The Music Gardener - Artist Manager, Music Marketer

I received many comments on The Price Is Right? post that I put up a few weeks ago. Some of the comments were posted on-line while others were given to me live and in e-mail form. What really surprised me is how many people still defend the argument that music should be cheaper now than it was 15-20 years ago based on the argument that it is cheaper to make and deliver digital music than it was for physical music in the past. Really?

Let’s take the economics of one song and break it down. We are going to assume the ideal scenario for a song that is written, recorded and marketed quickly. Our assumption will be based on an eight hour day which is definitely the exception for creating, recording and marketing a great song.

- A song that takes very little time to write still probably takes the better part of a day (eight hours) What should the hourly rate for a song writer be?

- A song that requires little amount of time to record will usually take at least a day (eight hours) What should the hourly rate be for the studio full of recording gear even if it is in a garage or basement?

- What is the engineer’s time worth based on an eight hours of work?

- What is the producer’s time worth on an eight hours of work?

- Let’s assume you have a marketing person who is able to pull a marketing plan together and execute it in a day. What is eight hours of his time worth?

- You also have the designer who designs the record cover which is required even in the digital age. What is eight hours of his time worth?

- Someone has to upload the music and work with iTunes in order to get it positioned and pictured. What is this person’s time worth?

- A radio promoter spends hours of time calling hundreds of radio stations making them aware of the song and asking them to play it. This is impossible to do in a day but what do you think their hourly wage should be?

- The publicist spends hours of time calling and emailing hundreds of magazines, TV shows, internet sites to set up interviews and record reviews. What should their hourly rate be?

- Magazines, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Reverb Nation, and even Google require a nice photo in order to feature the artist. What do you think the photographer’s hourly rate should be?

- Someone has to collect the money and make sure the songwriter’s, artist and Uncle Sam are paid. What is this person’s time worth?

In conclusion, let’s look at the .99 cent price of a song. iTunes keeps .30 cents leaving .70 cents to cover everything listed above. If we take the twelve people listed above (and there are many we left out) and divide up the .70 cents, each person would get roughly 6 cents per song sold. There are no guarantees that a song will sell more than 1 copy and many don’t. At 100 copies sold, each of these people would make $6 total. Based on eight hours, that is .75 cents an hour. Minimum wage is $7-$8 depending on which state you live.

Is this really how we want to value music?  Can we change the perception in consumers minds?

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As both an artist manager and a music marketing consultant, I sometimes find that the two hats which I wear conflict on certain issues. One of those issues is the price of music. The manager in me thinks the price of music is too cheap while the marketing side understands the need to be competitive.

Here are a few things to think about. The price of a single song on iTunes today is .99 cents which just happens to be the same as it was for a cassette single twenty years ago. Twenty years ago a gallon of gas was $1.08, a dozen eggs were .89 cents, and movie tickets were $4.00. Last week my wife and I went to a movie and paid $12/ticket resulting in a $24 purchase for the two of us to be entertained for a couple of hours. On the way home, we purchased gas at $2.70/gallon and bought a dozen eggs for $2.50. This bodes the question “why is the price of music suppressed and not allowed to increase in value?” Do consumers think less of music than a pack of gum, a soda, or a loaf of bread? The answer is sadly a resounding and obvious yes. But why? Is there anything that can be done to change the perceived value of music in the consumer’s mind?

One of the key principles of economics is supply and demand. It appears the supply of music is too great for the demand. I often wonder what would happen if the creators of music stopped production for a while.

What are your thoughts on the price of music?

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The Billboard Bulletin reported this week that the week ending May 30 clocks in as the lowest week for number of albums sold since Soundscan began tracking sales in 1994. At first I was in shock but then I remembered the music business has been headed in that direction for quite a while. I tweeted about the information and received many responses asking my thoughts on what was causing the decline. Honestly, I was at a lost for words for a minute. In the past, the last week of May would have been a great week as retailers ran huge sales with “graduation” themes.  My first thoughts were to blame it on the BP Oil spill, Obama, global warming, downloading or lack of hits. Then I remembered the many things over the last 15 years that appeared as warning signs. Many of the independent retailers screamed out the warning signs but the music industry chose to ignore them. First the home video industry took a bite out of the entertainment dollar, then it was video games and while both of those were going on, the music price wars were in full force. The way our world consumes entertainment does, always has and always will continue to change. We can’t stop it. However, the music industry does appear to be stepping back in time as it has once again become a singles business. Consumers are now enjoying the ability to “cherry pick”. I must admit, I do my share of “cherry picking”. I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we didn’t have the ability to “cherry pick?” The movie industry amazes me at how they continue to grow. Not only are they able to continue to increase ticket sales but many customers also buy the DVD when it is released. They don’t give consumers the ability to pay for and receive only a portion of a film. A movie is considered a full body of work. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see what would happen if the music industry forced iTunes and all digital retailers to move to the “album only” format? Yes, I know the fears of driving consumers to steal music but with the way sales are plummeting, it doesn’t appear they are buying music anyway? Instead, all we hear is that music is moving towards the “free” models. Is that really the direction the music industry has to go? The only people that hold the power to “Turn the Beat Around” are the content owners. Isn’t it time that the music content owners band together and stop the madness?  The world will be a boring place without a song!

How would you “Turn the Beat Around?”

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Nashville's SoundCheck Under Water

The Nashville Flood of 2010 will have an impact on music like no other disaster in history! Floods are never a good thing but as an artist manager I am realizing the impact that this particular flood will have on the sound of music created in Nashville.  SoundCheck, the largest instrument storage and cartage company in Nashville, was submerged in water for almost a week. Brad Paisley, Keith Urban and many other Nashville artists and session musicians lost their most cherished instruments. One can only imagine how that will affect the sound coming from Nashville studios and live shows in the days to come as many of the vintage instruments can’t be replaced. Other artists and musicians lost instruments and equipment in their flooded homes. The news footage of Kenny Chesney climbing in a boat and saving his guitar after his home was flooded says it all. One of the artist we manage, Gabe Martinez of the band Circleslide, lost most of his gear as his home was flooded with 4 feet of water. As I helped Gabe sort through his gear, we were met with a rush of brown nasty water as we opened road cases. We opened one case to find a flooded mixing board that had quickly become a home to maggots. Gabe was fortunate enough to save his vintage guitars which we are thankful for! As reality began to settle in, I was reminded of production cut backs that instrument manufacturers put into place over the last year due to the recession. The demand for new gear from Nashville musicians could create a major drain on the instrument/gear supply chain. For those fortunate enough to have flood insurance or enough cash to replace instruments, the race is on. My advice is to get in line quickly because it’s going to be a long one! For others around the world who have been looking for the right time to sell those vintage instruments, now would be a great time to list that gear on Craig’s List.

Amidst all the loss, Tennessee is proving itself to be worthy of the name “Volunteer State” as residents are pouring out in droves to help neighbors. Several benefit concerts have recently been announced. This Sunday, May 16  7-9pm there will be a benefit concert at the Ryman Auditorium featuring Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, Lady Antebellum and Jaci Velasquez. For more info visit http://www.wsmv.com/entertainment/23501009/detail.html

There is also a great opportunity to help Nashville Flood Victims for only .99 cents. Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers and Key of B Productions will be donating all May proceeds from iTunes download sales of his song “Everything Works Together” to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s Nashville Flood Relief Fund. Click this link for more info http://bit.ly/c53LhC

While the flood may have silenced a few instruments, one thing is sure, Music City will rebuild and the show will go on!

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Byron Chambers and Manwell

As an artist manager, it is a very special time when your artist is honored for excellence with an industry award. This year’s Dove Awards were extra special as our artist, Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers, was awarded Hip-Hop/Rap song of the year for his writing and production on Group 1 Crew’s “Movin”! The Dove Award comes at a perfect time as Byron just released his new record “My Time”. Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers has been doing a great deal of work for artists behind the scenes over the last 10 years. He has toured as a musician with NSYNC, Britney Spears, Martha Munizzi and Group 1 Crew. I would encourage anyone who reads this blog posts to visit iTunes and pick up his new record “My Time” Byron is making music that is much different than most in the Christian industry. His music is relevant to the music that is happening in the mainstream while holding strong to his positive message. Please trust The Music Gardener on this one. YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS RECORD! Byron is currently on tour with Tobymac. If you are interested in having Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers play your event, please contact Artist Garden Entertainment.

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Diana Stancil, Danny Gokey, Byron "Mr Talkbox Chambers, Keith Stancil

Artist Garden Entertainment announces the signing of Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers to an exclusive management deal. The partnership began in October when Artist Garden Entertainment was hired by Key of B Productions as a marketing consultant for Byron’s new record “My Time”. Best known as co-writer and performer on Tobymac’s “Diverse City”, Byron is known as “Mr Talkbox” to music fans. He has quite the touring resume including serving as keyboardist for NSYNC, Britney Spears, Jordan Knight and recently as multi-instrumentalist for Tobymac. Byron arranged Danny Gokey’s performances for American Idol last season and he was recently nominated for a Dove Award for his co-write and arrangement on Group 1 Crew’s “Movin”. We look forward to helping Byron’s music reach bigger audiences in both the Christian and Mainstream markets.

Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers “My Time” is available now on iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/my-time/id356335600

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The Music Gardener was recently involved in what is now being referred to as the “4 week New Release Plan.” The plan was birthed out of a November strategy meeting with Brandon Bee, an artist we manage, and Save The City Records. We were looking for a way to bring some attention to Brandon during the holiday season and build his overall awareness. Knowing the heaviest traffic of the year on iTunes occurs the two weeks during and after Christmas week, we set that time as our target. All who receive iPods or iTunes gift cards for Christmas generally fuel up with music during those two weeks. Brandon had released a full album earlier in 2009 so we needed something new in order to have a shot at positioning in the iTunes stores. Our brainstorming resulted in the idea of recording a 6 song acoustic ep targeting a December 22 street date.

Brandon immediately began writing and recording. Even with the tight deadlines, we were able to get the ep recorded, mixed, mastered and up on iTunes via Tunecore by Dec 22. Fortunately, iTunes was willing to give us positioning in the New & Noteworthy section and at the only time of the year when the majority of the iTunes positioning remains in place for two weeks. Utilizing Twitter, Facebook and Brandon’s email list we began the web 2.0 marketing frenzy. Amazingly, we were able to drive Brandon’s ep as high as #17 on the Christian albums chart during Christmas week which is incredible for a new artist with absolutely no radio play. Traffic on Brandon’s website reached an all-time high which confirmed we had accomplished our goal. Coming from the major label system, I know first hand that this would have been absolutely impossible for a major label to pull off in 4 weeks. As a matter of fact, most major labels shut down for the most of December. It was so refreshing to be working with an artist who acted quickly, a label who turned all elements with speed and accuracy and no cost marketing vehicals that can be unleashed in seconds.

How would you release a record in 4 weeks? We know it’s possible!

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The Green Card

The Music Gardener decided to try something new and creative this year for Christmas. Instead of giving the US Postal Service .44 cents for every Christmas card and .50 cents plus to some greeting card company, we decided to pick one of our favorite new Christmas songs on iTunes and “gift it” along with a note to our friends and family. We coined the name for our Christmas card idea “The Green Card”. It leaves a zero carbon foot print while giving your friends and family something they can enjoy forever! So far it has been a huge hit. We picked The Weepies “All I Want” as the song for “The Green Card”. Hopefully our friends and family will remember that we are thinking of them every time they play the song for years to come. I can’t help but wonder if the sales analysis department at Nettwerk Records’ noticed a spike in sales in Nashville last week and rushed to pour fuel on the fire before Christmas?   Of course I watched the iTunes Holiday singles chart closely but determined my Christmas card list was too small to have a huge impact on the chart. It did cause me to think that iTunes could take some serious market-share from the US Postal service and the greeting card industry if they packaged and marketed the idea of “The Green Card” The iTunes gifting option does limit the amount of characters allowed at one time making it a little clunky but I’m sure Steve Jobs and Apple could figure that one out in a millisecond. What do you think of the idea? What song would you pick for your “Green Card”?

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I tweeted about the wonderful Christmas play-list that I constructed this year and several Twitter followers asked that I share it. Some of the songs were not purchased from iTunes so the iMix didn’t pick up all of the songs. Therefore I decided to publish the list here on The Music Gardener blog. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

The Weepies “All I Want”
Jaci Velasquez “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”
Low “Just Like Christmas”
Amy Stroup “You Make The Cold Disappear”
Catherine Feeny “The Christmas Song”
Jaci Velasquez “It Wouldn’t Be Christmas”
Sinead O’Connor “Silent Night”
Sarah McLachlan “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
Downhere “How Many Kings”
Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson “Winter Song”
Jars of Clay “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”
Sixpence None The Richer “Christmas Time is Here”
Colbie Caillat “Misletoe”
Leigh Nash “The First Noel”
Sara Mclachlan “Wintersong”
Regina Spector “My Dear Acquiantance”

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Remember the song “Free Ride”? I used to get such a sense of freedom when I heard that song. It appears that we Americans have decided to live that Edgar Winter song as a way of life. Everything is free! Isn’t it great? I have personally heavily bought into the idea of “free” myself. I love free downloads, free iPhone apps, free software. As a matter of fact, I am growing so accustomed to getting free stuff that it makes it difficult to make a decision to purchase anything. Very few things in life hold value in the minds of this new “free generation” and especially in the entertainment world. Consumers no longer want to pay for music, art or software. Free was such a great thing in the beginning. The concept was originally designed as a marketing tactic to give consumers a sample in hopes that they would quickly return with cash in hand to purchase. Somehow many marketers have missed the most important part of this marketing tactic which is to only give a taste, not the entire product. Even drug dealers know that people will return with cash once they are hooked on your product. I love to go to Sam’s Club during the day when the food sample carts are out in force. As much as I enjoy the free food samples, I know if there is something I really like then I have to break out my wallet in order to take some home. Why do some people in the music industry think we have to give the entire product away? I recently read about a label’s marketing plan which consisted of giving away the first 50,000 cds of a new release from one of their new artist. WOW! That’s awesome. Instead of giving consumers a taste, they are giving away the entire product. I’m sure those consumers will race back to buy another cd as everyone needs two of the same cd don’t they? If there is no value in the cd the consumer was just given, why not burn their friend a copy? After all, isn’t the label sending out the message that free full length cds are okay with them? Now, the label is probably looking at making their money from touring and merch as the artist is most likely  signed to a 360 Deal but the “free generation” isn’t going to be satisfied with only free cds. They are also going to expect a free t-shirt and a free concert ticket. The scary thing is that if the cds are being given away for free then there is no money to pay the artists, songwriters, producers and engineers. If the people who create the music aren’t being paid then creating and making music technically becomes a hobby. Maybe the Hobby Lobby retail stores should begin carrying Pro Tools and Music Industry Dress Up Kits? Yes, I have heard the story about some artist who gave away his cds and his live shows became huge and turned into big dollars. That’s great but just because it worked for one artist doesn’t mean it will work for all artists. I think the important part of that story that some people missed is that his marketing strategy was unique.  Being unique and creative is the key, not the free part. I remember when iTunes started the “free download” of the week, I couldn’t wait for Tuesday to come. Over time it has become less and less special to me. I honestly can’t remember the last time I downloaded the iTunes “single of the week”. While I do believe we need to be thinking differently and creatively about marketing music, I don’t think free is the ultimate answer. Being creative and unique in our marketing is the answer!

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