New, New Business Models

In 2007, I was invited to McGill University to guest lecture at a cross-disciplinary class taught by producer Sandy Pearlman. Since the graduate students had been tasked with designing a workable new music-related business model for their final project, I decided to put together a presentation that focused on the back end of the music business model: if and how performers, songwriters and labels were each compensated when their music was either streamed or downloaded.
In the years hence, we have organized this information into two documents — New Business Models and Digital Distribution — and presented this information to thousands of musicians at events and conferences all over the country. These documents — as well as the 42 Revenue Streams list — are a tangible reflection of FMC’s mission; helping musicians and songwriters understand the mechanics of the emerging music/technology landscape, how they are compensated, and how they can participate in this marketplace.
In August 2012, we thoroughly scrubbed and updated both the Digital Distribution and New Business Models documents, adding in new services that have appeared in the past year. In each instance, we describe the service, and if and how labels, performers and songwriters are paid. We have also converted the New Business Models document to a Google spreadsheet, making it easier for musicians to access, and for us to update periodically.
Are there services that we have missed? Platforms you have questions about? Corrections to the existing documents? Please let us know in the comments below!
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Comments
4 comments postedThere is a model that is not
Submitted by Lee Altman (not verified) on August 22, 2012 - 4:26pm.There is a model that is not on the list. At Secret Studio, we have developed a contract that allows artists to give away their music for personal use, on purpose. The contract splits personal use away from all the commercial streams, such as broadcast, software and games, film, etc. This is a "loss leader" strategy. We are about to do a full test of our concept with an album release that will be available only as free PDD's downloadable from our MediaFire account. We are actually paying the royalties for the cover of John Lennon's Imagine, even though the download is free. The idea is that the artist can generate traffic and gain visibility so there is more opportunity for all the other revenue streams to expand.
Thanks, Lee.
Submitted by Kristin on August 22, 2012 - 4:41pm.Thanks, Lee.
Hello there, this is a very
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on August 22, 2012 - 6:08pm.Hello there, this is a very interesting doc. A few other subscriber based services not included here are Microsoft's Zune, Omnifone, Cricket (aka MUVE), and Slacker.
Interesting, but
Submitted by LostInDigital (not verified) on August 31, 2012 - 10:47am.Interesting, but incomplete.
There are tons of digital distribution companies offering similar services, with a flat fee or a royalty share, or both.
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