Two weeks ago I was invited to participate in a PR stunt called the “Schwaggin’ Wagon” at the O’Reilly Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco. I was more than happy to accept, the conference has been on my radar for three years now and the opportunity to attend was more exciting than free tickets to Coachella.

The Schwaggin’ Wagon was an idea conceived by Social Media Consultants, like myself, with the intention of collecting all the schwag from the conference that no one wants and donating it to charity. Sponsors like Heavy Bag Media and Mashable jumped on immediately and the van was decked out and ready to roll 6 days later.

The Schwaggin’ Wagon departed Los Angeles on Tuesday and before we even hit San Francisco, Jon Gordon from NPR’s Future Tense was interviewing Idea Meister and wagon driver Mike Liskin.

We stopped off in Turlock for some of Anna’s award-winning Pomegranate Martinis and some wireless Internet access. The laptops were fired up, Twitter was tweeting and the blog posts were rolling. Our Facebook friends had doubled and the Twitter and Britekite accounts were blowing up since pulling out of Los Angeles just four hours earlier.

We finally arrived in San Francisco, too late for any parties, but just in time for a good night’s rest. Thanks to the amazing work of Get It Done Queen, Marjorie Kase, the next day was packed with media interviews and the buzz about the wagon was all over the expo floor, all before we had even set out the first collection can! It became apparent quickly that the Schwaggin Wagon was going to be well received at the Expo.

My first article for Tunecore was published yesterday! I’m very excited to be working with this amazing group. For those of you unfamiliar with Tunecore, I suggest a quick perusal of their site asap. Tunecore is a digital distributor that allows you to keep 100% of your royalties and earnings. You pay a one-time fee for album placement and a yearly storage fee and nothing more!

The article, Why Every Band Needs a Blog, is the first in a series I’ll be writing for the Tunecore blog. Thank you to Ewald, COO of Tunecore, for a great opportunity.

Scott Perry of New Music Tip Sheet sent out an email this morning about the future of music. Not how it will be produced or sold, but how we gain access to the music we choose to listen to. Verizon, Time Warner and AT&T control the pipelines that deliver our musical choices, but with their already slow as molasses Internet and crappy customer service, will that limit our incentive to buy and share in the future? Scott makes some great points, it’s a long read, but worth it. Thanks Scott!

“So, this morning’s email was going to be about pipelines. How we need a steady flow of product to keep our industry blossoming. How it’s really nice that we have weeks where Vampire Weekend and Cat Power reign supreme on the charts, but how it’s also important that we not cluster three superstar artists on the same release date in a time where hit releases are few and far between. But I don’t need to harp; no releases in the pipeline = no trip to St. Barths (or St. Quiznos for most folks), we all know that.

Instead, I want to talk about different pipelines. My concern today is not about today, nor tomorrow – I’m worried about what’s gonna happen ten years from now. Because I’m looking in the tea leaves, and I do not like what I see. At all. I don’t care where people find out about music or how they pay for it in the year 2018 – my main concern is that ultimately, access to such music will be controlled by a handful of crappy service providers.

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I recently joined Advanced Operators; a blog carnival comprised of “super geeks” from my old stomping ground of Portland, OR, aka geektopia. The last few weeks I’ve had nothing to contribute, as I’ve not yet been elevated to “super geek” status and most of the topics go WAY over my head. This week, much to my surprise, the question at hand is regarding the future of the music industry. Finally! I think I’ve got a thing or two to say about that. But let’s follow the questions AO published as guidelines for the article to prevent too much hypothesizing and philosophizing:

1. Is the recording model still valid? If so, is it the bands that will be doing the recording and distribution?
2. If the money isn’t in a recording model, then what will the model of the future be?

I believe what they are referring to here is not the “recording” model but the “record industry” model. Recording music is still the only way to get music from artist to listener, until telepathy becomes a viable option. However, the record industry model is crumbling, as any Joe Public that has bought a track from iTunes or direct from the artist will tell you. The reason for this is not only because their commodity is loosing value in the marketplace, but because they have been slow to adapt to the changes happening in the music industry as a whole.

Record companies bring two vital services to the table, marketing and distribution. These are really the two points in question when talking about the record label business model, not recording. As for the future business model and what it will look like…that is anyone’s guess at this point. In a recent Rolling Stone article, “The Fall of the Record Business: What Next?” 5 prominent music professionals were interviewed and produced five totally different perspectives on how music will be profitable in the future. When the article was published I was in agreement with Ian Rodgers of Yahoo Music. He speculated that ad-supported music was the wave of the future. Today, after investigating many distribution options for an ebook I’m writing, I am starting to think that Nettwerk President, Terry McBride was onto something when he speculated that consumers will act as retailers. This is still a far off idea, but one that we might consider given the growing popularity of Long Tail filters like referrals and recommendations and the power of those filters in a social network community. If I like an artist I can post their music on my site for my friends to buy. I’ll make money and the artist will still make more off the sale than they would have through any other means than selling it themselves.

3. How will bands profit from the music they make?

Again, the specifics of how this will happen in the future are anyone’s guess. At the moment, artists with no record deal are making money by selling their CDs and tracks via iTunes, Snocap and other digital music stores. The beauty about cutting out the middleman is that it takes less sales to make more money for the artist. In a traditional record deal, an artist may be lucky to make 12%-20% on a record. This of course is after the advance, marketing, etc, has been recouped.

When the label and distribution company has been eliminated from the equation an artist can deliver a product from studio to consumer and retain a large portion of the profits. An artist by the name of Second Hand Serenade has become a poster child for this model. He registered his album with Tunecore, a digital distributor that charges artists a one time $30 fee per album to place on it on iTunes. Within less than a year Second Hand Serenade sold 200,000 copies of one track. After a 70/30 split with iTunes and the $30 he paid Tunecore, he made about $135,000.00 without a record label!

4. Is there a role for the Record Labels of yesteryear in the new world?

The labels will only have a place in the new world if they carve one out for themselves. By this I mean, they need to make themselves useful. Since the dawn of the record industry, they have dictated the terms and conditions of their relationship with the artist. The rules have changed and their job is now cheaply (often free) done digitally. Their new role will have to be based on a new profit center and that may be hard for them to do. For an artist at the level of Justin Timberlake, a label is a necessity. There will always be a need for a company that can negotiate corporate deals with Verizon and invest in an elaborate global tour. Most artists don’t fall under that category and may be served better managing their own career with a solid team of professionals and consultants rather than a corporate monster. Labels are taking more of an interest in touring, merchandise and publishing than that have in the past. This does not bode well for an smaller artist in the long run. They will get a nice chunk of change up front, but they are selling off more of their rights and assets than they may realize. Technology is making it possible for an artist to procure all of those services without selling their rights away, so that strategy may not be the long-term solution.

5. How do bands of the future promote themselves?

Promotion will be most effective modeled on the Long Tail theory of filters and community. Chris Andersen, author of The Long Tail, suggests that reputation is a new form of currency and this applies to musicians as well. It will take more one on one, personalized relationship building with their fans and that takes more time and energy. A band will have to WORK it harder than ever. Touring, blogging, texting, instant messaging, viral videos, and most important, being creative in how they communicate with their fans. Communication and community building are the two most crucial elements that any band must embrace to have a successful marketing and promotions plan.

6. Do you want to or think its “right” to pay for music?

I believe that artists should be compensated for their work. I also believe that HOW they are compensated is part of the new paradigm. Gerd Leonhard, a media futurist, illustrates this point in a video presentation on the future of the music industry. He claims that it is no longer a “pay first paradigm.” The recorded music is becoming a free promotional tool used to build a fan base, something that many bloggers may relate to. We give our most valuable commodity, our knowledge, away for free in hopes of building a reputation that will bring us the work we desire. A good song may bring another fan to a show, sell a t-shirt, get licensed in a movie, etc. The profit is coming at the end of the cycle, once a fan has been won and a relationship with them has been developed, not at the beginning or discovery phase. Consumers are now dictating what is popular, not the record labels. Our choices are no longer being shoved at us from the top down, we are pushing our choices upward.

Piracy is a serious issue of copyright violation. The defenders of copyrighted material are vehement in their crusade, but have done little to prevent rampant file sharing from Wisconsin to Beijing. The RIAA has done a pathetic job of convincing us that we are stealing if we don’t pay for music. Maybe because, for all their lawsuits and rabbel rousing, they have made us realize that corporations are greedy and that their least concern is the artists they claim to be protecting. What if, since the beginning of the record industry, records were free promotional tools that labels used to get people to a show? Would we consider it stealing if that had been the model all along? And remember, we are talking about the record industry, not the music industry as a whole. Music is thriving, despite the fact that the labels aren’t. Artists are still making money, just not from selling records. A recent documentary from our neighbors to the north is a very illuminating look at the subject of piracy in the music industry.

7. How important is rights management to the future of music?

I think the answer to this question is obvious…of course rights management is crucial, always has been and always will be. Whoever controls the master and the publishing is the one making the money.

The future of music is undeniably tied to technology, but which technology will produce the strongest business model is still up in the air. Perhaps it will consist of several models, depending on which direction the artist wants to take their career. And maybe it will be one that has not yet been conceived. Either way, it is apparent that it will unfold online and be community-based. I am very excited about the future of the music industry. But I see one great challenge ahead, the chasm that exists between technology (web developers, futurists, programmers, etc.) and the artist. I’ve sat in on many meetings with technology companies that have a great idea to capitalize on the music industry with no concept of how the artist thinks or works. In meetings with artists I find they are often clueless as to what the hell to do next. They are overwhelmed with options and can find no one to educate them. A bridge needs to be built between the artist and technology. Technology should reach out to better understand the genuine needs of an artist and how to facilitate them. Artists need to better understand what technology has to offer and how to utilize their services. Harmony between the two will bring about greater innovation and choice as well as a greater financial return for them both.

Hello guys and gals. I’ve been on hiatus from my blog in August, feverishly working on my new book about blogs and blogging. Once it’s ready I’ll give you more details.

In the meantime…here is a video presentation of Gerd Leonhard on the Future of Music. Gerd is the head of Sonific, a streaming music application. He calls himself a Music Futurist and has written several books on the subject. Rick Rubin recently quoted some of his ideas on subscriptions services in an article for the New York Times. I have not read any of his books but based on this informational video, he knows his stuff.

Pay close attention to his new paradigm of purchasing. “It is no longer a pay first paradigm.” How true.

Cruxy is a new service that provides tools for the musician and filmmaker to market, distribute and monetize their assets. It was sent to me by a friend in the tech world, where there is apparently a buzz about Cruxy. However, from a music world perspective, they are lacking a credible music community. It is worth keeping an eye on their progress. If they have a solid platform that delivers what it promises, it may catch on.

Here is a description of the company from their ABOUT page:

“Cruxy provides powerful marketing, monetization and performance tools for digital creators, whether filmmakers, musicians or artists of any kind. Cruxy’s tools give artists the power to share their work on Cruxy or across the web using the Cruxy Social Player. Cruxy also gives creators the ability to sell their work as digital downloads. The artist chooses the retail price and the file format. Cruxy registers the work with search engines, generates thumbnails and previews and handles all aspects of the financial transaction. Cruxy also provides a robust set of analytical tools so that creators can track and improve their progress.”

They also help you sell your wares in virtual worlds like Second Life. Included in their services are a real time analysis of your sales and Internet buzz. Valuable information for any band self-managing. And…you can monetize any asset that can be made into a digital file; drum beats, video clips, ringtones, and photos. The Long Tail model for bands is emerging.

LAMbCase enables artists to sell their entire CD in a digital file using a technology similar to Win Zip. They were featured in the CMJ newsletter today. Here is what the company has to say about their product:

“LAMbCase is the name of our patented container format which allows easy distribution and payments of digital products. Using our system, content owners can sell retail equivalent CD and DVD titles along with web based formats such as MP3 and iPod compatible video.

Our services are intended for content owners serious about delivering digital goods with the quality and standards consumers expect from retail products.

Our system works in 3 easy steps:

Your content is stored under a dual layer AES 256 shell! This is double the security used by governments using password protected Zip files.

We provide sellers with extra features such as:

A HTML badge which can be placed on your website or MySpace page:

And advanced features such as real-time payments and “point of sale” split payments for up to 3 partners!

“

Most musicians I speak with about the idea of taking their businesses Online have no clue where to start. The Internet is flooded with sites offering musicians fancy tools and features to help with everything from touring to ringtone sales. It seems impossible to keep up with all the new sites coming up, almost daily. Selling music and it’s ancillary products Online is becoming big business.

With so many choices, how does an artist pick the company that will support his/her interests most effectively? There are several factors to consider when deciding to invest any time, effort, or money into a new venture. First of all, you want to make sure the company is going to be around for a while and isn’t just a site developed for the sole purpose of driving ad dollars. Who started the company? Why? Where are they headed? What is their basic philosophy about music in the new world? When considering sites to build profiles on or create associations with your band or new record you must consider other factors. Sometimes it is the technological expertise that will make a site a winner and other times, as we have seen with Myspace and You Tube, it is about the community associated with the site.

I’ve been researching these sites, new and old, for months. From my research I have come up with various lists to help any artist navigate the mysterious road of self-promotion. I will be publishing different lists over the next few weeks. As I find new sites that I feel will be beneficial, I will post those with links and explainations as well. Please let me know if you are aware of a site that I have not included or if you have not had a good experience with one that I have included. The lists are always growing and changing.
The first lists are Calendars and Search Engines.

Calendars

These are important for two reasons: They allow people to find your event through a variety of FREE listings and they increase your Search Engine Optimization. The more listings you have online the easier it is for people to find you.

Upcoming - Upcoming.org is a social events calendar driven by people just like you.

Eventful - Find events that you and your friends care about, share and syndicate your discoveries with friends, family, and contacts, search the future to receive alerts about events that haven’t even been announced yet, create grassroots campaigns to demand that desired events happen

Myspace Events – Event calendar on Myspace

Media search engines are growing in popularity. Many of them simply crawl the web for content, but some of them are built on content uploaded by users. The top picks for user-generated content are below.

Blinkx – Video search engine

Google video – Video search engine

Live Music Net – Find live concert video, sessions, online radio and more

Mpeg-Search – MP3 search engine with free downloads

Music IP - Unique music matching technology defines relationships between sets of music based on acoustic traits and characteristics

Podziner – Search engine for audio and video podcasts

You Tube – Video search engine