10 ms·

Jonathan Coulton On how he made 500K as a DIY musician

46 points by nechmads 15y ago

teach 15y ago
I love this quote: "It has always been about winning the lottery." My three rules for becoming a rock star: 1) At least a little talent. 2) A willingness to do whatever it takes. 3) Being in the right place at the right time. I think number 3 is often underestimated by HN types. If your business model depends on the attention of other people, then there's an inherent capriciousness to the public eye you can't fully mitigate.
programminggeek 15y ago
Weird Al made millions off of making funny songs. The internet has an abled Jonathon Coulton to do via the internet what MTV did for Weird Al - find his audience. He also worked really hard and did what most great musicians do - he toured hit butt off. In short, he treated it like a job, got real good, and at times was at the right place at the right time. Well done.
bryanh 15y ago
I feel like Planet Money (as much as I love them) kind of missed the point with their podcast, and it was nice to see Jonathan run with it. This is indeed the future of music. Fragmentation. From major labels, to indie labels, to individual musicians or even communities. While the rise of Justin Bieber from the bowels of YouTube might be an anti-point, I still suspect it will only get even more intimate as time goes on. Music discovery only needs to get a little more subtle with existing social services.
- InclinedPlane 15y ago
  It's not just the future of music, it's increasingly the future of a lot of artistic work, including software development. The ability to control your own fate, choose your own projects, and especially to earn closer to what you're worth is revolutionary and transformative.
- amelim 15y ago
  To be fair, it was the NPR Music guest hosts who missed the point, not the Planet Money team (which actually argued that it Jonathan's success was not a fluke).
patrickgzill 15y ago
In an amazing coincidence, not 20 minutes ago I came across his version of "Baby Got Back" on a completely different forum (one devoted to investing actually) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyJeC99QO8A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyJeC99QO8A . Note the presence of banjo pickin' in this variant on a rap song.
6ren 15y ago
He presents himself somewhat as just some geek who happened to write about it - you know, one of us - I think as a marketing thing. So now it's biting him back. I think that's OK; the main thing is it worked. But apart from his weird material, and although it's a matter of personal taste to some extent, he is really really good. He has a great voice; the melody and guitar are effective folk/pop; the bizarre lyrics at times are a vehicle for guerrilla poignancy. e.g. I Crush Everything http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RFEzpUsUBk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RFEzpUsUBk (starts at 0:30)
- jessevondoom 15y ago
  Just for the record: I know Jonathan a bit and he markets himself as himself. The story of programmer to musician is 100% true and both are things he's pretty much always done. As for the money side of it...the difference between a programmer salary and where he's at now is that his current level of income is probably a spike -- the arc for most musicians is usually steep -- and he's working his butt off for that spike. So maybe it's a marketing thing, but only if you count being yourself in public as marketing.
  - masklinn 15y ago
    > and he's working his butt off for that spike. Yeah, the Things A Week series still blows my mind: writing and recording a song per week for a year? That's both dedication and productivity, especially since most of them don't even suck.
    - jessevondoom 15y ago
      It's true. And the current push to record a record while in a busy touring cycle is crazy but apparently working. It's sometimes easy to forget that touring musicians are basically working 15+ hour days of long drives, load-ins, etc -- all away from home and family. I really admire his work ethic, and it's great to see someone enjoy their work so much.
bostonpete 15y ago
> I honestly don’t fault Frannie and Jacob for having negative opinions about me I listened to that podcast and didn't hear any negative comments about Coulton -- at all! Even the comparison to Snuggie wasn't negative. I like Coulton (I have some of his music and have seen him in concert), but this post did come across as pretty whiney.
- jamii 15y ago
  From the last paragraph (of the original post): "I should know better than to write this sort of post, because it will inevitably come across as a peevish and whiney response to being called a Snuggie."
  - bostonpete 15y ago
    Yes, I was agreeing with him that it came across that way -- and disputing his claim that anyone expressed any negative opinions about him.
rationalbeaver 15y ago
I don't mean to be a jerk, but this post was lifted wholesale from Jonathan's actual blog: http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2011/05/23/on-snuggies-and-business-models/ http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2011/05/23/on-snuggies-and-bu... And this is the actual link to the post named in the submission: http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2011/05/how-jonathan-coulton-made-500000-last-year-as-a-diy-musician.html http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2011/05/how-jonathan-coulton-...
nothis 15y ago
Yea... Valve.
smashing 15y ago
Is 500k a Net or Gross value?
- ScottBurson 15y ago
  He said "revenue number" at one point, so I think it's the gross.

46 points by nechmads 15y ago

teach 15y ago

I love this quote: "It has always been about winning the lottery." My three rules for becoming a rock star: 1) At least a little talent. 2) A willingness to do whatever it takes. 3) Being in the right place at the right time. I think number 3 is often underestimated by HN types. If your business model depends on the attention of other people, then there's an inherent capriciousness to the public eye you can't fully mitigate.

programminggeek 15y ago

Weird Al made millions off of making funny songs. The internet has an abled Jonathon Coulton to do via the internet what MTV did for Weird Al - find his audience. He also worked really hard and did what most great musicians do - he toured hit butt off. In short, he treated it like a job, got real good, and at times was at the right place at the right time. Well done.

bryanh 15y ago

I feel like Planet Money (as much as I love them) kind of missed the point with their podcast, and it was nice to see Jonathan run with it. This is indeed the future of music. Fragmentation. From major labels, to indie labels, to individual musicians or even communities. While the rise of Justin Bieber from the bowels of YouTube might be an anti-point, I still suspect it will only get even more intimate as time goes on. Music discovery only needs to get a little more subtle with existing social services.

InclinedPlane 15y ago
It's not just the future of music, it's increasingly the future of a lot of artistic work, including software development. The ability to control your own fate, choose your own projects, and especially to earn closer to what you're worth is revolutionary and transformative.
amelim 15y ago
To be fair, it was the NPR Music guest hosts who missed the point, not the Planet Money team (which actually argued that it Jonathan's success was not a fluke).

patrickgzill 15y ago

In an amazing coincidence, not 20 minutes ago I came across his version of "Baby Got Back" on a completely different forum (one devoted to investing actually) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyJeC99QO8A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyJeC99QO8A . Note the presence of banjo pickin' in this variant on a rap song.

6ren 15y ago

He presents himself somewhat as just some geek who happened to write about it - you know, one of us - I think as a marketing thing. So now it's biting him back. I think that's OK; the main thing is it worked. But apart from his weird material, and although it's a matter of personal taste to some extent, he is really really good. He has a great voice; the melody and guitar are effective folk/pop; the bizarre lyrics at times are a vehicle for guerrilla poignancy. e.g. I Crush Everything http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RFEzpUsUBk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RFEzpUsUBk (starts at 0:30)

jessevondoom 15y ago
Just for the record: I know Jonathan a bit and he markets himself as himself. The story of programmer to musician is 100% true and both are things he's pretty much always done. As for the money side of it...the difference between a programmer salary and where he's at now is that his current level of income is probably a spike -- the arc for most musicians is usually steep -- and he's working his butt off for that spike. So maybe it's a marketing thing, but only if you count being yourself in public as marketing.
- masklinn 15y ago
  > and he's working his butt off for that spike. Yeah, the Things A Week series still blows my mind: writing and recording a song per week for a year? That's both dedication and productivity, especially since most of them don't even suck.
  - jessevondoom 15y ago
    It's true. And the current push to record a record while in a busy touring cycle is crazy but apparently working. It's sometimes easy to forget that touring musicians are basically working 15+ hour days of long drives, load-ins, etc -- all away from home and family. I really admire his work ethic, and it's great to see someone enjoy their work so much.

bostonpete 15y ago

> I honestly don’t fault Frannie and Jacob for having negative opinions about me I listened to that podcast and didn't hear any negative comments about Coulton -- at all! Even the comparison to Snuggie wasn't negative. I like Coulton (I have some of his music and have seen him in concert), but this post did come across as pretty whiney.

jamii 15y ago
From the last paragraph (of the original post): "I should know better than to write this sort of post, because it will inevitably come across as a peevish and whiney response to being called a Snuggie."
- bostonpete 15y ago
  Yes, I was agreeing with him that it came across that way -- and disputing his claim that anyone expressed any negative opinions about him.

rationalbeaver 15y ago

I don't mean to be a jerk, but this post was lifted wholesale from Jonathan's actual blog: http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2011/05/23/on-snuggies-and-business-models/ http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2011/05/23/on-snuggies-and-bu... And this is the actual link to the post named in the submission: http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2011/05/how-jonathan-coulton-made-500000-last-year-as-a-diy-musician.html http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2011/05/how-jonathan-coulton-...

nothis 15y ago

Yea... Valve.

smashing 15y ago

Is 500k a Net or Gross value?

ScottBurson 15y ago
He said "revenue number" at one point, so I think it's the gross.