Reflections on an MP3 release party

Last Sunday was a momentous occasion in Zorch History as are all the release events. It was well attended and MP3 sales were brisk. People were actually showing up 40 minuets before show time to get first crack at buying it. For the record, Chantal beat out Gargravar by a mouse click to earn the honor of first sale. While the show was two hours plus change in length, the crowd was consistent.

Over all, a win for the team.

Thanks to Harrie Skjellerup for hosting and Fox Reinsch for simulcasting the event on Indie Spectrum Radio. Much thanks to all the people that showed up and made the event memorable.

That being said, permit me to ramble on about the relevance of recording sales in Second Life.

Of course I can only speak from my experience and won't pretend to be an expert, but I feel the fact I actually sell a few MP3 gives me an informed opinion.

I personally have a very small core audience that buys MP3s collections. I'm relatively sure they all own more then one collection. This seems to indicate to me, their first MP3 collection purchase was an enjoyable experience, and something they felt was worth the purchase price.

Most collections are sold release day. I suspect many of the following sales are simply people that could not attend the release event, and wanted the collection anyway. I do have a rare occasion where somebody “Runs the board” and buys everything I have available, and while that is very cool, it's very rare.

Now if you factored the time invented in creating an MP3 collection and the money earned it would seem a rather unprofitable venture. But MP3 collection do more then make money. They create an interest in the music.

I did mention my small core audience a while back, but what I didn't mention is they are a very devoted core audience. When I see a familiar face in a crowd, I know they have a few collections sitting on their hard drive. Most are very interested in the new songs presented and wondering when the collection featuring them will be available.

Live music is great, but recorded music is part of people's lives.

I know of two supporters that drive to work listening to my music. Gargravar mentioned he's got my music on his I-pod and often invites people to have a listen. These are just stories shared, I'm sure there are more excursions into real life I don't know about. As a matter of fact, if you have an anecdote about where you listen to your Zorch MP3 collections please feel free to share on on the comments section.

I am an original artist and as such it's of great benefit to me to release my songs to the public. Familiarity with the material give that material more resonance. I suspect a goodly number of my supporters sing along in their homes at my shows. They know the songs, and they know who plays those songs.

A while back some goober suggested I call myself “The Selfish Bastard”, but I'm not selfish I'm arrogant. And while I am arrogant, I am a servant to my supporters. Every collection is an attempt to deliver a product they will want to take home with them, and make it part of their lives. The more often I provide a product they enjoy and ascribe value to, the more my cache as an artist grows. When I get it right, I'm rewarded. Not just with a monetary gain, but a more developed supporter base.

I feel more original artist would benefit with a more refined promotion of their recorded material. Why should I care what other artist do? Well I've often suggested a high tide raises all boats, and to a large extent, the vast majority of music supporters are not inclined to purchase MP3s. It isn't part of their Second life musical experience.

Most artist release recorded material as an ancillary effort to their live show. Yeah, it's available on CD baby, but how many make the jump from the show to CD baby? How many want to deal with all the bullshit of ordering from CD baby and then wait a week for the CD to show up at their house?

There are third party MP3 vendors in Second Life, but simply put, they require instructions and reading instructions should not be part of the product purchase experience. There is a product called “MP3 by Me” that is incredibly unreliable, complicated, and the object actually pays it's creator and then sends your cut back to you. I did use one when I started out, and it magically vanished from my inventory.

There is also the Second Life CD, while not nearly as grim as “MP3 by Me”, it still uses Second Life as a delivery platform and frankly speaking, that is a very weak link. Most that use it are just to intimidated by looking for another solution to do it themselves.

So far with hundreds of sales, I've managed a 100% delivery rate. My system is simple to use, reliable and best of all free to use.

Allow me to sum up why it's so cool to buy MP3s from independent artist.

Every time you buy music from an independent artist you make a big, fat, talentless music business leach cry.

Support Independent music.

Make a Fat Boy Cry.