The Best Music in Life is Free

Dispatch are not sell outs, in the figurative sense. They never signed a major record label, creating their four albums independently. They donated proceeds from their six years of near-constant touring to various charities. And they broke up three years ago in 2004 with a free concert in Boston, drawing 100,000 dedicated fans. But Dispatch are sell outs in the literal sense—they recently sold out the 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden for three separate nights this July for a series of concerts that will benefit poverty-striken Zimbabwe. And surprise surprise, they used the internet as a completely effective promotional tool for the events.

Dispatch originally was only going to have one concert, and they released tickets to the event exclusively to their MySpace friends. The band has just over 57,000 friends, and through this promotion alone, the concert sold out in 30 minutes. They added a second show released through MySpace as well, and this one sold out in 12 hours. They then announced a third show to the general public through ticketmaster.com (which is also online promotion, note) and the show sold out in 23 minutes. At 20,000 concert attendees a show (that's 60,000 ticketholders) and $39.50 a pop, that’s almost $2.4 million for Dispatch to aid their cause.

If the price is right and purchasing is hassle-free (like with the ease of the internet and iTunes), people for the most part are willing to pay for music. But if the rampant expansion of P2P filesharing is any indication, many consumers think that the best music in life is free. Record labels are slow to pick up on this idea, believing that offering music for free will hurt their industry. But they fail to realize that by using the internet as a promotional tool, free music and free concerts may actually lead to profits. Ozzy Osborne is putting this idea to the test this summer, entitling Ozzfest “FreeFest” and completely doing away with ticket prices, relying on internet-based sponsorship, along with concert merchandise and vending to make money from the event.

Those who may not even be huge fans of the bands playing at Ozzfest would be tempted to attend anyway— the word “free” is certainly appealing. Without having to shell out hundreds of dollars for concert tickets, people will be more willing to support sponsors and purchase merchandise at or before the event over the website. And who knows, maybe a skeptic can be turned into a fan after attending the event, and be willing to purchase music to support their newfound bands and buy concert tickets and merchandise in the future.

Not only is the idea of a free concert pretty sensational, but record labels would be surprised by this second "sensational" fact: Ozzfest is using internet promotion to advertise the event. To make sure that you will get free Ozzfest tickets, the website suggests signing up to receive email notifications (from their friendly sponsors?) until the ticket information is released. When the information is released, those who desire tickets will be directed to sponsored website where they can secure their tickets.

If the record labels were smart, they would use this example as a clear indication that radio and records just don’t work as a promotional tool anymore. The internet not only allows consumers to search and discover new music, but it also allows quick and easy music and concert purchase, with just the click of a button. And through the internet and social networking sites, promotion is practically free for the bands— a MySpace page is free to set up. Bands can post pictures, blogs, and concert event reminders. Listeners can stream music for free and receive important information through word of keyboard. Record labels may argue that the best music in life isn't free, but they must be on board with the idea that the best promotion in life is free. Clearly the internet is becoming an increasingly more important and effective tool to promote new music.