wax&wires tv – Episode 005: Music is more than songs
WAXandWIRES TV – EPISODE 5
In this episode:
The state of The Album V Singles
Apple Cocktail album format
Muse gets creative with releasing their new single
I’m trying out a new format. Rather than full, crazy long episodes covering the gamut, I’ll put out shorter videos of just one topic at a time. Not as much fancy lighting, production quality, motion graphics, credit rolls, etc. Hopefully it will let me get the content out more timely though, and give you a chance to watch without getting bored or having to reschedule your day! The content ought to be driving the show more than the production anyway, so let me know what you think!
In this episode, the big topic is how to create an experience behind your music. Like it or not, your songs are free (somewhere) on the net. You can fight that all you want, but what you ought to do is accept that the songs are given away. Count money you make off of song sales as bonus. From there you need to figure out how to create added incentive to get listeners to buy into an EXPERIENCE around those songs; whether it be exclusive behind the scenes content, concert tickets, t-shirts, whatever. Muse did a great job with that on their latest release, creating an entire interactive experience and geo-tagging hunt for their fans. Apple is doing this in an official way with “Cocktail,” but bands have been independently up to it for a while.
Remember back when CDs first came out and they would have “secret tracks?” That’s totally played out now, and went through a period of almost being expected on every album. We need a resurgence of that mindset in a fresh way though, artists who will put a little something special in the album in order to create excitement around picking it up. All the little hidden treasures that add a personal and original touch to the album, thus helping it find a home in your memory.
What are you doing to bring an experience along with your songs?
Email me with any questions or comments. I welcome them all. Thanks!
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7 Responses to “wax&wires tv – Episode 005: Music is more than songs”
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Did you just call Dave your best friend? :P
Love the new format.
Ha. It was Tom J. We went to the COW in OB: http://www.yelp.com/biz/cow-san-diego
Ha. It was Tom J. We went to COW in OB: http://www.yelp.com/biz/cow-san-diego
I like all the info in the longer format lol.
technically your music doesn't need to be great to sell, that aside there may be something to this cocktail stuff.
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Also my two cents on the cocktail format. It will succeed more because Apple is doing what they do best, making it easy for people to spend money. I love going to record shops to pick up albums and that will always be my favorite way to buy music. Half the fun is discovering new shops and new music. That said I have happily given lots of my money to Apple/iTunes because if I want a single or something quick and easy it's the only way to fly.