Jump Ship

Look for Pearl Jam to do the same thing soon. Their contract just expired and rumor has it they're doing the same thing not only with their albums but each of their bootlegged shows.

This is great! I welcome the more personal communication with the musician rather that the filtered PR from the recording industry. I echo the majority of the sentiment at SXSW that I would not shed a tear if the record industry faded away.

Too bad she isn't making a statement about grossly inflated prices as well:

"The CD will sell for $16.95"

Now that she's cut the middleman, why charge the same price?

I'm not really a fan of Natalie Merchant, but I totally commend the effort. I really hope she's successful with this so it can serve as an example. Not really a Pearl Jam fan either, but I can see it being HUGE if they followed suit. Then we can sit back gratified and watch as major labels and the RIAA implode.

I really think that with the technology available to the average consumer, stories like this will be rampant. I'm waiting to see the day when Hollywood directors jump ship to market films (althought the mediums are decidedly different) done in their own studios. I would hope that a well-done film could be marketed anywhere...though it might not have the benefit of a Hollywood film trailer. Steven Soderbergh's "Full Frontal" was done with a couple of Canon XL1's and a loaded G4. Richard Linklater's "Waking Life" was done with a prosumer camcorder and then brought into paint programs before going to film. I wonder what Coppola could do with his own equipment.

With the availability of Pro Tools, Final Cut and similar applications (all of them at under a grand), I can't wait to see visual and musical expression just explode.

Go Natalie! The more high-profile artists going independent, the better.

Erik's got a point about the price, though. What about $11.95? I'd pay that....

I haven't much cared for her solo stuff (though I do like 10,000 Maniacs), but I'll buy this album just because I so very much want MANY more artists to do the same thing.

As for the pricing, note that the article says they'll have to sell 50,000 copies to break even. Even figuring in costs for that many units, many artists WON'T sell 50,000 copies, and it'll be harder to make money selling them at $11.95. They'd be in the same boat they're in now, only the money wouldn't be going to repay a record company.

A direct artist-to-consumer model is based on the artist being able to make more money off their product (as well as controlling their own catalog and keeping total creative control, etc.) than they do in the current system. If they can't do better doing it themselves, they won't have any economic reasons to go with this model, especially given that they'll be financing the whole shebang on their own (something many artists wouldn't be able to do, unlike Merchant).

Aimee Mann has done the same thing for her last two albums, following a long battle with her recording label.

SU got it right! Aimee Mann is totally indie. She is part of a small consortium of artists who publish and retain the copyright to their own music. The group is called United Musicians:

United Musicians Artists have their own labels under the United Musicians banner and retain all rights of ownership to their work. By uniting and sharing resources, United Musicians Artists have a stronger organizational base from which to build and flourish in their independence.

Her concert here in Seattle was the best one I have ever been to. She was witty, confident, talkative, friendly and musically powerful. She forgoes the mass market to retain complete creative control.
She rocks! Plus she had a cameo on Buffy.

As noted above, Aimee Mann did this. She was just interviewed on NPR's Marketplace on, I believe, Wednesday.

With 'til tuesday the band sold hundreds of thousands of records, videos, t-shirts, and followup licensing deals, but hadn't after ten years, been "recouped", meaning that according to her label, they had not earned out the money the label had spent on them, despite the fact that they had generated millions in revenue.

Her latest CD, self produced on her own label, she makes $4 a disc (There are still middlemen, even without the big labels) and has sold 400,000 copies. So she has made $1,600,000 gross. Big difference.

phish has been doing this for a while with their live shows.. =)

i wrote a long piece about this situation a week ago in response to an article i read in the guardian. i don’t believe myself that the route ms. merchant is taking can work for every artist who wants to opt out of the major label machine - she’s benefitting from her previous commercial exposure after all - but i could easily point out tens of artists who operate successfully on an independent level, retain control over every aspect of their work, utilise the internet (with the label’s blessing) to promote themselves to a wider audience on a tight budget and ultimately make a profit. the american rock underground of the 80’s merely make a track in the grass - the independents of today are paving the way.

Good for her. The Smashing Pumpkins jumped ship too by releasing their last record, Machina II, only online. Aimee Mann is now Internet based as well.

As a side note, the latest issue of Wired Magazine (11.04) has some great reader response about the RIAA article. Check it out.

I was going to post what Mac said, but there you go. And written better than I would have as well.

Natalie Merchant is also supported by a fan base of wealthy thirty-somethings. This avenue wouldnt be open to her if that was no the case

Why do artists like Natalie Merchant have to make internet only releases? I think it's fine to start your own label and sell your records online like so many indies, but I'm sure Natalie Merchant could get a distributor to throw her cd in the stores as well. I think certain bands like They Might Be Giants can get away with releasing an album only online because of the amount of middle class geeks who buy their albums and go online. My mom who owns quite a few Natalie Merchant cds rarely goes online and dare she buy anything online.

If I could offer advice to Natalie I would make her website with her cd available there, but at least throw it into stores like Borders/Barnes and Noble where her NPR listening, book-buying demographic actually buys her albums.

I also think if every artists start selling internet only albums it will only be a matter of time before the same structure exists as it does today. Big labels will move online and market the hell out of their Bittany's and Christina's the same way and get to charge even more because Natalie will have to charge $17 to break even.

Gotta clarify a bit. Prince was releasing music on the 'net while still under his WB contract. Indeed, his inability to do so legally was part of his grievances with the company. Also, he's had a pretty successful run during his independent career, scoring the highest-selling independent single of 1994, a double-platinum 3CD set, and gold-level sales of a five disc set that he released independently.

From a financial perspective, he's probably making more money than he had with any but his most sucessful major-label albums.

John Wesley Harding does a fair amount of independent releases as well. He was on Sire in the late 80's/early 90's, but left around 1995 or so. He's released a number of albums on his own as well as on smaller labels (Appleseed Records, in particular). JWH's latest album, Swings and Roundabouts sold out its first pressing (or whatever they call making CDs these days) in about 48 hours--and it is only available to purchase online and at shows.