Economics of Abundance-Music is now FREE

Kevin, I am glad that y0u incorporated this.  I’ve been preaching this to my clients for years.  I often wondered why my up-and-coming artists who are not well known, at least not yet well known, always seemed to have a desire to sell their CDs at shows for $15 each.  Similar groups are selling their CDs in our church and others for $12 each (of course, they are not selling many).  Yet, I went to Walmart.com this morning and checked the price of Garth Brooks CDs.  As of today, they are selling his five CD boxed set entitled “The Limited,” which includes 63 songs plus a bonus DVD for $9.72.  I think we can say that Mr. Brooks is a well known artist, and if his 63 song boxed set will only bring $9.72, then where do new artists get the idea that their creation is worth $12 or even $15.  Are they somehow better than Garth?  Are their players better than his?  Does their music sound better?  Do they have better producers than Garth?  Is their graphic design or packaging somehow better?  Or, do they have more radio releases than he has?  Just wondering…
Music, like all goods, is only worth what folks are willing to pay for it.  Economics teaches that people will consume if the benefit of consumption meets or exceeds the cost of consumption.
The problem in today’s digital world is competition.  Back to economics for a minute, in the world of economics we study the economic law of opportunity cost.  Opportunity cost is the cost of the forgone opportunity that results from our choosing to consume something else, called an alternative choice of consumption.  For example, if I purchase one of your CDs for $12, then that money spent ($12) cannot be used to purchase the next best alternative good, which may be Garth’s six disc set and a bottle of pop at Walmart.  I have forgone my opportunity to have Garth’s CDs and the soda pop, because I spent the money on your CD.  The goods that I have forgone represent my opportunity cost to own your CD.
Now that we understand opportunity cost, let’s back out of economic laws and take a look at how that impacts us as artists.  People, for the most part, make rational choices when it comes to spending their money.  Many people believe that given the choice of buying a six disc set by a major artist, plus a bottle of pop, is far more rational than buying one single disc by an little known upstart.  In fact, the competition is so strong that your fans are not just faced with buying your CD for $12 or Garth’s multi-disc set for less than $10; they are faced with the many thousands of alternatives that $12 can buy.  They can have nearly any music they want for less than that, most of it for free in fact.  But that’s not all, that $12 can put gas in their cars, food on their tables, and help pay for countless essentials that we all must purchase on a daily basis.  The problem with trying to sell your CDs for $12 is as Dave Ramsey might say, “That’s just dumb.”  And it really is.  There are far too many opportunities out their that offer a better marginal benefit to marginal cost ratio.
Your CDs will bring you greater benefits if you give them away like business cards.  You will benefit by getting your music into the hands (and ears) of your fans.  You will build your fan base.  You will create demand for your product, i.e. your music.  That builds demand for your shows, and you will make money in other ways.  Think of your CDs as an extension of your ministry.  You cannot out-give God.  He will bless you for your generous heart and stewardship.
In His Love and Service,
Dan Coleman,  Pres. MasterMix Music Productions
 

I would actually love to give our music away, but you still have to pay to make it. Unless of course you have your own studio and more importantly the ability to make that sound good. For a group like us just really getting started it’s hard to offset that with other merch just because at least our stages are smaller and 9 times out of 10 the income of the ppl. reflect that stage. In other genre’s for the most part the new is the coolest but in our genre the old is in and they still play by the old rules. I’m just thinking out loud here.

You make some good points, but don’t lose hope.  You can actually make more money in your ministry by giving your music away.  Yes, you have to pay to make it, of course.  We, as artists, have to pay for everything — our musical instruments, our sound systems (whether we rent or own), artist promotions, P/R kits, radio exposure via promotions, everything.  We pay to be members of associations, i.e. GMA; we pay to participate in trade shows; we buy our own business cards too.  All of these things are tools that make ministering easier, but we don’t charge people to minister to them.
 
All we are saying here is that producing music is part of ministry.  It’s what we do.  Ultimately, we are not doing it for the money; if we are, then our heart is in the wrong place.  What’s more important, the ministry, or the money?  We are creating music to minister to the people, to see the lost saved, and to entertain and encourage those who are already saved.  We are to have faith in God and to do according to his glory and his purpose.  Our reward is in his hands.  Our efforts will not go unrewarded.  Look at the sparrows, they don’t plant, they don’t harvest, nor do they gather up and store away their bounty into barns.  Yet your heavenly father feeds them.  Are not we more important than they?  Of course we are.
 
A long time ago, I went to a convention by one of the greatest motivational speakers of our time and he had this to say, “You will never be successful, truly successful, in business until you learn to take what you have and give it away.”  What profound wisdom that is.  It’s biblical.  Jesus said unto his disciple, “take and sell everything you have; give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then follow me!”
 
My point is this:  CDs have so very little value these days, because so much music IS free, and because there are so many alternative choices that consumers have, that if we do try to sell them, the revenue generated is not likely to be a drop in the bucket compared to all the expenses we have as artists.  We should focus on activities that bring greater rewards, both financially and otherwise.  In other words, charging people for your CD does more harm than good.  Charles Lewis once said, “to be successful, you’ve got to do the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing.”  Look at all the poor up-and-coming artists out there trying to sell their CDs for more than mega-superstars are getting.  And those poor folks are getting nowhere fast.  If you want to gain in popularity, then you need to get your music heard by as many folks as possible, and that is far easier to do if you’re not charging people for that privilege.  Just my two-cents worth.
 
Kevin goes into this and many related topics in profound depth in his course EmPower Your Ministry.  Also, I am very happy to discuss the methods that I use.
 
May God bless you richly in His service,
Dan Coleman, Pres. MasterMix Music