4 Reasons To Give Your Music Away Free

free your music

Photo Credit: *L*u*z*a*

Free music on the internet is nothing to be scared of or feel threatened by. In fact as you will no doubt discover it can be incredibly valuable for all involved. We have reached a pivotal point where the cost of music distribution has fallen to a stage where we can effectively consider it to be free. That is to say, it costs me and you nothing to 'listen' to a song I want to hear. Recording a song still costs money, but listening to it no longer does.

As with any industry that undergoes a rapid transformation where scarcely controlled goods (CD's, Tapes, etc) become infinitely available goods (music downloads), in order to gain a strong foothold you need to stay ahead of the curve and adapt as soon as possible.

For incumbents like the major labels, transforming to adapt to free distribution will be incredibly difficult for them. Well established businesses often struggle to adapt when their industry becomes free. For newcomers, independents or just anyone without a failing revenue stream (mass music distribution) to cannibalize, adapting to the change is relatively easy and painless. Not only that, it also gives you an incredible head start.

There is more to giving away your music free than just giving it away though. As with any promotional campaign you need to be aware what you can gain from it. Last time we looked at the difference between Infinite Goods and Scarce Goods, now we are going to explore 3 of the benifits of giving content/music (Infinite Goods) away.

1. Maximises The Possibility Of Discovery

A free economy naturally co-exists with massive abundance. In the music industry this equates to a incomprehensible number of bands and songs. Such abundance creates the problem of obscurity; you may be great, but no-one can find you. If you lock all your music behind a pay-wall, you have effectively dropped your potential chances of discovery by a very high percentage.

Release you music for free, either by distributing the files or allowing people to listen free (streaming) from any number of websites online. As we discussed last time, infinite goods (like your music) are completely uncontrollable once released. Take advantage of this.

The more people that know who you are and what you sound like, the stronger your brand is

Every single copy of your music, every location a song exists on the internet is another place your music and brand can be found. This prolificness (being everywhere) maximises the chance of niche fans discovering you.

It has been said that it takes roughly 10 listens before someone likes a song, granted the metric in anecdotal it still holds true that the first listen rarely sells. If your music is spread around, you increase the chance for a repeat listen, further increasing the chance of creating a fan.

2. Builds Attention

In an economy of abundance as I mentioned before obscurity is your biggest threat. Above all else you need to be found. The free economy that has cropped up online has brought with it a separate, yet intricately related market called the Attention Economy.

To survive you need attention, (good) free content will get you noticed. Old intrusive advertising methods (think mass media advertising), has all but passed its due date. Content is advertising and; advertising is content.

Your music should be so good people are already talking about it offline. When you have reached this, gathering attention will become easy. Free content is the most effective way to buy attention, but it has to be good. 

Good free music (even just free to hear) gets shared very easily. It could be on one music blog one hour, and a few thousand the next. Whilst such growth isn't something to expect the point is the same. If your music is free available people will be more inclined to share it, because you are allowing them. Going back to the first point, the more attention you have, the more people will share your music, the more attention you will gather.

3. Builds Your Brand

Free music increases the possibility of discovery and builds attention, both of these things work together to build your brand. People may talk about you, what your music is like but if the person listening about you cannot hear your music the recommendation is partially lost. If they can hear you, and show others your brand will continue to build.

The more people that know who you are and what you sound like, the stronger your brand is. The stronger your brand the easier it will be to gain new fans. A stronger brand will earn you more recommendations, and better ones at that. As such people will be more inclined to try out your music, if you let them.

4. Helps You Make Money

Your infinite goods such as your music, videos, blogs, tweets and so on are all complementary goods to your scarce goods such as gig tickets, posters, t-shirts and other merch. As with any complementary good, an increase in demand in one (your music) increases the demand for another (your scarce goods). Free music complements your merchandise. It provides a no cost barrier entry to your tribe. The more people listening to your music the better.

Finally, as much as you may fight it if you are popular enough, it will be possible to download you music whether you like it or not. This is an established trend amongst online music. Fans like to sample bands before committing, its human nature; try-before-you-buy. Your choice therefore, is whether or not you are going to take advantage of this and pull fans back to your site, where you can bring them into your world.

Now we know why giving away content works, next time we are going to learn a few great ways to do it.