As you may or may not recall, we posted a strategy essay a while back titled “The Art of Frequency“. In an nutshell, we explained how putting out music as frequently as possible is a successful strategy amidst today’s changing music industry landscape. You can read the full essay here: STRATEGY: The Art of Frequency.
The truth is many independent, DIY artists still simply do not get it. I really wish more would listen to my plea. Instead, many are full of excuses and reasons as to why they remain stuck in their ways, maintaining the status quo. I’m sorry, but if you’re taking two years to release a record, you might as well give up and quit. Okay, maybe you shouldn’t quit making music all together…but you should quit dreaming “the dream” – a dream that requires you working your ass off and eventually leads to truly “making it” in the music business.
Seriously, even if your current plan is to release a new record once a year, you are way behind the curve. Maybe you haven’t examined the market lately, but the business has drastically changed. The “indie music” biz is possibly the most over-saturated, uber-competitive marketplace on the planet. Consumers of new music have a nearly infinite number of choices to choose from – many of which are exceptionally good. Every month…every week…every day, thousands upon thousands of new songs are being released to consumers for their listening enjoyment.
Why on Earth would anyone want to sit around patiently and wait a year or even two years for you to release your new music? The answer is: they won’t wait for you. Sure, a few of them probably will wait. But your ultimate target – the really passionate, die hard music connoisseurs (the ones who will go to every show, buy every CD, put your sticker on their bumper or laptop, get your name tatooed on their forearm and name thier first born after one of your songs) – will get over you and will move on…sorta like your high school girlfriend did. Seriously – many of your most ideal fans will get bored, move on, and will find other, more compelling artists to go nuts about… Artists like The Decemberists who engage them more regularly and keep them engaged by frequently releasing new music and keep things fresh and exciting.
Case Study: The Decemberists
Have you noticed The Decemberists lately? Whether you appreciate their music or not, one cannot deny that they truly understand the art of frequency. Ask any Decemberists fan and they’ll tell you that one of the things they enjoy most about this band is knowing that Colin and company will not let them down by taking a year or two to give them something new to listen to. And in case you haven’t noticed – Decemberists fans are some of the most passionate and engaged fans on the planet.
So what makes The Decemberists such a wonderful case study in the art of frequency? Let’s take a look at what they’ve put out over the years:
5 Songs (2001) EP
Castaways and Cutouts (2002) LP
Her Majesty the Decemberists (2003) LP
The Tain (2004) EP
Picaresque (2005) LP
Picaresqueties (2005) EP
Connect Sets (2006) EP
The Crane Wife (2006) LP
Live from SoHo (2007) EP iTunes Exclusive
The Perfect Crime #2 (2007) EP
The Decemberists: A Practical Handbook (2007) DVD
“Always the Bridesmaid: Volume I” (2008) Single
“Always the Bridesmaid: Volume II” (2008) Single
“Always the Bridesmaid: Volume III” (2008) Single
The Hazards of Love (2009) LP
In fact, on January 15, 2009, the first single from The Hazards of Love – “The Rake’s Song” was released as a free download on their Myspace page. This was followed on February 16, 2009 by “The Hazards of Love 1,” again on Myspace.
Wow, have these guys been busy or what? Oh, and let us not forget that each and every member of the band is in at least one or more side or solo projects, all of which also release new music, relatively frequently. It goes without saying that solo and side projects are a valuable extension of a band’s friends and family network – all contributing to help further engage and compel the greater fan base. Worth mentioning, Colin Meloy has been pretty regular at releasing his own solo work, including world tours, hype machines, and the whole nine yards. Here is his discography:
Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey (2005) EP
Colin Meloy Sings Shirley Collins (2006)EP
Colin Meloy Sings Live! (2008) LP
Colin Meloy Sings Sam Cooke (2008) EP
Count all of these up and you’ll find that The Decemberists have issued at least 11 releases over the past five years – 15 releases in five years if you want to count Meloy’s records. And I’m pretty sure there’s an “unofficial” release or two that I’m not even aware of that could be added to this list.
By now, I hope you understand that The Decemberists have succeeded at CONSTANTLY putting out new music. And as a result, they’ve got more interest and buzz than the majority of other artists and bands in the indie music marketplace. I mean, they’ve got so much buzz that fans are currently locked in a passionate debate about which album artwork they should use for their cover of the new record, The Hazards of Love. Should they use the dark one or the white one? The whole thing is rather entertaining…
But before you get too caught up in album artwork debates, remember that a big reason The Decemberists have been so successful is because of the frequency of which they put out amazing music.
Right now, I can think of at least ten bands that I know personally or have occasional contact with, all based in and around the Northwest, who are all failing miserably with the art of frequency. These days, there is absolutely no reasonable excuse for taking a year or more to put out new music. Extended time between the release of new music only does one thing: it kills buzz, excitement, momentum and enthusiasm that your fans, friends and family have about you and your music.
Stop over-thinking things. Quit trying to put together the perfect record or the perfect group of songs. While that does have a place in your overall strategy, it cannot BE your strategy. If it takes you a year or two to release your full-length, make sure you release a couple singles, leak a couple demos and release an EP or two along the way. (And no – recycling old songs doesn’t work). Besides, all of the statistics from iTunes, EMuisc, Amazon, etc, supports the fact that consumers are more inclined to purchase individual songs that they like, rather than a whole album. And before you kill the messenger and start criticizing me for devaluing the “art of an album” – stop for a moment and listen to your target: the consumer. They want good music. And I say good for them for discriminating between what they like and dislike. In a perfect world, your entire album will be so good and so compelling as a whole, that they’ll want to buy the whole thing. Right?
But wait…you don’t have time to put out new music all of the time, do you? You have a day job that takes up all of your time, right? And you have a kid… or a wife… or a significant other who needs more of your time, right? And you’ve got school… or addictions… or family problems… or employment problems…. or (insert your usual excuses here) that take up a lot of your time and make your life “really busy.” I know, I know… your life is super hectic and I just don’t understand what it’s like to be you. Right?
Well… do you think Colin Meloy’s life is all smooth sailing? Do you think he’s always been a full-time musician, without a day job or the challenges of regular people like you and me? Shortly after graduating from the University of Montana, Colin Meloy moved to Portland, where he knew practically no one and started-off performing in Portland coffee shops and dive bars on open mic nights. For a long time, he juggled multiple jobs to make ends meet, most notably making pizza and working at a local bookstore. And somehow, in the midst of a very normal life, he worked his ass off to make music, form a band, and maintain a unique drive and passion that has ultimately led to his success.
Conclusion
News Flash… The industry has changed and continues to change, grow and adapt much faster than any of us can comprehend. Artists like Trent Reznor are now writing songs, recording them, mixing, mastering and releasing them to the masses in a matter of a couple weeks. Really, he did. Through new technology and with new digital tools, there are more opportunities than ever before for creating, recording, producing and releasing new music…frequently. Long gone are the days of taking your time…months, maybe years to make an album. Throw away your preconceived notions that there is a certain, age-old process for putting out new music. Who says you even need to put out a full-length record anyways? (I can argue the pros and cons to this quite well) At the end of the day, the new rule is that are NO RULES to putting out music.
Now that we’ve got that clearly established, let’s talk about solutions… While you can certainly take some time and determine a frequency model that will work well for you and your band mates, I’ve got a few ideas and suggestions you can take or leave. Sometimes it helps to have a target to aim at, right?
As such, here is a generic timeline that I believe serves as a good model to use for releasing music amidst today’s independent music landscape. Could this change tomorrow? Sure. Could this change by next year? Most definitely. I expect it to. But if you’re an indie band or artist that feels lost and are in need of a basic strategy and schedule for releasing music, here is something you can try out:
There you go. Please accept my apologies for going on and on about this, but it’s something that we at Pet Marmoset sincerely feel stongly about. Of course, without a good product (good music), the whole frequency philosophy really won’t help. But if you’ve got good music – get it out there and “evangelize the people” as often as you can. It has made a big difference for a lot of indie, DIY artists and bands out there and we’re confident that it could make a big impact on many more, if they’d simply put it into action. Good luck.
It’s interesting; in an odd kind of way, this necessity to put out music frequently is a throwback to the 60s pop days when bands would record a song and release it the same week, then repeat the process multiple times over the course of a year.
Sometimes progress and regress go hand in hand, I suppose.
Good call Jacob. What The Beatles did early on is a perfect model today. The biggest difference is that radio was pushing productivity/frequency back then and these days, there’s many more factors that make frequency important.
By the way – thanks for telling me about The Decemberists artwork debate. I’d be curious to know how much of the debate is organic and how much of it was more of a debate by design. My internal PR spider senses tell me that a brilliant publicist comes up with some of these things… And if not, they should be!
And then there’s the obvious example of why not to do this…Ryan Adams. A record per year of… filler. Someone should have advised him to record one good album and can the rest!
I love the idea of recording and releasing tons of singles and EPs instead of waiting and releasing one LP every couple of years. But just because an artist like Trent Reznor has the skill to write, record and release 3 albums at once doesn’t mean that most artist can or should work that way. The best album of the year? Santogold. It took her years to finish it and every song is awesome.
There are couple more reasons this won’t always work. One: PR. If you want to hire a PR firm to help get exposure, are you going burn $2,000 – $3,000 every time you have a single?? Next argument: the up & coming artists who have day jobs and are funding themselves… probably most of your readers. I’m not saying you have to spend tons of money to record & mix just to be able to be heard – there are tons of examples to the contrary – but when you’re a signed and/or established artist, you have more time to write, more money to record, and more people to listen when you do put out those singles. I completely agree that you have to have a good work ethic and stop making excuses if you want to truly succeed as a musician – but none of these examples were unsigned artists while they were releasing music.
I think “frequency in release” is a great strategy for prolific writers who have someone to edit down what finally gets released – it’s also an awesome goal once you are established and/or signed. But it’s definitely not for everyone.
Great insight Somer. You’ve raised some very interesting points with the “art of frequency” strategy.
You are right that most people lack the talent and resources to put out music as frequently and as easily as Trent Reznor. It’s his model however, that I believe is worthwhile to examine closely. He keeps it simple and leverages innovative, low-cost technology to record, mix and digitally release new music – doing virtually all of it himself. Essentially, he’s removed the old, expensive industry processes and politics, taking the reins to assume complete control. I love it. Artists who can do this are at a significant advantage.
Regarding PR – you don’t need to pay for a press campaign for everything you release. Bon Iver is a good case study for this. He essentially compiled a list of music blogs and sent them his music…which built the momentum and awareness he needed to create a buzz and ultimately boost his success.
Similarly, artists (or their managers/teams) can easily utilize opportunities born of Web 2.0 to get their music out to the masses, at relatively little cost. Trends reveal that music fans are discovering new music more from blogs, social networks and word of mouth than older mediums, like print, TV and radio. Artists should regularly send their singles, demos, EPs, videos, etc. to as many key influencers as possible. This is easy and very inexpensive to do. Most of all – it’s effective.
A full-fledged national press campaign is still appropriate for an artist’s bigger, more important releases, like a full-length or a much anticipated group of songs. However, even the focus of a national campaign should look different today than it did three years ago. A comprehensive online strategy and innovative Web/PR 2.0 tactics should be at the core of any such campaign.
To your last point – The Decemberists put out a ton of good music before Colin was able to transition into being a full-time musician. Being “signed or unsigned” is irrelevant to me. Quitting your day job because the music creates enough income to live on is the real key. And I assure you that it wasn’t until their latter days at Kill Rock Stars that Colin Meloy finally made that jump.
You also raise a good point that this “art of frequency” model will only work for “prolific” songwriters. Heck, even The Beatles had two prolific songwriters (two of the best ever), plus two others that weren’t so bad. I doubt anyone will ever be able to do what they did again – release so many exceptional songs with an equally exceptional rate of frequency.
In any event, yes – prolific songwriters are who I’m preaching to. This strategy won’t work if you’re average…or weak.
Great point about PR – I definitely agree with you about the online forum. I think I just worry about how hard it is to cut through the masses of songs that are sent out…a good compromise might be to release a strong EP and save up for a reputable PR firm to help you get noticed, especially if you are touring to support the release (so there’s more “story” to report). And you can always cheaply and easily send out singles yourself.
I’m totally on board with the Reznor means to record and produce – and what’s incredible is that those programs & equipment are so affordable, so there’s no excuse if you just have the discipline to work, save up, and learn them.
You made a great point about releasing demos, especially to current fans. I think the idea of releasing cover songs is also a good idea (you listed Colin Meloy’s Morrissey album) to keep that buzz machine going…
And by the way, thanks for a thought-provoking (and motivational) entry.
Thanks for the kind words Somer – and for the compelling dialogue. In today’s DIY, independent artist music business, so much can be learned simply by having some good, pointed conversations.
Another great case study to check out is The Dimes. Now, of course I’m biased, because I manage them and have been preaching this philosophy of frequency for the past three years… But seriously, they’re doing it quite well, and have proved to catch the interest of fans, compelling many of them to keep tabs on the band’s blog. The Dimes regularly post demos on the blog – many of which the lead guy, Johnny Clay, simply makes in his home studio/attic. It’s easy, low-cost, and a great way to keep up the frequency effect.
Please let me know if you ever want to chat about more strategies like this. It really is fun stuff, when you really get into it.
More discussion about this here: http://walruscomix.com/forums/index.php?topic=450.0