Thursday, September 28, 2006

Yes, Because Your Bands Need LESS Exposure

According to the fine folks over at PaidContent, Universal has pulled their company videos from Fuse and WEA has pulled videos from Yahoo. While Universal seems to be looking to monetize every ounce of content and build a proprietary network, I'm a little surprised at the Warner Bros. thing.

Why be stingy with video? Because the music has pretty moving pictures with it they're worth "more" than music? I thought that they are "promotional" video clips. Certainly in most major record contracts I've been aware of, videos are 100% recoupable from the bands share of royalties. So how can videos, ostensibly made for "promotion" be sold in this way? Don't the bands feel a little cheated because they've been deprived of the promotional value they paid for? I really just don't understand. But I also don't understand DRM or the way the digital format has been handled at all by the big companies.

Content is king. Keep it flowing, there are so many bands out there that the only way to rise above the din is to keep up a consistent stream of free media for fans to enjoy. Free discovery is the only way to make things happen. Once fans are loyal to your b(r)and, MAYBE they'll pay for something, but not before.

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