Comment by mseebach | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mseebach | Hacker News Reader

I'm a long-time Spotify user, and I have not bought a single piece of music (digital or CD) since I signed up, and I suspect I won't ever again.

Even if you offered me a free CD sent to my door, I wouldn't know what to do with it. I suspect the optical drive in my laptop is dead (I tried to burn a Linux install CD out of habit about a year ago, three in a row came out corrupted, then I discovered installing from USB-drives) and even if I'd get it ripped, I'd need to distribute it between my personal laptop, work desktop and phone (for living room listening). And dealing with backup.

Or, if you were on Spotify, I'd invest the time it takes to type in your name and give it a listen. If I enjoyed it, I'd probably buy a ticket to your show when your tour comes to London.

You're awfully concerned with getting your as-of-yet non-existent fans to cough up their cash rather than focusing on discoverability and betting on the long tail (I'm rudely making the assumption that Irish folk songs performed on accordion isn't going to displace Rihanna and Justin Beiber from the Top 40).

I suppose for a musician, taking the leap of faith from cash-in-hand to maybe-cash-down-the-road is a big one. Even if ultimately it might pay off. It's a pretty fundamental transition between business models.

Edit: Also forgot to mention an important distinction in my point, which maybe wasn't clear enough: I will definitely put my music on Spotify eventually... just not at first, so I can capture a few sales that might otherwise have been lost to it.

But you might have passed though London by the time I hear your music. Or I might read the review of your new CD in a newspaper and look you up, unsuccessfully. By the time you're there, I've long since forgotten you.

I'm not in the music business, so this is only based on readings and hear-say and should be taken with a massive grain of salt: Perhaps you'd be better off forgetting about making money off of your debut album. You can focus on getting maximum reach and energise your fans and then, if you don't make any money, it's not disappointing.

The long tail exists for the user. For the content provider it is a myth. The long tail rewards platforms that deliver the content, not those that participate in it.

An example from the world of books:

http://www.baekdal.com/opinion/the-myth-of-the-99-cent-book/

The long tail exists, full stop. What doesn't exist is an entitlement to be successful in leveraging it towards a certain end.

I don't say anywhere that the full tail doesn't exist, do I? I simply point out that it's very lucrative for the platform provider and not very compelling for a content provider.

What counts is attention not access: there is no long tail of attention, full stop.

Perhaps you don't listen to CDs, but lots of people still do. My experience is that for performers on Dan's level, at least a third of their income from concerts comes from CD sales.

Of course, I've no idea how Spotify would affect that one way or the other. If most of those buyers bought the CD despite it being on Spotify, no harm done...

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