Technology has changed the way we (publishers) can interact with you (customers/supporters) in a huge way.
In the ‘old days’, you could purchase a score or possibly listen to a recording and if you liked it, you could purchase the music and it would be shipped to you. MANY arrangements didn’t have recordings, so you were left to look at the score and imagine (hear in your head or at the piano) what the arrangement sounded like.
Even from when I began my company, things have changed. I started AnderKamp Music in 1998 and we began right away to offer our arrangements with 3 options:1 ship the music 2 download the music 3 email the music.
Back then, it cost a lot of money and I had a web coding guru design my website so churches, schools and individuals could order music and immediately be able to download it or have it emailed to them. It was a major deal at the time. Today, if you choose to add a shopping cart to your website, you can simply add a ‘download’ option and there you go.
The same is true about listening to music on a website. I vividly remember uploading both RealAudio and mp3 files back in the day and typing code/hyperlinks to link them. Today, WordPress sites have a ‘Media’ button where you simply click to upload mp3s. Simple as that.
I remember when I began offering conductor’s scores for FREE as PDFs (the print function was disabled) so folks could download the scores to take a look at them.
The concept of video on a website? I couldn’t even fathom that back then. Today, you simply copy the link from YouTube and most all websites will now embed the video on your site but it’s on Youtube (or Vimeo) so you don’t pay some huge fee for data hosting. Let alone the fact that you can record moderately high def video ‘1080p’ on $100 camera and edit for free with amazing plugins in iMovie and make your own video and upload on YouTube/Vimeo.
In my mind, this is an exciting time for publishers. I can now offer a conductor’s score, stream an mp3 and even show a link of someone playing the arrangment on YouTube all in an effort to let you make better choices about the music you wish to purchase.
What’s your method of choice or is it a combination of all of them? Let me know
As an example of where we are, here is my arrangement of What a Friend We Have In Jesus from our Strings & Things – Volume 1 series.
You can download the conductor’s score by clicking here
You can hear the arrangement by clicking play below
You can watch and listen as McLean Bible Church under the direction of Ben Roundtree plays the arrangement live one of their worship services below
What is most helpful to you when making decisions about purchasing music. I’d love to know!
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