2007 July | The Bastille Project

Archive for July, 2007

What will be your label business model?

Published at July 29, 2007 in Announce and Corporate. 0 Comments

As a label manager you have to define your business model. We do not want to force anybody doing something he is unhappy with. Your label is your business and you have to manage it the way you want. Before to open your business, you will have to choose one and only one business model. It will be used all the time and for all artists registered with your label.

The good news is that you will be totally free to use the business model that suits you.

What we will offer is to support all possible business models that are legally acceptable somewhere in the world.

This does not mean that all business models are acceptable in the country you are living (and where you operate your business). You already know that laws and business regulations are not the same everywhere in the world. You will have to check with your lawyer, accountant and/or tax adviser what is possible for you before to make a final decision and use it for your label.

We will begin to support four different business models.

Here they are with a small presentation:

Classic: the label fund everything using their own money
Believer: The label defines the budget that is splitted in a defined number of parts that the believers will buy before the CD is recorded.
Subscription: The label sale by subscription the CD before it is recorded
Free_CCAnCnD: The artists allow free download of their work for non commercial use based on a Creative Common license (Attribution + Non Commercial + No Derivative Works)

As you might already know, we did not invent these business models.

The “Classic” is used by nearly all existing record companies… The “Believer” is used by Sellaband… We are not aware of any website using the (sale by) “Subscription” business model but know that it had been in use for books edition at least since 1750 (when Diderot published the first known encyclopaedia)… The “Free_CCAnCnD” is currently used by Jamendo…

This is just the beginning and if you request it, we will support more business models when and if required.

As always your comments are more than welcome.

The beta is coming

Published at July 26, 2007 in Announce and Corporate. 0 Comments

The Bastille project is moving on fast. We work hard to have our innovative web service up and running as quickly as possible. This will be a global service because it will be multilingual by design. We commit to support more languages in the near future and we already plan to support Indi and Mandarin (both versions).

As this is a complex project, we will open a public beta “by invitation only” in the coming weeks to visitors willing to open a record label based on our free web service. Of course the labels themselves will be publicly accessible to artists and visitors.

Everybody knows that the music industry is in crisis and they seem unable to adapt as quickly as required their business model and processes. The majors seem unable to embrace internet technologies in new and innovative ways. Be assured that they work hard in order to transform their existing organization but it is very difficult to do it when you have existing contracts, shareholders, managers and employees. It is even harder to survive in a world where small innovative companies (like us) empowered by internet technologies reinvent your own business quicker than you ever imagined.

We began to work on this project last autumn. We assessed the music industry processes and business models and then defined ours. We are currently implementing them using internet based technologies. The team behind the Bastille Project, has lot of experience in these business fields.

We are going to open a first website in the coming days. On this site you’ll find all the informations you require before to open your own personal record label.

The people interested in creating their label will be allowed to register their interest online. On the basis of “first come, first served” and within weeks, we will validate these registration requests and email invitations to access the “beta main site”. Artists, businessmen, music lovers, sound engineers or recording studios willing to manage their own label will be welcome. Artists willing to “only” collaborate with a label will have to wait until the first labels offer their services.

Your record label is your own business. As such, depending on the country you are living, there are taxes, laws and regulatory requirements that you’ll need to address and manage. It is always best that you consult your lawyer, tax adviser and/or accountant. Our service offering is a complete free web service that will provide the online tools required to manage the processes and business models required to operate on the internet your own record label… But it is only what it is : an innovative web 2.0 service…

What is the album future ?

Published at July 22, 2007 in Market. 0 Comments

While researching on the net, we found an interesting article published by Slate with several links to other interesting articles. Following one of these links we found an article published by the New York Times (free registration required).

This article explains that record companies hesitate now, for newly signed artist, to commit to the investment required by a full size album. Instead they sign these artists for 2 songs and decide later depending on sales and public reactions.

Nearly all artists explain that they need the album “size” to explain their mood and show their artistic behaviour and feeling of the moment. For any artist, an album is why they want to sign with a record company.

Do you continue to buy albums ?

What do you think about the future of the album “size” ?

The CD is not dead, long live the CD

Published at July 18, 2007 in Market. 1 Comment

After filing for bankruptcy in August, the last Tower Records store in the US had been closed on 22^nd of December 2006. The end of this well known music store chain had been interpreted by analyst as the end of the music retail business.

We do not agree with this analysis.

For 40 years, Tower Records, as a music retailer, sold recorded tapes, vinyls and compact disks because it was the media used to deliver music to the masses. They were participating to a supply chain that begin in the record studio and end at the store. With the sales declining worldwide, this distribution process is not suitable any more.

For sure, the CD as a media to deliver music to the mass has no future.

The internet is already the best way to distribute music to the consumers but that does not mean that the CD is dead.

The Compact disk and its associated packaging may and will also be seen as an object.

Like book collectors invest large amounts in their passion, we will see disk collectors (CD and vinyl). Yes, this will not be a mass market and as such the supply chain will have to adapt to these new market conditions.

The public will be happy to pay for the compact disk of the concert they are attending and will buy it as a souvenir of this event.

People will also buy compact disk (or even vinyl) on line or off line to have a better sound than mp3 can offer.

Why not imagine collectible disks (CD or vinyl) with special packaging created by well known designers that label’s suppliers will manufacture cheaply in China?

We tell you, the compact disk is not dead.

Why the music industry is in trouble

Published at July 15, 2007 in Market. 1 Comment

A record company is a company involved in the music industry. Like it or not, as any company, their goal is to maximize the sales and the profits in order to distribute dividends to their shareholders.

Speak with any Indie record manager and they will confirm it is a capital intensive business. Very quickly said, you need cash to get a product to sale in order to get more cash back.

A record company had to be an industrial company managed by finance tycoons assisted by supply chain experts and marketing wizards (do not forget the lawyers). When a major signed a new artist, they used to pay an advance, then go to the record studio, after mixing and mastering they manufacture huge quantity of vinyl and CD that they have to store in warehouses worldwide. In order to promote and sale their new records they employed an army of marketers and a second army of sales executives. Piracy was low as you needed a factory to create the counterfeited copy. The crowd bought their products by millions, that was the good old time !

Everything began in the 80’s, when the walkman allowed any teenager to keep an inexpensive copy of the record bought by a friend or the local library. In the 90’s the CD burner allowed to have a copy with the same quality than the original record. Since Napster, using mp3, there is no need to have a physical access to the original media in order to get a copy.

Despite RIAA strong reactions, this industry sales and profits decrease every year. This article from Forbes explained that EMI sales were down by 15% over the past year and the company had £910 million ($1.9 billion) of debt. Of course, the shareholders do not like it. EMI is supposed to be sold to a private equity company. This blog says “[..] That means focusing on the existing catalogue and its distribution, not investing in artist development and marketing [..]”.

No need to have an MBA to know that, when a company stops investing in new products and focuses on maximizing revenues on their existing catalogue, that mean bright financial result for the near future before to disappear.

Your comments and reactions are more than welcome…