Hey Forum, what do you guys think about this? The Coalition (just a working title) The coalition is all about establishing a new alternate business model for the music industry, one that embraces the creative commons licensing scheme, welcomes sharing, and encourages sampling. Its purpose is to prove such a model is not only viable and profitable but good for the industry as well. 5 aspects to focus on: -complete transparency -the euphoria project -reasonable programs not lucrative contracts/deals -set up non profit organization and work with organizations already established -make coalition branded products like instruments, digital equipment, music editing software, dj tools, merchandise (coalition clothing lines ect) Complete Transparency This means all of the financial data (earnings, expenses, payroll, ect) on a base by base + quarterly and annually basis will be posted online (with complete transparency) for all the world to see, albeit with personal info (fullnames, addy number ect) and sensitive data (bank account cc number ect) omitted (of course). The reason being is that the coalition needs to be impartial, fair and neutral to all of its artists no matter how popular or successful they are and therefore complete transparency is crucial to avoid favoritism or lawsuits and allegations of favoritism, ripping off ect. It will also be a good way to prove to the public that such a model is viable and profitable. The Euphoria Project The euphoria project is like a cross between a professional recording studio, a themed resort, and a decked out night club all rolled up into one. It should be based around genres so it sets up an ideal atmosphere for both the artists and fans (or random club hoppers) of the genres alike. In other words it will be a professional recording studio, a huge mix of venues and a themed resort/park (if you will) all rolled up into one. Each site will have multiple recording studios, multiple venues of different sizes and various themes & atmosphere, hotels, bars, restaurants, pools, beaches ect. Monetization: -subscription based as in coalition artists will have to pay a small monthly fee for their passes that allows them to get into any euphoria site for free, have free hotel rooms (if space is available), and free food/drinks. It of course also gives them access to use of the studios but they must first schedule use and all the studios are on a first come first serve basis and the alloted time is limited the same for all artists big or small -It will also be open to the public (to a certain extent some sections will be private and VIP/artists only) and there will be a cover-charge, public passes (monthly subscriptions and packages) bars, food, hotels, ect *all of these are working titles: electronica - revolves around breakbeat, techno (rave, house, ect) dubstep, electro, ect rockie - revolves around alternate rock, heavy rock, chill rock, pop rock, ect vibe - revolves around hip hop, r & b, rap, reggae soul ect mecca - fuses all of the above into a huge resort and represents the center of the euphoria project the flagship or head-quarters if you will the idea is to design exhibits/attractions that are ideal for the specific genre... such as: electronica - trippy/mind bending exibits and attractions like a huge mall-like night club on steroids perhaps? rockie - include skate parks, anything else? vibe - schedule car shows? coordinate freestyle battles, dance crews, anything else? mecca - roll them all into one huge resort/park... its a good idea to build a lot of these around the world, they will be BIG money makers and the center of the coalition community (artists, fans, press ect)!!! Programs not contracts The programs are designed to offer services for artists (big and small) in many flexible and reasonable ways. The services that will be offered are: -marketing/promotion (website, branding, mobile apps, blog, social networking ect) -booking & touring services (book the venues, handle the paperwork, cover traveling expenses ect) -studio services (recording) there is two ways artists can pay for these services: -subscription packages -- monthly fees -earnings splits (some of the services/packages require earnings splits) -earnings splits will be no greater then 30% ever.... so coalition gets 30% and the artist gets 70% -artists will be allowed to take donations papal donations from their sites, but in return they must agree too donate 40% of those donations to a non profit organization of their choice (doesn't matter what it is) -artists must agree to the creative commons license and can NOT sell their media in any form in anyway for profit, artists caught doing this will be immediately expunged from the coalition. -physical media will come with moderate expenses that covers the distribution and cost of the the materials packaging shipping and what not but the actual content on the media is open and free so therefor the margins will be very low and probably only enough to break even..barely Set up a non profit organization the organization will focus on funding music programs for public shcools and communities around the world. It will also push forward initiatives that will revolutionize music classes/programs by taking a more modern approach as in teaching music that *actually* appeals to the kids instead of teaching marching band anthems and classical music thats public domain. It will also coordinate and work with already established programs as well products the company will also focus on manufacturing musical instraments, PA equipment (maybe), and DJ equipment ect. I want to also focus on a web and desktop hybrid software such as half cloud/half desktop professional music editing applications, and a desktop application designed for laptop djs for performance purposes and such. like a free and open sourced apple garage band, pro audio, ableton live ect additional thoughts.... -need to build partnerships with music/sub culture festivals (coachella, burning man rostbury, summercamp ect), and build relationships with venue proprietors too. I have a feeling that if this does take off the media conglomerates will try to block venues that they own, from coalition artists so therefore a preemptive approach needs to be set up where the coalition has their own venues from the get go even if the coalition has to get into the venue business itself which is partially where the euphoria projects comes into play as well... but just in case the coalition might need to get *more* involved in the venue business in general depending on how it all plays out -each artist will be required to participate on their own site, write or have someone help them write blog posts, and participate on their social media profiles, do interviews talk to their fans ect -each artist may be required to tour X amount of hours and produce X amount of tracks to remain eligible for the program that they sign up for, this will vary depending on the program as each will have its own expectations set up (lite, amateur, pro) -might also record/stream performances as well and see how that effects ticket sales. if its a negative effect record-sell/paywall the media (or use ads), if it's a positive effect just do it and get it out there for free with no ads at all... -strict recruitment policies in the beginning and lax the policies as the project grows -build out and acquire artists and content -build out a catalog of acapellas(music samples) that are creative commons and open Edit: forgot to mention music video production which is a part of marketing & promotion... this is essential marketing tool not only full featured music videos (MTV status) but youtube videos as well. i want to leverage something similar to my jam application idea as i would like to develop a platform that can generate rich music videos with various content (photos, video clips, visualizers, animations ect) available online or on an artists hard-drive so the actual production costs are very small compared to a full featured music video. Nevertheless, its all creative commons anyways so there's nothing stopping anyone from making a music video for the tracks of any of the coalition artists and depending on the marketing & promotion teams best judgement and the artist's popularity a full featured music video might be an ideal marketing tool and will of course be completely covered in the program too with no additional cost to the artist at all.
i really hope you didn't spend your time writing this and that you copied it from somewhere else as the whole idea is completely flawed.
flawed how? anything specific? NIN seem to get by with just touring earnings, merchandise ect alone, why wouldn't the concept scale? but i appreciate your feedback tho keep it coming!! D
im going to take a wild guess and assume you disagree with this assertion: first of all the idea is that the artist must agree to creative commons license all of their content if they wish to be a part of the coalition, and if they break that agreement the coalition will have every right to expunge them, cancel their service and suspend them for X amount of time or completely ban them from the service all together. hypothetically speaking, if they try to repackage and sell the media which they produced from studios owned by the coalition then that is breeching the agreement. even if they produce the music on their own time and their own equipment they can not sell that music under the brand/band name in which they are with the coalition. Thats a grey area anyayws that may end up being another agreement clause, but its their time, thier equipment, and if they do it under a different name its their right to do so. i dont want to add that clause to the agreement at all unless it becomes an issue. if they want to sell their media and become rock stars/celebrities/rich/famous they can join a record label or go independent and do it on their own without any help from the coalition... im not going to stop them if they want to have an opportunity to be a great artist and they feel passionate about the *music* as a powerful form of expression and not just a means to an end (a rock star wannabe) then i don't think they will mind agreeing to the creative commons license and paying for the services at an affordable and reasonable price, and have no problem splitting 30% of their earnings. also even tho i didn't mention this in the OP im sure if their talent is that good and if they cant afford even the lite program the coalition would gladly set them up with a trusted seed investor and that seed investor can cover the fees for the programs and take a reasonable cut from that 70% that they get (which is theirs to spend how they want) after everything is said and done. But the coalition itself will not invest or fund artists. I want the coalition to stay impartial and neutral and focus specifically on providing the services. i dont want the coalition to "sign" or invest in artists. they are programs not contracts so they can bump up to the next or down to a more affordable one anytime they want... its not a one size fits all service. i want the coalition to offer flexible programs that are affordable as in a lite program, an amateur program and a pro program each with its own sets of expectations and packaged services. besides i want the coalition to branch out and get into: -the venue business by means of the euphoria project -manufacture and sell coalition branded instruments, PA systems, dj equipment ect -merchandise clothes, accessories ect -do some print media posters, and such so that the coalition doesn't rely entirely on the 30% cut or the subscription fees from artists. which is basically to ensure that the coalition as a company will have absolutely no interest (profit wise) in ripping off or taking advantage of the artists, nor the fans at all... period.
as far as the payment options of pay subscriptions and splitting earnings... if an artist wants to pay but not split any of their earnings there will be programs for that which the artist keeps 100% of all the ticket sales if they cant afford those programs and still want the services they can offer to split their earnings (no greater then 30%) i mean its all about flexibility in the programs some will require earnings split as they package perks like covering traveling expenses, booking fees, ect or if they want to pay for all of that themselves they can and the whole idea of euphoria is to make it so cheap that anyone with a part time job can afford to get in some studio time (professional studios) when they feel like it, with perks like free food & hotel rooms. and these euphoria sites will have multiple venues in them too and revolve around a niche genre or scene and can be used as practice concerts or tours by the artists just going from one to the other and will easily attract crowds of people who are into that kind of music anyways without any real brand power or roster line up needed these venues will be scheduled similar to how the studios are scheduled first come first serve so the euphoria project is also about making it affordable to perform at awesome venues based around an atmosphere that will pull in crowds that are already dialed into the kind of music the artist will perform hence the reason i want to build them around genres and include extracurricular activities like skate park, car shows freestyle battles ect.... trust me the euphoria sites will be life changing for the artists and fans (or random club hoppers or ppl that just want to go out on the weekends) alike and bring in an AMAZING community of people who share the same interests 24/7 all year round. and im posting too much now ill be quite and chill out about this for awhile. in the meantime feel free to post your thoughts and feedback...
hahaha awesome google's crawlers don't play around as this thread is now the number 3 search result for the query 'alternative business models for the music industry'
yup yup i have to agree which is why i feel passionate about this model here as it embraces creative commons and therefore puts freedom over 'easy' profit.... the freedom to: -sample the music and or remix the music -use a track from the coalition in a movie soundtrack free of charge -or use it in your youtube video -use it in a podcast -use it in a documentary -use it in music classes and teach kids music in a way that actually appeals to them free of chare -share the track with friends, fans, and a worldwide community of interested music enthusiast without feeling like your doing something wrong... if the tracks and albums are free this improves: -discover-ability: as in an artist's music would be easier to fall in love with. this is not to be confused with sampling as in 30 second samples (on itunes, amazon ect),limited skips on Pandora or limited streaming rights on last.fm -it effectively lowers the barrier from curiosity/slight interest, to complete fan. once a person is a fan chances are they will be a lot more interested in going to the aritsts concert or performance -the performance/concerts/touring: as it will change from album promotion (like it is now) to a whole other kind of experience since there will be no reason to promote the album itself as its cc and free. the performance will be less about promotion and more about an awesome epic experience like it should be the negative of embracing creative commons is obviously a sacrifice of a revenue stream. there is no other reason to sell recorded audio files in any format as a commodity other then to make money... besides the reason fans love an artist's music is not because its worth money and can be resold. IMO its not even based on the value attributed to it. fans love an artists music because its "good" music weather it costs 100 dollars or 1 dollar or free; it does not matter. what a person perceives as good music is not based on value attributed to it. in fact IMO its based on perceived quality and the experience. the perceived quality of the music impresses you, comes across as something that is really hard to do and takes talent or comes off as popular where you perceive it as quality music because you are lead to believe that everyone loves it. alternatively the experience (which i think goes deeper then the perceived quality) is based on the feelings you get when your listening to the music, as in it makes you happy, or gets you pumped up or you relate and/or connect to the message in the music or the artist themselves may inspire you to become an artist yourself or just inspire you to change your life in a meaningful way. Also more importantly theres the experience of a live performance, an experience which in most cases can be unforgettable to a fan. the music industry now is leveraging cheap marketing tactics and brute force promotion to entice an individual into being a fan. its more about the image/branding (fame, beauty, coolness, popularity rage, hate, ect) that the artist is packaged as rather then the actual music or content itself as far as the mainstream is concerned anyways. the inspiration a fan often gets from mainstream music is fake and derived from the artists image of being portrayed as rich and famous, or as celebrity status. the music industry have connections with the radio stations or their parent companies own them and will try to use sheer brute force and repetition. i have also heard that some labels produce music based on analytics that show what samples (keys, styles, message, beats, rifts ect) are appealing to a targeted demographic at any given time and therefor produce music based on analytics rather then the music itself being a ture legitimate form of expression from the individuals of the band or the artists themselves. there is also another tactic that isn't often discussed a "perceived popularity" tactic. where the media conglomerates pull their resources to make it seem like everyone loves a specific track, and if it seems that way, people who care about "being up to date" or "in with the crowd" or just popularity fiends will obviously fall in line and perceive the music as good music because everyone else loves it so it *must* be good right? i love this track and feel good about playing it in public or with my friends. its not hard to realize the power of such a tactic. i mean how else would Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber be so successful? add the above tactics all together, rinse, lather and repeat and you have yourself a healthy roster of rock stars. some wont last very long as eventually people get burnt out, or more often then not a lot of the fans or the demographic that was being targeted has grown up and has actually discover real music (thankfully) but its a well oiled profit machine with lots and lots of resources as the record labels are owned by the same companies that own the radio, the tv networks, and movie studios. however there are a few anomalies that slip through the cracks every now and then where good quality "real" music pops up on the top tens briefly. not to mention with the power of the internet indie labels are popping up all over the place and thriving its no question that a disruptive alternative business model for the music industry is well over due. i think its crucial that we throw a monkey wrench into the media conglomerates well oiled profit machine as soon as possible, unless you're contempt with actors being packed as bands? and the real artists being forced to make music based off of what sells better rather then truly having the freedom to express themselves?
hahaha randomness from a random guy that was totally unexpected cuz you know it wouldn't be random if I was actually expecting it
