FEATURE:
Songs in the Keys of Life
PHOTO CREDIT:: Mateus Campos Felipe/Unsplash
putting out content and stuff for my music blog. It has been good to do, though I have also not received any money from it. I have been going back and forth through the years. I cannot afford to subscribe to every website I look at for music information. I can understand why websites put up paywalls. When you, like me, digest a lot of media, it can be difficult to afford to pay for everything you read. I have a few subscriptions for sites that I use a lot – The Guardian, The New York Times etc. -, but there is a bit of guilt when I go to other websites and do not pay anything! In order to ensure that we have music media for generations to come, sites and the printed press have to rely on financing. Whether that is through subscriptions or advertising, it is necessary given the competition out there. I have seen so many smaller blogs and sites close because they are struggling to provide content unless they can raise a lot more money. I personally prefer the subscription option as opposed the proliferation of adverts you find on websites. I think what puts off a lot of people is the cost of subscribing to every website and music magazine. If you research a lot or want a broad view of music, it can mount up quite a bit. One might say that, if you want to read content and be informed, then paying a small fee to everyone who you take from is only reasonable! I feel, like Spotify, journalists are not getting paid what they deserve.
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The survival of music media is essential. There are so many artists in the world now that all rely on promotion and exposure. Websites and magazines will always remain vital and required. Many argue that music media should be free. I am sort of split. I can survive as I am at the moment, as my costs are not too high. I am not going to gigs, travelling or incurring any real costs for my blog. Aside from a Squarespace subscription and the odd payment here and there, I can run my site for free. I am hoping to become more ambitious in 2022. I want to do a bit more in terms of videos and features. Whether that is a podcast or something filmed, it will require a larger budget. Because of that, I have been thinking about ways to get around that. I am not going to start putting adverts on the site. Many have emailed me to advertise on my site, but it is not something that I like. Many of the emails are from gambling companies and people I do not want to promote. I feel the best solution is to offer a subscription service through Patreon. I have seen some blogs and sites do this. I subscribe to a couple. For that, you can tailor how much you pay per month and, for that, you get exclusive content. This not only gives subscribers a little extra; the website owner also gets a little bit of money in order to widen their horizons and keep their website going.
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I am keen to diversify and become a little bit more YouTube-friendly next year. I am conscious this will require a different outlay in terms of recording equipment and how much I spend each month. Whereas a paywall sort of forces people to pay to view content, subscriptions rely on generosity – perhaps yielding fewer offers and less money. There is always that downside, mind. If a journalist wants to do more and reach a larger audience, that means being a bit more wide-ranging regarding features and keeping things fresh. I have not done a podcast yet, and I am aware that I may need to hire a studio to produce those. Due to that, trying to get people to subscribe is a way of affording that. There will always be that personal battle regarding seeing music content online for free and paying various sites a monthly fee. I am appreciative of those who do not put up paywalls and allow free browsing. I barely use some of the websites I pay for some months – so it makes me wonder whether a fixed monthly fee is the best course. In any case, I feel we all need to keep music media alive and flourishing. With more musicians around now than at any other time (and with such diversity), music websites and magazines are highlighting the best new artists and most fascinating albums. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that music is so important to us all. The same goes for music media and what it can teach us (in terms of all the new artists and wonderful features). I think we all need to back it and keep it strong now…
PHOTO CREDIT: Daniel Thomas
MORE than ever.