We definitely live in interesting times. I see part of the problem being that young people see music as this incredibly easy thing to do. They don't take into account the time investment from building skills and chops, seeing instead only the technology. Yes, the technology makes the *realization* of music easier, but there is still a significant time investment in learning an instrument and composition and theory.

I think, eventually, though, they'll wise up to it.

Patrick,

>Given that this group regards intellectual property as belonging to the world >and not to its creator, what are we to do? We can embrace goodwill >marketing, take an anti-corporate stance and work on over exposing >ourselves, but to what end? Are they ever going to be motivated to give me >money for what they believe is already their property?

I'm 35 (gasp!), but I think you may have written off the music-buying demographic a bit too quickly and completely with those comments. I don't have hard sales figures to back it up, but it seems to me that iTunes sometime recently sold it's billionth song.

Huh…corrected:

>MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 9, 2007—Apple® today announced >that more than two billion songs, 50 million television episodes and over >1.3 million feature-length films have been purchased and downloaded >from the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com), making it the world’s most >popular online music, TV and movie store.

It appears from just iTunes' data alone (and there are loads of music sales sites), that many music consumers are quite fine with supporting a new business model that doesn't include stealing it for free. I'd bet that more than a few of those "kids", iTunes customers, are quite well aware how to get this "product" for free online, but choose not to.

It's not perfect, and there will be/are growing pains as new models emerge and the fickle age-group we depend on to buy music jumps from latest thang to latest thang…but it's not all doom and gloom. If you have something to say, and it's worth selling, and you have the determination to get into those places (which we had little access to prior to the internet), where the "kids" are….you just might sell some stuff and get to apply that thought exercise too. I know more than a few people who make some or all of their income just like this…they aren't getting rich, but they are doing what they love, and that's got to count for something too. I think this emerging era of potential to DIY music types is pretty exciting….35, 25, or 18…. (and plus, the internet only knows your age if you tell it what it is.., by which I mean, stop thinking of yourself as less and less relevant with each passing year….youth is a mindset, not a stretch of time you find hard to remember!)

That, of course, is where my entire idea and previous post hits a huge snag. My primary audience just isn't that Internet-savvy. All I can do is to make it as easy as possible to find and listen to me, and let the numbers game do the rest.

At 33, I never thought that I'd be obsolete so soon. Heck, I'm just finding my stride, I thought I'd have until I was Mick Jaggers age before I'd have to reinvent myself as something worthwhile and interesting just to stay in the game. I don't think I have another 25 years of shelf life, I don't even think I have another 5 months.

Given that this group regards intellectual property as belonging to the world and not to its creator, what are we to do? We can embrace goodwill marketing, take an anti-corporate stance and work on over exposing ourselves, but to what end? Are they ever going to be motivated to give me money for what they believe is already their property?

I do like Brian Austin Whitney thought exercise and when I have to put food on the table, I'm not above begging for money or pulling the heavy and trying to cash in on some of that goodwill I created, but these are old school methods of hard ball; guilt and creating a sense of obligation help to sell insurance to family members but how do we leverage these intangibles to motivate our virtual fan base to help us stay in the black or, at least, out of the gutter?

I know time will present us with the solutions, but looking forward, it's hard to see the way because, frankly, before I read your post Des, I even didn't realize that the path had changed.

Out of every thousand people who find my site:

900 will pass it by, maybe taking a listen.
100 will stick around, maybe liking the stuff.

Out of those 100:

90 will stick around and maybe see what I have every once in a while.
10 will buy something from me and be my hardcore fanbase.

So, I need to get 1000 pairs of eyeballs in order to get 10 people to give me money. The only way to get eyeballs will be to spread my name and music and video as far and as wide as I possibly can, always making sure they can find their way to my site.

http://www.scottandrew.com/blog/archives/2005/04/5000_fans.html

That's a link about a thought exercise by Brian Austin Whitney, which has come to be known as "The 5000 Fan Theory." The gist of it is, if you can get 5000 people to give you $20 a year, you will make $100,000 a year. From there, you can calculate how many fans you would need in order to quit your day job: take your current salary and divide it by 20, and that's how many people would need to give you $20 a year in order to match your salary.

I would call this a practical application of the meganiche theory in the second article.

> since video and pictures are so much a part of the total package
Ain't that the truth! Probably even moreso in the age of Facebook and Youtube.

I've always been the only one in my family who puts himself out on the Internet, makes friends all over the world virtual. In a physical sense, I've never cared if anyone sees me naked (although most others *do* mind if they see me so, as it's not a pretty sight) ;-) and others' lack of inhibition doesn't bother me at all. Yet, I wouldn't call myself a nudist; those are people who make it a special point to go without clothes, and they go through great pains to keep themselves shielded from the rest of the world as some form of exclusive club. That "exclusive club" attitude really bothers me.

Normally I wouldn't bring that subject up on a music blog, but the article did go on for some time about it, and it's a part I can understand. That, and it allows me to bring up my point about "exclusive clubs," which applies to so many more things.

I guess I'm up at the high end of the age bell curve.

I don't participate in MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, or Flickr, though, only because I don't have the money and the technology at my disposal. I own no digital camera, or camcorder, focusing my limited resources instead on music. Ultimately, though, I'll need to own these things if I'm going to present myself, and my music, to the rest of the world, since video and pictures are so much a part of the total package, as that article clearly demonstrates.

There is one difference between me and them, though: I type in complete sentences.