Not everyone is a fan of music streaming sites. We’ve seen Imeem get eaten by Myspace, Pandora on life support for, and I haven’t seen Ruckus since my freshman year of college. But at least they pay in cash right? Music on the web pays in many ways. Here are a few that I hope labels and artists will consider this year:
Image Credit: Ken Yeung
Music Options Beyond Radio
Ask 5 people what they’re favorite radio station is and they may throw out the only station they know. Not everyone has a car, and we aren’t spending a lot of time in one. Yet cars seem to be the only place that people catch what’s on the radio. The other 99% of our music time is wasted on sites like Pandora, Grooveshark, iTunes, and our own personal playlists.
The radio is limited in what it can play and don’t cover everyone’s interest. People like having the option of making their own personal playlist to listen to. Plus, the radio isn’t as mobile as you’d like to think. Your fans will appreciate being able to have a variety of ways to share your music with their friends.
Viral Awareness
Want to prepare yourself for trending on Twitter? Follow Evil Empire. His mixtapes with Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, and many more influential rap artists, are infamous in rap circuits. Music bloggers are watching Twitter like a hawk waiting for teaser music leaks like this one:
@ItsEvilEmpire: NEW MUSIC!!! Lil Wayne “I’m On It” Leak off Trending Topics 2 Mixtape!!! – http://usershare.net/w8y7g0rmlrfr
But you’re releasing good music? So what! If you’re great at your craft, you can make more. Or you can take Evil Empire’s route and leak a snippet. Just don’t be surprised when the mixtape becomes a trending topic on Twitter.
Grammy Nominations
You are definitely making sales with a Grammy nomination under your belt. That’s exactly what can be said of the Young Money/Cash Money artist Drake. Drake skipped the usual for most artist and went straight to the net for his fame.
He received 2 Grammy nods this year off of his viral mixtape So Far Gone. The mixtape was released for free on Drake’s personal site and took off across the web. The single, Best I Ever Had, shot straight to No. 2 on the billboards and also landed Drake a million dollar music contract.
New (Role)Model For Music
Labels would be better off focusing their efforts on making use of free music streaming sites for their artists. These sites could generate a consistent amount of leads for music that mainstream has moved on from or never got around to hearing. Most subscription and ad-model services offer the latest hits, which is fine for short-term success. Add free music streaming services in the mix to help catch your long-tail and propel you to long-term music history.
