Digital music's green shift

Digital marketing tools help green the JUNO Awards and the industry as a whole.

Don’t expect to find a single CD in John Heaven’s office―despite the fact that Heaven runs one of the World’s largest music distribution companies, Yangaroo Inc. Yangaroo specializes in the digital distribution of music—getting tracks and promotional materials from record companies to radio stations in a matter of seconds. It's far more environmentally friendly [than sending out CDs and glossy press packages], says Heaven, the Toronto-based company's president and CEO.

Since 2003, Yangaroo has made more than 6 million deliveries—all in digital formats—to radio stations and concert promoters. Heaven estimates that those deliveries alone eliminated 600,000 kilograms of potential plastic waste, not to mention the fossil fuels burned to make the deliveries.

Most recently, the company's technology has supported the judging process for this year's JUNO Awards. By making it possible for the Awards' 300 jury members and 1,700 members of The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, to review entries online, Yangaroo estimates it eliminated 15,000 CDs.

Boom in digital distribution

Digital deliveries are up 120 percent in Canada and 60 percent in the U.S. in the past year, despite the downturn in the economy. Thanks in large part to recent partnerships with the major record companies, including Warner Music, Sony BMG, EMI, Yangaroo and Destiny Media Technologies, another leading digital distribution firm, based in Vancouver, have seen a huge growth in business.  Most are now using digital platforms to send and receive promotional items, Heaven says.

The transition from CDs to secure and broadcast-quality digital files has obvious environmental benefits, but it’s also cheaper, faster and more convenient. Record companies no longer have to pay for postage on thousands of packages, and radio stations have finally found a solution to the clutter problem created by constant barrage of CDs. “One radio representative told us how much he loves the digital service. He said ‘We now have a pool table in the room where we used to store CDs,’” says Heaven.

While the major record labels have all signed on to services such as Yangaroo’s Digital Media Distribution, or Destiny Media Technologies’ Play MPE, much of the independent music sector is still getting demos to concert producers and radio stations the old-fashioned way.

Courting the indie bands

The indie-scene is much more fragmented, and therefore more difficult to reach with new Yangaroo-style digital marketing tools. But if Heaven has his way, it won’t be long before they’re on board, too.

At the recent Canadian Music Week, which serves as a showcase for many unsigned bands, there was a special seminar on how to use electronic methods to get your music from the studio into the hands of radio stations and promoters, cheaper and more efficiently.

Of course, there are some exceptions.  Bands such as The Cunninghams are now choosing to do everything online. They only have a handful of CDs, which they purposely sell at artificially inflated prices, in an effort to encourage fans to buy their music online instead.

“The days of the glossy press pack and physical CD are done with,” says Pierce Cunningham, lead singer of the band. “You have all these online resources now that you can use for free or very cheap. And, we just want to be conscious of what our footprint is and try to minimize that as much as we can.”

The green shift is proving to be a hit with fans, too. “It does help these days to have a social consciousness,” says bassist Clapsbury Cunningham. “And people do notice.”

From the studio to the airwaves faster than ever

The digital revolution in the record industry is also changing the way artists make and market their music. Radiohead released their last effort, In Rainbows, digitally and made it available to fans for at pay-what-you-can prices. Nine Inch Nails followed suit by releasing their album Ghosts I-IV online, and according to the band, 800,000 transactions generated $1.6 million in sales revenue in the first week of the album's availability, despite the fact that the 36-song version of the album is widely available on torrent sites.

And no longer do fans have to wait until the whole album is ready―bands can release one or two tracks at a time, if they choose. “You can head into a studio to record a song on a Saturday. Mix it or master it on Sunday, and distribute it the next week online. Really, your fans are able to hear you produce music in real time,” says Clapsbury Cunningham.

The Cunninghams haven’t yet signed up for a mass distribution service such as the products offered by Yangaroo or Destiny Media Technologies, but they are making use of several low-cost or no-cost online tools to market their band.

Sonicbids.com, for example, is a website that allows independent artists to upload electronic press packages, including MP3s, to audition for festivals and other gigs. That's how The Cunninghams landed a spot in Canadian Music Week.

The online shift in music production and distribution is helping the entire industry reduce its carbon footprint, Heaven says. But he knows there’s still a long way to go before the entire industry is willing to let the CD go the way of the 8-track. “While we’re speaking, someone has bought a plane ticket for a promotional CD, and it’s flying over our heads somewhere in a courier package.”