Author: Tim Sweeney
Published: December 31, 1969
Tool: [ email ]
This month, I wish to share with you the alternative
insights into companies trying to design new Internet
gimmicks for artists, why Napster is a facade, who are
the "actors" presenting Napster, and why it's not worth
your time or investment.
Almost everyone who has played in a band or, at
least, knows a musician, has run across one of this
type at some point in time. The "musician" who is
more interested in his/her equipment and what it can
"supposedly" do (whether or not they need it), than
the music they are playing, or the song they are writing.
Welcome to the MP3 Summit, Napster, and the future
of music on the Internet. Since it will be unpopular for
me to say, I'll just say it. I am scared for the future of
our music on the Internet.
I'm not talking about the major labels with established
star artists. I'm talking about YOU...the creative and
visionary independent artist who is creating and
performing your own music for the love of it and the
future life it will bring you.
Since the EAT'M convention, nothing has become
more clear to me then the desperate future we are
facing on-line. For example, at EAT'M, I stopped by
a booth in the trade show where the whole company's
pitch was to have "cool psychedelic" graphics moving
around on the screen while your song was playing.
The guy was telling me how "visionary" and ground-
breaking this was. He was not interested in your
music, or in the fact that your fans had to have the
same program installed in all of their computers to
see what you wanted them to see.
More importantly, he was not interested at all in
answering the most important question. "How is this
supposed to help you sell more CDs or downloads?"
His whole interest was that they had developed this
new technology that allowed you to have a cube
bouncing around on your computer screen that
reacted to the beats in the song and how great that
was!
Forget that I said that I thought it was more important
that people could read about you, your music, and
especially where they could buy it, or fill out an email
right there to order it while your song was playing. He
only believed that his dancing cube was more
important, and that it would hold your fans attention
longer than information about you.
Next, I ventured to the MP3 Summit. This featured a
whole trade show of people who just didn't "get it."
Booth after booth, company after company, the
standard response was how cool their new technology
was. Again, no interest in whether or not their ideas
could and would help you and other artists sell more
CDs.
From there, like you, I have been hijacked by CNN
and CNBC continually having the debate about
Napster. My favorite facade or should I say, soap
opera of the new year! It's like a bad new show on
the WB channel. Lets stop and analyze the "actors"
on this continuing drama.
First, Chuck D. who, when interviewed, has a sign
under him, not stating him as an artist, but as CEO of
RapStation.Com. While he pretends to wave the flag
about how helpful Napster is, he looks to the side and
watches the monitor to see how he has to "adjust" his
shirt so this web address can be clearly seen by those
cheering bedroom musicians and music fans at home.
WAKE UP!! He's not pushing Napster! He's
outspoken for Napster for the free advertising he's
getting for his own website.
This is the same man who also takes the opportunity
to complain how major record companies are stealing
the money from the artists and the fans, but last week
signs a record deal for his new band with Artemis
Records, who is headed up by Danny Goldberg, former
head of Atlantic Records!
Oops! Chuck, you are too talented of an artist to stand
in front of Napster. Your ideas are right, but the
company you are defending is not offering what you
are believing in.
Then you have the Metallica camp, whose basic
problems are that no one asked their permission
before their stuff was posted and that college
bookstores and the record stores across the street
from the schools, have pulled or stopped ordering
their CDs.
Why? Because college kids, who are Napster's
biggest audience, don't want to spend $15+ for their
CD when they can hear a crappier version for free.
(Yes, the hidden secret! If your music is posted on
Napster and getting some attention, college
bookstores and stores located near the schools, will
not carry it, or will only order 1 or 2 copies because
this is where Napster is doing the most damage.
Sales by artists previously selling well on college
campus, are down 91%. Good luck if you are
interested in playing at some of these schools.
However, there is good news for most of you --
coming up later).
Anyway, back to our story. Do you ever notice on
these interview programs that Napster never has
anyone there to answer any questions? Probably
because they don't want to have to answer the
biggest one! "How will Napster help my music
career?" The answer is---IT WON'T!
Why not? Because Napster is the new version of
MP3.Com. They have the same old Internet problem
as everyone before them. There are 50 million songs
on Napster. Are you going to spend your time poking
on the files of thousands of bands you have never
heard of? No? What a surprise! Neither are the
college kids.
Now! Napster has changed its "discovery process"
of new talent by making "easier." You just have to
enter in the band's name into their search engine to
find it. That should help eliminate every band that has
grand illusions of someone discovering them on
Napster.
Why? Because they didn't do what they should have
done in the first place to get people to know their
name!
By the time you get done having hundreds to
thousands of people knowing your name, are you
really going to want to send them to Napster, or your
own site? The investment bankers who own Napster,
are just building a big advertising base for car
insurance companies and the phone companies to
pitch to.
Now, my favorite new plot twist! Enter Michael
Robertson from MP3.Com, the man who is the
greatest CD return customer of all time, strikes out
against Napster saying they are ripping people off!
MP3.Com is good and Napster is bad. Has Michael
turned against the people who once supported him?
Will Napster hide around the corner of a dark building
and finish Michael off?
The plot thickens, and all of us in the music community
are swallowed into it by a media community that will
jump onto a new story next week (Isn't it fascinating
how quickly Michael criticized Napster, speaking out
against them when in a previous article, I noted how
similar the companies were?).
Plain and simple. I'm scared! We have thousands of
computer and web guys who have never been artists
or musicians, designing crap you don't need. And that
won't help you sell any more CDs then you are selling
right now (As I write this, I'm getting the vision of the
guy in Spinal Tap talking about how his amps go to 11).
This legion of computer and web design team's only
interest in you, is that their investment bankers feel
more CDs will be sold through the internet in the future.
Plus, they like Classic Rock!
God knows that I hope the sales of CDs greatly
increase every year on the Internet. I would love to
get rid of some of the record stores throughout the
country. However, I don't believe a dancing cube is
going to make that happen!
Unfortunately, the future of your music career doesn't
lie with your music being placed on a site with 50,000
other bands. It lies on your own site, with your own
domain name, and with you spreading the word of
mouth with your fans that you are out there and that
people should come by to experience what your
music is about.
