You may remember a couple of years ago when I saw a band that was charging way too much for a cheaply made CD of their music. Since then I eventually caved and bought their CD (though I think they drastically reduced the price). I've been enjoying their music ever since. I've seen them a number of times around the city. They're incredible. I highly recommend their music.
You can view their website here. Just be warned, the last entry is on December 31, 2008. Go figure.
You can also check them out on MySpace. I highly recommend that you do. They're one of my favorite bands and I love hearing them play.
Now that they've been sufficiently plugged, let me get on to my griping with them.
Yesterday, as I got off the subway by work I heard the unmistakable sounds of Hypnotic playing upstairs. I quickly came up the stairs and was surprised to see a very small crowd gathered around them. Every time I've seen them in the past they've had a swarm of people surrounding them so thick that it was difficult to see the band. Given that I had a few more minutes to kill before work I walked over to them to check it out. I watched for about 15 seconds when I saw the trumpet player walking around to people in the crowd. At first I thought he was doing a little mingling or plugging their CD like performers on the street and subway often do. After a minute I realized that this was not the case. What he was doing was going up to everyone holding a camera and signaling to them to stop taking pictures or recording their performance.
Wow.
C'mon, guys. Do we have to go through this again? You already tried to charge me $20.00 for a damn CD that you burned on your computer. Now this?
Think about what this does to your fans (or people who are considering becoming your fans). Someone has heard your music and walked over to check it out. In the New York City subway system where people are on the move, on their way to work or school and there are hundreds of other performers, just to grab someone's attention alone is impressive. To grab someone's attention so much that they'd want to take out their camera and shoot a little crappy 2 minute video to show their friends or post to YouTube is another step all together. Instead of capitalizing on that or embracing it, you are going over to these people who would be your fans and telling them to knock it off. Why? I'd really like to know how Hypnotic's false economy works in their minds in such a way that this is a good idea. What you've done is embarrassed someone who was enjoying your music and made them walk away and stop listening and, even worse, stop learning more about your group.
I watched each person this guy told to stop and they all looked disappointed and embarrassed. And they all just left immediately afterwards. After about thirty seconds I left too. I was a little turned off by the whole thing. As someone who has taken a crappy video of them in the past I can say that all that did was spark my interest in the band. I watched the video a bunch of times, showed it to friends and uploaded it to YouTube:
My crappy video of Hypnotic's awesome performance.
And there are dozens of videos of the band on YouTube. Just click on the recommended videos and you can watch them all day. Here's another awesome video that the band themselves uploaded:
So I guess I just don't understand the band's thinking on this matter. I still love this band. I love their music. I want them to be successful. I just don't know if they're taking a very great path by turning off so many would be fans. What is the negative outcome of someone taking a video of your band and either 1) sharing it with friends or 2) posting it on YouTube? I guess you could maintain the wrong-headed idea that they're "stealing" your music by filming it, but that's idiotic. What they're actually doing is spreading the word and working as a free promotional tool for you.
I guess they're taking the RIAA approach to their music. It's a flawed way of looking at your music/art and reeks of the culture of ownership. Furthermore it does far more to damage your ability to get the word out about your band than it does to help you somehow make more of a perceived income off your music.
Guys, I still love your music. Unfortunately I think you are continuing to put yourself in a position where others will not have the opportunity to love your music as much as I do. I would recommend doing some crazy things: 1) Allow fans to make crappy, personal use videos of your music. It will allow more people to find out about how awesome you are. 2) Sell CDs for less than $20. I'd recommend $10 maximum. It's a very simple principle, you will make less money per CD but you will sell more CDs. Your fixed cost is low so your profit percentage will still be high. 3) Allow downloads off of your MySpace page. If people like the music enough they will buy your other mp3s. 4) Link to your Amazon.com page on your website. It's much better than iTunes.
Reluctantly still a fan, simply because I can't help but love your music,
Chefelf