I watched this video
which probably confirms to me that the most artists are delusional if they think they are going to make
it. The music industry has a poor success record when it comes to making a profit and this is even worse
now and will be.

On the other hand I read on here from time to time about people talking about the new model but wanting to
maintain the status quo and this is foolishness of the highest order.

There is a new economy and that is one where views count more than anything else. Of course the big boys
still pander to the charts and radio and largely will bankrupt you all trying to make it. Only a handful
of acts will make any money in this system. For the rest of us we need a new approach.

Rebecca Black has a hit with "Friday" but will she capitalise on this and turn a small investment into a
big profit ? Not if she dreams of being signed to Sony/Universal or the other cats.

Black's track is not a hit. Chocolate Rain was not a hit but check out the views. There's a vast difference between watching and buying.

This is precisely what I am saying. You think in old term speak.
Clearly 7m views is a VIDEO HIT. You downplay this achievement by
pointing out the lack of sales. This is why the music industry run by people
with this mentality will crash and burn.
Sales will continue to fall and only a handful of people will make money from
record sales. Move with the times. Youtube is here to stay

Hmm JK you are massively contradicting yourself now.
I get it a hit song is only a hit as defined by JK ?
Some chart songs are NOT hits according to you and now
you're defining a hit based on sales ?

You may have been a great exec in the past but by today's
standards you haven't got a clue. In the day and age where
Youtube is more important than radio, you fail to recognise
that a YOUTUBE HIT is as credible as a radio hit. Of course
people like you don't know how to compare apples with apples
and constantly shift the goalposts to suit you agenda.

Let me break it down to you simply. 7 million views has resulted
in numerous top 100 entries around the world for this girl.
If she notches at least 10 of these how many downloads will she
sell ?

A savvy person knows that in the Youtube economy you don't care
about sales, they are a bonus as you will make just as much as
you would if you compared the right stats.

Compare the video views with radio listens and then calculate the
Listen to Sales ratio and you will find this girl has actually got
a massive hit on her hands in terms of actual income generated.

I despair. ICHABOD !

No, no - you misunderstood; it may well be a You Tube hit with loads of views but the reason is because it's quirky or bizarre or visual or whatever... like Charley Bit My Finger. So yes, it's a hit, but it's not a musical hit - a very different animal; I don't believe in constructing a chart from sales alone but a decent music hit will sell to the ears as well as grab the eyes.

Don't assume we don't understand the new world; we still haven't hit on a new model and neither has anyone else - the eye is different from the ear (thank god - just don't tell Duran Duran).

Haha well interesting JK but I can't believe you don't like Duran Duran.
There is a whole new economy out there I think and I wonder if music will
ever scale to its lofty heights again considering the monotony of modern
American music.
But I agree with you in that we need music hits but I think the new model
is here it just has not been exploited fully.
Sons Of Admiral have it sussed but they don't have the full package.
Incidently Rebecca has popped up in the iTunes top 100 in several countries.
Now we only need a brave exec to run with a Youtube optimised release.

Sadly we didn't have it sussed at all with Sons of Admirals. We thought we had but we didn't.

JK2006 wrote:
Sadly we didn't have it sussed at all with Sons of Admirals. We thought we had but we didn't.
I think you missed the obvious there JK, yes they've got a cutesy appeal as far as video goes but the musicality let them down. You posted a link to them performing a few live tracks and it wasn't good IMO.

Agree with you about the link to the live Sun session - sadly a serious mistake.

"A savvy person knows that in the Youtube economy you don't care
about sales, they are a bonus as you will make just as much as
you would if you compared the right stats."

Could you please explain the "Youtube economy":

How much money do publishers, labels and artists get for one million views?

Do all labels / artists get the same amount of money?

What's the difference (in financial terms) between a view on YouTube and one via VEVO?

Is there a level playing field for small labels / "independent" artists or do UMG, SONY, WMG and EMI control YouTube/VEVO just like they control radio & TV?

Well my Sons of Admirals friends do quite nicely from income - especially Charlie - but it's tiny compared to the old days of music sales and even these days I make much more from my new tracks on iTunes than they do from You Tube income.

What should be obvious to the more seasoned commentators on this thread is the fact that we no longer have shows like Top of the Pops, Whistle Test and The Tube to showcase pop music at the right time of the day and to a mass audience. Where would the pop music have been back in the golden days without that once a week event, when at 7 O'Clock on the dot kids would pester their parents to be allowed to watch Top of the Pops?

Here is my two pennys on this thread

"A savvy person knows that in the Youtube economy you don't care
about sales, they are a bonus as you will make just as much as
you would if you compared the right stats."

Basically the Youtube economy as far as the music industry is concered
works only if you're a member of their partnership programme. If you're not
then you're better off using facebook and Blip TV.

However they work in a similar manner.

Before each video is played there is a pre-roll advert and also a image ad on
the page. These are powered by Google and you're guaranteed some of the best
paying rates.

A banner ad can give you 5c per click and the instream ads will be much less but
at the least will generate around $1 CPM (per thousand).

So what can you expect with a million views and average CTR (click through ratio).

With a CTR of 1% you will generate 10,000 clicks on the banner ad x 5c so you will
earn $500

With the in stream ads you should earn around $1000 so all up you should earn
around $1500 - $5000 (if you generate a 3% CTR on the ads).

On top of that you may have a link to the iTunes and this girl has been getting into
the charts around the world off the back of this video which will probably top 100 million
views as it is doing 1m views a day.

Your iTunes ad (because that is what it is) will generate 1% clicks and that will be
10,000 clicks to itunes If you convert all of that then you are generating $10,000 in
sales BUT you won't convert them all so a 10% conversion ratio is more realistic which
will be another $1000

So for 1m views you will pick up around $2000 or pounds.

Now this is based on www.youtube.com views and it's by no means the most lucrative way of using video.

The best way is to control the ads or use better paying ad networks using better paying adverts.
Video ads and pop ups are the highest paying ads you will find.

If you embed a video on your site and do everything in your power to get people to watch it on YOUR
site then you will make shedloads more.

1 million views will convert at 2% - 5% with a video ad sitting next to it. So if you are generating
1 million views on your website you will generate 1 million video ad views x 5c which is $50,000.

Add your iTunes sales (using the same matrix as above) to that and you are looking at $51,000.
So a smart marketer will use Youtube as an advert and drive people to his site using Google or other
networks.

The key to the video economy is to think like TV and not like music.

However, to do a purely music only campaign, you can also use the method JK uses.
Use your own website and convert your viewers into Itunes sales

It boils down to your call to action, which is there to weed out irrelevant clicks. So on your
Youtube page, Facebook page, website, TV ad or whatever you use, make sure your call to action is
"BUY this song from iTunes" or "download from iTunes" or "buy the mp3" links etc.

I cannot stress enough that if you get the song right and calculate the right matrix and budget
wisely you will have hit after hit (in terms of making a profit, rather than a massive record)
and even chart.

"How much money do publishers, labels and artists get for one million views?"

Youtube pay publishers according to their ad income, not quite sure what it is. But don't forget
video views are like TV views and radio listens and NOT sales.
1 million views is equivalent to 1000 sales because to generate 1000 sales you need 1m ears to
listen to it ONCE. So the equivalent Youtube views for a chart topping single selling 50,000 copies
is 50,000,000.

Hope this helps. If anyone needs any further info please ask as I believe the new model is simply this:
"more power to the artist in terms of marketing. This means you control who hears your music, when
how often and how they respond". There is a level playing field and a clever PR to capitalise on this
would multiply this and expand the story.