Update: a few people on reddit had some questions regarding my post, mainly for an exact figure of just how much my revenue increased by. That would be 5x. That’s not as grand as it sounds since I wasn’t making dump trucks (or even smart cars) of cash to begin with, but it’s certainly enough of a spike to make me decide that the ‘pay what you want’ methods works for me.

Secondly, do take this advice with a grain of salt. It’s not a ‘one size fits all’ solution to selling records, I didn’t mean for it to come across in that light.

Now, read on. Hope it raises some good questions and thoughts.

In the year 2014, how do you get your music in front of as many people as possible, and get them to pay for it too?

First, let’s state the obvious: people will pay for things that they see as ‘worth something.’ That’s why Coldplay and The Foo Fighters continue to go platinum while us small-leaguers starve.

So how do you get people to see your music as ‘worth something,’ especially in a world that’s saturated with millions of people, most of them better than you, trying to do the same exact thing as you?

My answer? You let the listeners decide just how much your work is worth.

I can hear a million independent artists from all over the world groaning at the mere mention of this. But it’s inspired by a basic fact, one that rings true whether you’re signed to a major label or making records in your basement:

Your music is not worth the same amount of money to every single person who comes across it.

Maybe you’re just an obscure little indie act to someone from across the world, someone who would only even consider listening to your record if it were available as a free download. Maybe, to someone else who’s seen you play live, your record is worth 10 bucks. And maybe there’s someone who really connects with what you’ve got to say and is willing to shell out 100 bucks.

I know what you’re thinking: most people are just gonna nab the record for free in this scenario, right?

Erk. Wrong. Believe it or not, when presented with the opportunity to either pay for something (do a good deed) or ‘steal’ it (do a bad deed), most people who are in a position to shell out the cash will. And when you don’t set a solid price, they’ll pay from their heart and give you exactly what they think your record is worth – a figure that could in fact be higher than one you set.

How do I know all this? I’ve had albums sitting on iTunes since 2010 (four years as of writing this) and any profit I’ve made during that time has been absolutely dwarfed by the royalties I’ve earned in the past five months since I released my record Call Me Crazy.

The difference? I let people decide what they wanted to pay for it, using BandCamp.

*For the record, I’m not affiliated with BandCamp in any way. The platform you use is irrelevant, I’m really speaking about the ‘pay what you want’ model here.

While the profits haven’t left me driving off in a Rolls Royce or even buying anything fancy at all, they’ve been enough to convince me that this is the way to go. That’s why, in December 2014, I chose to release my new record, We Do It To Ourselves., under the same model.

So there you have it. Sorry if this post is a little long-winded. I hope I’ve raised some points that’ll get you, musicians and music fans alike, thinking about the value of music in the 2010s.

Brandon