Sunday, February 15, 2015

The Only Time I Ever Wished I Were Younger

There's a discussion on capitalizing AIFF music files and I presented some ideas on how to do it.

This is worth a staggering amount of money but the beauty part is that it opens music like an orchid.  Anyone can do it, the only variable is distribution.  Regardless of distribution, you will still get paid even if it's not very much.  The same general mechanism would work for anyone and it really would not be that hard to do except insofar as the contractual aspects.

If I were young, I would go total ripshit on this.  I have not researched it but I've seen no evidence anyone is trying to create such a music environment.

There are goals beyond the money but don't under-estimate for a millisecond the money to be made on this, young grasshopper.

- Music publishing undergoes a profound revolution as the payment mechanism becomes ridiculously simple.

- Music becomes something it has never previously been in the past:  the finest possible quality music for free to anyone on the planet.  You pay for it by listening to it.

Fark.

This is not sci-fi as anyone with the balls, the brains, and the financial backing could do this tomorrow.  There's enough detail in the other article on how to manage this and keep practically everyone happy (e.g. recording contracts can still work just the same, it's only the payment chain that changes).

Someone has to put some whoop ass on this as it creates a musical revolution that's truly unimaginable as the number one thing you will see coming from most indies is how to hustle for a buck.  Everyone is broke.  All of that stops except for music creators giving their stuff away.  They will ask you to listen to it but they won't ask for anything else.  The cultural change from this is profoundly revolutionary and deliciously unpredictable.  It has the potential for a musical Renaissance of legendary proportion.

(Ed:  that was hype)

Yes but it sounded kind of downtown so I kept it.


Consider a scenario:  Justin Bieber published some videos on YouTube as a kid in Canada.  They get lots of hits, the record companies find him and presto he's a star.

In this self-publishing environment, Bieber would have been making money as soon as his music started to launch.  This would have given him tremendous freedom as an artist as the recording companies are going to offer him something very damn good to sign with them or why should he do it.  The thing of it is, they will.  We will hook you up with the best musicians, the best equipment, the best distribution because we hear money songs in you, young Mozart.

The cultural change for musicians is the freedom to choose.  For example, if a song 'goes viral' then that single event could conceivably generate an immense amount of money.  When that happens, typically a million people or more will listen, watch, or whatever.  When advertisers get a million impressions, you get a big check.  You can be Joe Blow in Wichita playing stuff no-one likes ... but then someone does and tells a friend, who tells a friend.  They will because it's free.  Joe Blow could realistically be heading for L.A. overnight ... or not if he doesn't feel like it.

Music would be truly free.  I don't think popping up an add in a browser is a big spank for getting my music or video for free.  I can't believe the concept would be difficult to sell.

There will be more research on this but not just now as I'm tired.  This is definitely an If I Were Younger moment but it's not a sad thing, it's kind of exciting knowing that someone will do it and it would blow me down if I incited it.

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