By: Connor

The answer is, pretty low. Apparently people are willing to buy nearly any bulk collection for 2$, even if it’s a collection of 500+ sound effects. The trick is using this cheap offering to attract new fans, who will then come to your shows or grab other merch. Of course, the trick to that is having a great live show to complement your music. Check out Pretty Lights, mentioned below – their current tour is being fueled by the free album, Passing By Behind Your Eyes, offered on their site.

Awareness, not just revenue, is driving artists to offer free or cheap music. The revenue may be made up in other ways: a ticket purchase, merchandise sale, future purchases or the hope that somebody influential will hear your music.

Bulk downloading is especially popular when the price is zero. Mojo Nixon’s recent catalog promotion at Amazon.com resulted in over one million downloads of 144 tracks from 11 albums. Even Nixon’s new album, Whiskey Rebellion, was available for free.

Fort Collins, Colorado’s Pretty Lights is one of the latest examples of a band using recorded music as a promotional tool. The one-man, electronic band — Derek Vincent Smith plus a live drummer at performances – is giving away its latest album, Passing By Behind Your Eyes, as a free download at the band’s Web site.

Read the full story at Billboard.biz

Technorati Tags: Billboard.biz, Bulk, Digital Pricing, download

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 10:35 am and is filed under Music Business, Music Promotion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.