More Attention Economy issues, as yet another Artist takes the path less traveled.

Mike Masnik found another one.

Kristin Hersh of Throwing muses has gone on to a subscription model–starting at $10/quarter (10USD/90 day sub.) for a basic subscription (you get a sticker, poster, CD etc. before anyone else can), all the way up to levels where you get to hang out in the studio with her, to executive producer credits.

Talk about getting the fans involved…

This brings up a whole new kettle of fish. Converting casual listeners to serious fans was the old kettle, and it worked when the content was a scarce good.  But…..

In the Attention Economy, that’s not really enough. With the recording costs still dropping, and the ability of the artists to record themselves if they should choose, all sorts of new possibilities open up–including the “crazy” idea of bringing in a fan for a producer’s credit.  Now, this could be a stunt, or a “vanity credit”.  But….

What if your fan knows your music as well as you do?  What if they have some great new ideas?  If they’re willing to put the effort (and money, frankly) into a real collaboration with you, shouldn’t you use that?

Its a tough thing to include others in your art–anyone who has ever worked in a band, with a band, NEAR a band knows this. The art of it IS in the collaboration though….

What if, at the end of the day, your work sounds the better for it?  Where do you take that next?

In the Society, we’ve discussed user-generated-content: keyboard patches, lyric choices, that sort of thing.  Kristin has taken it a step farther–giving someone the option to participate in the recording process directly.  One of the biggest questions is in the model of music itself?

Lets look at that for a minute…

Much like Television changed from “few channels-one way content” to “many channels-one way content” music has fragmented into a smorgasbord of genres and choices. It could go further though, couldn’t it?

The internet has encouraged interactive, growing, user-shaped content–MMO games have taken this concept out the farthest to date, with thousands (Or millions, WoW, I’m looking at you) of players (fans) exploring and changing their experience day to day.  Players get to experience a growing world–with content that changes dependent on their actions.

Why can’t that, or something like that,  happen with music? Is not music, and the enjoyment thereof, an “experience”?

A concert is much like a seeing a movie in a theater–you could see it at home.  While some folks sport screens and soundsystems to rival a theater, you still see them go to catch the “best” content in concert with a group.  The energy of a live audience is something no has replicated (yet) at home.

So, with “basic” Attention Economy style music, the following can happen:

The folks who were introduced to your music via free content (the songs themselves) have the choice (because they know who you are now, and can sing all your choruses with you because they’ve had you on their iPod for months) to go to a concert you put on in a city 1,000 miles from where you live.  While they are at your show, they buy a t-shirt of yours they like, and get you to sign it.  And, since they’ve been interacting with your blog for a few weeks now, commenting and the like, they introduce themselves.  A real connection forms–however tenuous–and you’ve just made someone a fan for life.  5,000 of those, and you might have just successfully interviewed for your new full time job as a musician!

More importantly for musicians who’d like to make a living _being_ a musician, the interaction with fans generates more “scarce” content opportunities.  You’ve got their attention–90% of the battle.  Now, what do you do with it? If you’re going to make a living as a musician, you have to sell something.

With Music 1.0, you had the following: Physical Copy of the Music. concerts. Band-related Paraphanalia. (thank you KISS, for the lunchbox.

With Music 2.0: Physical Copy of the music. concerts. Band related Paraphanalia. Your Time and Attention.

You’ll notice that unlike the RIAA and MPAA’s panic mongering folk, I don’t remove “Physical copy” from the list.  Corey Smith is still offering his music online for free–when he stopped doing so, his iTunes sales went down–and he’s making a living–all the while offering $5 tickets to shows!

Your Time and Attention:  The “new” category–brought to you by the World Wide Web, among other things.   With the interactivity, immediate feedback, and inherently public nature of the Web, you can offer an insiders view of a practice, a studio session, backstage, anything you can think of.  Can’t get to a concert?  Watch it on a webcast.  Want to meet the band, but you/they live in another country?  Ask the band to put a webcast on, and hang out with them online!

These are experiences you _kn0w_ someone will want–haven’t YOU wanted to sit and chat with your favorite musicians?  You might find out they’re a Diva, you might find out they’re a regular guy…and if you’d rather preserve the mystery–you still can.  But those fans who want more—you can offer it.

These days a band can be a lot more than a just sound on a little plastic disk.

What do you want to offer?

what do _you_ want to do with your music 2.0?