I do not want to address the issue of illegal downloads, but i would like here to focus on the download of music for which, that’s my choice, the authors have chosen to make them available through a free download.

The main question is why should an artist should make his music available for free download?

It seems to me that we must first understand that the first contact between an auditor, potential buyer, and a song or an album is generally a free contact, via the mass media as radio, TV, or through a friend who makes discovering the music he loves.

For an independant musician as i am, who do not have access to mass media, the internet allows this first meeting between an auditor, the public and potential buyer, and its music. A pre-listening to 30s is far from sufficient to create a familiarity between the world of the artist and the listener. The free download can solve this problem by giving the downloader time enough to go into an intimacy with the artist. Once this proximity will exist, eventually, it will be turned into a deed of purchase for this song, this album, or even a ticket concert.

But it is essential that the free download can help to create a link between the artist and the person who downloaded his music. And there’s the rub. Indeed, the download sites “legal” never offer the opportunity for artists to see who downloaded their music, and thereafter maintain contacts, send information, news, etc. ….

And in a way, in good faith, the sites of legal free download turn to make music anonymous, transforms it into a good massively used, but independent of the artist, and ultimately prevent the development of new artists.

So what can we do?

This is the solution that i have chosen :

1) limit to the minimum delivering my music on the free download sites. The few times I do, it is trying to steer people toward my personal website

2) start a system of free download to discover my albums, asking people to come back later to pay if he wishes. For this, I ask for people who want to download my album to commit to minimum, and leave their email. This will allow to go back to them a few days after they downloaded, to remind them to buy the album if they choose to. It will allow too to send them regular information about my news.

The results of this practice is the following:

* 1 out of 5 who comes to the site goes to the page dedicated to the downloading
* 1 in 3 of those coming on the download page, where it is discovered that one must leave his email before downloading, will actually download the album.

Therefore, I infer that I roughly divided by 3 the number of downloads of my albums but i get a file for my email newsletter, which precious to create and maintain a relationship with people who appreciate my music.

And in the end, how much to pay?

As far as I am concerned, this is difficult to quantify like that. Indeed I offer the possibility of supporting my productions in two ways : by paying albums downloaded, or by making a promotion on the web, via a blog, a forum or another.

In addition, a number of people who have downloaded the album and have not paid, are the same that regularly attend my concerts online on Second Life and financially support me in this occasion.

So roughly, I would say that I return in terms of financial and other kind of support from about half of the people who have downloaded my albums free from my site, which is not so bad regarding the RadioHead experience talking about 1 on 3..

A balance therefore rather positive free download offered within this framework. A good thing would be that all the sites that offer opportunities for free downloading of music should adopt a similar policy and ask people to provide an email before downloading anything, email to be forwarded to the artist concerned. This is a way to give value to the free music. Everyone gives, on the one hand the artist who offers her work, and on the other hand the downloader who engages himself in a relationship with the author of the music he wants to download.

Last Friday, I played a tribute to Leonard Cohen on the stage of the virtual Woodstock in Second Lifel. The first reason why i did that is because i loved to do it and it is also because some of the reviewers of my album “red and blues” have noticed that there was a certain proximity between the mood of this album and the songs of LC.

What can I say about this evening?

* First, a lot of emotion was shared, and i got a great success in it, with more than a hundred people connected
* I have not shared that with friends since my high school days ……..
* Also great satisfaction to see that even though I was singing the songs of another, the participants were there to share that with me …

In some ways, it seems to me that in a few months (I am back on Second Life since October) i began to build up an audience, the kind that you can get in the non-virtual worl, in a longer time …. My problem today is to change and go up scale. But how to change scale without returning to the methods of bizness (which I do not have access to ) and how to keep a sense of personal connection and proximity to the people who like my music while seeking to increase their number ?……

A beautiful image story of the event of Pomona Writer there

Keep a photo of the concert:

It was obvious that the first artist I should talk about on this blog is Suzen Juel (Juel Resistance on Second Life). She is the one who actually gave me the idea to explore virtual worlds. And guess where we met? Myspace:) but I have to say that it was through several discussions and meetings that we have had through our 3D avatars that we became friends.

But enough about me ! Let’s focus on her, and listen to her. What I love in Suzen’s music, it is its silence, that she embroiders with a few notes and a few words to lead you deep into her stories.
Bon voyage!

Bibi Book is one of the most active person supporting indie music and musicians in the virtual world Second Life. I met her during my first steps in that new and strange environment and she has been very helpful, hiring me for a regular show at his lovely 3D venue called Bibi’s Beach.

She is now working on a huge project, the SL Music Information Center (SLMIC), a directory of musician involved in Second Life, providing informations services inside Second Life.

She has a great experience of the indie music area in Second Life and on the web in general. Here is the conversation of ours, that we had while drinking coffee at her 3D place ion second Life

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Are bloggers a real 5th power, even more powerful than classical journalism ?

Whatever it is, it is important for a musician who want to be known on the net to get in touch and start relationships with these enthousiastic writers. Each article or review on a blog is a part of the buzz that all of us are waiting for

When i released my CD “rouge et blues” , i started a PR action toward the bloggers. I even got some rewards of that work and got some review and articles. All of these being good things for the buzz .

I got some human feedbacks too, exchanging some emails with some of thoses bloggers, warm, friendly, human …

Of course i started the same action toward the bloggers dedicated to Second Life. Starting researching, gettting in touch, …  And then i realized that this virtual world was allowing me to do something that i cannot do in the “classical” web world …. Something as simple as organizing a real meeting with the bloggers.

See the pic down there, all i can say about that meeting is that :

• It lasted until late in the night
• We talked about a lot of things, and very few about me
• Some warm and friendly relationships are now established, i guess that they will last, i already meet some of them at my live on line concerts

To me, this kind of meeting is a true example of what tend to be relationships between people and artists via the web : Everyone is at the same level. Now the star system is over and the artist is back in the city, living among the other humans