Trend in Music Marketing: Uploading A Whole Song Onto Youtube

I can remember when I first started using Youtube around 2006 or so. Back then, there was not nearly as much content as there is now. The sound quality was not great in the early days, and videos were usually pretty short. It was rare to find a record label or artist uploading an entire song on Youtube in the early days. Over the years though, Youtube's sound quality improved, and a vast amount of content has been uploaded. At some point it started to become relatively easy to find uploads of most popular songs, usually uploaded not by the record label or artist, but another Youtube user. Lately, that is changing by my observation. It is becoming much more common for labels and artists to upload their own songs onto Youtube.

I am sure there are pro's and con's from the standpoint of a label or recording artist who uploads full versions of their songs onto Youtube. I think overall though, it is the good decision for most music makers to make. First of all, from a practical standpoint, most popular music is going to get uploaded anyway. Second, you can monetize Youtube videos and make decent money off of that. Third, Youtube can be a promotional tool that can lead to more avenues to earn money on your music. Though many everyday consumers may not ultimately purchase a song if it is uploaded in full on Youtube (though I don't know if there is a correlation or not), if it gets hundreds of thousands or even millions of views, it is fantastic promotion. Though you may not make as much on song downloads, you may get deals to have your music in a film, on a commercial, on a television program or get live performance gigs based on the success of your music.

Ultimately, I would say use Youtube to get as many people to hear your music as possible and monetize the video so that if it goes viral there is some cash coming in off the video. Otherwise, it might be a wasted marketing opportunity.  

 

Why Some Would Rather Be 'In The Know' Than Flashy

For many, part of the allure of buying something expensive is that it is a status symbol. However, according to research, some high end consumers actually prefer a smaller, more exclusive group of people to recognize that something they own is very high end. An example in one study found that while among sunglasses under $50, 21 percent had a logo on them, 84 percent in a more expensive category between $100 and $300 had a logo. The fact the cheaper sunglasses would not emphasis a logo as much as a more expensive pair is not that surprising. However, among really expensive sunglasses above $500, the percentage with a logo went down again, dramatically. Only 30 percent of these super high end sunglasses had a logo which could be used to identify them, thus making it more difficult to differentiate whether a pair was as an expensive brand or a cheaper brand. Thus, for people who bought one of the 70% of sunglasses over 500 dollars without a logo, the fact the sunglasses were higher priced would be recognized by fewer people, or a smaller more exclusive group who recognize them as being from a high end brand in other ways than just a logo.   

A link to a summary of the research can be found here at ScienceDaily:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100621173930.htm