Monetisation

I read a great article last week on monetisation in the music world. I am always a fan of people and industries who when faced with a problem think of a way around the problem or new avenues in which they can go down. The music industry has the problem of dwindling music sales so musicians and labels have had to diversify and find new ways to make money and to survive.

Back in the boom of the music industry it was record sales, royalties and sales of tickets to gigs which were in its bread and butter. Then in the late twentieth century other avenues of revenue were opened up like sponsorship and commercials following on from this in the early part of this century we then had reality TV which provided another way to make money.

Now however with the rise of the internet, the way we get hold of music and our attitudes towards paying for music artists and labels are having to be even more innovative with their ideas as they become entrepreneurs. What a lot of music acts are doing is instead of putting money in to trying to attract a bigger audience they are working hard to get their hardcore devoted fan base to fork out more money. Successful ideas have been artists writing personalized songs to their highest bidding fan, artists selling the ability to remix their songs and artists recording a version of any track the fan wanted them to cover to the highest bidder.

Now as a business model it is dangerous as if you are only marketing towards a small group of hardcore fans they are eventually going to run out of money but for the short term these ideas can generate a good sum of income. The best idea along this vein I have seen is bands selling the live recordings of their concert to their fans at the gig to take home on a USB pen drive as a memento of the experience.

I for one can’t wait to see or hear about the next innovative idea in the music world.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

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