Proposal for a "Music Business & Creative Entrepreneurship" Forum Category

Hi all, I mentioned this before, but I would like to take some time to properly propose a new category for the forum around “Music Business & Creative Entrepreneurship.”

This category would be a place where forum members could discuss ways for creatives to turn their craft into a source of income, and ideally on a consistent basis as well.

I don’t know too much about the inner workings of the music industry, but I have a background in startup entrepreneurship and I am interested in starting some conversations where we can all share some ideas and get feedback from each other.

I am interested to hear everyone’s thoughts on this, and I am glad to talk more about what this category could look like, if needed.

Thank you,
Sam Martyn

Poll for a “Music Business & Creative Entrepreneurship” Forum Category
  • Yes, that sounds interesting.
  • No, not right now.

0 voters

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I like the idea!

Is there a shorter version of the name that you think expresses the idea well enough? Unfortunately, due to its length, the full name “Music Business & Creative Entrepreneurship” may get cut off in various places across the Forum

Maybe “Entrepreneurship” or “Music Entrepreneurship”?

“Music Business” to me seems to invite discuss on the Music Industry more broadly, whereas it seems your main pitch seems to be for a place where artists can share ideas about how to creatively get revenue from their art.

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Yea, maybe just “Creative Entrepreneurship” with a more descriptive sub-text that we can put underneath.

You hit it on the head when you said, “a place where artists could share ideas about how to get revenue from their art.”

Thanks!

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I’ve noticed that someone voted “no, not right now” in response. Dissent should be celebrated and it should also be opportunity for the group to learn.

To whoever dissented on this, you’re encouraged to share your thoughts about why. Perhaps there’s an issue here that we are unaware of?

I’m going give this post until Thursday to gather additional feedback and create an opportunity for any who disagree with the creation of the category to speak up about why, and to share any alternate proposals they may have.

In the absence of further dissent and discussion, I’ll go ahead and launch the category on Thursday and I’ll invite @Sam_Martyn to host a review session in early February.

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Sounds good, and I love your response! Having opposing views is a great way to help people grow, and there are probably a few things that I am overlooking, so I would be interested in diving more into these things with anyone who may see this as maybe not a top priority right now, which is totally understandable.

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I dissent!
Just wrote @richjensen about it actually, here’s what I said:

“I think artists right now are trying to find safe havens to share their work and get decent and fair pay for it, and Resonate isn’t even 1 year old (or so), and yet we’re already seeing all that business industry talk with words like entrepeneurship, and it just rubs me the wrong way.
We’re artists first and foremost, and capitalism has never done right with us (and mostly with anyone, except the 1%) and a place like Resonate should be about doing things differently, and we have to be careful, because good intentions are never enough in the face of the big C.”

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@Sylvia Thank you for sharing your perspective!

I totally get it. To many of us, the world seems to be choking on capitalist logic.

However, I also feel that many people are looking at being smarter about business tactics as a means of survival. Better education and knowledge could be a benefit for many.

And, more generally, I want to suggest that the healthiest position for the co-op as a social institution across diverse communities will be to maintain a kind of plurality for sometimes contradictory programs.

@Sylvia How would you (and others) feel about having a segregated ‘Entrepreneurial Zone’ for members to offer their goods and services? A kind of free speech zone not endorsed by the co-op?

This was my response to an earlier note about this proposal.

Thoughts, anyone?

yes,

yes, it could be an ok compromise, it would still need to be monitored by admins in case of bad behaviors etc.

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:100:

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@Sylvia, thank you for this! I definitely agree with you on the importance of building a safe haven for artists to focus on art, and share their work in a fair community.

However, I would be interested to hear more of your thoughts on the second part of your statement in that artists should also “get decent and fair pay for it.”

I believe that Resonate’s stream2own model does a lot for helping artists achieve this, but I am concerned that even with the stream2own payment system, artists will still struggle to make a decent living, considering the capitalist society that I, and many others, currently live in.

With that being said, I think it is important that artists also have other tools at their disposal to generate additional support for their work, including the fair pay that Resonate offers.

I don’t think I explained this well enough in my original post, but my vision for this category wouldn’t be around posting offers and things, but more about having real-life community conversations about building a (paying) fanbase, and some of the tools that others have used to create this themselves.

This category would be separate from the vendor category, and I agree that we would need to monitor a vendor category closely as we wouldn’t want Resonate to become solely a marketplace, but most importantly a strongly centered music community instead.

An example I can give though for this “Creative Entrepreneurship” category idea that I mentioned is that I have heard of artists spending consistent sums of money on promoting their work, but they are often left with little to no return for their payment. In this example, I would love to have a conversation around ideas people have for artists to increase their return in a scenario like this. I have a handful of suggestions on this myself, but that is where I see the value of this category. Being able to help one another create more, and deeper, relationships with fans and followers.

I know this example doesn’t apply to everyone, but these are some of the issues I would like to tackle in a category like this.

I can see how certain words can rub people the wrong way, so if what I described above sounds a bit more inviting, would you, or anyone else have any ideas for a better name for this category?

Maybe something general like “artist tools,” “value building,” or “fanbase tips?”

I’m open to discussing more, and I don’t mind @richjensen’s idea to have a segregated zone for this as well, but I also think this category can help provide a new perspective for a lot of artists that will benefit them in the long run.

Love the perspectives and ideas so far, and I am comfortable with whatever way we decide to move forward.

Thank you!

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I can see both views on this (so I didn’t vote either way in the poll). I also feel uneasy about certain words that try to position art in a very economically-weighted way and I’ve joined spaces that give the impression of a community but are really just a link drop and people wanting to increase stats. Agree with @richjensen about the education element though and maybe best practice when starting out. I don’t know if it’s the same thing or not, but for a long time, I’ve really wanted to put together a kind of directory of companies and places that don’t centre on the usual monolith players (like Spotify, etc.). I have a very short and thrown-together list on my own website based on someone emailing me about this very subject (and joining Resonate) but it would be good to see a standalone thing that helps people decide on their values as a musician, learn more about their listeners and not be exploited by bad actors.

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I understand better what you meant, thank you.
I like “artist tools” best as alt name.

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Great, thank you. I also like “artist tools” as well! That sounds like a good category that we can create a lot of relevant conversations around!

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@Sam_Martyn @Sylvia @RobertaFidora @richjensen

Every category needs a <200-character description. I’ve re-read the conversations here and am pitching the following. Does this sound accurate to y’all? Please offer edits, as – while I’ve done my best to integrate the various views above – I don’t assume I’ve done it without error. :slightly_smiling_face:

Artist Tools
“Discuss ideas for turning your craft into a source of income, explore your unique value as a musician, co-educate about business strategies, vett companies that offer services to artists.”

What not to use this category for:

  • offering goods and services
  • dropping links to increase your stats
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I think that sounds like a solid starting point, and then we can mold things (if we have to) as we see how people start interacting with the category.

Just my thoughts, but interested to hear from others.

Thanks!

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Sounds good to me!
thank you

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Thanks for putting this description together. Looks great. :slight_smile:

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Artist Tools category is founded!

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