YBFREE.comIn Pursuit of Human Interests
| YBFREE.com In Pursuit of Human Interests |
Archives | BLOG | Auctions | Shoppe | Message Board | Company Info | Search |
Big Sonic Recordings is a Do-It-Yourself record company out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Big Sonic is striving to turn the Recording Industry on its head by allowing fans to download music by its artists for FREE!
If the 
question running through your mind right now is, "OK, how does this company survive??" Well that is a hard answer, because founders Erik Mause and Alan Gilman are not quite sure themselves. However, no one should not be quick to write off Mause and Gilman, some of their ideas are plausible and useful to those with the insight to read between the lines.
YBFREE.COM: What is the rational behind Big Sonic giving music away for free?
Gillman: We decided to give the music away for free because in these times, with technology, there is no way to protect the content. And instead of pushing the technology away, we decided to embrace it. Let's face it, if these people think that digital rights management is going to keep people from copying their CDs, then they doubt the creativity that people are capable of. I've seen people go so far as to even setup microphones in front of speakers, and then record the music as it's playing onto a computer. Then you get what's called Zero Rights Management... We let the artists make money by any other means than the music alone. There are CDs for sale, but the music remains free. We may go so far in the future, as to offer a subscription service that allows the fans direct access to their favorite artist. For instance, live web cams that let you watch and listen to each rehearsal for a band.
YBFREE.COM: What sets Big Sonic's artist and their music apart?
Mause: Apart from the other bands? Well, you gotta have diversity. Some of the artists just make music to make the music. They have their day/night jobs, bills to pay, etc. They are some of the nicest group of people and unlike all the other labels that say they are the label to turn to when there is no where else to go, you can come here. But, like anything, you have to limit yourself as to what you can take on your plate. We just like to see good music get heard.
YBFREE.COM: How will your company's model challenge and reform the music industry?
Mause: Hopefully, they will see that everyone is getting fed up with the music industry from the regular customer down to the people like us that start labels. I just assume ignore the fact that these big corporations even exist.
YBFREE.COM: Without giving away too much, how do you attract people to even consider downloading music or for that fact buy merchandise? (For example sample successful branding techniques-again don't give away too many secrets)
Mause: Make them feel guilty.
Gillman: There are no secrets at Big Sonic. We aren't trying to trick people into anything. We feel that by giving the music away for free, that hopefully this alone will create enough buzz to generate interest in the company. Then if they just give us a few minutes of their time, to download and check out the music, perhaps they'll find one of our artists that fits their interests. We offer small sample clips of all of our artists so that people don't have to waste time downloading entire songs before they can get a taste of what's up there.
YBFREE.COM: Have you considered selling CDs?
Mause: We just started the CD option, so we'll have to sort of nurture that one. It is actually a bonus for the people that just have to have the real thing. I notice a lot of The Burn Generation (13-22) possesses a majority of burned CDs in their collections, thrown all over the place, scratched to hell so when you want to listen to them, it's unbearable. But the people in the age bracket of 23-35 seem to just go out and buy the CDs. They want the artwork, lyrics, etc. But our CDs are cheap. If you want it, it's there to buy. People like to make custom CDs, rearrange the order of songs when they download. You can do whatever you want with the music. The only problem we see is that some of the bands on the label like to make the concept albums where the transitions in between the songs can't be disrupted and the order in which it appears is vital to the story. People might miss the meaning.
YBFREE.COM: How is the roster involved in promoting music downloading, selling CDs, and merchandise?
Gillman: Well, Big Sonic is the main driving force behind expanding each artists fan base and recognition online. We aren't forcing our artists to sign over any exclusive rights of their music to us either, so they are still free to sell CDs at live shows that we don't even take a cut of. And each artist is directly involved in the merchandise that we design for them.
YBFREE.COM: Are you afraid potential fans and critics will think the music is below standard because it is free?
Mause: That's the thing; we have to get them there to download the songs to give it a chance. Their free, just take that extra minute to download and judge for yourself if you don't like it, delete it. People love to support a product that looks cool even though they might not know what that company is about yet. But, I think that if someone solely judges the music based on weather or not it's free, than they have a problem.
Gillman: We are not afraid of anything. If people look at us and prejudge us as being substandard and cheap and don't even take the time to check out the music or the concept, then that's their loss.
YBFREE.COM: How many songs have been downloaded since you began?
Gillman:We've had over 1,300 downloads in December. And we are already over 700 for January.
YBFREE.COM: What has been the most popular song?
Mause: Synchronized Fucking by Liquid Crutch. Remember the cassette singles? Well, we're kind of promoting that song as a promo single for Liquid Crutch. They even have a rough draft of a video they shot for the song available online.
YBFREE.COM: Who is your most popular act?
Mause: At the moment it's Liquid Crutch. However, a very popular download has been Crayon Death. Even though the band broke up over 6 years ago...
YBFREE.COM: In the upcoming year what should the public be on the lookout for?
Mause: We want to see the Big Sonic name everywhere. We want to see these bands play out more and achieve the success they are looking for. We'd also like our own storefront called Phantom Rock City. You will be able to buy all the merchandise attributed with Big Sonic (T-shirts, CDs, etc). We are now with CafePress we just want to get out of that and be in control of the merchandise.
Gillman: We would like to offer more services that are unique to Big Sonic that give the artist a more enjoyable and direct connection with the artists.
Send your comments and or questions about this article to Bandwidth@ybfree.com.