Business plan: Give music away

Despite the music business’ concerns about Internet file trading, a lot of record companies have offered free downloads of songs -- some as promotional “loss leaders,” some (as with punk label Go Kart) to protest the industry’s lawsuits against file traders.

But a new label is planning to take it further and will give away all of its music on the Internet.

Team Love, a label being started by Bright Eyes mainstay Conor Oberst and his manager, Nate Krenkel, will initiate the policy with its first release, the debut album by folk-pop duo Tilly & the Wall, which will be available for free download concurrent with its more conventional CD release in June. Saddle Creek Records, the Omaha-based independent that releases Bright Eyes’ recordings, will distribute Team Love releases.

“That was one of the founding concepts of the label -- one of the ideas that gave birth to it,” says Krenkel, a former executive at Sony Publishing. “Most people think it’s a terrible idea, and tell us.” So why do it?

“Just being in the industry the last seven or eight years, watching the conversation about downloading evolve and take such a nasty tone, it felt time to try to transcend that debate,” Krenkel says, “and whether we’re correct or not, just try to carve out some new approach.”

Krenkel challenges the idea that free downloads and trading represent lost sales and that those who download without authorization are essentially shoplifters.

“That vision has become so tired,” he says. “The concept that a download is a lost sale has sounded stupid to me, and it’s becoming more and more the backbone of the industry’s policy.”

Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Assn. of America, says Team Love’s plans do not conflict with the fight against unauthorized sharing.

“Copyright law means that the owner gets to decide how their music is distributed,” Sherman says. “We respect everyone’s right to decide for himself how best to promote an artist or their music. What’s important is that it’s the creator who is making the decision, not some peer-to-peer business making a buck off someone else’s creative work.”

The new venture, Krenkel says, is not intended as a protest statement -- it’s a business strategy.

“We don’t have access to radio and are not taking the approach that the way to break Tilly is radio and spending a lot of money,” he says. “But if there are 100,000 kids who hear it on the Internet, you probably end up selling it to some amount of them. But if no kids hear it, you won’t sell any.”

Besides believing that the exposure will lead to some CD sales, he also says that, regardless, it will help sell concert tickets and merchandise for the acts, a long-standing argument in favor of file trading.

He also notes that this route would not be best for all and that there’s a clear advantage in being able to tap into the Bright Eyes’ fan base.

“We’re not starting from scratch,” he says. “The affiliation with Saddle Creek and, though we’re not emphasizing it, Conor’s participation will be an attraction and at least will give a platform for people to check us out.”

The express route

into concert hall

All general admission tickets are created equal, but some may soon be more equal than others. Ticketmaster, which has made a lot of money from people not wanting to stand in line to get tickets, is introducing a way for some to jump lines at concerts.

Using the name Get in First, the program will allow early entry at 18 Clear Channel-operated amphitheaters for people who print their own tickets at home via the TicketFast feature introduced last year.

A special entrance will open half an hour early, giving TicketFast users the advantage over those who get their tickets other ways. The lawn seating areas at both the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine and the Hyundai Glen Helen Pavilion in Devore are among the first group of venues in the program.

“Fans can come in early and secure their spots,” says Cathy Felling, Ticketmaster executive vice president of the Western region. “It’s a clear value added for the consumer.”

Felling says that about one-third of Ticketmaster customers are already using the TicketFast feature.

She also says that the Get in First offer, for which there’s no additional Ticketmaster charge, will benefit fans with assigned seats as well, because they will be able to enter via the special entrance too.

“Even if you get there after the general gates open, the Get in First gate will turn into an express line,” she says.

After the summer trial, the program will be evaluated and possibly expanded to include shows at other types of venues and sports events.

Pitch men who’d throw us for a loop

Seeing Bob Dylan advertising lingerie seemed to catch a lot of people by surprise. But could it be just the start of a trend? Given all the chatter those Victoria’s Secret TV spots have generated, advertising executives may be meeting right now to propose more of that ilk. The imagination reels:

* Keith Richards for Cover Girl. Alternating with shots of perfectly complexioned models in various London locales, the Rolling Stones guitarist cavorts around Piccadilly Circle to the sound of “Honky Tonk Women,” his glinting wink dissolving in a haze of cigarette smoke.

* Willie Nelson for Herbal Essence hair-care products. To the tune of “The Red Headed Stranger,” the country singer swings his ponytail in a split-screen mirror image of a red-headed model flinging her long tresses. Look! No split ends!

* Iggy Pop for Royal Caribbean cruise lines. Heck, his “Lust for Life” has long been the soundtrack for the company’s campaigns. Why not just put Mr. Pop himself in a Speedo and have him frolic in the sun and surf with bright, shiny vacationers?