The ability to sell your music online and distribute it widely without the help of a label is a rallying point for many independent and do it yourself artists.
A lot of artists and online label start-ups all seem to say the same thing: "Now that distribution costs are practically zero and the cost of making a record is practically nothing, major labels will wither away and have no reason to exist, all thanks to the glorious rise of the internet." Or so goes the conventional wisdom. Nevermind that making a good record still costs money...I could go on for days about that...
But my curiosity was piqued when I read a recent Harvard Business study that confirmed something rather obvious: people still gravitate towards hits. Audiences might be able to buy all the tiny bits along the long tail, but they don't necessarily want to. And just because you CAN put your music up on a website, doesn't mean anyone will want to buy it or listen to it. Most people who buy entertainment, buy things that their friends have bought and that are relevant to popular culture.
The most powerful weapon in the marketing arsenal is perceived success. If you can sell your album to a lot of people, then you can sell more albums to a lot of people. Conversely, if no one has heard of you and a potential buyer doesn't believe that anyone else they trust likes you, they are unlikely to spend money on your music.
Why do people like hits so much?
I think it has a lot do with culture. People congregate around a small number of ideas. These may vary locally and within subcultures, but to have conversations, we all need to be talking about the same thing. Teenagers in high school don't define their cliques by how unique each person's taste is, they all love a certain band together. People like to talk about the same TV show they watched, the same movies and the same books. We may not like them all, but we all have an opinion and these items become part of popular culture.
SO, the next question is, what makes a hit?
A lot of artists and online label start-ups all seem to say the same thing: "Now that distribution costs are practically zero and the cost of making a record is practically nothing, major labels will wither away and have no reason to exist, all thanks to the glorious rise of the internet." Or so goes the conventional wisdom. Nevermind that making a good record still costs money...I could go on for days about that...
But my curiosity was piqued when I read a recent Harvard Business study that confirmed something rather obvious: people still gravitate towards hits. Audiences might be able to buy all the tiny bits along the long tail, but they don't necessarily want to. And just because you CAN put your music up on a website, doesn't mean anyone will want to buy it or listen to it. Most people who buy entertainment, buy things that their friends have bought and that are relevant to popular culture.
The most powerful weapon in the marketing arsenal is perceived success. If you can sell your album to a lot of people, then you can sell more albums to a lot of people. Conversely, if no one has heard of you and a potential buyer doesn't believe that anyone else they trust likes you, they are unlikely to spend money on your music.
Why do people like hits so much?
I think it has a lot do with culture. People congregate around a small number of ideas. These may vary locally and within subcultures, but to have conversations, we all need to be talking about the same thing. Teenagers in high school don't define their cliques by how unique each person's taste is, they all love a certain band together. People like to talk about the same TV show they watched, the same movies and the same books. We may not like them all, but we all have an opinion and these items become part of popular culture.
SO, the next question is, what makes a hit?
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