To make money through major labels, you need blockbuster hits. You need to be the next Lady Gaga, Britney Spears or N’Sync (forgive my obviously girly examples). They spend so much money producing, distributing and marketing the physical CD releases that it’s more effective to try to make money from one super mega-hit than many smaller singles that could cumulatively sell the same number as the mega-hit; hence the age-old problem of over-played songs on the radio. Surely there exists more music than the 10 songs played over and over on 105.1. It’s artificial scarcity –> variety exists, but you’re only exposed to a sliver of it. Labels just didn’t want you to know it. But now in the information age, with digital music sales, it’s almost as easy to make as much from the small hits as the one mega-hit. Paired with the low-cost of digital tools, there are millions of people, like Levi Weaver, out there making music for every genre you can think of and those you would never have dreamt of, and making it independent of a major label.

So here is Levi offering a fresh perspective, a new model – basically fundraising. Instead of looking at it as buying a CD (a very impersonal transaction), Levi is asking that you donate money to support him. In return for your donation, you will receive a CD. He offers a glimpse in to his world. Supporters know that the money is going directly into his hands, instead of through a distributor –> record company –> representative –> agent –> musician (or however the equation goes).

Back to how the Internet changed the game, I guess it boils down to accessibility and choice. Now how do record labels harness these to make more $$$? I think the answer has to do with making it easier for the consumer to sift through all the choices.