense message clutter that grows everyday. Put those two together, and you get Bookgg and SpiralFrog and what I suspect will be a growing list of other ad supported music delivery ideas.
So, what about you and your career? Put on your thinking cap and see if you could take advantage of this trend. And don’t roll your eyes, advertising and sponsorships are nothing new in music. Can you even recall a tour or concert that didn’t have the brand name of a company or product in the title? How ’bout venues? The stadium and concert hall in Nashville have each changed names several times in the last few years as the sponsorship rights have been bought and sold.
I’m sure you’re thinking “well yeah, of course 50 Cent can attract sponsors, but I just play local clubs!” True, but think about the sponsors themselves. Just like there are only a few music acts at 50 Cent’s level, there are only a few companies that can afford to sponsor him. There are thousand’s who can’t, particularly local businesses in your area.
Consider partnering with one or more of them. You could have them on your website, on your mailing list fliers, on T-Shirts, whatever. If some of that strikes you as lame, fine, you don’t have to over do it. You can agree to do and not do things as part of the agreement. And keep in mind your partners will have their preferences too.
If you’re a freelance musician, don’t despair, this can work for you too, you just have to be really creative. It’s likely your still in the public eye a lot and that’s all that matters.
The way to get the ideas flowing, whether you’re a band or freelancer or whatever, is to think from the perspective of the businesses. What are they after that you can help them get? Exposure? Customers? Sales? Leads? Chances are, you have SOMETHING they need and they might be interested in paying you to get it.
Bonus idea: 128MB MP3 players cost about $15.00 these days. What if you bought a bunch, pre-loaded them with your music and sold them for $20 or $25? Expensive start up costs, right? What if a local business paid you $5.00 a piece to have their name imprinted on them? Access Uniforms does work like this and there are hundreds of others.
It’s a win/win if it’s the right sponsor.
