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Girl Talk and other DJ's, remixers, samplers, whatever you want to call them make their money from performances. I was kinda hoping the article talked more abou
by masonhensley 14y ago
Girl Talk and other DJ's, remixers, samplers, whatever you want to call them make their money from performances. I was kinda hoping the article talked more about that aspect of their business. Basically all their mix tapes are promotion for the live events.
When I was a Junior/Senior (2009-2010) at Vanderbilt, I was VP of the programming board that arranged speakers, concerts, homecoming, comedians and other campus events and activities. We had Girl Talk come and while the price was not 6-figure crazy like what Acivii[1] charges these days, I was hit with sticker shock big time.
[1] http://www.gq.com/entertainment/music/201304/avicii-tim-bergling-profile-gq-april-2013 http://www.gq.com/entertainment/music/201304/avicii-tim-berg...
- _delirium 14y agoIt's also easier, at least in the U.S., to do more liberal sampling when live than on recordings, since you don't have to clear the samples individually. Most music venues have a blanket license for performance rights with the main rights organizations, which clears the rights for live use of just about anything: stuff like the venue playing a CD as background music during intermission, a band playing a cover song on stage, or a DJ playing tracks or remixing samples.
- hello_newman 14y ago"Basically all their mixtapes are promotion for the live events." I think that is a great model, personally. I want artists to not care about getting rich off of downloads. I think it's great when artists ranging from Deadmau5, Lil Wayne or Wiz Khalifa, release mixtapes for free. That seems to be the "artist" mentality, fuck getting paid; I'm doing this (making music) because I love doing this. It shows passion, commitment to their craft, and a true level of artistry. You could even argue the same thing for developers who release their apps for free because they want everyone to enjoy it regardless of price. I obviously want artists to make as much money as possible, so releasing great mixtapes does make me, personally, want to go see their concerts. It seems to be a great way to market yourself and with labels taking so much from artists anyway, the place where most new artists make money is touring and live shows. I don't want to go to a concert wear essentially the artist is just playing their latest CD to a crowd of people.
- eli 14y agoSort of a bummer though in some ways. What if you make great records but suck live? What if you make great records and just don't want to have to relentlessly tour to get paid?
- dublinben 14y agoThen get a real job! There is no rule that musicians have to make a living plying their craft. Alternatively, get a sponsor. If it was good enough for Mozart and Beethoven, it's good enough for you. Art has never really (nor should necessarily) be commercially viable.
- pyre 14y agoThere is a lot of software that would be "nice to write," but wouldn't necessarily pay the bills. You don't see me turning to the law to make a business model.
- swang 14y agoAny artist in Asia has been doing this for years. CD is promotion, live performances are the moneymakers.
- anigbrowl 14y agoYes, and look at how dire the asian music scene is, in general.
- antidaily 14y agoJunior Senior rules.