Last Call For Techdirt DMCA Takedown Shirt

from the last-call dept

Just a final reminder that if you want the Techdirt DMCA Takedown T-shirt, today is the last day to order them, either alone or with my Approaching Infinity book. And, remember, we also have the regular Techdirt logo t-shirt (and again, the logo t-shirt with the book) and the Techdirt logo hoodie, all of whose sales end tonight at midnight PT. The DMCA t-shirt has proven to be incredibly popular (sales have far outstripped our last t-shirt), so if you want in on the fun, make sure to order one in the next few hours. We're thrilled so many people like the shirt so much...

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Star Wreck Filmmakers Experiment With Iron Sky

from the making-movies-for-under-$200M dept

BullJustin points out to us that the guys behind Star Wreck (which we wrote about back in 2006) are trying a few interesting things to promote their follow-up movie project Iron Sky -- a story about Nazis who fled to the moon in 1945 with plans to return to Earth in 2018. To connect with fans, the Iron Sky project released some Creative Commons material for a movie teaser remix and is selling "War Bonds" to crowdfund part of the movie production. To be clear, the "War Bonds" aren't actually bonds -- just a limited-edition package (only 2,000) of keepsakes that includes:

• a 16-page book with very pretty pictures
• a DVD with the teaser trailer and two documentaries
• a signed certificate of support
• official dogtags
• undying gratitude

There are about 1,760 war bonds still available at 50€ a piece. Though, you can get some of the items separately from the Iron Sky online store (undying gratitude is presumably included in all purchases).

With only 240 war bonds sold since August 2008, the Iron Sky movie isn't going to be completely funded by fans. But it looks like the British Stealth Media Group has chipped in up to 1 million euros for worldwide distribution rights -- and the movie's total budget has grown to be at least 5 million euros. On top of that, the Star Wreck folks seem to have even bigger plans -- with a separate Iron Sky game project called Iron Sky: Operation Highjump that is looking for contributions/suggestions from fans to create a single-player video game based on the movie's background story. All of which is based on the WreckAMovie community that encourages more films to be bootstrapped and crowdsourced from a collection of both amateur and professional filmmakers.

So for much less than $200 million, the Star Wreck crew is developing creative ways to interact with their fans (and other filmmakers) to get their projects accomplished more cost effectively. They've given away free promotional materials for fan remixing. They've set up a process for fans to donate ideas and money to the project. They're creating movie accessories that get an audience excited about a movie that hasn't even been made yet. Shouldn't this be the way more movies are produced?

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DMCA Takedown Shirt Only Available For A Few More Days

from the then-we-file-the-counter-notice dept

In case you missed it, last week we added our DMCA Takedown T-shirt to our ongoing CwF+RtB experiment, and it's been incredibly popular (people sure do love mocking the DMCA). You can just order the t-shirt (which also comes with the Techdirt Crystal Ball and insider badge), or you can get the DMCA Takedown T-shirt with my book, Approaching Infinity. However, the t-shirt is only available for a few more days. All orders need to be in by Monday November 16th at midnight, PST, or you'll have to go without...

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Nestle's Kit Kat Bars Give Consumers An RtB In Japan

from the you-will-surely-win dept

Techdirt reader Kathy writes in to let us know about the 200 different flavors of Kit Kat candy bars in Japan. Public Radio International describes how Nestle has developed an interesting sales strategy in Japan where the competition among retailers is apparently so great that stores benefit from constantly updating their shelves with new products. In such a marketplace, Nestle has adopted numerous varieties of its Kit Kat candy bars that can only be purchased in certain locations or at specific times of the year. So instead of trying to peddle the same merchandise to everyone, Nestle has effectively given consumers a reason to buy (RtB) -- by making limited edition flavors and targeting the local tastes and customs in Japan. Nestle caters to Japan's omiage gift-giving culture (where friends are expected to bring back unique trinkets when they travel) with regional Kit Kats. So for example, a potato-flavored version is only sold in the northern part of Japan known for its potatoes, so northerners (or traveling southerners) can give out unique treats that aren't available nationwide. And all over Japan, the candy bars have also been packaged with mailing labels -- so that the candy can be sent as "good luck" charms. Due to the ingenious connection to the Japanese words Kitto Katsu which mean "you will surely win", the "good luck" symbol for Kit Kats in Japan was also successfully manufactured and marketed and as a result, Kit Kats have been popular with exam-taking students who seem to want good luck, however they can get it.

Clearly, Nestle must be admired for its efforts to connect with candy fans. And it's particularly brilliant to see them bundle candy bars as good luck charms -- a story that adds intangible value to the otherwise ordinary snacks. Perhaps it's only a matter of time before some artists write some flavor-inspired songs/plays/films and try to sell loooots of Kit Kats, too.

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Results From Our CwF+RtB Business Model Experiment

from the cwf+rtb dept

Before getting into the "meat" of this post about how our CwF+RtB experiment worked out, I want to announce that we've "replenished" the store with some new t-shirts and hoodies. These are brand new -- not the same t-shirts and hoodies we had before, which are sold out. You have a choice of either a t-shirt or a hoodie with the full Techdirt logo, or my personal favorite DMCA takedown t-shirt which says on the front:

The content of this t-shirt has been removed due to a DMCA takedown notice.

Consider the message on the shirt a good way to engage people in a conversation about the abuses of copyright law and the DMCA. The hoodies come with a copy of my Approaching Infinity book, while you can get the t-shirts without the book or with the book.

Also, we are doing one thing differently this time around. Rather than just waiting until we sell out to stop selling these shirts, we're taking open orders for two weeks only and then will make the shirts and send them out. So if you want this shirt from us, you have two weeks to order. And that's it. On to the post itself...

---

After seeing many musicians setting up various interesting/amusing "tiers" of scarce value worth buying, while also working to connect with fans, we decided to launch our own CwF+RtB tiers, at the end of July, as an experiment to see what we might learn. We knew that this sort of thing worked for music, but had no idea if it would work elsewhere -- say, for a blog. It wasn't designed to replace our existing business model, but just as an experiment to see what would happen -- and what we could learn that might help others implementing similar business models.

I should apologize, as this post detailing the results is way, way, way overdue. We had most of the results and lessons within about a month, but this is a big post to write up and I kept procrastinating. No good reason why: there was just always something going on in the news that seemed more urgent and every so often I do like to catch up on sleep.

The quick summary: we consider the experiment to have been a huge success.

• We brought in approximately $37,000 total due to this experiment, mostly in the course of that first month.
• Nearly $12,000 came from direct sales to individuals of the tiers between $5 and $150.
• As was revealed in an article at Wired, another $5,000 came from an individual, Didier Mary, who was working on a business plan and bought the Techdirt Reviews Your Business Plan package. The package included an Insight Community conversation, which recently concluded, about his business model idea. Didier has told us that "it was a great experience" and very useful to him in moving forward with his plans.
• Another $20,000 came from larger companies, which purchased Insight Community packages after learning about them through this effort.
• The effort also resulted in potential future deals, as it led many more companies to contact us to learn more about the Insight Community.
• Other companies, with whom we were already talking about the Insight Community, contacted us after we launched this, with one noting that if what his company had been discussing with us was on the list, he probably would have just "clicked buy" right away (though, with that company, we're still discussing a deal and have not yet completed it).
• Ignoring the higher end Insight Community deals, the average amount paid by users was over $70. This was significantly higher than expected.
• Sales came from 15 different countries around the globe. North America and Europe were obviously the biggest, but we also got sales from Asia, South America and Australia (no Africa). The international sales might have been bigger if we had launched international sales the same day we launched the overall effort. Unfortunately, we didn't have all the details on that sorted out until a week later, and I think we probably lost some international sales that way. The US Postal Service does make international sales much easier these days -- especially with its "one rate" boxes, but shipping is still really expensive, and many countries then add annoying tariffs on top of everything. This was annoying, but (unfortunately) unavoidable.
• Our highest selling item was not the cheapest, second cheapest or third cheapest offering (contrary to the claims that people just want the cheapest item). Instead, the biggest seller -- by a pretty wide margin -- was the Approaching Infinity package, that included both a copy of my book and a t-shirt.
• For quite a while, the hoodies (which we almost didn't offer) outsold the t-shirts... but in the end the t-shirts barely passed the hoodies.
• The Techdirt Book Club outsold the Techdirt Music Club by a factor of three.
• No one bought the Day with Techdirt package, though we actually got a lot of inquiries about that, with multiple people who don't live in California saying that if they were closer, they would have bought it. This is still available, though.
• And, fear not, no one bought the $100 Million Silence Techdirt offer (still available as well!), though we did get a few people who were worried that someone would actually take us up on this -- and one satirical offer from someone claiming to be from the RIAA, which made me laugh, saying the RIAA would pay up, but wanted to guarantee "exclusive rights" to the RIAA, such that it would be able to "pursue appropriate legal action against any and all 3rd parties that make use of this silence purposely or inadvertently" including, of course "the right to pursue similar action against any individuals who are also not reading Techdirt and therefore infringing on our own licensed agreement to be the sole recipient of a Techdirt-free world." Brilliant.
• However, the $100 Million Silence Techdirt offer did get the most traffic of any of the tiers, by a factor of three -- though, it also drove many people to check out the other tiers.

Lessons Learned

So, what did we learn? Lots of things:

1. This works! These sorts of models can absolutely work in connecting with fans and in making money.
2. All of you, in our community, are awesome. Not just for buying, obviously, but because the overall response we got was incredible. This included many really, really nice emails that made us feel great, along with happy emails and Twitter messages from people receiving their packages, and telling us stories about wearing the clothes, reading the books, etc.
3. It's fun making people happy. Really. It really gave all of us here at Floor64 a great feeling every time we heard back from happy community members.
4. Logistics and inventory management are more complicated than you expect. We sort of knew this ahead of time, but you realize it first-hand when somehow, somewhere copies of signed books go missing, and you suddenly need to ask for an author to send extras. Also, dealing with sourcing inventory from so many different people for the Book and Music club is doable, but takes a lot of time to manage. Though, I have to say, every one we worked with -- from authors and musicians to publishers, agents and record labels really were fantastic. We didn't have even the slightest trouble from any of our partners in this endeavor. Shipping out the products definitely was an effort, but we tried to make it fun, with a group of us working together to package up and ship stuff (and on this one, the team here, lead by Gretchen, did a fantastic job, going above and beyond to get everything organized and shipped).
5. Having lots of options was a good thing because we weren't very accurate in predicting what would sell. We came close to not offering the hoodies at all, but those were incredibly popular.
6. You can't keep everybody happy, but you should try! We had to set up a better process for "customer support" as we launched this (nice job, Dennis!) and then work with and respond to customers who had questions or (in a few cases) problems. A few times the problem was that we did not explain things clearly enough, and sometimes there were problems with shipments (or, in one case, a hoodie that was frayed). But we tried our best to make sure everyone was happy and hopefully succeeded (mostly).
7. What you're selling should match your audience. The Book Club sold really well. The Music Club, not as much -- despite being awesome (seriously, the combined Music Club items are really, really cool, and the music is great as well). But, in retrospect perhaps that made sense, as the books in the Book Club directly related to everything we talk about here. The Music Club, while supporting artists who did things that we talked about here, was a bit different, and required people to like the music as well, which is a lot more subjective. Bundling together four separate musicians with different styles was, perhaps, not a great idea. On top of that, we perhaps did not do enough to promote the music itself to get more people to enjoy the work of those musicians. Finally, while some of the offerings were "unique," others could be purchased elsewhere, which limited the "scarcity" of the overall package.
8. Some promotions worked really well. The first promotion we did was offering anyone who bought both the music and book clubs together a choice of either lunch with me or a free hoodie. This helped motivate a bunch of folks to step up and buy -- and resulted in a handful of lunches.
9. Having lunch with people was really, really cool. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous going into the lunches from the above promotion, but they were all really amazing, often in very different ways. Each individual was really interesting and the conversations were quite engaging and thought provoking and fun. I'm pretty sure every lunch ended up lasting well over the allotted hour. I ended up learning a lot and had a great time at every one. I'm hoping to set up more ways to do things like that, if not the same thing.
10. Even the tiers that didn't sell, still generated interest in other things we were doing. A bunch of people contacted us about the Day With Techdirt package, and while no one bought it, many of them bought other packages instead.
11. Not everyone who says they will buy will buy, but that's okay. It was interesting to note that some people who told us they would buy (or even announced it on their Twitter/Facebook feeds) never actually did buy for whatever reason. That's fine, of course. Everyone is free to do what they want, but it was interesting to note. Just because someone says they'll buy, it doesn't mean they will.
12. Communicating directly with everyone can be difficult. While others here handled customer service requests, I started getting a bunch of emails personally from people who participated, sometimes with long and detailed questions. I tried to reply to most of these, but it was difficult, and I'm sure I missed a few.

Anyway, that's the basic summary. This really has been a lot of fun and quite educational at the same time. We've still got lots of things planned and will be trying a few new things as well, but thanks to everyone who participated and a big thanks to all the authors and musicians who partnered with us, along with the team here at Floor64 for helping to make this all work.

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Musician Making A Living With Forty Committed True Fans

from the imagine-what-he-can-do-with-1,000 dept

A year and a half ago, we wrote about Kevin Kelly's theory that to be a success as a content creator, you just need 1,000 "true fans." These were the ultra-committed fans. The fans who would follow you to the end of the world and purchase whatever you came out with. And -- more importantly -- they'll help bring more fans into the fold. The point isn't that these are your only fans, but the most committed. At the time, I wasn't sure if the 1,000 number was really accurate, but certainly agreed with the idea of more closely connecting with your biggest fans. My guess was that 1,000 wasn't really enough. But, perhaps I was off in the wrong direction? Ariel Hyatt has been blogging about the concept of 1,000 True Fans and has an interview with musician Matthew Ebel, an up-and-coming musician who makes a living from his music, and breaks down the details -- including pointing out that he makes 26.3% of his net income from just 40 hard-core fans.

Music Sales:

• CD Sales - 4.1%
• Digital Music Sales - 13.9%
• Subscription Site - 36.9%
• Live Shows - 18.1%
• Cover Gig Fees/Cover - 9.8%
• Original Gig Fees/Cover - 6.2%
• Tips (Including UStream) - 2.1%
• Works For Hire & Voiceovers - 8.2%
• Affiliate Sales (typically for my own albums/tracks) - 1.1%
• Licensing - 13.2%
• Independent Film - 6.6%
• Internet - 6.6%
• Web Design - 4.6% (I include this because I'm doing a website for a friend... it's something I choose to do, but it is part of my income this year.)

Now, first thing I'll point out is that I'm still not sure the numbers fully add up. Matthew doesn't give a total amount earned, but in a comment says:

Suffice it to say that I'm renting a house in Wellesley, MA with a couple of room mates... I'm not starving, I can still eat sushi from time to time, and my car (neither a Pinto nor a Bentley) is paid off.

So, he's making a living wage, but not raking it in, which is to be expected (and is certainly a hell of a lot better than many musicians). Now, of course, the other number that stands out above is the "subscription site" with the single largest percentage of his revenue. That would be his MatthewEbel.net site, where he offers a $5/month subscription offering. It actually looks quite a lot like the music business model I suggested back in 2003, so it's nice to see someone making it work directly. Basically, it's people paying for access to Matthew (he even admits that in the description, saying it's like a permanent "backstage pass"). While subscribers will get regular access to new music as soon as he creates it, the selling point is special invitations and access to the artist.

And, of course, Ebel seems to certainly recognize the CwF (connect with fans) part that has to go along with this RtB (reason to buy). In the interview, he discusses the importance of really connecting with those fans. First, he notes that one of the nice side effects of his "subscription" offering is that he promises fans two new songs and one live concert recording every month, and that keeps him top of mind:

Little did I realize that new releases every two weeks would be better than any good album reviews or press coverage. Giving my fans something new to talk about every two weeks meant exactly that: they talk about me every two weeks. They're not buying an album, raving about it, and losing interest after a few months, they're constantly spreading my name to their Twitter followers, coworkers, pets, etc. Regular delivery of quality material is damn near my one-step panacea for the whole industry.

And, of course, he uses social media to connect as much as possible:

Good music is barely enough to get fans to hand out 99¢ anymore; they have to be emotionally invested in the artist if that artist wants their loyalty. Don't get me wrong, there can still be a "fourth wall" during a live concert or video, but real, meaningful connection with the fans is what keeps me in their heads after the show's over (heck, even your "character" can interact with fans in-character). I chat with my fans via Twitter, Facebook, matthewebel.com and matthewebel.net, and as many other channels as possible. The more I interact with them between performances, the more I stay fresh in their minds and the more inspiration I draw from them.

Yet another musicians showing how CwF+RtB works. Now, I'm sure some will complain that this isn't a "real" success because he's not selling out stadiums or something (of course, those are the same people who would say that those selling out stadiums don't count because they can afford to do crazy experiments). But given how many musicians we're hearing about these days making exactly these types of things work to the point where they can make a living doing it, you have to begin to realize that something's working.

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Photographers Can Do CwF+RtB Experiments, Too

from the n00bs-need-not-apply dept

Michiel Rhoen writes in to tell us about photography instructor and author, Thom Hogan, who has embraced the CwF+RtB philosophy by offering a limited edition deal (only 25 spots available with 4 already taken at the time of writing this) where Mr. Hogan will sit down one-on-one with each buyer for 3 hours. During those 3 hours, Hogan is game for almost any kind of photography consulting, giving his professional advice on camera equipment, portfolio reviews, help with post processing work or just a long chat over a meal together. But that's not all... The complete Thom Hogan Limited Edition package (US$849) includes:

• A full normal package for the book, Complete Guide to the Nikon D700 (CD and To Go Guide), a US$49.99 value
• A full printed version of the main book in black and white, a US$29.99 value
• A full printed, signed, numbered version of the main book in color, a US$99.99 value
• All of the above shipped to you via Priority Mail
• All future updates of the book, if any, delivered free, a likely US$14.99 value or more
• Three hours of personal, one-on-one time with Thom, a US$750 value

So this deal is aimed directly at folks who own a very specific camera and who happen to be able to travel to see Hogan when he's available for the one-on-one time. It's not exactly going to make Hogan a millionaire (at best, it's going to make him $21,225 gross). But it's a great example of how an author can take advantage of actual scarcities (Hogan's time and expertise) as part of a business. I do find it interesting that Hogan's limited edition offer is an experiment that might demonstrate the advantages of selling an author's time over selling content that is already created. I imagine if this package sells out, that Hogan will expand this limited offer to other specific cameras. And I'd bet he'd even be able to crowdfund a new book if enough amateur photographers ask him to create his next "complete guide" for a camera he might not otherwise have reviewed.

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AC/DC's Reason To Buy: Get A Box Set Inside A Functioning Guitar Amp

from the now-that's-cool dept

We're always interested in cool "reasons to buy" that different content creators are coming up with, so thanks to TW for alerting us to AC/DC's latest effort, involving a special box set that is packaged inside a working guitar amp. The box set is $200, but beyond just the music (rarities, memorabilia, etc.) the casing itself is a 1-watt guitar amp, one foot wide by one foot high and four inches deep:

One of the fun things we've noticed in talking to various content creators about ways to better structure their own tiered "reasons to buy" is that it really helps to come up with some ideas that fit the content creator directly, and how they currently interact with fans. That is, you can't just copy what everyone else has done, but need to find that special unique thing that matches the content creator. This seems like a perfect example.

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Cory Doctorow Joins The CwF+RtB Experimental Crew

from the good-for-him dept

Writer Cory Doctorow has long been a leading thinker/experimenter when it comes to issues of copyright and content creation -- having long put his works under very permissive Creative Commons license, and making sure that his books were available in all sorts of different formats. However, for the most part, he kept using the same basic business model. However, it looks like he's jumping on board our favored "tiered" CwF+RtB model. Reader Russell sends in the news that Doctorow will not just be self-publishing his next book, but is also offering various "tiers" for support. The ebook and the audiobook will be free, but the physical book will cost money. On top of that, there will be a limit of 250 specially bound limited edition hardcover versions for $250. He also sold a $10,000 commissioned story, which was already sold before he announced this (he thinks he priced it too low). Finally, he may experiment with ads in the book as well. It will be interesting to see how well this works, though I think the tiers could include some more options/creativity, as most people don't have many options outside of the basic book. Still, it's great to see these tiered direct-to-fan CwF+RtB offerings getting closer and closer to being mainstream.

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Public Enemy Trying To Get A Little Help From Its Friends

from the holding-songs-hostage dept

SellaBand is known for funding musicians' albums with contributions from fans -- contributions that not only help to record the music but also entitle the paying fans to a share of the revenues from the album after it's released. Up until now, the artists using SellaBand have not exactly been household names, making it susceptible to Masnick's law where critics could say SellaBand is only good for small bands. However, Chuck D and Public Enemy are aiming to prove that a big-name act can solicit $250,000 from fans to finance their next album. It's actually not all that surprising that Chuck D would go this route. You may not remember, but when Lars Ulrich from Metallica first freaked out about Napster, it was Chuck D who publicly debated him, and said that file sharing was "the new radio" and it was time to embrace it. Chuck D also testified before the Senate about how file sharing was a great distribution mechanism, and the recording industry was making a mistake trying to stop it. So you had to figure he'd be a fan of trying out smarter, fan-focused business models.

Similar to efforts by Trent Reznor, Jill Sobule, Kickstarter and many others, SellaBand also has a system of fan-fundable tiers for its artists. For Public Enemy, supporters can buy into the project in $25 shares in order for Public Enemy to reach its ultimate quarter million dollar goal. And the more shares you buy, the more you get.

• 1 Part ($25) = "Believer" Level Incentive: Exclusive, numbered CD in Digipak
• 4 Parts ($100) = "Hype" Level Incentive: "Believer" Level, plus the opportunity to buy 2nd CD at 50% off, & Name in booklet
• 10 Parts ($250) = "Rebel" Level Incentive: All of Above plus Exclusive Limited Edition Public Enemy T Shirt
• 20 Parts ($500) = "Posse" Level Incentive: All of Above plus Autographed Copy of CD signed by Chuck D
• 40 Parts ($1,000) = "Terrordome" Level Incentive: All of Above plus Unlimited backstage pass for 3 years [Limited to 50]
• 200 Parts ($5,000) = "Bring The Noise" Level Incentive: All of Above plus Executive Producer Credit on Album [Limited to 15]
• 400 Parts ($10,000) = "PE Number One" Level Incentive: All of Above plus Studio Visit during recording session [Limited to 5]

But unlike Josh Freese, Public Enemy's tiers are missing a certain je ne sais quoi that could connect with fans or give them a compelling reason to buy a 3-year backstage pass for $1,000. These tiers lack some authenticity to me, though I wouldn't consider myself a fan of Public Enemy. But honestly, I can't really tell if Public Enemy came up with these levels -- because they sound so standard (especially if you look at other SellaBand artist tiers). Not to knock Public Enemy too hard, but they really should put a bit more effort into something like this. And SellaBand might also benefit from looking into floundering Kickstarter projects to perhaps get a better grasp of how to promote artists that aren't quite reaching their fund goals. One of the lessons learned is that contributing fans want to see some involvement and interactions -- you can't just set it and forget it -- if you're asking fans to part with a few thousand dollars. But on the other hand, SellaBand doesn't seem to have goal deadlines, so Public Enemy might have the fame and patience to attract 10,000 fans willing to fork over $25 each.

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The First Printed Copy Of SuperFreakonomics Auctioned Off For Charity

from the not-so-superfreaky dept

With the follow-up to Freakonomics coming out, as part of the plan to promote SuperFreakonomics, the books' authors are auctioning off the very 1st printed copy on eBay for charity. The winner of the auction gets a signed copy of this book, as well as a verification letter and a limited-edition SuperFreak t-shirt. Clearly, the economists behind this offer understand the value of scarce goods, and they've tried to increase that value with a couple extra goodies (as well as a matching donation up to $5,000 from Stephen Dubner). But wouldn't it be more interesting to see additional "reasons to buy" around the content, along with typical "freakonomic" analysis of what works and why? Dubner has already suggested (tongue-in-cheek) that the winner won't suffer from winner's curse, but will there be more practical lessons to be learned from this auction? How would the results of this charity auction be different if it did a Dutch auction (like xkcd did recently)? Auctioning off another copy of the book without the charity aspect would be an interesting test, too. And are there other scarce items that Stephen Dubner or Steven Levitt could offer for their book sales?

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Felicia Day Building Acting Success The Entrepreneurial Way

from the do-call-us,-we'll-call-you-back dept

Though she's had a few minor successes with roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and House, Felicia Day has been quietly building herself a successful career under the radar of mainstream Hollywood. Her self-produced web series, The Guild, which follows a nerdy crew of World of Warcraft players through their offline hijinks, is now on its third season. In an interview with Wired, Felicia Day shows that, whether she knows it or not, she is definitely dabbling in CwF + RtB (if you're new here read this).

Felicia has done a great job connecting with her fans. Her @feliciaday twitter account boasts nearly 1.4 million followers, and the nature of her conversations on twitter demonstrates that she is well versed in the medium. The Guild is funded by sponsorship from Microsoft and Sprint, DVD sales, and individual donors.

It's a good start, but like others, Felicia seems to fall into the "give it away and pray" trap -- while it's great to rely on the good grace of donors, she could do much better if she gave her fans a better reason to buy. On her recent appearance on the Jimmy Fallon show, Felicia expressed her surprise at the prospect that someone would support The Guild with a $100 donation; however, what if, for $1,000, you could spend a few hours tackling quests on World of Warcraft with Felicia? Surely there's a fan or two out there that would leap at that opportunity. Day does not disclose the economic details of her franchise, but she keeps alluding to small budgets and tiny profit margins. I would be curious to see the exact numbers, but there's nothing wrong with running a small, lean, efficient operation: given the choice of owning GM or Craigslist, I'd definitely choose Craigslist. This metaphor works for entertainment too: remember Waterworld? This doesn't mean calling for the end to the lavish spreads of food on movie sets. Of course not. From what I hear, Google has great food too.

Much like with the music industry, it is getting easier for creatives to self-produce quality works without the support of a major studio. And, as we experiment with new business models (like CwF + RtB), perhaps we will find a better way to produce TV shows and movies than the traditional model. In the traditional paradigm, starving actors work jobs as waiters and waitresses while plying their craft during their off-hours in the hope of being "discovered" and hitting the acting "lottery." Otherwise, many live job to job or eventually burn out and go find a different job. With the tools of production and distribution now being available to the masses, when can acting be the "day job" for more people? Hopefully soon.

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Four Rules For Music Business Success

from the don't-suck dept

The Topspin blog has a story of one of the bands they've worked with, a lesser known act called Fanfarlo, that was able to reach some specific goals in promoting itself and building up its fan base, while getting many to commit to paying. From that, the post discusses a four step "formula" that the band used for success (listed here with my summary):

1. Don't suck: something that often gets lost in these discussions. The music still does need to be good. All of these business models are that much harder if the music isn't any good and fans don't like it. Playing good music is a definite first step.
2. Get others to introduce you to their audience: This is another good point. I've been talking to some musicians lately, who were trying to understand how to best apply some of this stuff, and I often suggest looking for other, more well-known acts, that the band can work with to get some sort of endorsement, or "opening" slot on a tour (or even just a gig) as a way of reaching more fans. The Topspin post points out that some people assume that this is the real story behind the success of Fanfarlo, but the numbers don't bear that out. It probably accounted for approximately 30% of the band's sales. Not shabby, but hardly the only reason for the band's success.
3. Make those audiences an offer they can't refuse: In this case, the band offered a download of their album, plus four bonus tracks for $1 for a limited time. Yes, all of the songs combined for a dollar -- not each of them for a dollar apiece. While I normally support just giving away the music for free, I can see a reason to offer them all for a dollar in some situations. In this case, it gets more people to commit to the music and the band, but at a price that is much easier to deal with. I'm still not convinced that $1 is better than free, but it sure beats regular album prices. While this offer was for a limited time, after it was over, the band still offered the download cheaply ($6).
4. Repeat: This is another important one. We keep hearing bands put in place business model promotions that are one time deals, rather than a fully thought-out continuous and ongoing business model. By repeating the process, not only can a band keep making money, but it lets them iterate and experiment, and find out what works (and what doesn't.).

In this case, it looks like things definitely worked. It was able to get 15,000 new fans on its mailing list, with a rather stunning 13,000 of those buying something (but fans just want stuff for free, right?). Of those who simply viewed the download offer, an amazing 22% made a purchase. That's an insane conversion rate. Also 30% of the download buyers came back and bought a physical product later (CD, vinyl or special edition).

All in all, yet another successful example of a band figuring out ways to connect with fans while giving them a reason to buy.

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Connecting With Fans Via Live Theater As Well...

from the it's-happening-everywhere... dept

For many years, my wife and I have held a season subscription to the plays at the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in San Francisco. They put on some really great shows -- a mix of new and old (including at least one play by either Tom Stoppard or David Mamet pretty much every season, which is great, since those are probably my two favorite playwrights). This latest season kicked off with a bang a few weeks back with an amazing adaptation of Noel Coward's Brief Encounter, done by the Kneehigh Theatre group from the UK. Having attended dozens of plays at ACT over the years, I can't remember any that I thought was quite so amazing or that made me want to run out and tell lots and lots of people to go see it. It's the most imaginatively staged play I've ever seen, and you have to have a serious psychological disorder not to smile through most of it (despite the serious subject matter: marital affairs). I think the opening line to the SF Gate review summed up my thoughts exactly:

Every so often a theater piece comes to town that is so brilliantly conceived and executed, so entertaining on every level, that you want everyone you love or even like just a bit to see it. Kneehigh Theatre's "Brief Encounter," the opening show in the American Conservatory Theater's new season, is that kind of experience.

You kind of have to see the play itself to understand what's so creative about it, but as a hint, before the play even starts, the actors show up in different parts of the theater and start playing instruments and singing songs -- totally unannounced (and many in the crowd ignored it) right up until the play starts. Then, during intermission, they ended up doing something similar in the bar area (downstairs, not upstairs), before mingling with the crowd as everyone made their way back to the theater. Considering most of the actors are on-stage close to the entire time during the play, it's noteworthy that they then end up extending things both before the play and during the intermisison. It really is a neat way for the actors to more closely "connect" with the fans at the show.

Anyway... that, by itself, obviously isn't the sort of thing we post around here, but when I saw the news that the engagement had been extended for another week (the second time already) due to popular demand, I wanted to send that news to a few friends who I knew would enjoy the show, and did a quick search to find that SF Gate review (separately, I believe the play is heading to NY and then Minnesota in the coming months, for folks in either place). In doing so, I came across a blog post from a dramaturg who works at ACT talking about how the artistic department of ACT is trying to get much more involved in meeting people at the theater and improving the overall experience:

An idea I had over the summer, the SHOP puts the creators of Words on Plays (my supervisor and me) in the theater to personally sell our product and discuss it--as well as the play itself and the theater more generally--with our patrons. Part of our theater's mission is to encourage conversation; we're taking this tenant literally. Previously Words on Plays was sold at the merchandise counter, but that counter is remaining unmanned this season because of low sales. So our timing was good.

The idea is to get more in touch with the fans coming to the theater and build a stronger relationship, while still offering "reasons to buy" (the whole RtB part...). While it sounds like direct sales of the book weren't a big deal, it is still helping more people connect with the theater overall and come back to see more plays (a bigger moneymaker than any book...):

Our patrons are most familiar with our theater's hospitality and fundraising staffs. Certainly not a bad thing, but what if this model was exchanged for one in which representatives from the artistic staff were always present to discuss what the patrons are really there to think about--the art?

This is how smaller theaters have to do it because everyone is doing everything. The artistic director is the ticket taker. The playwright is the one who knows where the fire extinguisher is. And it's lovely. Every show you are being welcomed in by a family.

This is where my thinking started. I would stand at my booth selling my product and furthering conversation about the show. But I think I may have been thinking too small. Last night I sold five copies. Commendable but negligible. But I also sold at least two couples on November, our next show, by simply telling them how funny a script it is. I spoke to another gentleman about his time in England. I made a handful of people laugh when I directed them to the new location for the hearing devices: "Why don't you put a sign up?" "Because then I wouldn't get to talk to you."

Indeed. Over the last few months, we've been seeing how the whole CwF + RtB concept isn't just working for musicians, but authors, movie makers, photographers and many other content creators as well. Most of these experiments are still early, but you get a sense that actually building real connections with fans is really working for those who truly put their hearts into it. And, oh yeah, if you're in San Francisco, you really should go check out Brief Encounter...

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Part Of The Reason To Buy Is Actually Asking For Money

from the and-talking-about-money dept

A bunch of folks have been sending over Amanda Palmer's latest blog post, where she discusses the importance of content creators today getting used to both asking for money and talking about money. This came after a couple people suggested to her that she not be so open about money issues in talking about her various business model experiments. Amanda notes that it's becoming the new norm to talk about money, and it shouldn't be seen as a bad thing. Part of the whole process of connecting directly with fans is that you take out the middleman, who had a variety of jobs, but one of them was asking for money. So if that middleman is gone, then the only person left to ask for money is the artist, and this shouldn't be seen as bad.

artists need to make money to eat and to continue to make art.

artists used to rely on middlemen to collect their money on their behalf, thereby rendering themselves innocent of cash-handling in the public eye.

artists will now be coming straight to you (yes YOU, you who want their music, their films, their books) for their paychecks. please welcome them. please help them. please do not make them feel badly about asking you directly for money. dead serious: this is the way shit is going to work from now on and it will work best if we all embrace it and don't fight it.

unless you've been living under a rock, you've surely noticed that artists ALL over the place are reaching out directly to their fans for money.
how you do it is a different matter.
maybe i should be more tasteful.
maybe i should not stop my concerts and auction off art.
i do not claim to have figured out the perfect system, not by a long shot.

BUT ... i'd rather get the system right gradually and learn from the mistakes and break new ground (with the help of an incredibly responsive and positive fanbase) for other artists who i assume are going to cautiously follow in our footsteps. we are creating the protocol, people, right here and now.

i don't care if we fuck up. i care THAT we're doing it.

She goes on to compare the new model to her experience busking in the past. In a separate discussion I had with Amanda a few months back, she referred to the new business model, "power busking." I agree almost entirely with her on this... with one, perhaps crucial, quibble. I get a little wary of focusing too much on the "busking" aspect, as it feels a little too close to the give it away and pray model, that isn't really a complete business model. I tend to believe that if you give people a real reason to buy (i.e., something scarce and valuable, offered at a reasonable price), then it's not "busking" at all. It's not "asking for money" at all.

It's offering a great deal that people want to buy. It's the difference between the PBS telethon fundraising effort and people gleefully snapping up merchandise from a TV show or movie. It's not about asking for money. It's about providing a "reason to buy" in the form of scarce offerings that are made more valuable thanks to the content that is being shared. From there, you're not begging for money, but you're offering up a great deal to fans who are thrilled to exchange their money for what they get in return.

So, I absolutely agree with almost all of what Amanda is saying, and think it's great that she's being so open about her experiments (and, yes, I know, I've been bad about giving up the data on our own experiment, which is entirely due to being too busy to just focus and write up what we learned... but it's coming soon!). But, I think that one way to get beyond the issue of "asking for money" and making that feel crass, is not to think of it as busking or asking for money or begging for money, but to focus on experimenting with ways to offer up scarce value that people simply want to pay for, rather than feel goaded into paying for it.

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Book Authors Realizing They Need To Connect With Fans Themselves... Because Their Publishers Sure Don't

from the CwF dept

The Washington Post has a not-very-surprising article highlighting how many new book authors are discovering that if they want to be successful, their publisher isn't really a huge help (unless you're a big name), and that the path to success often involves doing a ton of "grassroots" marketing yourself. If this all sounds similar to what we keep seeing musicians do today, that's because it is. The article covers some authors who have build up a significant following using the internet and social networking tools to really get themselves out there, connect with people interested in their books and sell the books. There's nothing really new or surprising in the article, but yet another example of how the whole concept of CwF + RtB applies to book authors as well.

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News.com Interview On CwF+RtB

from the rage?-what-rage? dept

Greg Sandoval, over at News.com, ran an interview with me about both Techdirt and our CwF+RtB experiment. The only quibble is that "full of rage" bit. As most people who know me will tell you, I'm about as far from "filled with rage" as just about anyone. I'm a pretty laid back, happy, optimistic guy. Can't think of much to have rage about -- but I could see how some might misinterpret some of my writings that way. Anyway, I'm way behind on posting about some of our findings (though, the interview reveals a few), and will try to get to it very soon. There isn't much left to buy (and we're down to limited sizes on t-shirts/hoodies of what is left), but we'll try to do a refresh with some new offerings soon. In the meantime, we've started shipping stuff out, but we're still waiting on all the signed books/music to get that out, so please hold on if you haven't received yours yet...

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Reason To Buy? The $1 Million Wine Book

from the might-be-a-very-limited-audience dept

As book publishers are starting to struggle with the same business model issues facing the music industry and others, it seems at least one publisher has come up with a unique "reason to buy" -- though, it may be slightly out of your price range. johnjac points us to the news about the $1 million wine book. It is, as described, a book about wines that will run you a cool $1 million. Why? Well, because it comes with the wine it talks about. The book will list out the world's top 100 wineries, and with the book you'll get a six bottle case from each winery listed in the book. So, the book, plus 600 bottles of wine from the 100 best wineries in the world. They're only making 100 copies of the book... and 25 have already been pre-ordered, so hurry up and order.

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Moldover Gives People A Reason To Buy His CD By Turning The Case Into An Instrument

from the rock-out dept

Another day, another example of a musician not freaking out about "piracy" but looking to create innovative reasons to actually buy something. The latest is the artist Moldover, who not only learned how to build circuit boards that display the album artwork and spell out the song titles, but he actually turned the CD case itself into a fully functional instrument. Check it out:

It has a button that makes sound, and then you can adjust the sound via light sensor that creates a virtual theremin. On top of that, it has a line-out jack, that lets you listen quietly, or record music via the CD case itself.

It seems like every day we see new and different examples of artists coming up with cool reasons to actually buy product. While some critics insist that these sorts of things only work once, I tend to believe that creativity knows no bounds, and we'll keep seeing more and more unique ideas.

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Going Once... Going Twice... Almost Sold Out On Various Techdirt Offerings

from the get-'em-while-they're-hot dept

Just a quick update that we're getting close to shutting down a bunch of the limited edition offerings in our CwF+RtB experiment. So if you were thinking of ordering things like the t-shirts, hoodies, Book Club or Music Club do so soon. Most of them probably won't last more than another week... We'll eventually be offering up new tiers as well, but if you like what's there, don't miss 'em.

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