While the legendary Hip Hop pioneers Public Enemy have risen to date a whopping $72,025 on Sellaband they have fallen hugely short of their $250,000 goal. So far Public Enemy has been (for lack of a better word) the biggest artist to utilize the service.

Sellaband is great site that gives artists the opportunity to receive monetary contributions from fans in exchange for advance copies of upcoming albums, exclusive merch, an invitation to their Grandmothers 80th…whatever. The way the majority of artists, including Public Enemy, are using the service is to pre-finance the costs of recording albums.

So why have Chuck D and the boys come so short of their goal…here’s some insight from techdirt

These sorts of models require a lot more than just putting it out there and expecting fans to automatically support you, no matter how big an act you might be. Jill Sobule worked really hard to cultivate and connect with her committed fanbase, and that’s what helped her hit her goal. Public Enemy didn’t seem to put much effort into that at all.

Second, pricing really does matter. In giving people a “reason to buy” something, that doesn’t mean you just slap a price on stuff. The price needs to be reasonable and make sense to people. Public Enemy’s offerings just seemed pricey all around, even to fans of the group. At $100 you got a CD and a chance to buy a second CD at 50%, along with your name in a booklet?

We’ve mainly focused on pulling lessons from the success stories, but the lessons from failures can be just as valuable. And, in this case, it goes back to our standard formula of Connect with Fans (CwF) and give them a Reason to Buy (RtB). Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Public Enemy really did much of either. They just expected the fans to come to them, and they priced everything too high, without giving really compelling lower end options.

While Public Enemy may be a hugely influential group they may have set their sights a bit to high on this project, and there is a valuable lesson that aspiring artists can learn from PE’s experience…while internet innovations may be a great, to be successful in this industry you need to go above and beyond the norm. Show your fans some love, give them a reason to buy your stuff, and lastly give them a good product at a good price.

If you got 25 bucks and want to Support Public Enemy on Sellaband chick here

Get the full breakdown at techdirt

If your thinking to yourself; OK Public Enemy screwed up but what can I do not to make the same mistakes? Well here’s an insightful YouTube clip by Michael Masnick on the Trent Reznor model mentioned above on music marketing [Connect with Fans (CwF) and give them a Reason to Buy (RtB)].

Technorati Tags: Bryan Boake, Jill Sobule, michael masnick, Music Marketing Strategies, Public Enemy, SellaBand, success, Trent Reznor Model

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 2:47 pm 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.