I’ve been encouraged with music recently.
Saturday morning, I partook in Record Store Day here in Nashville. I’ve never been to Record Store Day before, but a friend invited me and I wanted to know what it is. I have to say, it’s quite refreshing to see hundreds of people get up early on Saturday (and one guy who got there Friday afternoon) to buy vinyl. VINYL! That was old technology almost 30 years ago! Now look at it!
Now vinyl isn’t saving the music industry, but what I saw was people excited about new product. That’s refreshing.
The other thing that has me encouraged was the viewpoint that was shown to me on the whole Spotify-paying-artists issue. Many artists are mad at Spotify not paying like radio does. What I failed to consider before was that a spin on radio can easily reach 10,000 people. A spin on Spotify reaches 1 person. Look what Spotify pays per spin and multiply that by 10,000 – it adds up to much more than what one spin on radio would pay. It could potentially pay a whole lot more than radio!
Finally, I’m excited to be trying new ways to give fans more than just music. Fans want an experience. They want to know the artists they follow. We’re trying new things to make those experiences count, to make them cool, to make the memorable, and to make them profitable.
I’m so excited. So excited.
Bradley Minnigan 