Business Ventures
While on tour supporting Mockingbird, Webb noticed that attendance at his shows had increased dramatically after he had made Mockingbird available for free online. He explains that for a niche artist, the value of word-of-mouth recommendations greatly exceeds that of the money earned from online music sales, even noting that he sold more albums after it had been made available for free. Therefore, in May 2007, in response to the success of the free distribution of Mockingbird, Webb teamed up with music industry veterans Mark Nicholas, David McCollum, and Brannon McAllister to form NoiseTrade. The site allows users to download music for free from independent artists who use the service.
The site provides a market for an ostensibly mutually agreeable "trade": the consumer will get music for free, in exchange for making "noise" about the artist by sending emails to friends to let them know about the music. (Alternatively, the consumer may pay the price s/he deems fair.) The consumers may also use the site to find new and different kinds of music at no cost, utilizing user recommendations and forums to learn of new artists. The artists are also able to use the ZIP code information collected to help book shows in areas with larger numbers of fans and potential fans.
Read more about this topic: Derek Webb
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