An open letter to Warner Music Group: Lighten up! Your fans are promoting Led Zeppelin for you… for free

Dear Warner Music Group Executives:

The BBC reports that twenty million people wanted to purchase tickets to the historic Led Zeppelin show held at the O2 Arena on December 10, 2007. With only 20,000 tickets available, needless to say there were many disappointed fans who couldn't be there when the band took the stage for the first time in 19 years.

Immediately after the show, grainy, low fidelity clips appeared on YouTube and were eagerly watched by fans. I wanted to see how different the band looked since the time I saw them at Madison Square Garden in June 1977. Alas, you had already started to pull down the clips, claiming copyright infringement.

Your actions completely underestimate the power of a rabid fan base to help sell legal recordings, which is, after all, what you want. I am absolutely confident that the buzz generated by the concerts is selling millions of dollars of Led Zeppelin recordings.

The availability of YouTube clips enhances your sales and you shouldn't worry about these low quality fan tributes. I, for one, am replacing my vinyl recordings with Led Zeppelin CDs and I'm sure many other people are as well. All because we’ve been exposed, briefly, to the power of this band (which many of us may have ignored for several decades) via fleeting images of a concert we would have traveled halfway around the world to see if tickets had been available.

Yes, I understand the paid content world. My book publisher, Wiley, was supportive when I made parts of my book available for free on my blog and on many other blogs and in magazines. We know that it sells books (nearly 30,000 as of this writing) when people have a taste of what they will be buying. The free publicity that's generated by viral, word-of-mouse marketing can be worth millions of dollars and you’re missing a tremendous opportunity to harness that power.

I encourage you to re-think your knee-jerk legal-eagle impulse to clamp down on fans with draconian measures and consider the power that the Web has to sell your artists music.

Sincerely,

David Meerman Scott
Author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR

Comments

[Matt Ambrose]

I think the same could be applied to the Premier League. They're desperate to break into the US market yet they demand all the 30 second clips put up by fans of their favourite goals are removed from YouTube. What better marketing could they ask for to give the US a feeling of the passion for the sport? Yet another example of a new opportunity wasted by yesterday's thinking.

[David Meerman Scott]

Great example, Matt. What are they thinking?
Thanks for sharing,
David

[Zack Miller]

Great article, David. Do you see a big difference in how Universal Music approaches this type of content vs. Warner? Does Universal "get it"?

[Abby]

David, I completely agree with you here. This is timely for me as we are studying DRM in my Masters currently. It will be interesting to see how this whole issue pans out in the future.

[Jody]

You hit it out of the park with this one. You've given a great example of how much of the music industry refuse to let go of a 60's mentality when dealing with fans. It's amazing how many young (and some, very bright) people come into the industry only to continue using a fifty year-old playbook. It's all about retaining power and control. A romantic and false notion of the old days, I think. An interesting thing that I've found, is that a lot of the older superstar artists have grown even more in touch with their fan base and know exactly what gets them on their feet cheering, whether they are in the arena, or thousands of miles away, dreaming that they could be. Keep up the great work.

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks Jody. Coming from a music pro like you, I appreciate this comment very much.

David

[michael]

As someone who actually worked at WEA (the company is now Time Warner) back in the 80's, I can tell you that there is no way the record industry will change. Sure, there are some bright people...but it's largely run by lawyers and accountants...and they want to cover their asses every single step of the way. It's also about "maximizing shareholder value." This translates into suing anyone who infringes upon their copyright, no matter what...even if the supposed infringement might even be a positive thing.

It's a shame really. Your post delivers the truth, but these corporations can't seem to shake their past...they are grounded in the idea that all copyrighted material must be protected...even if it means clamping down on the incredible buzz that You Tube provides.

When I worked at WEA, if you wanted Led Zep, you had to buy it from us. There was no internet..there was no file sharing...and home taping offered marginal quality - so they pretty well had the market sewn up. The world changed and the music business didn't. They have reaped what they sowed.

The bottom line, the music business is very much like another classic rock band...Jethro Tull - they are "Living In the Past"

[Sharon]

I have already replaced all my vinyl LZ with CDs and am working through the (best of the) rest of my extensive LP collection. Companies are happy to be getting my money twice yet they're not gracious enough to allow these fan accolades on sites such as YouTube. Talk about greedy!