Ryan Huston and his manager reflect on their first two months with trueAnthem: “The results have blown me away…”

We sat down with acoustic pop singer-songwriter and trueAnthem artist Ryan Huston and his manager, Marie Matteucci, to discuss their experience with trueAnthem. Having had great success promoting and selling Ryan’s music online, the two were initially hesitant about trying the ad-supported distribution approach. Yet only two months into their contract with sponsor 3J Workshop, the team saw how powerful the viral trueWidget could be in exposing new music and raising revenue. Ryan quickly got to work to record material to add to his widget this week. We hope you enjoy the five exclusive tracks, and Ryan and Marie’s thoughts on the tA model below.




tA: What made you interested in trueAnthem, given that you had already achieved success selling Ryan’s music online?

Marie: Being his manager, I’m really particular. We were selling CDs and downloads on MySpace and iTunes and doing quite well. When Joanna [tA CCO] first approached me about tA, I didn’t get it. I couldn’t understand how it would be beneficial to us. Even up until the point where we launched, I really wasn’t sure how well it would work. But the results have really blown me away. I was concerned—would this hurt our iTunes downloads? Would it hurt our CD sales? The truth is, it did hurt our iTunes downloads somewhat. But we’ve made so much more money through trueAnthem, that it offset that. The reality is that so many more people go to download it for free, so in turn we’re making more money anyway.

tA: What reactions have you received?

Marie: We get messages all the time from people saying, “Why are you giving your songs away for free?” I want to say, “Well, because you would've gone on Limewire and gotten them for free anyway!” We are a generation of fans used to getting music for free.

What trueAnthem has done is just really incredible. They’ve made music consumption both user friendly and artist friendly. It’s never really been that way--with the record industry, it’s always record industry friendly first, so it wasn’t necessarily friendly for the consumer or the artist. trueAnthem builds that bridge between the artist and the user.

Now that we’re promoting the widget, I also get messages from other artists inquiring about trueAnthem and they’re asking all kinds of questions. It’s really hard for them to understand it at first. But what I tell them is--everyday when you’re reaching out to new people, they’re much more inclined to listen and download the music to see if they like it if it’s free. We end up getting exposed to a much bigger fan base.

Times are tough these days, people don’t have money to get their hair done or their nails done…they aren’t going to go buy music. But if the songs are free, they’ll check them out. At the end of the day, we have new fans.

tA: So you feel like free is the way of the future for music?

Marie: Radiohead proved that people want to download music for free. They have probably the most incredible and loyal fan base out of any artist out there. Given the choice, seven out of ten downloaded it free. If Radiohead fans aren’t paying for the album, then no one is going to be paying for records. I bought Radiohead's album, but I know I’m rare. The hype around the promotion gave them so much more exposure. People who hadn’t heard of Radiohead went to the site to download the music to check it out—because it was free. Maybe these people were also more inclined to buy the record when it came out.

I’ve had people say, “ I just listened to your album. I downloaded it off Limewire…” Ryan responds and says, “Why don’t you download it from my widget for free, with better sound quality. And people say, “Okay, sure, no problem.” I do believe that trueAnthem is the only thing that will pull those users away from Limewire. It’s not going to be the major labels that will do it. It’s already been proven—for the last 7 years. The only thing that can take people away from illegal downloading is for the artists to be releasing the music for free, or at least giving the option to release the music for free.

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tA: How did you feel about the audio ads?

Ryan: The whole audio ad is a new direction for music, but I think it’s the next direction for music. Just thinking about it and talking to Joanna, she knew it was the next direction.

tA: What was it like actually recording the audio ads?

Ryan: At first, there’s a little bit of second-guessing, but they’re very natural and easy to do. The second-guessing was just wondering how the fans would receive it…but it’s been received great. It helps Victor [3J Workshop designer] get his name and business out there and it helps us get out music.

tA: Were you worried about how people would respond to the audio ads?

Ryan: It was a moderate concern in the beginning, but in order to get free music out to people, we thought it was worth the gamble. Ninety-nine percent haven’t had a problem with it. For the few people that do have a problem, the option to buy on iTunes is there as well. Most people just like getting free music.

tA: Any specific feedback from the fans? Do fans find the ads annoying?

Ryan: Not really. They’ve just enjoyed the music. And a lot actually like the ads, cause they hear the artist speaking as normal as they can be. Hearing the artist is kind of fun for the fans. It’s been 99% positive feedback. And I think it really just comes down to being free music. I think if people were paying for the album, and hearing ads, it wouldn’t be as popular, but because it’s free people are able to look past that.

tA: Have you had any strong negative reactions to the audio ads?

Marie: Literally, I have had one complaint about the ads. It was a man in his 50s. He said, “Way to ruin the flow of the album.” But that was ONE person--out of over hundred thousand downloads! Ad supported content is going to become the norm. You already see it with video. All the way from CNN to TMZ, companies are putting ads before their media. It’s like commercials, and how they allow television to be free.

tA: So after your seeing the trueAnthem model in action, how do you feel about the concept?

Marie: I get it now. I finally get what Joanna was trying to convey to me for a few months before we were willing to give it a shot. I’m a pretty cautious person, and this idea didn’t hit me right off the bat. It took me awhile to process it, and see the results.

With illegal downloading, fans are making the mistake, thinking that if you are musician, you have money. Most musicians don’t have anything. So the way for a musician to have money is to get a sponsor and pass out your music for free. The music industry is going bankrupt because no one is buying CDs anymore--if Britney Spears released her new record tomorrow and sells half a million copies, everyone would say that’s amazing, but 10 years ago, that would be a failure. tA's figured out way to get some money back in the artist’s pocket.

Even if Britney signed on to tA and released her album, I fully believe that she would make way more money releasing her album with tA than through Jive. There are so many people that are downloading her records off Limewire anyway.

We’ve made more money giving the songs away for free than we would have had we continued to just sell the music on iTunes and through CD sales. And that was not something that I thought was going to happen! The money concern is probably most artists’ initial reservation. It’s hard to compute the numbers. But you have to take into consideration all the fans who are going to download your music because its free. What it comes down to: we’ve made more money giving it away for free.

tA: What would be your response to those who find the audio ads annoying?

Marie: I would say, “Did you pay for it? You can’t have your cake and eat it too all the time. Do you care about the artist?” That ad is allowing the artist to be in the studio creating music rather than saying ‘Can I take your order?’ You hear about starving artists all the time…unless they’re waiting tables. That ad is allowing the artist to work and focus on music, instead of having to split their time.

The artist is saying, “I get the fact that you don’t want to go out and pay 18 dollars for a new record, so I’ll give it to you for free. Here’s the catch: there’s a 3-sec ad at the beginning.”

Like I said, most people don’t care. You can’t have it all. You’re only getting complaints now because this is brand new…but a year from now, this will be normal. And honestly, most people like hearing Ryan’s speaking voice. It’s like listening to the radio and it’s just an announcement of the song and that’s it.

If people don’t want the ad, then go buy the record, but they’re not going to do that, so quit bitching.

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tA: How did you feel about the brand sponsorship process?

Marie: I’ve been saying for a long time now that artists need to pair up with corporate sponsors. There have always been endorsement deals in the music industry. I think it’s great that there are now these corporate sponsors pairing up to support artists as the record labels fall apart. The 3J workshop clothes are amazing—the designer’s an artist just as much as Ryan is an artist. So it was a great fit.

tA: What’s it been like working with 3J Workshop?

Ryan: The partnership has been great. Victor really loved my music and connected with it. We really liked the 3J workshop line. He’s been a great supporter of our business venture as well. He makes it so that you want his name to get out there too. So it’s more personal. We’re in the same boat.

tA: Did you consider other sponsors?

Ryan: There were a few sponsors presented to us, but I liked his clothing, I liked him. It was something I felt like I could get behind and support. And likewise, he thought it would be a good business venture to work with us as well.

tA: Did you check out other companies that did music widgets?

Ryan: Yeah, but this was a groundbreaking concept coming from trueAnthem. It was really the first company we’ve seen giving music away for free by pairing an artist up with a sponsor.

People love getting things for free. When you get them for free, you’re more inclined to share them with other people. That’s what I love about tA. People are more inclined to listen and download your music if it’s free.

Sure, there’s illegal downloading. But this is the legal way of doing it. Limewire hurts the artist--they’re not getting paid for their music at all. People think, “Oh artists, they have lots of money”…but it’s not the case.

tA: What hasn’t worked in terms of getting your music out there?

Ryan: iTunes has been frustrating. When I first started putting my album on iTunes people would end up just downloading a song or two.

tA: So iTunes isn’t helping your album sales?

Ryan: iTunes has exposed artists to people that may not have originally gotten their music. I’m sure it’s helped certain artists, but in my personal experience it’s actually hurt.

There are differences between radio friendly songs and more album friendly songs. They’re all special songs…some are just more intimate. You aren’t releasing any "bad" songs, they just aren’t all immediate marketing hits. As an artist, it’s not like you make two great songs and don’t care about all the others. You love all the songs you’re creating and you want to share them. I’m guilty of the same thing--I’ve gone to iTunes to download just the one or two songs instead of buying the whole album. Itunes is great for the consumer but not for the artist, because with iTunes you just have think about writing hits. It’s a different kind of thinking.

tA: And iTunes even reinforces the singles model by gauging each tracks popularity and listing the Top Songs…

Marie: Right. And for most artists I know, the songs closest to their heart aren’t the singles. But fans aren’t spending the money to download the entire record. With tA you might as well download the whole record. So fans are getting the gems that they wouldn’t have heard otherwise. Fans are being exposed to a bigger catalog of Ryan’s music.

tA: What aspects of the tA model have worked best for you?

Ryan: We get a much smaller amount per download, but we’re being exposed to THAT many more people. Instead of being supported by just the type of fan who will buy your music, we’re being exposed to the type who will like your music but won’t necessarily spend the money to buy it. With trueAnthem, we’re able to reach both types of fans.

tA: Do you think of it as selling out?

Ryan: Maybe to some artists, it might appear like that. But the thing is, the times are changing. Maybe back in the day, putting an ad at the front of a song would be strange. But the music industry has changed. It’s changing at this very moment. Are you really going to go out there, play live, have an A&R rep find you, then you’ll go into a studio, make and album and tour? Those days are numbered. It’s the day and age of digital distribution.

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tA: Would you still be interested in singing with a label?

Ryan: Am I interested in signing any record contract just to be with a label? No. You’re giving up a lot when you sign with a record label. You give up the rights to the music. Say you sign up with a label, and they’re not doing so well. They might not release your music. It really depends on the contract and the type of situation.

I’m happy with what I’ve been able to accomplish so far.

tA: Cause you’ve been able to make a living?

Ryan: Right. And that’s really the goal. To be able to make music for a living. It’s always been a goal and a dream.

tA: Do the labels have something you feel like you still need?

Marie: It’s exciting that the labels aren’t the end-all-be-all of an artists career anymore. It just gives the artist more options. Artists deserve to have more options.

The hardest thing about not being with a label is marketing…In order for the tA model to work, the artist needs to build a fan base on their own. You get this widget, you need to be able to expose it to a bunch of people. But with MySpace and all these other social networks, it’s not hard for an artist who can put in a few hours a day to build up an online fan base.

I also believe that in another year or so, these companies that are interested pairing up with musicians are going to be interested in putting money to help in other ways…doing tours, etc.

tA: So in a sense, brands can function as the new record labels?

Marie: Yes, an artist can only do so much for themselves, they can only access so many people on the internet. You need more money to do other kinds of marketing. These other companies coming in can do this. It’s great for corporations to take on artists—the artists need them and they need the artists.