How To Give Away Your Music For Free, And Still Make Money

Trent Reznor surrounded by his adoring (paying) fans

Photo Credit: Edvill

This business model is finally catching on. Give away the infinite good, to enhance the value of your scarcities; and then, sell the scarcities. Big name artists from NIN and Muse, to Radiohead and Imogen Heap. All allowed anyone to listen to their entire album in its original (albeit compressed) form with no obligation, for as long as they wished.

It's not just as simple as putting your music up for open slather though. As with any marketing (thats what this is after all) there is a great deal of strategy involved.

NIN followed up their giveaway with limited edition tiered scarcities ranging from the physical album itself, all the way to the album in CD, Vinyl with a banquet of artwork in an exceptionally expensive and limited run (naturally they sold like hot cakes). Radiohead opted for a different route with a choose your own price model, however that didn’t mean the result was any less spectacular.

Muse and Imogen heap both chose to allow unlimited, obligation free streaming of their entire album. Followed up with strong campaigns to buy the physical album. Imogen Heaps latest album Ellipse has since hit #5 on the Billboard charts. Not to mention Muse reached the top of the charts in most countries.

What should I give away?

To be successful in giving away your music for free, you need to first understand what you are giving away. The main reason people are 'pirating' music, if recent studies are any indicator, is to see if they like it. It’s the oldest risk aversion method in commerce. A recent study found that people who 'pirate' music are significantly more likely to go out and purchase music. This backs up much anecdotal and empirical evidence.

Give away the ability to listen, not to own

This shows two things. First there is a very real advantage to allowing your (potential) fans to hear your music before they buy it. It also aids greatly in your quest to convert casual fans into regular (paying) fans.

Secondly it empirically details that there is still value in music. It shows that, as a society we still place value in owning a copy of music. Even though there is a small but growing trend to access over ownership, I personally do not see much viability in it yet.

The best part of you album to give away is not the album itself, as people are still willing to pay for that. Instead you merely need to give away the ability to listen to it. In it’s entirety. Without any nasty clicks or pops or other archaic methods to prevent ripping. Let your fans hear your album, and trust that they will not rip it.

How should I give it away?

For this to be successful it is best to have one definitive place for you album to be heard; but let it also be embedded and distributed throughout the web. And preferably this should be on your website, right next to everything else you do, and next to very prominent sharing options.

The main reason is to funnel all prospective fans into your tribe and world from the get go. This strategy takes your fans away from the torrent sites where they never interact with you; this brings them straight to you. After which the responsibility falls back onto you to invite them into your tribe.

Encourage your fans not only to interact with you, but with each other. Make it obvious and well known that you want as many people as possible to visit this page and hear your music.

Don't beg though. If you don't respect yourself as an artist, your fans wont either.

Once you have a page setup for fans to stream your music from, you need to get the word out. But that's another post entirely.