Local bands try to cash in on mp3s
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
By: Peter Crimmins
pcrimmins@whyy.org
Downloading and sharing music has become so easy and commonplace that record labels are scrambling to figure out how to make money off of mp3s. A local entrepreneur has launched a way musicians can ask their fans to pay for the cost of making records.
Listen:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Local blues-rock band Pawnshop Roses is on MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, and they gig 2 or 3 times a week. They need $20,000 dollars to record and promote their new batch of songs.
With a web-based fund raising tool called Feed The Muse, the band is reaching out to those fans for donations from $1 up to $50. In return, fans might get a free music download, or their names in the liner notes.
Feed The Muse creator Jamie Lokoff says it allows fans to participate in the band.
Lokoff: I think that's the direction we're headed. A more direct relationship of fan to the artist is what you're seeing. It's a product of what's happening in the music industry right now.
In the two weeks Feed The Muse has been online, Lokoff says 50 bands have collectively earned over $5,000 dollars.