Mar

17

On Sliding Scale and Free Internet Downloads…

Filed Under Babbling, Music 

It seems that I’ve come across a lot more musicians who are putting up free music for download or for sliding scale… I mean, here, a simple little list of ones I’ve seen so far:
Aaron Lee Tasjan - His EP is available on his site for free download.
Steven Foxbury - 2 EPs and 1 LP worth of songs for free download.
Saul Williams - Another free download of a whole album.
Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers - Are offering their new album on a “sliding scale” that can be set to zero.
Nine Inch Nails - Sliding scale with free download option for a portion of it.
Todd Carey - Another sliding scale option.

And the list goes on and on.

Ever since Radiohead hit it big when they released In Rainbows on the brilliant idea of having the fan pay what they felt was right. It’s not a new concept, seeing Jonah Matranga has been doing a sliding scale within a $4 range (plus/minus $2) on his merch for a while, and others have done similar. You’ve always been able to use sites like Last.FM for free downloads of sample tracks, as well as the iTunes picks of the week, and even musicians who have a few tracks on their site here or there for free download. Free is the way to get people to get their foot through the door. A recent MSNBC.com survey and reader response showed that if folks could get some music for free? They’d buy the album.

And that’s an interesting truth to the matter. I can’t count how many times I’ve grabbed free music in some legal or illegal form and if I really support the artist? I’ll buy a concert ticket, get a shirt, or buy the album. If I don’t like it? I’ll get rid of it after a while. We all do the same. When I was cleaning out our closet yesterday, I came across a ton of CDs that I’ve since digitized and never use. And I looked sickenly at all of the albums and realized how many hundreds of dollars I spent on music and how much of it I could have spent on other things.

But, what about the artist and all of the money? What about things like that? Everyone says the artist sees nothing from the CD sales, or from sites like iTunes and selling their music. Recently, I found out about a site called TheTrackShack.com from a website, BzzAgent.com where I’m a member of. Its a campaign that I’m involved in. With this campaign, I’m promoting how this is a new site for people to sell mp3s through. And its one that allows another percentage with money back to the artist. Add to that other plug-ins like SnoCap.com and plenty of other sites like ZooMoozik.com that give musicians the same capability. I’ve seen folks like Mike Garrigan and Steve Foxbury use both. They’re all options.

And then, there’s the sliding scale model, or something similar to what I’ve done with the way I’ve offered my downloads: Donations.

Whenever I’ve seen the sliding scale things, I have to admit that I’m usually broke and can’t afford them. And whenever I see the donation box like I have with mine, well, I think the same thing. I wish that I could chip someone something for their art, especially when its directly linked like that. It makes me feel like maybe I should do something to show just how much I appreciate what’s being done for me. You know, sort of like the whole “buy the shirt” or “buy the ticket” thing I mentioned earlier. And I thought that usually whenever someone does a free download, well, they don’t match things up when there’s a donation box. Heck, I know that I haven’t.

What’s interesting, though, is now on this side of things? I can tell you that everyone who’s talked about it is right: there is a 50/50 response to having something of that sort on your page. When you offer it up for free download, half of the people do donate just as a thanks and the other half just take it and leave. The truth of the matter is that I don’t care if people donate or not for my music. I’ve said plenty of times that I’m just happy that someone can enjoy it. But I do find it really interesting everytime someone does and it’s an amazing rush that someone cared that much to chip a few bucks my way.

The business model is interesting, that’s for sure. Definitely something new in the whole world of online downloads and music. Its a shot against the record machine, but no matter how many bands, musicians, artists, hack-hobbyists-like-me do it? These shots won’t bring down the label machine. But with time, the impact will be interesting to see…

I didn’t mean for this to be a guilt trip or an egotistical rant of “give me money, damnit,” which I feel it came off as. I just started thinking about this one after downloading the new Roger Clyne and the Peacemaker’s album on its own sliding scale and it made me think about how I run things around here.

And I wouldn’t change a thing… Except to add some more downloads, which I should do soon.

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    About The Site


    Thanks for stopping by, folks! My name is Adam J. Cohen, and I'm a guitarist/songwriter in Champaign, IL, recently relocated from Orlando, FL where I'm a UCF grad. Here, you'll find vignettes on my life, setlists and show reviews, and whatever else crosses my mind. Enjoy!