HOW ARTISTS CAN MAKE CA$H WITHOUT BEING SIGNED TO A LABEL

Mike Masnick stood up and made a speech in 2012 in cannes, france. The speech was all about "how artists can make cash without being signed to a label.

Mike's speech focused on a singer/songwriter Trent Reznor who made success without being signed to a record label.

At first when Mike was signed to a record label he did lots of clever relationship making with his fans by using CWF + RTB = $$$$. This stands for connect with fans = Reason to buy = The business model.

He started connecting with fans by highlighting letters on his tour T-shirt. If the letters were matched up this was spelt- I am trying to believe. Some clever fans put a .COM after this and sure enough this took them to a website which ended up being an alternate reality game. Fans loved this because they felt Reznor was trying to connect with them. Reznor also dropped memory sticks in the bathrooms of his concerts. The memory stick contained songs which he had made but they had not been heard by anyone. Again this pleased the fans because they felt like they knew some songs which others did not(feeling connected to him)

Once Reznor was dropped from his label he didn't give up, instead he got better. For his next album he allowed the members of the public to download the first 9 songs for free. He charged $5 for 36 songs which is very good considering that ITunes charges 99p for one song.

He then released different editions of the album. For example he charged $10 for a two disc cd set plus a 16 page booklet. There was then a delux editon box set which included a DVD, Blu-ray and a booklet, all for $75. Lastly for $300 you could buy an ultimate edition package which was signed personly by Reznor. There were only 2500 of them yet they sold out in 30 hours making Reznor $750,000 and $1.6 milllion in one week. ALL of this was WITHOUT a record label.

For his next album, The Slip, audience members can download the whole HQ album for free.

His album was the most downloaded album on amazon which proves artists can make cash without being signed to a label.

I feel I can include this when making my own artist. I love the idea of creating websites through hidden messages (IE T-Shirts). It gives the fans something do and it makes them feel like your going that extra mile to satisfy them. Its what makes an artist unique.