Up-and-Coming Label Illustrates How to Sell Infinite Goods in the Internet Age
from the true-fans dept
The New York Times has an interesting profile of Fueled by Ramen, a record label that has managed to thrive at a time a lot of other labels are struggling. The label seems to be practicing several of the principles we've talked about here on Techdirt. First, they seem to understand that the secret to success for a band is to build up a core of serious fans. Fueled by Ramen encourages its bands to engage with their fans online, doing frequent blog posts and studio updates. And the label has apparently mastered the type of viral marketing that builds excitement among the most devoted fans. Second, it has kept expenses low. It produced Panic at the Disco's debut album for just $18,000, allowing it to make its money back even if the album doesn't sell hundreds of thousands of copies. Finally, it seems to understand that the real money is in using the music as a way to market the band, and to use the band's popularity to sell scarce goods related to the band. For example, the label's bands tour aggressively, and the label has "a merchandise company that sells band T-shirts at stores like Hot Topic, as well as on its Web site." As the costs of music distribution continue to drop, it will be increasingly difficult to turn a profit on music itself. But people who recognize that the music is a way to build the band's popularity in order to sell other stuff, for which marginal cost isn't dropping toward zero, will do just fine. Fueled by Ramen is still largely in the CD-selling business, so they're not all the way there yet, but their success at a time when more traditional labels are floundering suggests that they're moving in the right direction.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: business models, economics, free, record label
Companies: fueled by ramen
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You gotta love...
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Fueled By Bamboozled
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funny...
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Re:
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Not just labels....
I'm glad we dumped our label in the 90s, it wasn't worth it for pennies per album sold. The industry is changing, for the better. The major labels can go to the same place they created and spend some time with their mentor, Satan.
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If you like a different approach to music...
They have great bands like Electric Eel Shock, So What, BulletProof Messenger, Radius, Confused5, SolidTube, and others.
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Scare goods
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More bands
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Music Sales
God fordide a record label sell CDs
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Selling CD's
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Pete Wentz...
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CDs
Techdirt people want CDs to disappear because they don't fit into their infinite goods plan for musicians. That's why you'll see physical media being dissed all the time here.
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Re: CDs
Huh? Not at *all*. In fact, I'm a big fan of CDs and still buy them all the time.
CDs absolutely fit into the plan. They're scarce goods, and you can sell scarce goods.
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Re: Selling CD's
I can't speak for Tim, but I don't think he actually he's talking down about CDs. He's saying that the focus of the company is still too CD-based, and hasn't gone far enough into recognizing that it needs to be selling the overall experience of the band (which can include CDs).
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CDs
So you are not against selling CDS? Man, I never. I always thought you were against selling music on CDs.
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Re: CDs
Why would I be against selling CDs? They're a scarce good. I think it's a perfectly good scarce good to sell, though, you should *also* be giving away just the music for free. But offer a compelling CD package to buy and many people will do that too.
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