Digital Audio Insider -- the economics of music and other digital content

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Digital Audio Insider is David Harrell's blog about the economics of music and other digital content. I write from the perspective of a musican who has self-released four albums with the indie rock band the Layaways.

My personal website has links to my LinkedIn and Google+ pages and you can send e-mail to david [at] thelayaways [dot] com.

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March 03, 2009

Pledge Week, Part 2
by David Harrell

Next up for pledge week is "The Answer," from the second Layaways album, "We've Been Lost." Indieworkshop.com described the song as "gorgeous, dreamy pop with hooks galore and some nice harmony vocals on the chorus that seem to announce that it's summer, you're in love, and everything is right with the universe."

As noted in the first pledge week post, just streaming the track generates a small micropayment. If you like the song or want to support this site, please consider buying a download from any of the fine digital retailers below.

Buy the download from iTunes, Amazon MP3, or eMusic. Or, if you prefer an old-school CD, discs are available at CD Baby, Tonevendor, and Amazon.com.

Thanks for listening!

tags: digital music pledge week the Layaways

link 0 comments e-mail listen to the Layaways on Spotify

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March 04, 2009

Bandcamp 1.0 and Pledge Week, Part 3
by David Harrell

Bandcamp rolled out a bunch of nifty new features and declared itself "1.0" The new stuff includes:

-- Improved site speed and the move from Bandcamp.mu to Bandcamp.com

-- The ability to generate "free download" codes that be given out with merchandise purchases, etc.

-- More song/album widgets that can be used by both artists and fans

I'll write more about Bandcamp in the near future, but for now I'll just say I'm very impressed with everything I've seen so far. The file format flexibility (128k mp3, 320k mp3, VBR mp3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, and Apple Lossless) is -- as far as I know -- unmatched by any other download store. And I really like the option to offer free 128k mp3 downloads while charging a set rate (or letting buyers choose their own price) for higher-quality files. It seems like a good compromise on the "free music" debate.

So for the third installment in the pledge week series, I'm using one of the new Bandcamp widgets to embed "Keep It To Yourself," the lead-off track from "The Space Between," the new Layaways album. The song received a great review when it was featured on the Fingertips music site:

Launching off a sonorous, rubbery guitar line that, melodically, echoes the hook from the Kinks' "David Watts," "Keep It To Yourself" has the big-drums/big-chords bash and concise melodicism of some Nuggets-era -- um -- nugget, with a welcome helping of shoegaze drone. The song itself is pithy and unadorned, but the presentation is cool, full-bodied, and impeccably controlled -- not a note or sound is out of place.

Taking nothing away from David Harrell's understated, slightly processed vocals, I think his guitars are the stars here, presenting alternately as zipped-up-tight rhythm, circular synth-like lead lines, and droney dissonance. When the three sounds combine in the second half of the song, we definitely arrive in one of those "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" places. It can't be easy to make something this basically simple sound so fulfilling; it if were, everyone would do it.

Unlike the Lala.com widgets, however, streams from a Bandcamp widget currently don't generate any revenue for the artist or label. Which is understandable, given that Bandcamp's business model is still a work in progress and there is no revenue to share. (I wouldn't say this is a huge concern for me right now, given that you can pull your music from the site at any point. Still, I'd want to have more details about possible fees and charges before using Bandcamp pages as the actual music pages on my own site.)

Anyway, if you like the track or would like to support this site, please consider buying a download from iTunes, Amazon MP3, Bandcamp, or eMusic. Or, if you prefer an old-school CD, discs are available at CD Baby, Tonevendor, and Amazon.com.

Thanks for listening!

related: Checking Out Bandcamp, Pledge Week on Digital Audio Insider

tags: digital music Bandcamp the Layaways pledge week

link 0 comments e-mail listen to the Layaways on Spotify

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March 02, 2009

Pledge Week on Digital Audio Insider
by David Harrell

As the parent of a three-year-old, I've had the delicate balance of the daily schedule ruined by the local public television station's juggling of its early morning lineup during fundraising drives. So I'm not a huge fan of pledge weeks. :)

But if the kind readers of this site will indulge me, I'd like to highlight a Layaways track each day for the next week. You can stream each song using the embedded widget (a literal micro-donation, as each stream puts 0.5 cents in my pocket), and -- if you like the song or are feeling generous -- download the track from iTunes, Amazon.com, or eMusic.

First up is "All Around the World," from the latest Layaways album. It's something of a departure from our usual sound, with a definite 60s vibe with its quarter-note rhythm and liberal use of the tambourine. Lyrically, the song reflects our current "anyone can be a star" pop culture -- American Idol, etc. And the Leslie effects you'll hear on the chorus vocals (and the drums during the last verse) aren't from a plug-in, Dan Dietrich of Wall to Wall Recording in Chicago ran them through an actual rotating speaker for the mix.

link 2 comments e-mail listen to the Layaways on Spotify

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March 06, 2009

Pledge Week, Parts 4 and 5
by David Harrell

To make up for yesterday's skipped installment, here's a two-fer. Thanks again for listening -- by streaming these songs you're making a micro-donation. And -- if you're feeling generous -- please consider buying a song or album download (or a CD) using the links below.

"Splendor and Loss" is probably my favorite recording from our second disc. Unlike the rest of the album, which was tracked as a full band, this one started with just a single acoustic guitar and we overdubbed everything else.

Download from iTunes, Amazon MP3, Bandcamp, or eMusic. If you prefer an old-school CD, discs are available at CD Baby, Tonevendor, and Amazon.com.

"On Any Given Saturday" has the best back-story of any song on the new album. We had worked up a live cover version of Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" and played it at several gigs. We liked the backing track, but really didn't want put a cover song on the record. So we recorded the backing track and (very slowly) came up with a new vocal melody and lyrics.

Download from iTunes, Amazon MP3, Bandcamp, or eMusic. CDs are available at CD Baby, Tonevendor, and Amazon.com.

tags: digital music pledge week the Layaways

link 1 comments e-mail listen to the Layaways on Spotify

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March 09, 2009

Monday Odds and Ends
by David Harrell

I missed this when it came out -- an eMusic press release from January, touting the "Long Tail" download activity of its subscribers. Unlike the research of economist Will Page of PRS (PDF), which found that the majority of 13 million online tracks had not sold a single copy in the past year, eMusic says that approximately 75% of the tracks in its catalog were downloaded in 2008.

A couple years ago, I did my own quick analysis of eMusic download activity and found that tracks from 53% of the albums in the eMusic catalog had been downloaded during the previous month. It was a different measure (albums with downloaded tracks vs. individual tracks) than eMusic's, but the numbers seem compatible with eMusic's findings.

The PRS website has a nice archive of some of Page's other research and analysis -- topics include the 1,000 fan theory, "In Rainbows" and the displacement of P2P traffic, and lots of other good stuff.

The "daily special" Amazon MP3 price for the new U2 album appears to be semi-permanent. The album is still selling for $3.99 as of this morning.

Finally, thanks again to all streamed tracks or purchased downloads during last week's pledge drive -- I really appreciate it!

tags: digital music the Long Tail eMusic

link 0 comments e-mail listen to the Layaways on Spotify

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THE LAYAWAYS

Out Now -- "Maybe Next Year" -- The New Holiday Album:

"This is a sweet treat, deliciously musical without being overbaked for mass media consumption." -- Hyperbolium

"Perfect listening to accompany whatever holiday preparations you may be making today." -- Bag of Songs

O Christmas Tree - free mp3 lyrics and song details
Away In A Manger - free mp3

Download from eMusic, iTunes, Amazon MP3, or Bandcamp. Listen to free streams at Last.fm.

"...about as melodic and hooky as indie pop can get." -- Absolute Powerpop

"Their laid-back, '60s era sounds are absolutely delightening." -- 3hive

"...melodic, garage-influenced shoegaze." -- RCRD LBL

Where The Conversation Ends - free mp3
January - free mp3
Keep It To Yourself - free mp3

Download from eMusic, iTunes, Amazon MP3, or CD Baby, stream it at Last.fm or Napster.

"The Layaways make fine indie pop. Hushed vocals interweave with understated buzzing guitars. The whole LP is a revelation from the start." -- Lost Music

"Catchy Guided by Voices-like rockers who lay it on sweetly and sincerely, just like Lionel Richie." -- WRUV Radio

Silence - free mp3 lyrics and song details
The Long Night - free mp3

Download from eMusic, Amazon MP3, or iTunes, stream it at Last.fm, Napster, or Rhapsody.

"These are songs that you want to take home with you, curl up with, hold them close -- and pray that they are still with you when you wake up." -- The Big Takeover

Let Me In - free mp3
Ocean Blue - free mp3

Download from eMusic, Amazon MP3, or iTunes, stream it at Last.fm, Napster, or Rhapsody.

More Layaways downloads:

the layaways website