Jonathan Coulton’s success should be a motivating force to any up and coming artists. He does tours where he knows he will have a great turnout and I don’t use the internet, but I sell my demos to people I know will buy them. I have yet to take my business to the internet, but speaking from my experience the last week of just selling my demos on the street, I am a true believer that the internet is a great source as far as getting your career off to a great start. Of course people have to be careful, your stuff must be protected/have a copyright, butr the sky is the limit if your an unsigned artist. All these social networks work in your favor also. I can see myself using facebook, and twitter to promote my records I have for sell and so my website can be promoted as well. Out of the two, I am all for how Coulton went about his business. Everyone can’t be as successful as he was, but success leaves clues. Use those clues to find out how you can benefit from certain situations in your own way. Can’t wait to see how Super Meat Boy turned in the next class either. Hope it turned out great, because I would play it!

I believe the internet is a good median for musicians. Majority of today’s musicians are discovered by the internet. But, once they hit major stardom or signed to a record label, they become top of the long tail. Then it may not be so good. Artists that trickle down the long tail will never get major play like the hit musicians but still has a chance to make a career out of music.

For Johnathan Coulton it worked out because he makes a lot of money for his music. In his response he says most of his sales are digital, which means non distribution cost. I agree with Coulton because his success wasn’t easy or over night. He rely on tours, marketing, blogs, and other social medias to get his music out. He have to tour where he knows he will have a definite crowd. His music is a success because the internet is a median that reaches out to everyone of all genres. He was able to find a group that enjoyed and wanted to buy his music.

Is the Internet good or bad for the music industry?

This is the question that the Planet Money podcast posed. However, the hosts really left it unanswered.

It was obvious that the two music industry experts were not in favor of the Internet for musicians. Below are just a few of the problems they said musicians face because of the Internet.

• The Internet makes it so easy to steal music.
• It makes it incredibly hard to sell records.
• It devalues music.
• The Internet business model (referring to Coulton’s “business model”) cannot replicate huge success like record label artists.
• It can only work for niche groups.
• It will work for only a few people, not all.
• It’s easier for artists to make music and promote their products with a record label.

They basically said that Jonathan Coulton’s success was “the perfect storm” to rise to music success and fame on the Internet; he started making music for software engineers like himself who were avid Internet users. What it boiled down to was that Jonathan Coulton and his niche music was like a Snuggie: people didn’t know that they wanted it until they were given it.

But Coulton argued that this was not the case. He felt like the experts on the Planet Money podcast did not actually talk about his business model– make good music and sell it to people who want it. Coulton believes that his success is replicable. He owns his music 100%, and because of the Internet, it has allowed him to communicate with his public. He said that he can reach fewer people more directly, and that’s what’s so beneficial about using the Internet as a musician.

And I would have to agree. I don’t think that everyone can have a six figure income like Coulton, but I do think success on some level can be achieved by people who are dedicated to their work and reach the right target audience with their work. I don’t think that the record label is going to disappear anytime soon, but I do think the number of people who rise to music stardom through the Internet will undoubtedly increase.

I Chose the rap group das racist for my project because they are good example of the media topics we have discussed in class. The group is from Brooklyn and gained success from a  youtube video pizza hut and taco bell in 2009. Since then the group has made two mixtapes and an album produced themselves and have earned their way in the top artist to watch list from various indie music blogs and sites. The group would be good for this project because of thier style of rap which is considered joke rap however they have been creating alot of buzz on music blogs and even had an episode on the hulu series A day in the life.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/oct/09/das-racist-hip-hop

http://dasracist.net/

https://twitter.com/dasracist

Jonathan Coulton has found success in the long tail by maintaining a niche audience. His music consist of geek culture therefore his audience consist of geeks. Once one person finds  his music interesting he tell his friends who like the same music and they visit the website that has all of his music and merch for sell. Coulton’s success is also due the ability to produce and distribute his own music, meaning he gets back 100% of revenue there is no one to pay but himself and the monthly internet bill. This means there is more money for him to spend on promoting his new work as well as creating new work. The internet has revolutionized independent music. Anyone can find and maintain success in the long tail. The more niche you are the more likely you will remain relevant. There are many new independent acts that come and go every year and some that last for a while.

I have chosen to write my artist profile paper on a YouTube video blogger who goes by the name of Munky King, or more commonly, MK.  He puts up video after video criticizing people, groups of people, and musical artists popular today.  A lot of what he says is not actually what he believes, but his goal is to open your eyes to all of the bull crap in today’s society while being extremely hilarious at the same time.  He has his own webpage, YouTube channel, Twitter, and Facebook page to promote himself.  He is now even sponsored by the company called “Likeable Assholes.”

http://mklovesyou.com/   Webpage

http://www.youtube.com/user/GroundZeroOnline?feature=watch     YouTube Channel

http://www.facebook.com/GZOFanPage?ref=ts&fref=ts     Facebook Fanpage

https://twitter.com/Ground0Online   Twitter Page

It is really hard to say whether or not the internet is a threat to musicians.  For right now, it is a definite asset because if you are really talented, you can put your stuff anywhere and everywhere for everyone to see.  If you have the resources to keep creating and creating and you are just different enough to be intriguing and fresh, your name and materials will slowly begin to spread.  Once they do begin to spread, you have to keep creating still, because the public will forget about you just as quickly as they started to like you.  I can also understand how anyone being able to put whatever they want online might hinder talented artists because if everyone is doing it, it raises the competition level a lot higher.  There is so much different music and videos uploaded every day, it makes everything so diluted.  One really has to catch the attention of a lot of people.  The money making side is a whole different thing.  The internet has opened a lot of new ways for artist to make money off of their works, but it has just as much created a way for them to lose it as well.  If one is careful, they can do a good job of making sure their music cannot be downloaded for free from any source, but that is probably not an easy thing to do when all you are trying to do is get your name and work out there.  That is what seems to be the best way to do it now though.  The best way to become successful through music on the internet is to put a whole bunch of your stuff out there for free at the beginning.  Then when a lot of people like what you do, that is when you make new material and make it only available for purchase.  That is what Tyler the Creator did and that is what Donald Glover/Childish Gambino did, and they are both very successful.

The internet is a wonderful place in the year 2012. Someone like Jonathan Coulton is able to make a lot of money being a musician without being signed to a big record label. On Coulton’s response he says, “Most of my sales are digital, which means there are almost no distribution costs. I have never spent any money on marketing and rely completely on blogs, podcasts and social networks to spread the word. I tour solo with an acoustic guitar (used to anyway), and I only play in cities where I have already ascertained there is going to be an audience. I record by myself at home (again, used to!) using equipment that is not very expensive…”. The internet is a perfect place for a “nobody” to be found and heard. More famous artists like Beyonce would lose money in this case because part of their profit would go to their record company, publicist, marketing company, etc.

I think I have to side with Coulton on this one. On the NPR podcast they make the point that basically Coulton only became famous from his song “Code Monkey”, a geeky, pop-like song, that was on slashdot, a nerd site, but his business model is much more complicated than simply making a song on slashdot. It kind of sounded to me like they’re kind of pushing the internet and nerd culture together, which I don’t think is the case anymore in 2012. The internet has every type of person on it which means that any kind of musician can replicate Coulton’s business model.