Category: Monetizing

Jonathan Coulton Making Half a Million a Year – with no Record Label

Post author By Philip
Post date May 19, 2011

Jonathan Coulton Making Half A Million A Year – No Record Label http://tinyurl.com/3kms62l

Jonathan has been at the forefront of those connecting with fans, and it’s working out pretty well for him. He sells his music with a Creative Commons (Some rights reserved, i.e. licensing and making money from it) so it’s impossible to pirate what’s freely exchangable.

And yet, he’s making really good money selling music, merchandise and concert tickets.

More to the point, he’s doing better than the vast majority of music acts that get picked up by the major record labels. If Coulton had signed with them, he’d be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt!

Of course, defenders of the old system will insist that he’s an “exception,” but, really, just how manyÂ exceptions do we need until people realize that the market is changing rapidly, and those who embrace new models and new methods of distribution are finding that they can make a lot more money than they did in the past.

The comments are as interesting as the article.

Distribution Item of Interest Monetizing

Artists Donâ€™t Think Piracy Hurts Them Financially.

Post author By Philip
Post date May 9, 2011

Artists Donâ€™t Think Piracy Hurts Them Financially, Study Shows http://tinyurl.com/3dtm7kk

Big Media pretends to speak for artists but in reality they are only in the business for themselves and frequently take money out of artists pockets, quite deliberately.

Business & Marketing Distribution Item of Interest Monetizing

Kevin Smithâ€™s Red State Experiment has already Paid for Itself.

Post author By Philip
Post date May 2, 2011
1 Comment on Kevin Smithâ€™s Red State Experiment has already Paid for Itself.

Kevin Smithâ€™s Red State Experiment Has Already Paid for Itself http://tinyurl.com/4ybp2ql

Kevin Smith announced that he would auction off the rights to Red State after a Sundance screening and then infamously sold them to himself, leading to a rant about the state of distribution for independent movies.

He planned on doing a series of screenings-with-director events leading up to an October theatrical release. Â Well, according to reports he’s already close to, or achieved, payback of the $4 million budget.

Kevin Smithâ€™s latest passion projectÂ Red State has already paid for itself, six months before it actually sees full theatrical release. Thanks to an ambitious multi-city road trip in which Smith traveled to screenings of the movie and spoke with audiences afterward,Â Red Statehas already made back the $4 million budget production company SMODcast Pictures invested in the film.

Now Kevin Smith comes with a built-in fan base that he’s cultivated over the years (and that is indeed part of any success in this new paradigm – first Connect with your Fans) but it’s not only working for Smith:

That said, Smith isnâ€™t the only filmmaker experimenting with new types of distribution. Edward Burns, for instance,Â distributed his latest feature film,Â Nice Guy Johnny, direct to iTunes, VOD and DVD last year, skipping theatrical release altogether. Indie filmmaker Sebastian GutierrezÂ distributed hisÂ Girl Walks Into a Bar directly to YouTube. And Pixar CTO and independent film producer Oren JacobÂ used a mix of social media and food banksto boost the profile of his documentaryÂ Ready, Set, Bag!

Distribution Item of Interest Monetizing The Business of Production

Power to the People: The Democratization of Film.

Post author By Philip
Post date March 12, 2011

Power to the People: The Democratization of Film http://tinyurl.com/4d6o3wq

This is a really good read by Jeff Steele that starts with how production has been democratized through the use of less expensive tools. That ignores a whole lot of costs associated with quality production that aren’t associated with less expensive tools of production, but let’s allow the point for the moment.

His primary point is that, while production is democratized, financing and distribution are not. Again, I wouldn’t argue.

Business & Marketing Distribution Item of Interest Monetizing

What did TED learn from “Giving it Away”?

Post author By Philip
Post date February 26, 2011

How TED Learned That ‘Giving It (their talks) Away’ Increased Both Popularity And Revenue http://tinyurl.com/4qo4g6k

Distribution Item of Interest Monetizing

Piracy Once Again Fails To Get in the Way of Record Box Office

Post author By Philip
Post date February 26, 2011

Piracy Once Again Fails To Get In Way Of Record Box Office http://tinyurl.com/5stn339

It seems strange to me that the various movie company players continually bleet how piracy is killing their industry and yet – even without changing business models – they still have record year after record year. Something just doesn’t add up.