SkatterBand Blog

This whole pay what you want theory is still buzzing in the music industry and most can’t seem to get their heads on it. Radiohead sure had success, not only in creating revenue from the digital downloads but also in their physical CD release.

Mashup artist Girl Talk, real name Gregg Gillis, has pushed his latest effort, Feed the Animals with this method of distribution. I, for 1, have the album and will say that I chose to pay nothing citing I was media for the reason (they list 8 choices including “I may donate later,” “I can’t afford to pay,” and “I don’t really like Girl Talk”).

What effect does this have on me personally?

I wanna see this guy live. Currently Girl Talk is on tour and well they aren’t coming to Florida, which admittedly sicks. I bet that others are looking to see Gregg bring his show to their cities as well as dance the night away to his mash-ups of pop, hip-hop and rock.

So what’s next on the horizon?

Girl Talk’s label, Illegal Art, is opening their catalog to the model. In a recent LA Times article, label head Philo T. Farnsworth said,

“Even if everyone who downloads it doesn’t pay, even if they get it all for free, it creates fan loyalty and exposes the artist to a lot of people who may not have been exposed to him otherwise.  Priority No. 1 is getting the music out there,” he said.

I agree wholeheartedly. If no one hears your music, they can’t buy it. They can’t go to the shows and buy t-shirts with 400% mark-up. They can’t be on your email list where you sell additional goods. They can’t visit your website and see your sponsors and advertisers.

And heck, you might even get people to shell out a few bucks for the music in the process.

-Greg Rollett