Gareth – Page 130 – The Designer Monologues

February 11, 2011

Money, Meet Mouth — an update

Yeah, I’ve pretty much sucked at the regular-blogging thing. The usual excuses: Busy, busy, busy. Not only with Adamant stuff, but also Real Life stuff (like prepping to move out of the place we’ve lived for the past 8 years — the wife and I decided that if we’re not leaving town, we should at least take advantage of those things we like about the town, and live closer to campus and downtown).

I’ve had a lot of requests from folks though, asking about how my “app-pricing” model is going. I’ve responded privately, of course, but rather than re-type the same thing over and over again, I figured I should just make a public post to explain. (“No. There is too much to ‘splain. I will sum up.”)

Short, sum-up version: I’m sticking with this. It’s no longer an experiment. It’s my business model.

Slightly longer, with some math (but not exact dollar figures, despite gamer demands for “openness”, as I prefer to keep income a personal matter) version: I started the “app-pricing” model on January 3rd. As of this coming Monday, I’ve been running on that model for 6 weeks. In the past, I have run sales where I’ve dropped prices to a dollar, and those sales generally have lasted a week to ten days at most. My concern for the new model was whether this was sustainable, or whether it was a temporary sale-driven behavior.

I think that 6 weeks, far longer than I have ever run any sale, is a fairly good initial indicator of sustainability. It’s long enough to view trends, to see if an initial spike was followed by a drop-off, etc.

The result: Sales for these 6 weeks have been more than double the sales of the same period last year.

More than double. 218%, actually. In what has traditionally been our worst sales period.

Even more interestingly, it’s been constant. An initial jump when we first announced (expected that) — but then it really didn’t drop. At all. It’s been sort of a plateau of constant sales a that level — slight upticks when new product has been released, but only slight.

So it looks like I’ve hit something here. Which is a really, really good thing — because I’ve also been dealing with the flip side of that equation over in the print-and-traditional-distribution side of things, where we were hit with a fairly large chunk of unexpected returns from the book trade (I’m looking in your direction, Borders), and that resulted in a massive hit on our income there (since we’d already been paid for those sales, and now needed to have our current earnings adjusted by our print partners as a result). Fucking OUCH.

Generally speaking, digital continues to surprise us, and the future looks bright, while at the same time, traditional print-and-distribution shambles along like a zombie, occasionally smashing us in the face. Or something. My metaphor generator is acting up — I should probably get it looked at.

January 24, 2011January 24, 2011

Self-Publishing (Movie Edition)

So the news broke from Sundance last night that Kevin Smith is distributing his new film, Red State, himself.

He had been telling everyone that he was going to auction distribution rights in public after the screening — and handed that over to his co-producer to officiate. As soon as bidding began, Smith bid twenty bucks, and the auction was closed. He’ll make deals with theaters himself, renting the space and pre-selling tickets. As Smith pointed out, with his 1.7 million Twitter followers and his Podcast audience, he’s been able to completely sell out venues (including Carnegie Hall in NYC) without spending a dime on traditional marketing.

The link to the site, above, features the current tour dates and a button that allows you to request a screening in your home town.

In the press release (also linked on the site), Smith says: “Don’t hate the studio; BECOME the studio. Anybody can make a movie; what we aim to prove is anyone can release a movie as well.”

Of course, the traditional media outlets are pretty dismissive of this whole thing. This, though, is one of the more balanced bits of coverage.

Most outlets are deciding to run with stories concentrating on smug “mixed reviews” for the film — but Neil Gaiman has said: “It’s the best thing he’s ever done. Left me shaken and grateful and wanting to make art.” I think I’ll trust Gaiman’s opinion, rather than conglomerate-fellatists like Drew McWeeney.

There’s no denying that Smith is able to do this because of his existing fame, built via the traditional model. But it’s a matter of scale — and it’s quite obvious that somebody without as much exposure could do the same thing on a smaller scale.

Publishing Houses, Film and Television Studios, Record Labels — they’re all relics of the last century.

Storm the gates.

January 21, 2011

Friday Music

Here we go….

Laura and I finally watched “Crazy Heart” last night on DVD (Netflix actually sends you physical copies of movies — I’d almost forgotten). I liked the film — definitely felt that Bridges deserved his Oscar. The film’s theme (played over the closing credits) won an Oscar too — but I actually liked the opening song better. I’m not a huge fan of country, but there are some songs that grab me. This is one of them. Jeff Bridges – “Hold On You.”

I’ll admit that it was the band name that drew me in. Occult Detective Club is a band from Texas who hearken back to the Post-Punk era — definite echoes of Sham 69, Billy Bragg, The Jam and (dare I say it) The Clash here. Their second album, CRIMES, is due out in February — this is a preview: Occult Detective Club – “C’mon Levi.”

I’ve linked to the stream, I’ve linked to the video, and (on Twitter) I’ve even linked to the remix contest. So I figured that I should link to the mp3. I love this song so much — Amanda Palmer’s tribute to pubic freedom, using Aussie slang: Amanda Palmer – “Map of Tasmania (feat. The Young Punx).”

Icelandic pop! Sindri Már Sigfússon is the lead singer of Icelandic folk-pop band, Seabear, and records solo under the name Sin Fang. I stumbled across this track last week, and I really love the sound of it (which I can’t seem to describe without using terms like ghostly and ethereal): Sin Fang – “Always Everything.”

Watched “The Boat That Rocked” (which was chopped down by 20 minutes and released in the US as “Pirate Radio”) — loved the film. Loved the soundtrack even more. Here’s a late-60s track that doesn’t get a ton of play here in the US, but which I’ve loved ever since I discovered in via MTV’s “Closet Classics” (when they’d fill out their broadcast day by playing clips from European music shows of the 60s and 70s as “videos”): The Easybeats – “Friday On My Mind.”

Fifteen years on (jesus christ!), this is still the epitome of the trip-hop single, in my opinion: Sneaker Pimps – “6 Underground (Nellee Hooper Edit).”

If we’re going to go back, might as well go back to the post-punk period for U2, which I still consider their best sound. This is from the 1981 album “October.” U2 – “Gloria.”

….and just because I want to: another single off a-ha’s massive 1985 album, “Hunting High and Low”, which is now almost entirely forgotten in favor of constant replays of “Take On Me.” a-ha – “The Sun Always Shines On TV.”

There you go. Enjoy.