Ok, so we don’t know what the future of music is going to bring, but as artists we must be prepared. This preparation involves an examination of the present and how indie artists handle living in what is being called the ‘Long Tail’.

The Long Tail is a term that was first coined by Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson. It is actually a very simple concept that describes the phenomenon of the online environment. It operates on the principle that 20% of the artists earn 80% of the music income and 80% of the artists earn 20% of the music income. In recent times the top of the tail has become even steeper with closer to 5% of the artists earning 95% of the income.

John Hyde of Leftclick offers an interesting picture of his interpretation of the long tail. Oversimplified for the Sesame Sreet viewers in all of us but it gets the point across. Not only are we in danger of being caught in the Long Tail, we are also in danger of becoming fossils if we don’t make changes.

Personally I prefer the view portrayed by gapingview.com which shows that the term should in fact be “The Short Tail” given the massive body count that occurs.

Indie artist, Cathleen Trezza, (www.firewispmusic.com) commented in a recent forum on the main issue that exists with the Long Tail, “There’s a million bands out there vying for your attention to hear a song enough times to fall in love with it for a while and buy it. The problem isn’t the free part, really. After all, if you gave out free copies of a song and earned an album sale at a rate of 1 out of 10, or 1 out of 100, or even 1 out of 1000 freebies, you could say the method works to generate sales. If you send out your album to venue owners (for free) and it gets you the paid gig, you could say that free works. If you give out your album (for free) to libraries and licensing shops and they find paid work for you, you could say that free works.”

I have to agree with Cathleen Trezza’s comments. The issue is not “free” music, the issue relates to what an artist is prepared to do in order to get themselves heard. Living anywhere in the Long Tail other than the front 5% is a hard struggle, so do we give fans a taste test or do we give them a whole meal hoping they will come back for another meal?

The toughest issue is that platforms like iTunes have pushed the artists at the top of the Long Tail even further up while those artists who, by choice or by default, find themselves at the end of the tail struggling to survive.
So what do they do? The question in their minds really should be “Do I want to remain anonymous and sell my music to people who stumble across me? Or should I be doing everything in my power and using all the tools available to get my music heard, hopefully driving future sales?” Unfortunately, for an artist, often the only thing worse than free music (or even piracy) is anonymity. If you are anonymous it is a hard slog to build a profile.

One final point … as an artist going through iTunes, will you ever see the database of your followers and have the ability to market to them? No you won’t. What we (Cowbell Digital Music) want (and are setting up) is a database that an artist can use to directly market to their fans and fans of their genre. The only way to increase the database is to increase the fan base so does the trade off equal free songs for information? And if such powerful data is provided then I ask the question … did you really give away the song for free?

I know this is an unusual stance, coming from the CEO of a digital music platform, but something has to be done to get an artist ‘out there’. I would love to hear from artists on this issue as we are building a new digital platform that aims to address these issues. The only way we can do this is by listening to the artists that it will affect. Feel free to link, email me or comment on this post.

Shayne Locke
Cowbell Digital Music – It’s Your Choice

Last night Cowbell launched a new artist, Mutto (www.mutto.com.au). No stranger to the stage, Mutto, was originally in a band called Soulframe until his stint on Australian Idol 2006 started an unraveling process that led to a 3 year hiatus. Now back with a new single and a renewed passion, Mutto has had to become re-educated into the digital age.

Focusing on digital downloads, the release of Mutto’s single ‘Wish’ is a momentous occasion as he is one of the first Australian artists ever to release an exclusively digital single available for download from the iTunes store, his own website, and through the use of a ‘Bandtag’ Card.

‘Bandtag’ has been supplying promotional download cards for artists to give away songs for a few years now, however Mutto is the first artist to use the card as a replacement for the standard CD single, in fact the first artist in Australia to publicly shun cds in favor of a digital download card that allows buyers to download high quality mp3′s to play on iTunes or Windows Media Player.

It also allows fans to download a copy of the video in a format that will work on ipods and iphones. Check it out here Mutto – “Wish” video

To top it off, apart from radio giveaways and promotion, last night’s launch was exclusively promoted through the use of social media platforms like Facebook. With over 200 attendees, the success of the night is a perfect example of the importance of social media marketing in a digital age. It is a new digital era and artists like Mutto demonstrate how results can be achieved online.

As more artists like Mutto and Nomy reach their full potential they present a very real opportunity for new artists trying establish a solid base. As advocates of the digital age, Cowbell and I will strive to uncover more examples of how new artists are using the internet and its many tools to advance their careers. Stay tuned!

Over the last 12 months I have had the honor, and the privilege, of getting to know a legendary music icon, Ritchie Yorke.

When we first started our label (http://bit.ly/9fgh1x) Ritchie did what he does best, and did an interview with Cowbell.

When you meet people, you seldom ignore the general rule that states there are Six degrees of separation and accept the Human Web on planet earth. However, last week, I discovered there are in fact only two degrees that separate most in today’s global village.

As a John Lennon fan, it was fantastic to sit down and talk with the man that was Lennon’s International Peace Envoy. With John’s words still so firmly in Ritchie’s mind, 30 years later, sitting opposite him and watching the excitement and enthusiasm on his face when he spoke with passion about John, I began to realize the influence Lennon had on the world and specially on those that he came in contact with. Read the rest of this entry

Hi I am Shayne Locke, CEO of Cowbell Digital Music.

I count it an absolute honour to be asked to write for Music Goat, which has been a great source of information on indie artists and the side of the music industry that isn’t often talked about. The Goat has asked me to provide a bit of a background about me, and what I do before I start the whole blogging process. So here goes.

Twelve months ago we started a record label – which is rather ironic since we release everything digitally or on cd! On starting the label, we asked ourselves what we would want if we were artists. The number 1 answer was – To Own Our Music. Not give the rights to our music away.

A big inspiration to our company setup was Terry McBride of Nettwerk Music in Canada. His philosophies answer the question of Copyright Control that we posed so we decided to run with the model that has been so effective for Terry. Cowbell Digital Music was born and the big point of difference was Collapsible Copyright (artists owning their music).

Everything about the label was different. Focus on digital, multiple service agreements and helping artists connect with fans by encouraging the use of social networking.

Another major point to our label has been the establishment of Cowbell China. As of last month, we are the first independent label to be officially on the ground in China with an office in Shandong province and the support of an official government run website. No other indie label has managed to get to this point so we consider it a privilege to be able to take our artists into China.

With all the massive leaps that we are taking as a label, we are also establishing a second platform to help new emerging artists find a voice. With a focus on the music community it totality, it will cover all genres, all styles and give artists a sense of belonging while also allowing an artist’s growing fan base to buy their music at a price set by the artist.

So please keep an eye out for my posts as I shed a bit of light on what is happening in the industry and maybe even provide a few options for the struggling artist in all of us.

For more information about us, head over to www.cowbell.com.au

Shayne Locke
Cowbell Digital Music – It’s Your Choice.