Direct to Consumer (D2C) model for
distributing music has been on fire the past five years. As musicians flock to
the Internet with dreams of gold as their fans open wallets to purchase every
new version of their latest hit. Larger profit margins can be obtained versus
using a third party for distribution. It builds the fan base and costs the
artist very little. In the article Direct-To-Fan
Holds Much Promise, Many Problems, Kyle Bylin explores the reality of
this sales model for a musician. While the profit margins are undoubtedly
greater then utilizing a third party on the surface, many costs do not come
into consideration by most musicians when making this choice. In the article he
interviews several individuals in the industry that have experience both
positive and negative with D2C. I will boil it all down to some simple
concepts, but first I will state that do not be deterred in the use of D2C as
it does have valuable results, just do not depend on it as your sole source of
distribution revenue.
For me it boils down to aspects of cost,
SEO and placement for the finding the new fan and selling an album. A band
website or Facebook post alone are not positioned to be the ideal locations to
sell an album (unless you already have a strong fan base and following
exceeding 10,000 individuals). Why? Well let us examine successful models like
iTunes which have many employees whose sole job is to drive traffic to the
website. I do not know the budget they have for SEO but I am pretty sure that
the average musician trying to build their brand does not have the budget to
accomplish what they already have. This brings me to cost of which there are
many when considering D2C for example, secure website service for customer
transaction (SSL), shipping, returns, advertising or pay per click ads, and let
us not forget the labor from the band members managing all of this.
Just to remind you the reader I am not
saying do not do it, just examine the costs and find those transactions that
are worthwhile to the fan and help establish revenue to continue doing what you
should be doing best, your music that your fans love.
