Blue Note Records and Artist Share

[Lazaro Vega]

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/08/blue-note-to-partner-with-artistshare/?ref=music

[tranemonk]

Interesting..

I just hope the pick some good musicians. I also think Artistshare needs more lower level funding options (e.g., $75-150) range like the Jim Hall Set...

[ejp626]

Interesting..

I just hope the pick some good musicians. I also think Artistshare needs more lower level funding options (e.g., $75-150) range like the Jim Hall Set...

I've found ArtistShare to be too rich for my blood. I think Kickstarter is a lot more reasonable, and I've backed a few projects. I don't think that basic dynamic will change too much in the coming years.

[JSngry]

Funding levels for ArtistShare projects are set by the artist, not the company.

[mikeweil]

Exactly. If a company like Blue Notes backs out of their economical responsibility, it's sad. They ought to take the risk. If they can't anymore, what's the point?

[colinmce]

Haha, "risk". That's rich.

[CJ Shearn]

So BN will use this platform for up and coming artists? How about for projects from artists that won't make as much money? Maybe even certain reissues?

[mikeweil]

They could announce selected reissues of rare items on a subscription basis. Define your baseline, how many copies you need to break even, and see what happens. The Japanese CD reissues basically are down that way - only that retailers are asked to sign up for a number of copies.

Edited May 9, 2013 by mikeweil

[Chuck Nessa]

Really depressing and black mark on a favorite trade mark.

[Chuck Nessa]

In 1939 Al Lion took his savings and made some recordings of a couple of artists he believed in.

Now the corporate heirs of his work are asking "potential customers" for money in front. In a way I see this as pissing on Alfred Lion's work and dreams.

[colinmce]

It doesn't help that the projects are more than certain to be milquetoast.

[marcello]

I'd like to see what real value Blue Note can bring and what their share or fee will be. Artist Share has been hurting since the introduction of KickStarter and the like. Artist Share used to charge $5000 + for their services, which are few (you get a website page and I'm not sure what else) leaving a very little piece of the pie left over for the Artist unless they sold in good numbers.

Many artist have gone the totally independent route, with no distribution to brick and mortar stores and online, or leasing their projects to a label that handles that.

The Origin Records system is another alternative where they do all of the sales distribution and media promotion for a percentage.

[ejp626]

There has been a lot of discussion about this with regards to Zack Braff raising money for a film (quasi-vanity project): $2 million in 3 days. And he gets all this stick for it, when an essentially identical project for a Veronica Mars movie is praised to the skies. While there are certainly critics saying that this is an inappropriate use of Kickstarter, I don't really see it that way. These are still essentially independent projects not likely to make a ton of money, and it is a way for fans to support artists that they like.

Emotionally, I draw the line at the inevitable next step, which we have already arrived at -- corporations basically saying to fans -- you can have these releases but only if you support the upfront costs of development, since it no longer makes financial sense for us to produce music in the traditional way. But is it really all that different from the Veronica Mars project? Capitalism is so accelerated these days that we didn't even get to enjoy Kickstarter for very long before the big corporations moved in. But nothing says that the smaller fish won't still be able to use the system.

It may feel better to directly support Organissimo or Harrison Bankhead rather than some BN artist, but from a fan perspective, is it really that different? You put in $25 or $50 or whatever, and you get a CD and maybe some bonus track and a nice email about how you made someone's dreams come true... Just because BN "should" be doing this on their own doesn't change the fact that the industry has changed and the old ways don't seem to be working any more.

[JSngry]

So I get this email today, 05/10/2013, with the subject line

ArtistShare Insider News - Blue Note and ArtistShare Partner - Maria Schneider - Billy Childs - Gil Evans Project - Bruce Lundvall

And a little graphic that says

the insider

fan-funded news

and I'm thinking to myself, "Insider? Really? I know when Maria Schneider's having her period? I know who Bruce Lundvall just listened to for a few weeks, thought about dealing with, but finally concluded, no, not this, not now, not me? I know all this and SO much more, I'm an INSIDER!!!!" and then I think to myself, "no, I don't know any of this shit, or if I do, it's not from any emails I get from ArtistShare.. I'm just a guy who buys records and gets emails. Just what the fuck am I 'funding" now that I haven't always been funding already?"

Hey, I'll buy it if I like, and if I really like it, I'll pimp it, I'll give it the Sincerity Pimp for real. But dammit, don't you DARE try to pimp me by making me think that because I'm your trick-du-now that that makes me an INSIDER.

At the very best, on a really good day, I'm a guy who knows some real Insiders (and only a small handful at that). It's an insult to me and to them to try to get me to think that I don't know the difference.

Just shut up and sell the damn music, ok?

Assholes.

[GA Russell]

In 2013, I don't think that Blue Note has an "imprimatur" to give to an unknown I might want to listen to.

[Enterprise Server]

Time will tell.....

[Jim Alfredson]

In 1939 Al Lion took his savings and made some recordings of a couple of artists he believed in.

Now the corporate heirs of his work are asking "potential customers" for money in front. In a way I see this as pissing on Alfred Lion's work and dreams.

The music world is vastly different than it was in 1939.

Believing in an artist has nothing to do with it. It's simply a practical response to the fact that technology is available that allows everyone and anyone access to that artist's catalog for free with a few clicks of the mouse despite the wishes of the label or the artist.