MP3 spins cash for band

A 'payback for playback' scheme is helping local musicians, reports MICHAEL FOREMAN

Auckland jazz band the Chris Mason-Battley Group has hit the right note at the high-profile MP3.com web site, raking in up to $US130 ($276) per day in "payback" earnings.

United States-based MP3.com hosts over 469,000 songs and audio files from around 74,000 artists in the MP3 compressed audio format, which allows near CD-quality music to be downloaded from the net.

The group is cashing in on MP3.com's Payback for Playback scheme, which rewards artists who contribute free music with a US$1 million monthly share of advertising revenue, divided according to a formula based on their popularity.

Last month Waitakere-based band-leader Chris Mason-Battley, who had submitted seven tracks to MP3.com in May, watched one track Falling Rain start to take off.

Yesterday Falling Rain had reached the number three position in MP3.com's Jazz chart, and had shot up to number 30 in the overall top 40 chart, having been awarded "on fire" status over the weekend.

"It's very exciting but also quite nerve-wracking as well," said Mason-Battley.

His earnings from this and other tracks totalled $US1853.03 yesterday, with $US873.60 accruing in the first eight days of this month.

A total of 9668 people have listened to the group on MP3.com this month, with up to 1697 downloads occurring in a single day.

If this rate is maintained Mason-Battley stands to collect roughly $7000 this month, the equivalent of more than $80,000 a year.

But Mason-Battley, who teaches music part-time at four Auckland schools, says that as yet he has no immediate plans to give up his day job.

The group, which usually charges $125 for a performance, will also continue to play at corporate functions and appear at Auckland venues including the Deschler's Bar in High St and the London Bar in Queen St.

He said the band plans to record more music, which it will make available on MP3.com.

Mason-Battley, who is able to track daily downloads and earnings from the MP3.com web site, said he realised that the band's popularity could die away just as quickly as it took off, and Falling Rain has already suffered some slips.

"We noticed that it was dipping at weekends. The reason is that people in offices are putting it on for some background music while they worked. When they pack up at the weekend the number of downloads goes down again."

He said the key to success at the MP3.com site, which lists tracks according to their popularity, was to achieve a sufficiently high ranking within a genre.

"You have to get your name up there somehow, if you are below position 200 there is no way people are going to scroll down that far."

He took advantage of MP3.com's advice on "viral marketing" methods, which included emailing all his contacts with details of the listing, and asking them to pass the message on to any jazz lovers they knew.

He also bid in an online "payola" auction, paying $US8 for a higher profile listing in the jazz section of the site.

"That really started the ball rolling," he said.

The MP3.com site has become one of the world's most popular destinations on the web, attracting more than 10.7 million visitors per month who download an average of 33.7 million tracks.

While much of the content is free to visitors, MP3.com draws revenue from advertising, sponsorship, e-commerce revenue share deals, and sales of compilation track CDs.

MP3.com, which launched its payback scheme last November, increased the pool to $US1 million in May. That month the top earning artist worldwide was Texas-based Mikel Fair of 303Infinity who earned $US23,786 through the programme, the equivalent of $US275,000 a year.

Other New Zealand artists who have proved popular on the site include Blue Train, which has earned $US510.13, Mistake Theory, Andy Brown, and the Glenfield College.

Mason-Battley who has a manufacturing and distribution contract with Parachute Music, said he had not yet checked whether his band's MP3.com success had affected CD sales.

"At this stage it really doesn't matter," he said pointing out that the payback earnings were much more substantial than CD royalties to date.

The band's album Karakia is available online at sounds.co.nz as well as his own website, and several MP3-quality digital audio music (DAM) CDs have been sold direct from MP3.com at $US8.99, to customers in France, the UK and the US.

"This wouldn't have happened at all out of New Zealand," said Mason-Battley.

Artists receive 50 per cent of the retail price of DAM CDs, but Mason-Battley said he would be donating the proceeds to the Tear Fund, a third-world business development charity.

Links:

mp3.com

chrismb.co.nz

Sounds