Students combine the studio experience with live performance
July 25, 2011, Nashville Tennessee – Belmont University’s Pipeline Project, a think-tank team of nine students, hosted a performance on Friday July 22 at Nashville’s Club Roar. With performances by artists Mackenzie Scott, Natalie Royal, and Foxes Have Foxholes, the event introduced a recording format that is more affordable for up-and-coming artists, and also provided a unique live experience for fans.
The three artists performed live in the studio for an exclusive audience of fifty close friends, fans, and family who enjoyed a catered meal while watching the show. The whole event was put on for less than $3,000, including the expenses of studio time, catering, audio-engineers, video, and photography. Each artist walked away from the event with a six-song EP, video footage, and press pictures for use in their ongoing marketing efforts. The estimated cost for each artist had they pursued these items individually would be a minimum of $5,000. This recording method saved the artists each approximately $4,000.
The Pipeline Project used this event to explore how this type of performance provides unique benefits for artists with small fan-bases. Sarita Stewart, Pipeline faculty advisor, commented, “By combining the studio experience with live performance, the students helped the artists create a fun and interesting experience. The intimacy of the artist engagement process was reflected in the individual comments following the event.” Performer, Mackenzie Scott, said of her experience, “The stillness and attentiveness I received from the audience was a complete gift and, honestly, every musician’s dream. I hope they felt as moved by the intimacy of the music as I did.”
Here are some photos from the event at Club Roar last Friday. We tested out a new business model that included a studio recording session with food and fans. More info about what went down to come soon!
A website that collects ten dollars (subject to change) a month. In return for your subscription fee you can download andy 4 albums that you want for free within that thirty day period. Every thirty days you get to download four more albums (or 40 singles). This website offers free streaming to anyone from a database similar to that of Grooveshark.
Since the music is so cheap and there is free streaming it will cause the website to have a lot of visitors. This will cause the price of advertising on the site to be expensive. No artist wants to sell their album for 2.50 a pop but they can be compensated…
There will be an algorithm that determines how much of the advertising money the artist will get based on the number of their albums/singles of theirs that are downloaded.
If you want to download more music from the site than your subscription allows you will simply pay full price after the 4 free downloads. There may or may not be different tiers of subscription. Part of what makes this model so nice is its simplicity. What do you guys think? Would it work? What can be added?
Chase
We are looking at different business models and observing their pros and cons. Our goal is to create a model that will remain completely consumer focused and have all the amenities to make subscription music what it has yet to become. Many attempts have been made in order to develop a successful subscription music service and many seem to have failed or struggled with popularity. By implementing both streaming on and offline music, options for physical merchandise and products, as well as giving the consumer what they want in terms of live and digital music, this service can change the way subscription music services are used. We have seen the major problem with current subscription services as lack of bridging the gap between physical music to purely streaming digital as well as poor marketing. By using those flaws to our advantage we will develop a business model that can stand as the foundation for a subscription music service in order to make it a viable business, pay the artists as they deserve, and supply the consumer with an easy to use all access to the music they love. More music is being consumed currently then ever before, this business model can make that money seen for everyone in the industry.
Our module is studying the growth of a community. We are testing the strength of a mass of people to perpetuate the career of an artist by controlling the stimulus that drives the evolution of the fandom. We are testing the potential drive of inclusivity by simulating a highly exclusive concert experience. We hypothesize that the actual music emotional connection can be trumped by crowd experience in live music scenarios and used as a driving force in creating not only a fan base but a movement. Our group is pulling data and observations made at Bonnaroo and various other local shows alongside of research in other successful underground music and art movements to inform our decision making to create this type of crowd experience. We have been examining the evolution of Deadmau5 and Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable.
As a team we have decided to focus on the live music experience and the power of building a supportive community around an artist.
We have divided ourselves into various modules and started researching a handful of new business models and case studies. The case studies will serve as actual field research revolving around the role of live music within the music industry. Instead of developing tools that make business practices more efficient within the current music business infrastructure, we are researching how to serve the consumer. Recognizing that music consumption is at an all time high and that the live music experience is highly valued, has lead us to look at better ways to serve the consumer and meet their needs.
More details about each module will be posted soon!
One of the ideas the Pipeline team is pursuing has a working title of “The Associated Blogs Idea.” The idea is to create an organization that develops a network with the authors of highly trafficked blogs and twitter accounts in order to use them as a targeted promotional tool for artists by location and demographic. An artists’ team would come to the organization, providing tour dates and fan demographic information. The organization would then access its database of bloggers, selecting the blogs in tour locations that most directly connect to a comparable demographic that the artist connects with. The organization would then send the information to the selected bloggers, as well as promotional goods and possible exclusive content from the artist (i.e. free tickets to giveaway, exclusive interview, etc.). Associated bloggers would have no obligation to promote these artists; they would simply receive the promotional material and decide what they want to do with it. If they choose to blog about the artist, it would be in their own voices to ensure authenticity with readers.
A second component of this idea could incorporate corporate sponsors. Corporations could provide products for the bloggers to giveaway in association with certain artists, which would ideally be beneficial for the corporation, blogger and artist. The organization would act as an intermediary between all three entities, saving time for all parties and developing longterm relationships in order that artists, companies, and bloggers would continue to come back to the organization.
The idea effectively uses the traditional radio model of promotion and applies it to blogs and social networking. The greatest challenge will be initiating relationships with widely followed bloggers, but we are excited to research and develop ideas for how this model could work and benefit the industry.
