1. Building a Music
Collection that Brings
People to Your
Library
ALA Editions Workshop
February 20, 2013
Matthew Moyer
Andrew Coulon
@acoulon #musicinthelib

3. Music Industry In Flux
Album sales down
Shift to digital
Traditional channels in decline
Brick and mortar outlets closing
Major labels eating one another

4. Digital Killed the Radio. Period.
Shrinking playlists
Station Consolidation
Lack of quality local programming
Lack of quality local DJs

5. Market Fragmentation
More channels, More selection
The Long Tail
Niche Is the new norm
The politics of piracy

6. Is The Industry's Tail Long Enough?
Legacy albums rival new releases
Specialty & reissue labels digging deep
"Lost formats" return

7. Massive and Passive
Consumption Styles Change
• Albums ->Singles -> Streams
• Renting (Cloud) vs. Owning (Albums)
• Earbuds edge out stereo speakers
• Music becomes background noise

8. Digital Services

9. Ease Of Use
Is your digital service user friendly?
"This is harder than Spotify!"
Usability issues might alienate patrons, new
and old.

10. Alexander Street

11. Alexander Street

12. Alexander Street

13. sic Library

15. Freegal

16. Overdrive

17. Overdrive Media Player

18. Hoopla

20. DRAM

21. DRAM

22. Everyone Jumping Everyone's Train
How much should libraries be expected to
deliver, as far as digital music?
Make sure your digital vendor will serve you
well.

23. "Free" Services

24. Perks of Being Physical

25. Any questions so far?

26. Marketing Your Collection
Wake the town and tell the people!

27. 80/20 Rule - Pareto Principle
"The Pareto principle... states that, for
many events, roughly 80% of the effects
come from 20% of the causes." --
Wikipedia

28. Outreach
Make friends, Make fans
Convert tastemakers
Reach out to local musicians and creative
community for donations, performance,
support, etc.

29. Live Music In The Library
Performance space
Battle of the Bands
Recording and rehearsal space
With local music all in one place, more artists
networking inside library

30. Photo Slide Of Live Happenin's

31. Photo Slide 2 of Live Happenin's

32. Librarian As.....
Investigator
Amateur Musicologist
Creative Instigator

33. Music Advisory
Personalized Playlists
Use the opportunity to turn patrons on to
something new
Develop subject expertise and knowledge of
the collection

34. Readers Advisory Form

37. Music Clubs
Listening Party
Library patrons gather to hear and discuss
music around a theme
Guest presenters
Like a book club.... but better!

38. Partnerships
Musicians
Labels
Local bloggers, writers
Music-savvy professors
Show promoters
Public Radio Stations

39. INSERT SHOT OF RADIO PAGE

40. Community Collaboration
Help others in your community promote their
music and events
Let others help you promote your music and
events

41. Think Local, Buy Local
Circulate local music
Community Collaboration
Market Alternatives
Economic Development
Build a scene
Destination

42. Local Music Collection
Local engagement with collection.
New and exciting content.
Affordable investment.

43. Library as Cultural Hub
Cultural bazaar within the community
Library can serve information consumers...
...And information creators!
Help local musicians distribute their work
throughout the city

44. A Tale of Two Models
Industry Model: Emerging Model:
• Industry centered • Musician centered
• High overhead • Very lean
• Radio, TV, • Direct to listener
Streaming • Bands and labels
• Can it still make can be sustainable
money? • Libraries can get
• Libraries are involved and help!
primarily a customer

45. Vibrant Music Collection
Quality content
Digital content chosen carefully
Built up by subject expertise
Engages and partners with local music scene
Programming, outreach

46. So Much Music, So Little... Money
Represent as much musical variety as possible
in your collections
Quality over quantity
"I didn't expect the library to have THIS!"

47. Music, Sweet Music
Rock and Roll Electronic / Dance
Punk Experimental
Hip Hop Blues
Country Folk / Americana
Jazz R&B / Soul
Metal Alternative

48. The Fourth Estate
Big Takeover Pitchfork
The Wire Reverb Nation
Wax Poetics YouTube
Ghettoblaster Stereogum
Zero Tolerance Allmusic
Razorcake Invisible Oranges
Ugly Things Impose
MOJO

49. LABELS TO LOOK FOR
Rhino Warp
Minimal Wave Daptpne
Merge Sublime Frequencies
Light In The Attic Southern Lord
Joyful Noise Lex Records
Polyvinyl
Numero Group
Dark Entries
Hell's Headbangers

50. Thank You!
Matthew Moyer
Andrew Coulon @acoulon
Audience Share / Q+A