[ExI] externalization of knowledge again

[Emlyn]

>
> So then, Emlyn, you being a musician can scarcely miss the obvious lesson:
> it is not to the artist's advantage to have her work on Pandora.  It would
> be a sales killer, ja?
>
> spike

I don't think so. I think in fact people (subset of people) buy copies
of music by musicians they know & like. Everywhere that I see studies
on the effects of free digital copies on sales, the availability of
free copies cause a boost in sales. Weird but seems to be the way.

Also, savvy artists are now making money in other ways than sales of
recordings; eg: from merchandise and events. Recordings now are less
and less the money spinner; they are the promo tool for other things.

Some examples:

How Amanda Palmer made $11,000 on Twitter in two hours:
http://www.webinknow.com/2009/07/yesterday-i-enjoyed-spending-some-time-with-amanda-palmer-lead-singer-of-the-dresden-dolls-and-punk-cabaret-force-of-nature.html

Radiohead reveal how successful 'In Rainbows' download really was:
http://www.nme.com/news/radiohead/40444
"According to reports most fans chose to pay nothing to download the
album. However, it still generated more money before it was physically
released (on December 31) than the total money generated by sales of
the band's previous album, 2003's 'Hail To The Thief'."

There are more examples of this out there.

Very important: Have you heard of/read Chris Anderson's "Free: The
Future of a Radical Price" ? (he's the editor of Wired, btw). It
describes in long gory detail the "freemium" model; where you give
away your real product, and find ways to make all your money from say
10% of the customer base, while the other 90% gets a free ride. If
this stuff is still counterintuitive, people really need to update
their intuitions :-)

-- 
Emlyn

http://emlyntech.wordpress.com - coding related
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