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Selling Tunes the 21th-Century Way 廿一世纪的歌曲营销法

 

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TuneCore’s success comes as the music industry adjusts to the digital world  随着音乐产业调适融入数字世界之际，曲核公司大获成功

 

The music industry may be bellyaching about how tough times are as revenue continues to sink like a rock for traditional music companies, but don’t tell that to Jeff Price.

随着传统音乐公司的营收持续直线下滑，音乐产业也许不免埋怨当前时局的艰困，但这种话可别对杰夫．普莱斯说。

 

From Price’s vantage point as chief executive of TuneCore Inc., business couldn’t be better.

从曲核公司总裁普莱斯的观点来看，生意可是再好不过了（译注：vantage point指有利的位置，用在from someone’s vantage point时，指从某人的观点来看）。

 

“Unit sales are up, not down,” Price said. “That means people are buying more music, not less.”

「单位销售量在上扬，而非下滑，」普莱斯指出：「这代表大众购买音乐（产品的数量）愈来愈多，而非愈来愈少。」

 

That’s sweet music for TuneCore, which makes money by charging fees to distribute music to online merchants such as Apple Inc.’s iTunes, Amazon.com Inc.’s MP3 store and Microsoft Corp.’s Zune.

这种现象对曲核而言有如悦耳的音乐，因为这家公司的赚钱之道，就是协助（音乐创作者）将音乐作品发行至各在线商家，例如苹果公司的iTunes、亚马逊公司的MP3商店和微软公司的Zune，再藉此向（创作者）收取费用。

 

Less than five years after Price launched it, TuneCore has become the world’s largest distributor of music, as measured by its volume of release. The New York-based company pumps out 15,000 to 30,000 new songs each week, more than most major record labels release in a year. And it achieves that without scouting and signing artists, operating a recording studio or cranking up the marketing and promotion machine typically part of a traditional recorded music label.

若以发行歌曲的数量为衡量标准，普莱斯推出这项服务不到五年，曲核就已成为全世界规模最大的音乐发行者。这家位于纽约的公司每周大量推出一万五千至三万首新歌，比多数大唱片公司一年推出的歌曲还多；而且曲核还不必像传统音乐制作公司那样必须物色艺人及与艺人签约，也不必经营录音室或发动营销与宣传攻势。

 

Doing more, charging less  服务更多，收费更少

 

For Price, the day of reckoning came in October 2005, when his small New York record label, SpinArt Records, started to go under. In anguish, Price laid off employee and told his artists that he was unable to pay them.

对于普莱斯而言，他的大难临头之日降临于2005年10月（译注：day of reckoning原指最后审判日，引申为算总账的日子，用在负面的情况时，也可指大难临头之日）。当时他在纽约成立的小型唱片公司旋转艺术唱片面临破产。在痛苦煎熬之下，他资遣了员工，并且向旗下艺人坦承自己无力支付他们的酬劳。

 

A few weeks later, a friend asked Price to help get his songs on iTunes, which does not deal directly with musicians but goes through distributors to get music into its digital store. Price later found out that companies charged artists between 10 percent and 15 percent of an album’s digital sales for what he did for free for a friend. Record labels also digitally distribute their artists’ music, but they, too, charge a percentage of sales rather than a flat fee.

几个星期后，一名友人请普莱斯帮他把他的歌曲放上iTunes销售，因为iTunes不直接与艺人交易，其数字商店里的音乐都是透过发行商上架。普莱斯后来发现，他为朋友免费帮的这个忙，如果交由那些公司处理，那么艺人每卖出一份专辑的数字版，发行商就会收取专辑销售的百分之十到十五的费用。唱片公司也会以数字方式发行旗下艺人的音乐作品，但同样会从销售金额中抽成，而不是收取定额费用（译注：或称固定费用）。

 

 

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bellyache [ˋbɛlɪ͵ek] v.【口】嘀咕抱怨，发牢骚 to complain, especially in a whining manner

vantage point 见解; 观点; 有利位置 a position from which something is viewed or considered

pump out〔音乐﹑信息﹑产品等〕大量提供 informal to produce a lot of something

crank [kræŋk] up 用曲柄开动 to increase (loudness, output, etc.)

day of reckoning【文】清算的日子; 报应的时候(做坏事的人得到惩罚的日子) a time when the effects of one's past mistakes or misdeeds catch up with one

go under 破产; 被击败 to suffer defeat or destruction; fail

anguish [ˋæŋgwɪʃ] n. 极度的痛苦；苦恼

flat fee 统一价; 固定费用 an amount that is charged or paid that does not change according to the amount of work done, or the number of times something is used

 

 

 

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Musical fair trade  音乐界的公平贸易（译注：或译公平交易）

 

“As a musician, I make and record all the music, drive hundreds of miles to do concerts, eat ramen and sleep on floors. And here these companies were charging up to 15 percent of my sales in perpetuity, just for sending a file from one server to another,” Price said. “It really upset me that people were getting ripped off like that.”

「身为音乐人，我自己录制所有的音乐作品，还要开车跋涉好几百哩举行演唱会，常常只吃拉面果腹，晚上就睡在地板上；而这些公司只不过是把一个档案从一部服务器传送到另一部服务器，就要从我的销售额当中永久收取高达百分之十五的费用，」普莱斯说：「想到大家遭到这样的剥削，我就实在很反感。」

 

So he set up a website that charged artists a flat fee to distribute their songs. That meant Jay-Z paid the same amount to post his music on iTunes as someone recording in their suburban garage. When TuneCore launched in January 2006 it disrupted a tradition of taking percentages of sales, which can mean thousands of dollars for a song by a major artist.

于是他成立了一个网站，只向艺人收取一笔定额费用就帮他们发行歌曲。这代表任何人若想把音乐作品刊登在iTunes上，不论是杰斯，还是某个在郊区车库录制音乐的无名之辈（译注：somebody原指某人，此指名字不为人所知的某个人，引申为无名之辈），都只需要支付相同的费用。曲核在2006年1月成立之后，从此打破了依据销售额抽成的传统惯例。对于大牌艺人来说，一首歌的抽成金额就可能高达好几千美元。

 

While TuneCore also doesn’t front money or market bands in the way a label would, its service is part of a burgeoning digital toolset that allows artists to be more self-sufficient.

曲核虽然不会像唱片公司那样预付酬劳或营销乐团，但其所提供的服务乃是一种目前发展迅速的数字工具组，可让艺人更能自给自足。

 

A lifeline for indie artists  独立艺人的生命线

 

TuneCore isn’t the only outfit that distributes digital music for artists. Companies such as CD Baby, IODA and Orchard also sell distribution services for do-it-yourself musicians. But TuneCore is perhaps the most well-known in the pack.

曲核并不是唯一为艺人发行数字音乐的公司。像CD宝贝、独立在线发行联盟与果园等公司也都为自制音乐的音乐人提供发行服务，但曲核可能是这类公司中最知名的一家。

 

Its success isn’t just about doing business with [established musicians]. It’s also about people like Dave Days, a 19-year-old pop musician who isn’t represented by any labels.

曲核能够获得今日的成功，并不只是和已成名的艺人合作，也和（没没无闻的）乐手合作，而戴夫．德斯就是一例，这位十九岁的流行乐手，没有和任何唱片公司签约。

 

Days, who markets his music on YouTube, has sold more than 250,000 singles on iTunes alone, using TuneCore. While iTunes takes a 30 percent cut of every song sold, TuneCore collects only its flat annual fee – a $9.99 a song, $19.99 an album – no matter how many times the music is sold and for as many online stores as artists select. TuneCore collects the revenue from iTune and elsewhere on behalf of musicians, allowing artists to withdraw the money whenever they want for no additional fee.

德斯在YouTube上营销自己的音乐。他利用曲核的服务，光是在iTunes就已经卖出了廿五万首单曲。iTunes每售出一首歌曲就抽取百分之三十的费用，曲核却每年只收一笔固定费用，不论一件作品卖出多少份，也不论艺人选择将作品发行至多少家在线商店，曲核都只收取一首歌9.99美元或一张专辑19.99美元的金额。此外，曲核也代表音乐人汇集iTunes及其他通路的销售收入，随时可供艺人提领，不必额外付费。

 

 

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rip off  剥削; 敲竹杠 Slang to steal from or cheat; to exploit, swindle, cheat, or defraud

disrupt [dɪsˋrʌpt] v. 瓦解; 阻止

front [frʌnt] v. 预付钱; 付订金 to pay someone an amount of money before they start a job

toolset ['tulsɛt] n. 成套工具 Computing a set of software tools

indie [ˋɪndɪ]adj. 独立制作的 a shortform of "independence" or "independent"

do-it-yourself [ˋduɪtjɚˋsɛlf] adj. 自己动手的 of, relating to, or designed to be done by an amateur or as a hobby

established [əsˋtæblɪʃt] adj. 早已确立的 accepted; especially long established

on behalf of 代表 as the agent of

 

 

 

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“TuneCore is one of the things that makes it possible for me to make a living as a musician,” Days said. “I upload my songs, and they’re available for the whole world to buy.”

「曲核是让我得以靠当音乐人维生的因素之一，」德斯说：「我把歌曲上传（到网络）后，就可以让全世界的人购买。」

 

In June, Days sold 28,845 songs at about 99 cents a pop. After the 30 percent cut from iTunes and others, Days netted just over $20,000.

六月间，德斯卖出了两万八千八百四十五首歌，一首售价约99美分。扣除iTunes抽取的百分之三十及其他各种费用后，德斯净赚两万美元出头。

 

Continued growth  持续成长

 

Last year, TuneCore disbursed $30 million to its artists. This year, Price forecasts that number will be $65 million to $75 million. Many of his highest grossing artists aren’t top 40 bands. They’re do-it-yourself musicians like Days.

去年，曲核支付了三千万美元给合作艺人。普莱斯预测今年的数字将达到六千五百万至七千五百万美元之间。他旗下许多营收最高的艺人都不是排行榜前四十名的乐团，而是像德斯这样自制音乐的音乐人。

 

As a result, TuneCore has positioned itself directly in the mainstream of one of the music industry’s few growth curves: digital distribution.

正因如此，曲核正立足于音乐界少数正向成长的一项主流当中──亦即数字发行。

 

The number of album releases more than doubled in the last five years, soaring to 97,800 in 2009, from 44,500 in 2004, according to research group Nielsen SoundScan. A greater portion of the albums are digital-only – 56 percent in 2009 versus just 10 percent in 2004.

研究集团尼尔森SoundScan公司指出，过去五年来，专辑发行量成长了一倍以上，从2004年的四万四千五百张飙增到2009年的九万七千八百张。而且，仅发行数字版的专辑所占的比例也愈来愈高──2004年只有10%，到了2009年已有56%。

 

And more digital releases mean more money for TuneCore, which generates an estimated $10 million to $20 million a year in revenue.

数字版本的发行量愈多，代表曲核的收入就愈高。据估计，曲核的年营收介于一千万至两千万美元之间。

 

It’s not in the same league as, say, Warner Music Group Corp., which posted $3.2 billion in revenue in its 2009 fiscal year. Then again, TuneCore didn’t lose $100 million, either, which Warner did last year. While not profitable, TuneCore also has not fully exhausted the $7 million in venture funding it raised two years ago.

曲核的规模当然并非和（大唱片公司）如华纳音乐集团同等级，华纳在2009会计年度公布的营收就高达32亿美元。但话说回来，曲核去年也没有华纳那样损失了1亿美元。曲核虽然还没开始获利（译注：投资出去的金钱开始从营收中逐步回收，投资全数回收后才算开始获利），但两年前募集的七百万美元创投资金也还没耗尽。

 

“There is an infinite number of people with bands who would like to legitimize their music by selling it on iTune through a company like TuneCore,” said Eric Garland, CEO of an online media measurement company. “As long as there are people out there with musical aspirations, Jeff’s business is going to be great. It’s just an endless river of $10 bills.”

「世界上有无数组了乐团的人，都想透过曲核这样的公司而把自己的音乐作品放到iTunes上销售，使自己的音乐被人所认可接受，」一家在线媒体衡量公司的执行长艾瑞克．葛兰德表示：「只要世上还有人怀抱着音乐志向，杰夫的企业前景就将会一片光明。就像是一条源源不绝的河流，不断向他挹注十美元的钞票。」

 

－by Alex Pham

 

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a pop 各個，每個 Slang apiece; each

in the same league 同一档次; 一个级别 having qualities or achievements similar to someone or something else

post [post] v. 公佈; 宣告 announce, publish, display

exhaust [ɪgˋzɔst] v. 用完，耗盡

infinite [ˋɪnfənɪt] adj. 無窮無盡的

aspiration [͵æspəˋreʃən] n. 志向，抱負

 

 

 

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scout [skaʊt] v. 物色人才; 观察（运动员，演员）的表现以估计其才能 to look for people with particular skills, especially in sports or entertainment

in perpetuity [͵pɝpəˋtjuətɪ] (idiom) 永远 going on forever

burgeoning [ˋbɝdʒənɪŋ] adj. 增长迅速的，发展很快的 developing quickly

outfit [ˋaʊt͵fɪt] n.【口】公司，企业 an organization, company or team

net [nɛt] v. 使净得，使净赚 to succeed in getting something of value, especially as the result of a plan of action

disburse [dɪsˋbɝs] v. 支付，支出 to pay out money, usually from an amount that has been collected for a particular purpose

growth curve 成长曲线 something that is tracked on a graph and plotted against time in order to show its growth

legitimize [lɪˋdʒɪtə͵maɪz] v. 使〔某种不公平或不正当的事〕被接受 to make something acceptable

 

 

 

 

Jeff Price speaks on Distribution Models and Founding Principle of TuneCore: FTGK!