Payday
I'm surprised there's been no discussion of JoCo's blogpost from today. It's such an interesting post, in many ways. I think the most surprising thing to me were the relatively small numbers... The song has been out for a week, and only about 1500 downloads, and he's made less than $200. It makes all the more amazing/impressive that he manages to make a good living, keeping us entertained. Also it's kind of sobering... if Internet Superstar JoCo makes a couple hundred bucks posting a new song, that shows how tough and competitive the game is.
On the other hand, it shows how a little bit of savvy and a little bit of talent (or a lot of both, in Coulton's case) can make small numbers pay off big, in the brave new world of the internet.
In any event, it's all the more reason to go buy a monkey or banana, or something else from the store. After all, when he feeds us music, we need to reward him with lots of poop! Or something like that.....
ETA: Here's an interesting post about Jonathan's post....
On the other hand, it shows how a little bit of savvy and a little bit of talent (or a lot of both, in Coulton's case) can make small numbers pay off big, in the brave new world of the internet.
In any event, it's all the more reason to go buy a monkey or banana, or something else from the store. After all, when he feeds us music, we need to reward him with lots of poop! Or something like that.....
ETA: Here's an interesting post about Jonathan's post....
Comments
I always feel guilty that I'm not paying him money more often. I was happier when I was paying a dollar a week and getting a song in return....how I miss those days. Even if it wasn't one I liked (like a mashup....yeah just the mashups really), I didn't mind, as I knew he deserved more than a dollar for some of the other songs.
I wish there were someway we could convince Jonathan to write a song a month.
He still seems to be catching up with working his older material into live performances, which may be a factor in his reduced song-writing output. There's a world of difference between being able to put together a studio recording and being able to perform that same song fairly reliably live with minimal backing. Maybe the prospect of writing more songs is daunting because it just increases the number of songs he's expected to work into his live shows? Of course, "Blue Sunny Day" premiered live.
You do take a share too I hope.
Like... say.. my LARP album which is tailor MADE for someone who could do ... say... WoW Machinima....
If only....
;' ))))
On a related note, my friend MoShang (he who ended up with "my Laura" in ninth grade) just got a song chosen for inclusion in the Examples/ folder in Ubuntu 9.04. I am looking forward to hearing what impact that has on him - if a tiny percentage of the people who install that version find and listen to his song, and of those a tiny percentage investigate his other music out of interest, that's a handful of people he wouldn't otherwise have reached. So far the measure of his financial success in music is that the generated income actually pays for his music habit, and that is a lot more than I can say. As a next step up, paying the rent would be a triumph!
Kerrin, I do take a share of the proceeds. It's not a ton of money, but it's more than nothing, and it is fun and validating to actually be paid for something you created just for fun.
Anyway, the only thing I have bought JoCo related is Thing A Week. That was at a show, and that was cause I felt guilty for stealing his stuff.
Even if he (I presume jokingly) writes 'already stole it?' on his donate button, you are not stealing his stuff. He gave it to you. Unless you actually did steal his guitar or something during the show. Then you were right to feel guilty.
Sure, if you take content from some other content creator who otherwise only shares that content under traditional copyright and expects payment for it, you should feel guilty. But if you download a song by clicking a link right underneath a blog post where the artist himself explicitly says 'download it free' then you should not feel guilty. You should feel grateful. You may or may not feel grateful enough to give that artist some mon[k]ey.
My point was more, if you become a fan of the music, and listen to it often, and still don't give he anything, or at least intend to at some point, they you should feel guilty. That is completely different from someone listening to the music to see if they like it, and deciding they either don't like it, or don't care enough about it to have paid for it under the old system, but still having it on their mp3 player, which is no different in some way to hearing it on the radio.
so...
Bottom line: How can it be *stealing*, if JoCo puts 'instructions' how to get everything off his site for free?
...I would have thought everyone has given SOMETHING, though ??
This is supposed to be about music and fun. We shouldn't feel like we owe each other anything. I shouldn't feel bad for using what he has offered. He makes music that I like and pirated and also bought because I respect what he is doing as an online entrepeneur.
"...Lots of (my music) is freely available depending on how technical you are - you can get all of it for free if you really try. But please remember I do make a living this way, so you like what you hear Id certainly appreciate you throwing a little payment or donation my way. If you cant afford it, for goodness sake please send copies of everything to all of your friends."
His intentions seem pretty clear to me. He'd like you to pay for it, but he'd rather you take it for free than not take it at all. Just spread it around, and he knows eventually money (poop?) will come back to him. I've given him money for music & concert tickets, but I always sort of feel like I haven't given him nearly enough to cover all the entertainment he's provided me. I do "promote" him by giving people CD's, sending youtube links, talking about his music to anyone who'll listen, etc.....
People should donate/pay what they feel the music deserves, and if you can't afford to pay money, it is ok to pay in your time and effort in spreading the word of how awesome this music is. I actually disagree, and probably technically I am wrong at that, but I still think of it as guilt, and guilt isn't always a negative feeling, but a feeling of imbalance in the world in your favour, that you can (and probably should) correct. It may not always be your fault.
Would still feel like you were stealing?
If Paul gave his music away, I would actually be more inclined to pay him money, I don't like his music enough to pay the full price, but I might pay something.
Or do you just mean Paul McCartney and Wings? Cause no one cares about that.
ETA: And then there would be a scat man, ew.