People Will Download Your Music For Free No Matter What

As Trent Reznor himself said, people will download music for free - no matter what.

You need to accept this. Period! The record labels have not accepted it. Many artists have not accepted it. But it's the truth of the modern music industry. People will download music for free whether you choose to offer your own music for free or not. Would you rather them have your music and potentially spread it or not? In fact, you not only need to accept the fact that people want free music. You need to embrace it and make it a core part of your promotional strategy. This is not the time to offer poor quality preview snippets of one song from your album. We are in an age of instant gratification, and if we don't get it, we move on.

The more music you have distributed for you free of charge, the more you will sell. Some of the people who catch the "virus" will be the ones who prefer to support the artist by paying for music. Just remember, right or wrong, it's the nature of the business today that music is essentially free. The only people who pay for music currently are people who:

a) Prefer to support the artist and have the funds to do so

b) Good samaritans or people who feel it is wrong to download music for free

c) Do not the have means (such as a computer or file-sharing network) to download for free

d) Do not have the technical know-how to download for free

It's time to embrace the future and become your own torrent site. The days of hoarding your music are over. Release your album digitally on your own website free of charge and advertise the fact that it is freely available. Make it easy and convenient for people to get your album. Upload torrents of your album to the major Torrent websites yourself. As your band gets more recognition, many people will search your band name on Google. If they can't find torrents of your latest album, they will bypass your band and move on to the next artist on their download list. It may not be fair, but it's the way things are. If you want your music to be played in their music library and potentially spread virally to more people, you need - at the very least - for your music to be accessible and free for digital download.

James Moore is a Canadian music consultant and author of the popular music marketing book "Your Band Is A Virus - Behind-The-Scenes And Viral Marketing For The Independent Musician". For more information please visit http://www.yourbandisavirus.com/.

View the original article here

What Type of Music Do the Most Intelligent People Enjoy? Why It Matters for Musicians

It has often been said that the most intelligent people like certain types of music. Indeed, I guess if I asked you, and you were to take an educated guess, you might say that classical music such as Mozart, or Beethoven would be amongst the type of music enjoyed by the top tier of human IQ. Yes, I think this is the general perception, and I believe it to be correct, although I am not certain for sure. The question is why, I suppose, why is it that classical music is often corresponded to highly intellectual people?

Is it because the people that wrote those symphonies were highly intelligent and creative geniuses themselves, and then only someone else who is of super high intellect would also find this music to be enlightening? Now then, I know many highly intellectual people that enjoy other types of music as well. And even though I really don't care for opera all that much, I realize that many very smart people do enjoy that type of vocal wailing.

In doing the research for this article I read a couple of research papers which seem to indicate that those people who are very good in math, are also very good with musical instruments, and making music. The controlled chaos, and complexity of classical music seems to fit the stereotype of a math genius. Of course that is only one type of intelligence, as there are many. Nevertheless those of high emotional IQ can also appreciate classical music due to its highs and lows and the spaces inbetween.

Of course, composing and playing music is different than listening to it, and it takes a creative genius there is no doubt to produce a good classical piece. After all, many have tried, and failed to impress anyone listening. Still, we have to ask ourselves if the stereotype is correct, and if the highest and most intelligent of our society are more drawn to classical music than other types?

It does appear in the same stereotypical fashion that rap music, if indeed we are willing to call it music, is not necessarily enjoyed by anyone of high intellect, but someone with a standard IQ level might find the beat, alliteration, rhyming, and basic rhythm pleasing to them. Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it. Perhaps you can relate all this to your own IQ level, and the type of music that you are most drawn to. The final question might be if you listen to let's say classical music, will you become smarter over time? That is to say can one affect the other?

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 23,500 articles by mid-day on June 23, 2011 is going to be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off..

View the original article here