When U2 was recording its latest album, Pop, a studio camera picked up images of the band hard at work and posted them on a Web site. Anyone who logged on could check up on the band’s progress and trade stories with like-minded fans.
While not every band has the backing of a major record label – and a history of popular albums, to boot – the promotion was interesting in its very simplicity. This was no roof-top concert. Any band, big or small, could do the same thing.
In fact, the Net may be the perfect distribution channel for indie artists looking to sidestep the normal big-label route to stardom.
‘It’s a bit of a no-brainer,’ says Kaan Yigit, president of The Solutions Group, a Toronto research firm that released a study last year measuring Canadian attitudes toward music and the Internet – and found that the two were well-suited. According to Yigit, the study – In the Name of Cool – found that 20% of Internet surfers use the Net to look for music information.
Yigit points out that the demographic profile of a typical Internet user is pretty much the same as the profile of an avid music collector – predominantly young and predominantly male.
That same group might also be more likely to buy product over the Internet. Yigit cites some information out of the u.s. which contends that 7% to 10% of all music sales are now taking place on the Internet. Impressive if true, considering the Net’s infancy as a distribution channel.
The democratizing nature of the Internet – where anyone can put up a Web site – hasn’t made it any easier to make it in the music business. But it’s at least made it a little easier to hawk a few cds.
Greg Terrence, president of Indie Pool Canada, a Toronto-based company that distributes independent artists’ cds to local retailers across the country, launched the Indie Pool Web site about eight months ago. The site, www.indiepool.com, features links to band sites, downloaded music samples and the like. cds can be purchased from the site by cheque for anywhere between $7 and $15.
Artists pay $1.99 a month to get listed on the site, but Terrence says that the price is not profit-geared.
‘It’s more of a break-even situation for us,’ he says, adding that on-line sales are not exactly booming. Although he won’t reveal specific figures, he estimates that retailers still outsell the Web by a ratio of 20-to-1. However, not having a site was not an option. ‘It’s like not having a telephone,’ he says.
‘I don’t think anybody’s making a killing off of it at this point,’ says Edward Skira, co-editor of alternative music magazine Chart in Toronto. ‘But it’s a growing opportunity.’
Skira says that while he’s seen a number of places for bands to set up on various Web sites, most of them are catalogue operations unable to accept electronic payments.
And then there’s the whole issue of clout and brand. Ask anyone on the street to name a music store and they’ll do it faster than you could say ‘hmv.’ Ask them to name a music site – or an indie site – and they’d probably register a blank stare.
‘Not one of these sites has enough visibility with the consumer that you can say `Oh, this is the place to buy indie stuff’,’ says Skira.
Eric Alper of Slap Happy Music Marketing & Promotion in Toronto, which handles the North by Northeast music festival, says that the Internet not only opens doors for indie bands, it’s also a helpful tool for small independent labels.
For example, he says it’s becoming the norm for small labels to put their entire catalogues on-line for artists and buyers to peruse at their leisure. ‘It cuts down on paper costs and mailing costs,’ he says.
He also says that the fact indie sites often don’t have the option of electronic payment makes sense. Credit card administration costs can be overwhelming to a site that’s running on a shoestring budget, he says.
Besides, he adds, the target indie cd-buyer – male, aged 13-21 – often doesn’t have access to a credit card anyway.
