Today's blog is an interesting one. It's almost like one of those popular desert island senarios, you know, where someone asks you something like: "If you were stranded on a deserted island with nothing but a record player, and you could only have 5 of your records, which would they be?" These questions are often really tough and take about 10 minutes to answer because no one walks around at every moment knowing exactly what their favorite everything is, but regardless it's kind of like that.
If all I had allotted for me in life was a Macbook, some A/V Equipment, and a good internet connection, how would I make money? What kind of business could I start? Well, I actually came up with a doozy of an idea during the discussion, so bare with me as I work it out as I go along.
I would create a website.
Great, well. That's a start, but there's about a billion of those now, so what am I doing differently? Well...
It's user based.
This meaning aside from structure, layout, and basic operating capacity, the content is provided by users. All well and good. Still doesn't tell you, the buyer, anything. Before I give you real details, let me give the little tidbit of background I'd give an investor:
For many years, I've been a musician, and during all that time as a musician, I've yearned to create. Now, when I first started, I had a good advantage. My father is a drummer, so I had drums hanging around my place. I play guitar, so there's guitars around, and I also grabbed a bass pretty quick. Cool, I'm halfway to being The Police. So right away, I grabbed some microphones, installed some software on a computer, and I was making music, nothing great, mostly sounded like fuzz noise, but I was creating nonetheless, but, I was only creating because I had access to so many wonderful and necessary tools right from the get-go.
I still create music, often, and although I don't get much time for recording, I have the ability now to make very decent sounding stuff, largely because of two things:
I am a multi-instrumentalist, capable of writing and performing on multiple platforms.
I have access to most, if not all, instruments I want to use in my recordings in my own home.
Recently I wanted to write some orchestral style string parts for a song, and I ran into a problem I hadn't had for a long time. I have no keyboard. And I also have very little knowledge of playing, let alone writing music on keyboard.
Now, this isn't necessarily the end of the world for me. I'm graced with knowing more than a few other musicians with gear, talent, and knowledge I can call upon to get things done. But that's when this thought hit me: What if I didn't?
I've progressed greatly as a musician quickly largely because I've been able to assemble these songs, make mistakes and learn from them, but, I couldn't have done that if I was missing even just one piece of the puzzle. And then another thing hit me: There are hundreds, if not thousands of people, like me, trying to create, who don't have access to all the puzzle pieces.
I subscribe to a few people on Youtube who make beautiful music, but their recordings usually lack because they often don't have a drummer, or a bassist, or whatever, because they either can't play that instrument, or don't know anyone who does. Because of this lack of, "fullness," their music instantly loses face, and becomes a million times harder to make marketable. Not to mention, it may not satisfy their needs as an artist.
This is where my idea comes in.
Musicians love to collaborate. It's how we get new ideas, learn, grow, and have fun. Almost every successful musical group of all time was founded on at least a bare minimum of collaboration. But these people are stranded on their desert island with nothing but their guitar and a computer.
So I'll send them messages in a bottle.
My idea is to create a website called the CoLab. (It'll make sense) The CoLab is a user driven, collaborative community, based on the notion of a Wanted page. (Now it makes sense)
It's like this, say I'm trying to create a reggae dub track. Well I have a drum kit, a guitar, and a bass. Well, that leaves me with some problems. One, I can do reggae on drums and guitar, but I have no clue how to go about writing the bass line. Two, dub and reggae music often contain electronic elements, (keyboard sweeps, electronic drum sounds, etc.) and I don't possess a keyboard.
So I'm essentially stuck. I can't create this track as I want it because I don't have equipment and knowledge specific to what I'm trying to accomplish, and I don't know anyone who can help. I can't progress any further, not without help anyway. Enter the CoLab. I take whatever of I have of this song. Whether it's an incomplete demo, some recorded clips, or even just some core concept, and I make a post on CoLab, labeling it with all the appropriate tags, and asking for experienced people to take a look or a listen, and offer up ideas, or their services, to help complete the track. Conversely, I can also browse through the artist profiles that people have created on CoLab, displaying their musical fluency, experience, preferred genres, and perhaps tracks that they've worked on before.
Now I've gone from having no means of continuing my work, to having two, and it's thanks to the CoLab. Now someone may respond to my post, offering to collaborate on the track, or maybe I'll hit up so and so in California. Who's an experienced reggae bass player. Now using file sharing and cloud storage, supplied by CoLab, I can send and receive clips I can import into my Multi-track audio editing software, and I can complete the track.
Now I've successfully made my reggae dub song, and I've worked with someone who I could theoretically work with again and again. And thanks to their profile on CoLab, I'll always have a way to contact them.
Talking a little about the site now. CoLab will largely run on a search basis, assuming there would be many, wildly different posts to sort through if you were just to watch a stream of posts. You search by using the tags that people have used to describe their work, so typing in "Rock, Guitar, Solo." You'll be shown posts, descending by relevance to your specific search words, and from that you'll be able to find someone who's looking for someone, hopefully you, to add the perfect touch to their song. A similar search will work in reverse if you're in search of an artist who can accomplish this sort of thing.
So, that's the CoLab. Core concept. So, how can I monetize this? Well, as we all know, some musicians are better than others, as mean as it sounds, it's true. So CoLab will actually have two services off of the get go. One that is completely user-based, and completely free. The other, will be a subscription based, professional site, where only artists with a professional, certified background can participate. This helps in two ways. Serious musicians with actual budgets will be able to find other, experienced musicians more easily, and more quickly, because those musicians will be a part of CoLab Elite. This also means that bedroom guitar hero wannabes will not be able to spam serious, professional musicians relentlessly, trying to get a Hendrix guitar solo on their song. (CoLab will also have a block user function available in Free and Elite formats)
CoLab Elite will also provide users with bonus content, such as recording tutorials, writing tips, and lessons, from professional musicians who work with CoLab Elite.
Now, before you ask. I have thought of the dreaded word, royalties. Artists who use CoLab, on any level, have to agree to our terms of service, which will include a statement something to the tune of: "CoLab does not encourage users to monetize songs they have created using CoLab. Any and all sales of works using CoLab are the responsibility of the artists specifically responsible for creating the work in the first place. Any misplaced or missed credit is not the responsibility of CoLab. If a song is to be monetized, users must agree beforehand on the financial nature of their creation. CoLab is not liable for any money lost, unpaid or earned through the sale of songs created using CoLab..." etc.
CoLab will gain income ultimately through Ad Revenue and the subscription service, but as far as a concept goes, I think this one that could actually work.
Track of the day is Use Your Power by Sandbaby. Sandbaby is ultimately what inspired, and convinced me, to make music by myself, since everything is written and performed by one man, Kody Yardley. And you know, doing this, I'm like, using my power, or whatever...
http://sandbaby.bandcamp.com/track/use-your-power
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