This post was contributed by Kate Bradley, founder of Outlandos Music and alumna of XM Radio, Pump Audio, and a virtual alphabet soup of radio stations up and down the Eastern seaboard.
As a consultant for independent musicians on social media and brand building, I find myself observing my own habits as a consumer and music fan. What motivates me to attend shows, download music, and invest in schwag? Two words: Emotional value.
Many musicians these days are giving their music away for free. This makes sense, generally, because bands that might not otherwise be heard are getting broader exposure and being shared by word of mouth. So the free music is driving revenue associated with touring: Tickets, merch, performance fees, and the occasional sale of a CD with creative perks such as bonus tracks, artist signatures and limited edition artwork.
The trouble though — and this applies to many industries — is that “free” may, in fact, be dead. Now that we expect it; where’s the value in that? I’m not alone in this thinking, either. Seth Godin agrees: There’s just “too much free.”
Is there, then, a new free? My feeling is that the new free may be the opposite of free. The complete opposite, a.k.a. expensive. Case in point: the new food. $5 Kashi. $4 for a dozen local, farm-raised, cage-free eggs. $8 Pom Wonderful. $6 rice milk. We’re willing to pay ridiculously high prices for incredible quality.
Another example: every year I give my public radio station $100, money that as a fledgling entrepreneur, I frankly just don’t have. NPR — public radio that can be consumed for free — goes back to the well that is my pocket every year. And they are masterful at it. They have me (and my credit card) without reserve.
Three essential psychological factors seem to be at play here, driving my emotion and my wallet.
- Outstanding quality, from high-end organic food to world-class radio to a stellar live concert.
- The experience of shopping at Whole foods, enjoying NPR driveway moments or being there when your favorite band does something outrageous or unique.
- The ability to share these kinds of quality and experiences among friends. This piece cannot be underestimated.
The takeaway? Emotional value may have surpassed free as a primary driver of consumer behavior. When we create music, products, services, and experiences that make consumers feel so good that they want to tell the world about them, people will pay for them – recession or no recession.
This message has been resonating with my musician clients who are jumping with two feet into the world of social media. Their fans are responding in a big way. And they told two friends and they told two friends, and so on.
Photo credit: David Chernis
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Great post. I am really interested in what social media can do for the music and visual arts industries. I'm also a sucker for great packaging, and bonus tracks. These both seem to be pathways to emotional value.
@TriciaMurray CA: Totally, perception holds a huge weight, especially thanks to the new emphasis on and ease of leveraging one's personal brand (Twitter, FB, etc)… trumps everything. I have clients whose music, frankly, isn't very good at all but they are waging truly successful fundraisers, etc., all based on their ability to manipulate (for lack of a better word) perception. For it!
[...] The value of emotional value [...]
People have always bought on emotions and then justified their decision with logic, such as impluse buying. What way too many business owners do is to fail to qualify who they are giving their free products and services.
I give away a $750 resale value proven performance appraisal assessment to select qualified potential customers to demonstrate first hand the value that I bring and secondly to ensure that this is a person I want as a client.
Giving away free anything is very much like spraying and praying because the hope is that something sticks. When businesses adopt an education based marketing plan instead of the traditional sales based or product based one, invest the time to truly qualify their potential customers and then use the “free” strategy selectively, the results should increase conversion rates (sales). Currently, I have converted everyone that I have given my $750 assessment to and this has resulted in thousands of additional dollars, many new referrals and has reduced my sales cycle time from 6 months to 3 months.
Kate/Merritt – I think there were some interesting points raised here, BUT on the contrary, Fanfarlo (indie band) had a great promotion and used social media to spread the word about a limited time download of their new CD for $1 (okay, not free, but close to that.) I covered this on my blog “Indie Music & Social Media – A Perfect Match” at http://www.socialsteve.wordpress.com
It is worth checking their recent “launch”.
Social Steve
@SocialSteve I agree with you 100%. Some bands are doing super creative things with their marketing and social media. It’s terrific to see. One of my favorites is Bell X1 who gives their fan network dibs on new releases and tricks out fun packages with T-shirts and original art and signed teapots and the like (Barry’s only though if you please — they’re Irish). Re Fanfarlo, I was blown away by them at SXSW this spring and am excited to check out their new release. Thanks for the tip!
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The value of emotion is huge. Understanding emotion is essential to success and positive growth.
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I think many bands prefer to perform than sell tons of music. Love of fans is priceless.
Katy Perry
It is hard not to believe that social media is the newest power tool to be used by large corporate in marketing products and ideas. However, it requires somewhat of a change in Marketing perspective… Just like the break through when drill bit manufactures realized that the public was not looking for a drill-bit but rather a hole, so today, people want to buy products based on recommendations from users especially their friends, and Social Media is the link that makes this happen.
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