音乐DIY走向数字化

    任何一位或多或少了解过基于数字化的音乐产业新范式的人都知道，今天已经进入了后唱片时代，专辑销售已经不再是音乐产业昔日的摇钱树，歌手或者音乐团体完全有可能过上体面的生活。

    大量的时髦产品显示，只需拥有一个强大的粉丝社交网络，一个杀手级的营销理念，同时在众筹平台Kickstarter上举办一场筹款活动，就可以成为下一个阿曼达•帕尔默。这位女歌手去年凭借从粉丝手中成功筹集的一百多万美元资金，制作了一张自我发行的专辑《邪恶剧场》(Theatre is Evil)。这张唱片最终荣登公告牌200强专辑榜(Billboard 200)的第10位。

    问题是，一个人身上不一定能够同时具备卓越的音乐才能和超凡的营销技巧。音乐圈内既有大卫•鲍伊这样的营销高手，也不乏尼尔•杨这样的“隐士”。尽管尼尔•杨同样具备非凡的音乐才华，但他几乎连一张宣传照片也不屑于拍摄。或者，如 Shoutabl网站联合创始人特拉维斯•多诺万所言：“现如今，如果你组建一支乐队，你就会觉得哪个山头都要占领，让人觉得分身乏术。这些山头一盘散沙，各自为阵。歌手们已经不再认为自己是一个有价值的目标，不再认为脱离Twitter或者Facebook就能打造一个以自己为中心的社区，而Twitter或Facebook并不会真正把他们的经济利益放在心上。”

    “我的榜样永远是Tune-Yards，”他的合作伙伴特拉维斯•莫里森说。“她是美国最有趣的音乐人，她的网站就像是一张与其Facebook和Twitter账户相链接的图像。她的首页应该是美国音乐界最有意思的网站。这种情形是不对的。”

    多诺万和莫里森试图在目前处于测试阶段的网站Shoutabl，应用他们在《赫芬顿邮报》( Huffington Post)工作期间学到的数字战略，帮助音乐界的尼尔•扬们解决自我营销问题。这个平台允许不具备编程技能的用户搭建可定制网站，而这些网站不仅可以承载来自音乐人社交网络账户的内容，而且内置了一个基本的博客设置，提供了一个把内容通过这些账户推送出去的简单方式，还可以充当YouTube 和SoundCloud等网站音乐内容的媒介。

    除了拥有为《赫芬顿邮报》推送内容的经验外，多诺万和莫里森还具备宣传各自乐队的实际经验。多诺万是凤凰城金属核乐队 Not Quite Bernadette的成员之一。早在上世纪90年代，莫里森就在一支朋克乐队担任过主唱。它名叫“肢解计划”(Dismemberment Plan)，以舞曲风格为主，在华盛顿特区颇具影响力。自从“电子邮件刚开始被接受”那时候起，他就一直应用技术来打理这支乐队的业务。这支乐队最近重新团聚，还计划在10月份发行12年来的首张新专辑《Uncanney Valley》。Shoutabl直接反映出他在全新独立音乐产业的经验。

    “歌手们需要一大堆电子产品，”多诺万说。多个产品无法单独地提供一个全面的音乐营销解决方案。乐队可以把歌曲上传至SoundCloud，通过BandCamp销售，在Twitter上与粉丝沟通，在 Facebook推广现场演出。在多个站点之间跳来跳去，但却只能解决一部分问题，这是许多音乐人根本不想应对的一件麻烦事。“我讨厌这样做，我是一个高级用户，”莫里森说。“那样做太劳神了！我的意思是，如果你真的尝试着创建一个WordPress博客，连上帝都看不过去！”

    Anyone who's read at any length about the new, digitally-based music business paradigm knows that it's entirely possible for an artist or group to make a living in a post-label world where album sales are no longer the industry-sustaining cash cow they once were.

    According to a vast number of trend pieces, all you need is a robust social network of fans, a killer marketing concept, and a Kickstarter campaign to become the next Amanda Palmer, who last year raised over a million dollars from her fans that funded a self-released album,Theatre is Evil, that made it to number 10 on the Billboard 200 chart.

    The problem is that musical ability and a knack for marketing aren't necessarily connected -- for every master salesman like David Bowie there's a reclusive Neil Young who is just as musically gifted but can barely be bothered to take a publicity photo. Or, as Shoutabl co-founder Travis Donovan puts it, "These days when you start a band, you're just inundated with all of these places you feel you need to be. It's so fragmented, it's so disconnected, and artists have moved away from the idea that they're a valuable destination, that they can curate a community around themselves without handing over that community to Twitter or Facebook, who really don't care about your financial interests."

    "My example is always Tune-Yards," says his partner, Travis Morrison. "She's the most interesting American musician working, and her website is like an image with links to her Facebook (FB) and Twitter accounts. Her front page should be the most interesting website in American music. It's not right."

    Shoutabl, currently in beta, is Donovan and Morrison's attempt to apply the digital strategies they learned while working at the Huffington Post toward solving self-marketing for the Neil Youngs of the world. The platform allows users without programming skills to assemble customizable websites that can host content from musicians' social networking accounts and a basic built-in blogging setup, as well as offering a simple way to push content back out through those same accounts, as well as serving media hosted on sites like YouTube (GOOG) and SoundCloud.

    On top of their experience pushing content for HuffPo, Donovan and Morrison both have real-world experience promoting their own bands. Donovan was a member of the Phoenix metalcore band Not Quite Bernadette. Morrison was the frontman for a dancey, punk-influenced Washington, D.C. outfit called the Dismemberment Plan back in the 1990s, and he has been using technology to help manage the band's business since "just as email was becoming legit." The group recently reunited -- they'll release Uncanney Valley, their first new album in 12 years, in October. Shoutabl is a direct reflection of his experience in the new independent music business.

    "There's this huge pile of B-plus products for artists' needs," says Morrison. The multiple products don't individually provide a comprehensive solution for marketing one's music. Bands can host tracks on SoundCloud, sell them through BandCamp, communicate with fans on Twitter, and advertise live appearances on Facebook. Bouncing between sites that solve only part of a problem is a hassle many artistic types just don't want to deal with. "I hate doing it, and I'm a power user," Morrison says. "It's exhausting! I mean God forbid you actually try to set up a WordPress instance!"