RSS
Email
SMS
Music Bands & Artistes Are Using Internet Platforms To Release Their Latest Tracks & Albums
(Rate this article)
Loading ...Email It!
This is a guest post by Darshit Mehta, one of the interns at WAT.
Today, internet has been turned into a haven of files that can be downloaded and distributed for free. It has been ages since pirated music had been shared among communities via the p2p softwares. But, it seems the times have been changed by upcoming artistes like Xihilisk, Cold Electric & Nasdat who have been sharing their album on Demonoid, a popular BitTorrent Tracker. Although bands like Nine Inch Nails (NiN) had released their latest albums on the internet for free, I think, this is the first time albums get published for the purpose of p2p sharing. For a second, you might feel that sharing the albums on exclusive sites like the Demonoid might limit the audience but the very nature of p2p and the BitTorrent sites is to make popular files go viral. Coldplay, a popular British band, had made their first single public, for free, in the first week of June. The album is now expected to launch on June 12th.
A definite trend can be spotted here. Bands no more feel the need of music companies campagning for their tracks as they have come to realize the power of viral marketing. With easy access to the latest technologies for distribution over the internet, at affordable prices, the role of production houses like EMI, Universal & Sony BMG are becoming limited. This orientation is getting reflected on their share prices as well. One might wonder how bands and artistes shall come up with the bankroll but with sites like Demonoid & Mininova, millions of users flock and wander through their darkest of corridors every day. It makes sense for the musicians to want to reach to these people because it’s a huge community that is expert on making files go viral and in turn help the bands get advertisement, free of cost!
What I feel is that the music bands in India, especially the new upcoming bands, can also follow this trend and share it on platforms like Indianguitartabs.com to gain more popularity. I know one band – Parikrama - which has done it. With more and more Indian mainstream bands following this model of sharing their tracks for free on the web Indian rock can gain more popularity, atleast in India.
Do you think it’s ethical or justified enough for p2p bands like the Xihilisk & Nine Inch Nails to release their tracks and albums to the users on the internet for free to download? How far do you think this business model shall help their cause? Do you think that every other brands should also try to gain popularity by getting them listed on p2p sites and offer their trade for free?
Loading ...
almost all indian bands are forced to do this because their sales aren’t good. Advaita has also put up their songs on their portal.
As far as parikrama goes, they have come up with like 10 songs in the last decade so well…
See, the bands(well ok, trent reznor, since its a single man band) like NIN are smart. They know that releasing songs on the net will get them an army of loyal fans, unlike what happened with Metallica who screwed themselves up.
NIN also know that since piracy is prevailing, people might as well download the song from the NIN website rather than limewire or kazaa.
Check out http://kroomsa.com. It is somewhat relevant.
Nice article… I feel that for Indian bands to promote themselves should give away music to maximize their reach as it would be difficult to make people pay when they want to buy Metallica and Pantera CDs. Once they establish a fan following, they could start charging for music… Since 1999, I have been running METALINDIA to promote our Indian bands and few have got international exposure from my website as well. \m/
Thanks Paras for the website.Bands which are famous like Metallica do not need to do share their stuff on the web becuase they have millions of fan folllowing them.
Indian Bands… are not that famous. But even the good ones are advised against putting their stuffs ol. The basic reason behind this is the weak cyber laws that are in effective against people who steal music ol. Therefore, cutting the profit these bands.
Most of the Indian (rock/metal) bands record music themselves and put in their own money. This is due to lack of record labels who wish to promote such talent. They are mostly interested in selling what is popular and would earn them money rather than encourage bands who want to play original music. In such case, the bands need to be paid back and hence can make more music. Its not easy for the bands to just sell their music if they don’t promote it or give away few songs (samples) for people to listen to… How will someone buy their CDs if they dont know how the band sounds? By putting their music online either on their website or on sites like Myspace or Last.fm, they can spread their music and inturn encourage people to buy their music. Other way to make money is by playing live in local pubs/gigs…. \m/
Music “industry” is evolving.
There are not enough profits to Record Labels for supporting new bands, neither the interest, so bands have to scratch with their own nails, self produce and self promote.
For new bands, selling their songs through internet is like fighting for a lost cause, they won’t have the same projection as they would if the songs were downloaded for free. People won’t buy what they don’t know, is totally rational.
The best tool independent bands have is internet (and maybe the only one), and free downloading music. If they dont give it for free they just limit themselves, and won’t reach out the people they want. They still can sell tickets for their gigs, but they wont have attendees (or just a few) if they’re unknown. Bands must have consider free downloads of their music as an investment and find alternative sources of income to keep themselves alive, because the “selling music model” is not the answer, at lest not now, and not for the new bands.
@ Shāyon:
The link to Nasdat’s site is not the listed in your post. Here are some links to hear some Nasdat’s music:
http://www.myspace.com/nasdat
http://www.last.fm/music/Nasdat
ilike.com/artist/Nasdat
Thanks!
Greetings from monterrey, Mexico.
Eliud
Very true Hetal. I absolutely agree with her . The scene of Indians Rock bands is appalling.The reason being these bands don’t have music companies and record labels to promote them. That is why they put their stuff online to gain recognition.
I know of couple of our Indian websites already doing this kind of stuff to promote new and independent bands. Sites like RadioVerve.com , SplitRadio.in, Indianmusicrevolution.com and Tempostand.com are already running and promoting bands.