Is The “Free Music” Model A Good Business Model, Or Done Out Of Necessity?

As I’ve mentioned before on the site, I wanted to have a categories of posts called “Thoughts” where we can discuss some of the other aspects of electronic music, outside of the music itself.

Previously I’ve discussed whether or not a mainstream audience will ever accept music without lyrics and how this might play a role in the future of electronic music.

Today I want to talk about the “free music” business model that is practiced by many electronic artists, and I want YOUR opinion on whether or not you think this is a good business model for artists to follow, or whether it is done out of necessity.

A few of you are starting to get to know me outside of the music posted on the site, and so you may know that I’m a young aspiring entrepreneur who likes to work for himself, and enjoys things like understanding marketing and business management (fun fact: I’ve only ever had one job throughout college, the rest of the time I worked for freelance and ran a very small business).

I only wanted to start this post off like this not to give you my life story, but to show why I take an interest in this side of the music scene.

You may not care as much, but I can tell you one thing: the artists that you enjoy sure do.

And so I wanted to discuss whether or not this “free music model” of business that you find in practice is a good way for artists to make a living, or if its simply something that they’ve had to adapt to due to the availability of downloads for their music; whether they intend for them to be free or not.

What Is The Free Music Model?

The free music model, in many ways, is tied to the “freemium” model that many web 2.0 businesses have taken in the few years.

In a nutshell: release (much) of your music for free, make money from concert tickets, merchandise, and donations.

I have to add that in some instances, songs have to be released for free, if they include samples that the artists could not attain rights for in order to sell, but did obtain rights to use.

Are Artists Using It Successfully?

This may surprise some people, but yes, a few notable artists have been using this model for years and continue to thrive and make music.

For the sake of this post, I’m going to focus on the most obvious example in electronic music, the Pretty Lights Music label.

I respect Derek not only as an artist, but also as a businessman. Think about this: what kind of confidence does it take to release all of your music for free, with no exceptions, with the hope that the music will be so well received that you will no doubt have people begging to see you live?

I’m not the accountant for PLM or anything, but with the recent signings of new artists, the fact that Pretty Lights is always on tour and a headliner everywhere he goes, and the huge growth in fans that all of the artists on the label have seen has me thinking that Derek and crew are at least able to make a living doing what they love: making music.