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Pay what you want - does it work?

Should we follow Radiohead and give away our music?

By David James

The impact of the digital revolution on music is beginning to become more clear, and the results are a little surprising. Radiohead attracted a lot of attention when they gave away their recent album, In Rainbows on-line. The customer proposition was unusual: “pay-what-you-want”.

The main benefit, it seems, was the attention. Radiohead certainly got more commentary than the band would normally have, which is a kind of intangible asset. What did not happen was a flow of money. In a demonstration of the kind of rationality that makes markets so efficient, 62% of downloaders decided they wanted to pay nothing. Seventeen per cent decided to pay less than $4. Only 4% of fans paid over $12 (a flash box set is available for $80, probably targeted at well-off baby boomers).

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Baby boomer bands

Crosby, Stills and Nash still travelling
Crosby, Stills and Nash, Joe Camilleri, Vika and Linda at A Day On The Green, Rochford Winery, Yarra Valley,
8th December 2007

By Art Ikulate

A Day On The Green is now a solidly traditional gig, having run for many years at Rochford Winery in the Yarra Valley. The format is straighforward – drag out a big OS band and a couple of middle-weight Aussie bands that were big when the baby-boomers were younger and sexier. The baby-boomers, now relatively old and relatively rich, will pay mucho dinero to come and see them, in a picnic setting reminiscent of a suitably refined and wined Sunbury or Woodstock minus, thank God, the public nudity.

Am I sounding jaded? Well, it was hot, and the only thing huge about the Rochford wines was their price. However, Rochford and the promoters were turning over close to a mil with this gig, so I suspect they have themselves a second cottage industry.

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Music festival

Queenscliff rocks

Photos by Min Flipo

Text by Erik Rott

This beautifully-sited venue, sited at the low end of Queenscliff's quaint main drag and running along the shore of Swan Bay, boasts views across the water and a laid-back seaside air. No, I'm not quoting from the brochure – it really is like that. What, you think I've been bought off by the organisers? I have one word for you – Fishnets. Later.

We arrived early and parked in the main street, a short walk from the venue. The blocked-off street was pleasantly thronged with people, wandering around, browsing the street market and eating at outdoor cafes in the afternoon sun. The cheerful police laughingly refused people rides on their electric festival-mobile.

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Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier: a different drum

Interview: Peter Haydon & Aimee Chapman
Images: Aimee Chapman

Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier have, severally and collectively, been carving their own path through the music scene for over twenty years. Together, they have forged a musical partnership which is still highly original and idosyncratic, not least in their approach to marketing their music. To plumb something of the breadth and depth of this partnership, Peter Haydon and Aimee Chapman interviewed Deborah and Willy in their Melbourne home. Buddy the dog also contributed with various happy if earth-shaking moans throughout the interview.

PH: You talked to an APRA group earlier in the year, indicating that you were finding it more financially successful to perform at house parties than to work with your previous record company. And Radiohead have just released their album for free on the internet.

WZ: Not strictly for free.

PH: "Pay what you like" then. Nine Inch Nails and Oasis have announced that they are also dumping their record companies. Do you think that the age of the traditional record company is pretty well dead?

DC: Definitely. Without question.

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Send us your email, notes, memos, random thoughts, trenchant complaints. Tell us about your adventures, strugggles, disasters, disappointments and successes as a musician.

We give preference to letters of 200 words or less, but try your luck anyway. We may edit your letters for reasons of space, or possibly because we're just a bunch of interfering bastards. Despite that, we welcome your feedback, comments and observations. You can use a pseudonym if you wish, but please include your real name, suburb/town and, if you are writing from outside Victoria, your state/country.

Email us at musosunion@aol.com.

Got a problem or question relating to the music biz? Ask Uncle Terry.
(Uncle Terry is a grumpy old man who lives in a cave in one of the less fashionable corners of the Yarra Valley. He is not a qualified legal practitioner and he does not dispense formal legal advice. Neither he nor the publishers of "The Dues" accept any liability for the results of acting on the opinions, statements or recommendations expressed in his column)

Email Uncle Terry on musosunion@aol.com. Please provide your name and suburb (& state/country, if you're not a Victorian yokel...)

Covering the legals

Dear Uncle Terry

We are mainly a cover band so most of the songs we play are written by other people. Do we need to worry about copyright when we’re playing these songs? Reading about the record companies going after people who just downloaded a few songs is making us nervous!

Celeste

Dear Celeste,

When you play someone else’s song in public you are doing what’s called a “public performance” of the song. The composer, and the lyricist for that matter, own the copyright in the song and have to give permission for a “public performance” to occur legally. Since it would be impractical to contact every composer and lyricist before performing any copyrighted song, a more practical system has evolved.

Composers and lyricists assign the control of the “public performance” right to a collection agency which in turn sells licences to venues. These licenses permit venues to allow “public performances” of copyrighted works on their premises. The money from the sale of the licenses is then distributed back to the composers and lyricists.

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Evolution of a rock legend

In 1968 Martin Guzzit and school friend Emil Pult formed the band Mentle, with Dave Weed on drums, Silvio Armedia on bass and Simone Gravel on vocals. This was the lineup that caught the interest of ENI’s Andy Stewlthorpe when he heard them play a variety of covers and original recipes at the infamous Strudelhaus on Queensberry Street in North Melbourne. However, before the band got around to releasing its first single Weed, Armedia and Gravel had fallen under a bus while crossing Royal Park, so Guzzit and Pult re-recorded the song as a banjo and comb duet, and renamed the band the Grumbells. That song, Sweet Mossy Thumbscrews, went to number three on the Forgettable Noisy Garbage Chart.

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Never mind the money, feel the spirit

At the heart of every musician is the desire to simply play, and maybe compose, music. For most of us, if we are truly honest, that spirit that drew us to music in the first place feels somehow antithetical to administration, to marketing, to sales...

Did you hear the one about the (insert minority here) musician? He was in it for the money...

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Disclaimer:
Articles express the opinion of authors and not necessarily that of theMusicians Union of Australia. No responsibility is accepted for unsolicited material. The Dues makes every effort to use reliable, comprehensive information, but we make no representation that it is accurate or complete.

It's fun to be in the PPCA

By Theo Schulsospekz

The Copyright Tribunal appears to have given its final word in the PPCA rates case involving fees payable by venues to the record companies' collection society. The PPCA's claim has been moderated both in size and method of "phase-in". See the full details here.

...more Intelligence

Zapped!

Reviewer:
Michael Dwyer
Title: To be perfectly Frank
Event: Zappa Plays Zappa, Hamer Hall, 23/11/2007
Published:
The Age Online 28/11/2007

By Grant O'Lordmepatience

The purpose of this review of the reviewers is undergoing an internal review.

This is necessary from time to time so that the proper focus may be preserved.

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Part 13 in a series by
Bellaire Hillock

Welcome back or, if this is your first visit, welcome! First visitors are advised to check out previous articles in this series. There is a harmony column in most of the previous issues of “The Dues”.

Your homework from last time was to work out the notes in all 12 of the minor sixth Chords. Let's look at them in both letter name form and in musical notation.

The symbol for the sixth chord is simply the minor chord symbol followed by the number 6, eg:”Cmin6”, Cm6 or C-6. OK, let's go:

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