Digital Music – Why is it so hard to get

This morning I was reading an article about the changing business model of the music industry and the conversation led to the topic of digital music. The entire topic of digital music is fairly conflicted for me as I have differing opinions on it.

From my personal listening experience point of view, I believe there is nothing better than taking a trip to your local record store, perusing all the music, and buying what you came in for (as well as probably one or two other gems you found). If it’s the drop date of a new CD you’ve been waiting for.. there is nothing like this experience. Period. Both fan and record store has honed this process… it’s a social, support local WIN all around.

From a business standpoint, digital music is the best thing since sliced bread. It allows artists to be flexible, to give fans preview and bonus tracks for albums, and it allows you to drive people to buy music when they are most excited about it… right when they here it on the website. On The Drop the “buy” link almost always links to digital music for that reason. We want the artists to benefit and grow immediately. But this is where it all falls apart. Buying digital music is a big fat FAIL.

…we’ve trained two generations to believe that digital music doesn’t cost. We’ve certainly trained them that buying it isn’t fun. ~Seth Godin

You have iTunes and Amazon MP3 as your major players in this space. iTunes is great because is allows seamless integration with your iTunes player/iPod/iPhone, but it’s all DRM music that you can’t transfer anywhere. Amazon MP3 is wonderful because they are MP3′s that you can do whatever you want with them, but their integration into iTunes is cumbersome (although it’s the best I’ve seen).

Turning to our local scene we have Lonestar Music, CD Baby and OurTracks (plus a few other odds and ends). I can’t really say much positive about the experiences except, yes, they deliver digital music, which I admit is faster than driving somewhere. It is fairly evident from their business models that at some point they said something along the lines of “We want to deliver digital music” and it ended there. Let me be clear… I’m not knocking these guys because I know how hard web design and UI is and they don’t have the capital of an Amazon. Still doesn’t change the fact that me (and several people of my informal poll) do not buy music from these guys because it’s hard. Supporting our local scene is a big deal to me, so I’d def recommend doing so and buying your music from them. It’s the only way they will get the funds to build a better mousetrap.

Turning the focus to artists, you guys have to pay attention to this. Or hire someone who will. Digital music is the future no matter how many vinyl records you also print for that new album. The internet is only getting faster and when I have to spend 5 minutes buying your album from a local download service vs. 30 seconds from one of the majors.. I just won’t do it. And you’re kidding yourself if you think future younger fans are any different. Some never even knew a world other than when Apple was cool. Put your music in as many online spaces as you can and make your huge marketing/PR pushes to the ones that are streamlined and can get your record sold with ease. You need to be thinking quantity… especially if you are trying to break out. Your music is THE most important thing you have… be sure you know how the service operate that are selling your album. Go try to buy yourself!

I say… spend money on things like vinyl records and contests. But also spend money on making sure the new generation of music listeners will buy your music. It’s not the same as when we all grew up and there is far less tolerance than what we have.