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Re: Bandcamp "let fan name price"



Here's a simple personal take on the subject:

I won't try the "fans name price" feature because I think it brings an
attitude to music that I think is bad for the art form. If anyone is
capable of setting a prize on your music it is YOU! Why? Because you
created it and you know what you need for compensation.

Ok, here it is again at a more detailed level: I have never believed
in a market value for music, because myself I have always been hundred
percent sure of the value of any music that I come about to hear. What
causes this value is only the visions and emotions I am experiencing
when hearing the music, nothing else. But I am not "a market" so I can
not demand that everyone else shall value the same music as high as I
do and agree to pay a high price for it. This leads to my second
decision: to let the creator set the value for his music. Since I
adore people that makes adorable music just as I adore the particular
music it is an act of support to pay the price the creator asks for.
In my specific case this is merely hypothetical since I don't have
money to spend on music, but that's another discussion - I think you
see where I'm getting. The bottom line is that only the creator should
set the price. Just as he makes his artistic decisions in the first
place he should set the price. Give it away for free or set a
ridiculously low price but don't let the customer decide on price!
That just stinks, degrading the true art. A customer can pay more, but
that's note "a higher price", that is "support".

Finally a related pragmatic truth out there: Setting a low price or
allowing a chosen low price is for most people having an effect that
makes them assume that the product isn't as good as it could be. An
artist should be optimally proud of his production, any other attitude
smells fishy. Better then for an artist that really wants some
incredibly poor person to afford his work would be to make this person
a special deal as an act aiming to support this person/cause.

It's true that less people are buying music these days but some folks
still do. Another known fact is that most professional artists spend
nine times as much time promoting and administrating as they spend
actually producing their work. If that boring muck-work isn't being
taken care of yet, you have an excellent tip for how to boost sales
;-)

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se
www.perboysen.com
www.looproom.com internet music hub



On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 2:42 PM, Michael Peters <mp@mpeters.de> wrote:
> My Bandcamp albums aren't selling very well. I know I'm not gigging a lot
> and very few people (outside of this livelooping community) are aware of 
> my
> music ... but maybe the albums are also too expensive (10 Euros mostly) 
> now
> that people are used to getting tons of stuff for free. Has anyone tried 
> the
> "let fan name price" feature for a while and has it made a difference?
>
> -Michael
>
>