Label Complains That Amazon Devalues Artists By Making Music Cheap
from the you-got-it-backwards dept
This is unfortunate. Nearly two years ago, we wrote about the indie music label Asthmatic Kitty, which seemed to take a really forward looking attitude towards the new music market. In that interview, the label noted the reality of the new world, and why it was important to focus on reasons to buy, rather than assuming that people would just pay to hear music. This is what was said at the time:
I operate under the conviction that people buy records because they want to own them, not because they want to hear them. It is too easy these days to hear a record without having to buy it. I don't resent that fact, rather I feel we at Asthmatic Kitty embrace it through streaming albums and offering several free mp3s (even whole free albums). And why do they want to own it? They want it to illustrate to others their taste and identify who they are as a person. I also believe they want to be part of something bigger than themselves, they want to belong.
Our job is no longer to sell folks things they want to hear. They want an experience and to identify themselves as part of a community. Ownership then becomes a way of them supporting your community through investing in that community. Fostering that in an honest, transparent and "non-gross" way takes a combination of gracefulness, creativity and not taking oneself too seriously, while still taking art and music seriously.
Apparently, however, they do resent Amazon for making music available cheaply. Reader Colin points us to a recent article about how Asthmatic Kitty has sent out a letter to fans of artist Sufjan Stevens, complaining that Amazon's pricing is too low and asking people to go to Bandcamp and pay more instead. They do admit to being somewhat conflicted about this, at least:
"We have mixed feelings about discounted pricing," the label explained.
"Like we said, we love getting good music into the hands of good people, and when a price is low, more people buy. A low price will introduce a lot of people to Sufjan's music and to this wonderful album. For that, we're grateful.
But we also feel like the work that our artists produce is worth more than a cost of a latte. We value the skill, love, and time they've put into making their records. And we feel that our work too, in promotion and distribution, is also valuable and worthwhile."
While they're certainly not attacking Amazon or fans, the whole email does feel a little off. The simple fact is, if people want the music (as the label seemed to recognize last year), they can find it somewhere for free. Amazon's prices are meaningless when it comes to the "value" of the music. Price and value are not the same thing. Rather than complaining about the price that Amazon sets on the album, why not give people additional reasons to pay directly at Bandcamp -- such as providing valuable extras if they do. Or discounts on other merchandise. There are all sorts of positive ways to get people to find it worthwhile to spend money without making them feel guilty and bad for paying a price that is legitimately offered by a retailer.
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LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is undoubtedly one of the Valley’s most prolific angel investors. Hoffman has made angel investments in Digg, One King’s Lane, Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, Ning, Six Apart and Zynga. Last November, Hoffman joined VC firm Greylock as a partner, making all his future angel and seed investments through the VC fund. Today at TechCrunch Disrupt, Greylock Partners and Hoffman have announced a $20 million fund solely for seed and angel investments.
Hoffman will be managing partner of the fund, which is called the Greylock Discovery Fund and is part of the VC firm’s 13th fund raised last fall, totaling $575 million. Hoffman and his team will make investments anywhere from $25,000 to $500,000 in startups in the technology space. Any Greylock partner can make investments out of the fund, and the investments don’t need to go through the entire partnership approval process.
We are told the funding will be mainly put towards investments that don’t result in a board seat at the company. Hoffman has a great track record of angel investing, making big bets on Zynga, Facebook and more, and Greylock is essentially giving him the opportunity to do what he does best (besides, of course, founding companies like LinkedIn and PayPal).
As super angels (like Hoffman) are now challenging venture capital firms like Greylock, as startups take angel funding, launch without much investment, and don’t reach out to VCs until late in the game when startup valuations are higher and returns are lower.
Because of this pressure, VC firms are starting to respond with their own early stage funds, which is what Greylock is doing with Hoffman. Some venture firms like Andreessen Horowitz make both seed investments as well as larger infusions in startups.
Here are are live notes from the panel:
MA: How did you miss Twitter?
DS: We feel happy about out bets, but feel great for Twitter.
ES: Here’s an example of a a company that didn’t know how big it would be.
DS: That’s a great point; people have said that about LinkedIn, Facebook, Pandora.
ES: Let’s go through some of those.
DS: We spent a o lot of time talking about how to be intelligently contrarian over what we should invest in. Pandora is a great example of this, but now it’s doing great. re: going public-it depends on whether it’s the right time for the company to go public.
RH: You have to think about whether it’s a world class founder, and if you win, is the market place big. When you make early-stage bets, that’s what you are looking at.
MA: What are you looking at now?
RH: I recently invested in Shopkick, when you get deep into shopping experience, Mobile is going to be big. I feel strongly that they will be successful. I think the consumerfication of the enterprise is very interesting.
ES: When you look at the companies you are investing in, are they tackling hard problems?
RH: It’s very difficult to build a service that reaches massive amounts of people.
MA: Can we talk about Cuil? What went wrong?
DS: Can’t say, at the ends of the day we invest in a lot of companies; some do well. You take risks.
MA: Let’s talk about Digg. Which way are they going to go?
DS: I don’t think Digg is happy with how the last launch went off, but they are moving forward. Now can rapidly innovate, even if it’s small changes. You are going to see more and more of that. Matt Williams, who they brought on as CEO, is going to be great for the company.
RH: If you are in motion as a company, this is a good thing.
DS: Everyone hits these trouble points, but it’s how you power through them.
ES: Can you talk about the growth of LinkedIn? What were the inflection points?
RH: In the first year, it was how do we get people to believe in us. How do we make enough money to break even? There is always a serious challenge. Right now, we are focusing on how we provide and convey the business intelligence necessary.
DS: All along the way, pick great partners that will be there through endless battle.
ES: Can you talk about Facebook and LinkedIn?
RH: I believe in different social networks for different parts of your life. What does a connection mean? That’s a differentiating point. Facebook is about the social factor, Zynga games, sharing photos and more.
MA: The idea that people want social networks for different things doesn’t make that much sense. How is LinkedIn managing to stay alive as more use Facebook for resumes etc.
RH: We are growing each month.
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Label Complains That Amazon Devalues Artists By Making Music Cheap
from the you-got-it-backwards dept
This is unfortunate. Nearly two years ago, we wrote about the indie music label Asthmatic Kitty, which seemed to take a really forward looking attitude towards the new music market. In that interview, the label noted the reality of the new world, and why it was important to focus on reasons to buy, rather than assuming that people would just pay to hear music. This is what was said at the time:
I operate under the conviction that people buy records because they want to own them, not because they want to hear them. It is too easy these days to hear a record without having to buy it. I don't resent that fact, rather I feel we at Asthmatic Kitty embrace it through streaming albums and offering several free mp3s (even whole free albums). And why do they want to own it? They want it to illustrate to others their taste and identify who they are as a person. I also believe they want to be part of something bigger than themselves, they want to belong.
Our job is no longer to sell folks things they want to hear. They want an experience and to identify themselves as part of a community. Ownership then becomes a way of them supporting your community through investing in that community. Fostering that in an honest, transparent and "non-gross" way takes a combination of gracefulness, creativity and not taking oneself too seriously, while still taking art and music seriously.
Apparently, however, they do resent Amazon for making music available cheaply. Reader Colin points us to a recent article about how Asthmatic Kitty has sent out a letter to fans of artist Sufjan Stevens, complaining that Amazon's pricing is too low and asking people to go to Bandcamp and pay more instead. They do admit to being somewhat conflicted about this, at least:
"We have mixed feelings about discounted pricing," the label explained.
"Like we said, we love getting good music into the hands of good people, and when a price is low, more people buy. A low price will introduce a lot of people to Sufjan's music and to this wonderful album. For that, we're grateful.
But we also feel like the work that our artists produce is worth more than a cost of a latte. We value the skill, love, and time they've put into making their records. And we feel that our work too, in promotion and distribution, is also valuable and worthwhile."
While they're certainly not attacking Amazon or fans, the whole email does feel a little off. The simple fact is, if people want the music (as the label seemed to recognize last year), they can find it somewhere for free. Amazon's prices are meaningless when it comes to the "value" of the music. Price and value are not the same thing. Rather than complaining about the price that Amazon sets on the album, why not give people additional reasons to pay directly at Bandcamp -- such as providing valuable extras if they do. Or discounts on other merchandise. There are all sorts of positive ways to get people to find it worthwhile to spend money without making them feel guilty and bad for paying a price that is legitimately offered by a retailer.
47 Comments | Leave a Comment..
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is undoubtedly one of the Valley’s most prolific angel investors. Hoffman has made angel investments in Digg, One King’s Lane, Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, Ning, Six Apart and Zynga. Last November, Hoffman joined VC firm Greylock as a partner, making all his future angel and seed investments through the VC fund. Today at TechCrunch Disrupt, Greylock Partners and Hoffman have announced a $20 million fund solely for seed and angel investments.
Hoffman will be managing partner of the fund, which is called the Greylock Discovery Fund and is part of the VC firm’s 13th fund raised last fall, totaling $575 million. Hoffman and his team will make investments anywhere from $25,000 to $500,000 in startups in the technology space. Any Greylock partner can make investments out of the fund, and the investments don’t need to go through the entire partnership approval process.
We are told the funding will be mainly put towards investments that don’t result in a board seat at the company. Hoffman has a great track record of angel investing, making big bets on Zynga, Facebook and more, and Greylock is essentially giving him the opportunity to do what he does best (besides, of course, founding companies like LinkedIn and PayPal).
As super angels (like Hoffman) are now challenging venture capital firms like Greylock, as startups take angel funding, launch without much investment, and don’t reach out to VCs until late in the game when startup valuations are higher and returns are lower.
Because of this pressure, VC firms are starting to respond with their own early stage funds, which is what Greylock is doing with Hoffman. Some venture firms like Andreessen Horowitz make both seed investments as well as larger infusions in startups.
Here are are live notes from the panel:
MA: How did you miss Twitter?
DS: We feel happy about out bets, but feel great for Twitter.
ES: Here’s an example of a a company that didn’t know how big it would be.
DS: That’s a great point; people have said that about LinkedIn, Facebook, Pandora.
ES: Let’s go through some of those.
DS: We spent a o lot of time talking about how to be intelligently contrarian over what we should invest in. Pandora is a great example of this, but now it’s doing great. re: going public-it depends on whether it’s the right time for the company to go public.
RH: You have to think about whether it’s a world class founder, and if you win, is the market place big. When you make early-stage bets, that’s what you are looking at.
MA: What are you looking at now?
RH: I recently invested in Shopkick, when you get deep into shopping experience, Mobile is going to be big. I feel strongly that they will be successful. I think the consumerfication of the enterprise is very interesting.
ES: When you look at the companies you are investing in, are they tackling hard problems?
RH: It’s very difficult to build a service that reaches massive amounts of people.
MA: Can we talk about Cuil? What went wrong?
DS: Can’t say, at the ends of the day we invest in a lot of companies; some do well. You take risks.
MA: Let’s talk about Digg. Which way are they going to go?
DS: I don’t think Digg is happy with how the last launch went off, but they are moving forward. Now can rapidly innovate, even if it’s small changes. You are going to see more and more of that. Matt Williams, who they brought on as CEO, is going to be great for the company.
RH: If you are in motion as a company, this is a good thing.
DS: Everyone hits these trouble points, but it’s how you power through them.
ES: Can you talk about the growth of LinkedIn? What were the inflection points?
RH: In the first year, it was how do we get people to believe in us. How do we make enough money to break even? There is always a serious challenge. Right now, we are focusing on how we provide and convey the business intelligence necessary.
DS: All along the way, pick great partners that will be there through endless battle.
ES: Can you talk about Facebook and LinkedIn?
RH: I believe in different social networks for different parts of your life. What does a connection mean? That’s a differentiating point. Facebook is about the social factor, Zynga games, sharing photos and more.
MA: The idea that people want social networks for different things doesn’t make that much sense. How is LinkedIn managing to stay alive as more use Facebook for resumes etc.
RH: We are growing each month.
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New SSFIV costumes priced, dated <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net
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Small Business <b>News</b>: The White Paper Overview
Pundits still say they are a great way to develop credibility for your business easy to distribute in their popular current PDF format and also, if done right,
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New SSFIV costumes priced, dated <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net
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Nintendo mulls auto 3DS firmware updates 3DS <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
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Small Business <b>News</b>: The White Paper Overview
Pundits still say they are a great way to develop credibility for your business easy to distribute in their popular current PDF format and also, if done right,
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New SSFIV costumes priced, dated <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net
Read our news of New SSFIV costumes priced, dated.
Nintendo mulls auto 3DS firmware updates 3DS <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our 3DS news of Nintendo mulls auto 3DS firmware updates.
Small Business <b>News</b>: The White Paper Overview
Pundits still say they are a great way to develop credibility for your business easy to distribute in their popular current PDF format and also, if done right,
bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off
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