Perhaps most importantly the music industry is giving power and choice to the audience.
Free Music
Acting like an online portfolio does for photographers, sites like MySpace and the music program Spotify let an audience listen to free music with an occasional advert for other musicians or brands. This enables the publisher to quickly and effectively get new and established material to anybody with an internet connection and interest in their music. Buying options
If a listener likes material they have heard on one of the sites mentioned above they have a choice when it comes to buying if they chose to at all. Singles are available as individual tracks, short plays or remixes. Albums are available as regular, deluxe or super deluxe which often includes a physical item such as a t shirt or poster. A fan can even become an investor with sites like slicethepie letting an audience fund you and in return get a mention on an album sleeve or a super deluxe album with bonus material for the price of a regular album.
The point of this is that musicians are looking for ways to exploit new media, and putting them into action. They are offering opportunity and choice that few photographers currently give. It would be silly to assume all of these options would work well within photography but some are surely worth a try? There is already a site called kickstarter which acts a little like slicethepie but for art/dance/theater and more. And with Etsy/PayPal available to all, selling things ourselves is easier than ever. I am soon going to be selling exhibition prints from my 'West Texas' project, the money from this will go towards funding a larger project and as well as the buyer receiving a print, they will receive original Polaroids and prints upon the completion of the next project. Various sizes differences/editions off and items received on completion will depend on the size of the purchase/donation and so there will be something available to everyone, at any price level. This is nothing new and wont turn any heads but it will hopefully mean i am able to reach a larger audience and provide this new audience with something they would like, at a reasonable price.
I am surprised that more photographers aren't looking for ways to reach a larger audience. The photobook is a great way to display and sell work but excludes so many due to price and availability, as does a limited edition print, perhaps these can become the top tier of a whole range of products available?
www.mjohnstonphotography.co.uk
A new post with more information on my selling of prints to fund a new project will be up shortly
The sites i have mentioned in this post are linked below
some really good thoughts here Matt.
ReplyDeleteI think this area can cause some debate because there are two sides to it...
Do it give away free content which effectively devalues what we achieve in a market where most photographers struggle with making a living from with the large exquipment expense?
Is this culture in fact very good to get ourselves noticed and be a little different from the competition?
I know there are photographers doing work for free or giving a little extra as this adds value and work for them in the future, but they approach it very cleverly.
Like everything I believe it can work if its well communicated and understood by the photographer first. If he or she has a clear reason why they are giving away this content and how it will ultimately help them out in the long run.
Otherwise could devalue more photographers work...
but, as always, there is no right and wrong answers. It would be good to hear from photographers who are doing what your post suggests and see how it is working for them?
James, i agree with your comment although this post is much more about opportunities we as photographers are not taking advantage of rather than working for free. What i am trying to highlight is ways in which other mediums are exploiting technology and while they are giving things away for free the end result is that there is a product to buy.
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view i am interested in expanding to a new audience through social networking and other new technologies and creating NEW customers who previously had no access to photographers work. Once these customers can be reached it is a case of creating a range of products for them, perhaps some are free.
And if we are giving away free to a NEW audience does this devalue our work? Surely if they previously would not have had access to it then we are giving it more value?
Matt
For any photographers interested in this business model, I'm developing a service that has elements in common with a few mentioned here and will have a strong role for photographers to play. We'll be looking for beta and launch clients in the next few months. Feel free to contact me at brian at enjyn dot com for more info!
ReplyDeleteThere are definitely many things that we can learn from music. The music industry is one place where marketing can be learnt as they have really good unique ways of selling music as a product.
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