Journal No. 2

Chapter 4

Question No. 4: I f you were an emerging artist starting to build a following of fans online, would you offer your songs for free download on your website? Why or why not? If not, what would you charge for your songs?

If I was an artist that was trying to break through to the mainstream, I would offer my songs for free download. I would do this because I would want to build up a strong following. I think it would be a lot easier to build that strong following if you are offering your songs for free. People do not want to pay for music from an artist that they are not familiar with. If a new artists songs are free I think it can help their popularity to grow faster. An example of this is if word of mouth about an artist is growing and people are telling their friends to check this person out, how many of the people are going to pay money when they get t the website. They do not yet know what they are getting and I believe that this would deter a sizable amount of people that refuse to pay money for something that they are not sure that would like. I am aware that are probably many "starving artists" that need the need all the money they can get and can not take the risk of offering free downloads. But if I were an artist then I would not charge money to people trying to download my music as a I make a name for myself. I think after my popularity starts to grow and I start to get a solid following then I would start to charge for my newer songs.