Thanks to new Web businesses, musicians can reach a bigger audience
-- and keep more of the profits for themselves
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff August 13, 2007
A full-time career in music seemed unlikely for Chris O'Brien, or at least one that would pay the bills.
But these days, the 27-year-old Medford musician is selling thousands of albums online, along with downloads from his debut CD, "Lighthouse," and he soon plans to offer T-shirts, tickets, and other merchandise on his MySpace page and personal website. He credits at least part of his newfound business acumen to nimbit, a sales, promotion, and distribution company in Framingham that helps emerging artists build careers online.
"This is the era of the independent artist," O'Brien said. "It's easier and more doable than it ever has been. People are opting to remain independent because there's a lot more money to be had."
Nimbit is one of a growing number of businesses, including CD Baby and Musictoday, that have helped make it easier for independent musicians to make a living from their work and widely distribute their music. It is the brainchild of Patrick Faucher and Matt Silbert, who worked for a Web firm, Stumpworld Systems, which developed some of the first e-commerce sites for bands such as Phish and Aerosmith. About five years ago, they decided to design a platform to help budding bands, so they set out to take some of the features created for the major acts and build a suite of Web tools that independent artists could use.
Soon after, they merged with Artist Development Associates and added direct-to-fan sales, along with production and promotion services, creating a one-stop solution for artists to run their businesses. In June, nimbit introduced its online merchandise table, the first portable Web store that lets musicians sell CDs, DVDS, MP3s, merchandise, and e-tickets from a single point of purchase, virtually anywhere online. The tool can easily be embedded in any website, blog, or e-mail that allows widgets.
"Increasingly, recording artists and consumers are uniting and circumventing traditional channels for creating and distributing music," said Mike Goodman, a media and entertainment analyst at Yankee Group in Boston. "These days, musicians can do business directly with consumers. They don't need a recording label. They don't need a store. They don't need Ticketmaster, the way they used to."
Just a few years ago, Steve Roslonek, of Wethersfield, Conn., was getting e-mail orders for his CDs and going to the post office once a week to send of the packages. His growing success as a children's musician made it almost impossible to keep up with the requests. With the help of nimbit over the past several years, he has earned more than $100,000 from sales of CDs, tickets, and merchandise. The most recent service added, selling e-tickets to shows from his website, is a huge benefit for artists like Roslonek, who don't play at traditional concert venues. He expects to sell 75 percent of his tickets that way for a show in Arlington this fall. Though Roslonek was signed last year to a local independent label, Rounder Records, he still uses many of nimbit's services to help sell his work, merchandise, and tickets online.
"There's really no barriers anymore for success," Roslonek said. "This allows me to spend a lot more time on writing, producing. It takes away a lot of the tasks as your career builds."
Artists can get started for free with nimbit's basic service, which allows them to sell digital products only, such as MP3 tracks. Or, for as little as $4.95 a month, musicians can sign up for a plan that lets them sell all products and distribute across the Web, including to commercial stores like iTunes. Prices vary for premium services, which offer complete website management and e-mail marketing features. Several artists said nimbit charges $2 to $4 for each CD sold, less than rival businesses charge.
"Technology is not only creating a myriad of options for fans to discover and buy, but it is also making it possible for more artists to get in the game more quickly without any label affiliation," Faucher said. "There is a rapidly emerging middle class of artists that are building fan bases and creating a business directly with them. This creates a huge need for better tools that can optimize this process for the artist and the teams they employ."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
