It is by now common to hear about the near demise of solid media as a valid format for music. The advent of Ipod’s, Zunes and a legion of other devices, has rendered CD’s and the like nearly obsolete. The digital revolution is here whether we like it or not. But this inevitable change has created a real question in how media in general gets distributed. Also, while all forms of art and media have been thoroughly affected by this phenomenon, music has by far seen the most radical change. Once almighty record companies are a shadow of their former selves and certainly no longer the only players in town.
How are artists supposed to survive this new environment? In an endless quest to find new ways of doing business that will benefit both artists and consumers, Alternavox has finally found a genuine alternative: they are called “PayWhoYouWantOnline” and they are not afraid to take on Itunes because as CEO Kim Le explains: “This is a genuine social enterprise model of doing business… part of the proceeds go directly to non-profit organizations. “The whole focus of Pay Who You Want is to promote artists and community initiatives,” Le says.
Here is how it is broken down:
-Each song on the site has a minimum price of 99 cents, and for a full album the minimum price is $7.
-The fan sets the price from there and can pay more if they’re in a position to do so.
-The money is divided into three portions:
the first is the Artist, second is the social initiative (currently UrbanEx and Sketch), and the third goes to administration fees- which include royalties that eventually get funnelled back to the musician
“We offer the fans complete control and complete transparency. When you trust people with their money, they make good decisions. You have the option of taking the community portion and giving it to the artist, that is ultimately how much control the consumer has,” Le explains.
Alternavox will not only promote businesses that adhere to the values of social enterprises whenever we find them, but in this particular case, we were moved enough to start a strategic alliance with PWYWO that goes hand in hand with the values of the magazine. What will this mean in practical terms? Articles, reviews and wide coverage of many of the artists already signed to PayWhoYouWantOnline. You will hear, see and experience the new artists signing up everyday and Alternavox will co-host concerts, forums, workshops and so much more to bring awareness of artists that we should all enjoy and know more about.
Artists can submit their work and consumers can purchase music at: www.paywhoyouwantonline.com
Part of the proceeds from Pay Who You Want Online support these community initiatives:
UrbanEx: offering social justice experiences, advocacy and education around the issues of homelessness and poverty. For more information, go to www.urbanex.org
Sketch: arts and culture for street-involved and homeless youth. For more information, go to www.sketch.ca
We look forward to changing the world -just a little bit at a time- with the joy of music!
Here is a video of the concept: