Topspin Class

I am starting my third week of Online Marketing with Topspin via Berklee College. So my first concern was “Do professors make bad students?” Meaning, would I slack off because some of the content is very familiar to me, I have my style of teaching, etc. So far, I have been enjoying every lesson, jump on it the minute it gets put up (the lessons are weekly and they just posted the third week and I am 75% through the lesson) and starting to tackle this weeks assignment – create a web page for your artist using WordPress.

Well, I though this would be easy, considering, hey, this is a WordPress site, but boy, was I wrong. But, I am up for a challenge, I want a challenge and this is why I took this class – to improve my knowledge of the Direct to Fan space so I can teach it to my students and develop DTF marketing plans for our clients at The Roots Agency. What would be the fun if I took a course that I already mastered the material.

So the artist I am using as my guinea pig is Dala. They have been kind in allowing me to try some of what I am learning out on them. But for the website assignment, it would be a bad idea to take down their website, so I am going to create a fan page call Dala Fan. So, Ill write about my struggles with it’s creation as I tackle this technology. I got a url and a host site, I have downloaded the software and am waiting for my confirmation at my host site so I can install WordPress into my browser (to use Firefox or Safari – I am using both right now, though Firefox is my main one).

Anyway, I jumped a head in my lessons (as did most of my classmates) since we got a free Topspin account for the class.

I created two marketing ideas to help optimize the Dala’s mailing list and I am so happy that they bought into the idea and am looking forward to see if they are going to work.

The first one I created was aimed at maximizing email sign ups at shows. Dala would perform an unreleased song and at the end they would say something like “If you would like a free copy of that song, just sign up on our mailing list and we’ll send it to you.” So after each show, they will scan and email me the folks who signed up and I’ll email them the link and a thank you note from Dala. We didn’t get it devised in time to do it last weekend for their two sold out (in advance, BTW) shows in Philadelphia and New Jersey.

The second was a widget that they would put on their site and social media sites. On the first day it was up, they got 72 sign ups. About a 10% addition to their current list and have been adding 30 or so folk each day. You can see it here, I can’t get it to embed.

So far so good. Just awaiting the confirm from Just Host so I can start the fan site.

Majors Dominating Indies

My reply to a recent Opinion piece in the Tennessean newspaper, that was entitled “Radio struggles to maintain its listeners, revenues,” which contained an unnecessary and inaccurate attack of independent labels, distributors and artists.  According to the author “The major labels continue to grow and to dominate their independent counterparts.”  I sent it to the Tennessean a few days ago and have heard nothing and I am limited to 1000 characters at their website, so I’ll post it here.

I am writing in response to the opinion article written by Paul Allen entitled “Radio struggles to maintain its listeners, revenues” as I found the basis of one of his arguments not only incorrect but highly unnecessary.

Mr Allen paints the major record labels as having turned a corner and as a business model for radio to emulate as they are “continuing to grow and dominate their independent counterparts.”  In order to make that assumption, Mr Allen finds it necessary to widen the birth of what is considered a major label release and an independent release by using the flawed Soundscan method of counting all records that are distributed by a major record distributor under a contract of limited duration in their market share data.  It is only with this ‘voodoo’ accounting that can you arrive at such an incorrect assertion.

When you view the market as to which label ‘controls the master,’ how the labels identify themselves to SoundExchange, their membership in A2IM (American Association for Independent Music) and / or more importantly, which label did the A&R (discovering the artist, signing the artist, developing the artist, etc) that created the demand for the distribution to have something to sell, we see a completely different picture. We see the indies increasing their market share 5 of the last 6 years and 2009 will be another of those years. It is not 10% as Mr Allen indicates, it is actually closer to 30% (almost 40% in the digital market) according to both my quick calculation using Soundscan and the A2IM. In fact, country music’s biggest releases are the result of indie labels excellent A&R and artist development (Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Allison Krauss for example).

In addition, one cannot simply rely on Soundscan data for sales of sound recordings anymore.  So many artists are self-releasing their music and selling directly to their fans via their website or at their shows.  The vast majority of those sales happen off of Soundscan’s grid and while it is hard to quantify the exact number, you can safely assume the lion-share of those sales would count in the independent column.

Secondly, Mr Allen writes off the 13% drop in sales as nothing more than a side effect of a poor economy.  That might be OK, if this trend wasn’t an annual event this decade.  Businesses are never happy when they lose market share and cannot lean on a poor economy.  Look at Best Buy or Apple who are having increased sales for high dollar products in the very same economy that these labels are having a hard time selling a 99 cent download or a sixteen dollar CD.

Mr Allen should give credit where credit is due and not try to paint a picture of domination, but rather focus on one of partnerships, reinvigorating our consumers and releasing culturally relevant music.  For it was this monomaniacal pursuit of domination in the 1990’s that Steve Knopper in his best selling book “Appetite for Self Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of The Record Industry in the Digital Age” recounted that got major labels in the position they find themselves in this very moment.

CD Baby

By Josh Hughes, Elliott Khansari, Heather Davenport, and Erik Henkleman

The best thing about being a recording artist in today’s industry is that you no longer need the support of a label in order to amke yoru work easily accessible to potential consumers.  CD Baby provides a fantastic service that allows bands, indie labels, singers, comedians, etc. to set up their own website and sell their products.  Anyone that has a CD, at least 5 copies, and $35 can start an account and start selling.  It is incredibly easy and professional at the same time.  Potential buyers can view the site, stream sample clips of the music, view album artwork, read biographies, and even read/post reviews of the artist.  CD Baby also keeps track of inventory, handles all payment/shipping, and simply lets the artist or account holder know when a sale has occurred.  CD Baby then makes the sales information available to the account holder so that he/she/they can know exactly who made the purchase and where the item will be shipped to.  They could also view information that shows how potential buyers arrived at their site, i.e., through a search engine or advertisement.

The reason CD Baby is so artist friendly is because it was actually started by a musician.  Derek Sivers, founder and president of CD Baby started out as an indepenedent musician in Woodstock, New York who created a website to sell his own mucis.  As a hobby he started selling the work of local bands or friends.  Since he was already making a decent living with his own music, he was able to provide essentially a utopian online store for independent musicians.  He made it so that the artist(s) could be paid every week, the musician(s) would never be removed from the system no matter how low their sales were, and that the site would never accept advertising or paid placement.  Now more than a decade later CD Baby is the world’s largest online distributor of indie music, and it all started in a garage by one guy just trying to help himself out.  If that’s not the perfect example of an entrepreneurial goldmine then I don’t know what is.

There are now over 275,000 albums being sold on CD Baby, over 5 million sold online to customers, and a whopping $107,769,092 that has been paid directly to the artists.  Another great thing that CD Baby does is that after the artist has sent in his/her music, CD Baby will then listen to the songs and begin to pair up music that is similar in style so that when a web surfer is looking for music by “Artist A” they would then see “Artist B’s” album listed on the side of the page under the “Other’s Liked” or “You Might Also Try” section.  CD Baby will also distribute the music to digital retailers like Napster, iTunes, and Amazon.  The artist can also customize his/her account completely so that they choose how much distribution they get, how often to be paid, and choose to have their site searchable by location.  Here is an example of the CD Baby page layout where three featured albums are listed along with a description of the artist/music and a listed price

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consumers can visit CD Baby at www.cdbaby.com.  Artists and account holders can view their account information, update their profile, collect earnings, etc. at www.cdbaby.net.

Sources: CD Baby official  wesbsite:  www.cdbaby.com/About

CD baby on Wikipedia:  www.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_baby

Images courtesy of Business Week and Google Images

TuneCore.

Sarah Brown, Clint Gee, Alexander Skidmore, Tommy Stalknecht

In today’s recording industry, musicians are always trying to find new ways to get their music out into consumers’ hands. Not everyone has a label with a distribution deal knocking at their door and that leaves this hugely important mission undone. But now, there are many services on the internet which make that task very simple. But as fees, time, and username/password combinations build up, that simple task of online distribution becomes tiring and tedious. Well, TuneCore is here to lighten the load. For a small annual fee, artists can load music onto TuneCore and breath easy while the burden is lifted as TuneCore delivers your tracks to website such as iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, MusicNet, eMusic, Amazon MP3, Zune Marketplace and other stores.

TuneCore, which is based in Brooklyn, New York, was started in 2005 by Jeff Price, Peter Wells and Gary Burke with a mission of allowing artists to make money doing what they love. And they’ve made it very simple. An  annual fee is no more than $19.98 and as little as $9.99 – depending on how many songs are uploaded. And each store chosen costs only .99¢. Within four to six weeks, the music is live and available for purchase by consumers. TuneCore never asks for a percentage, which allows for the artist to pocket more of their return than they normally would with a major label. What’s even more appealing is how they will never ask for ownership of music. The artist keeps all ownership and control of their music! That’s major label opportunity with no strings. And all of these answers – along with countless others and TuneCore’s mission statement are easily available on their website.

Recently, TuneCore has entered into a partnership with Universal Music Group. This is a very big deal as unsigned artists can now pay or “sign themselves” to a major label who will provide services, such as marketing or distribution for a flat-fee. Artists still keep their rights and royalties – they just get a hand from a major label. This also benefits the label by allowing them to see what is popular and successful. And as Price said, “With this deal UMGD has truly changed the rules and the major label model by providing true choice for a musician.”

It is pretty clear to see how and why artists benefit from using TuneCore. Those just starting out can get their music out to a very wide audience for almost nothing, which is a big deal to unsigned musicians. Money can be and usually is an obstacle that stands in the way of artists getting started. With this service, a small fee gains access to many stores. Also in regard to money is payment. Because TuneCore takes nothing, once the fees are taken out by the store the artist gets all that remains which is more than an artist would make with a major label. Great opportunities can come from being a part of this network – such as being noticed and reached out to by a label within Universal Music Group. There’s a lot for an artist to do to get up and running and enlisting in the help of web services such as TuneCore is a no brainer. So much so that many well known and successful artists have used it, from their first customer, Pixies’ frontman, Frank Black to other artists such as Aretha Franklin, Nine Inch Nails, MGMT, Jay-Z, Keith Richards, Public Enemy, Moby, David Byrne and thousands of independent artists.

TuneCore is definitely a service to watch as this industry changes. It is safe to say that many other major artists will leave their major label home and begin to use TuneCore and other online distributors like it in days to come.

Sources:

* http://www.tunecore.com/

* http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/07/universaltunecore-deal-opens-major-doors-for-indie-artists.ars

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TuneCore#History_and_overview

* http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/26/tunecore-takes-7-million-to-help-artists-with-digital-sales/

Bandcamp

Amy Ritter, Kristen Kellet, Matthew Edwards, Wes Babb

BandCamp is a great way for artists to share music directly with their fans.  The site was created to give artists their own unique place to sell physical and digital music online without irrelevant advertisements popping up everywhere.  Bands that deserve success deserve to have a site that actually works and connects to fans.  Bandcamp is extremely user-friendly for the artist as well as the fans.  The site is very informative and explained in a way that makes Bandcamp seem more of a friend than a company just doing business.  Fans login to find a page designated to their favorite band shown by a Header, designed by the band as well as cover art of the latest album.  The right hand column of the screen displays the band’s discography. Fans are able to click on any album listed to view the track listing of each album with lyrics and liner notes from the band. Fans can choose a song and read liner notes and lyrics posted by the band.

 When it comes to downloading or purchasing a song fans are able to pick the format they want from Mp3, VBR, Ogg Vorbis, Apple Lossless FLAC and AAC.  

Bands can make their music available for free download, name your price, or provide links to streaming sites, all at the same time.   One song can be up for free download while the rest of the album is name your price for a higher quality format.  Every song downloaded syncs right into iTunes with cover art and song information.

Fans can also share songs with friends by a click of a button, posting links through Facebook, MySpace and other social networks.

From the artist perspective Bandcamp is definitely worth creating an account.  The site is Free! This is made possible because Bandcamp takes a percentage of band earnings from sales.  Bandcamp will only make money when the band makes money and only when the band reaches a certain success level.  Setup is quick and simple.  The band designs their own page from the Header to the Album artwork .Once an artist creates a page they begin uploading tracks and listing them as free downloads or sold at set prices. Bandcamp also makes charts available to the artists showing the amount of plays per song, whether a song was played completely, partially or skipped over. This gives the band an idea of which songs fans are really listening to and which ones are being played simply because they are the first track on the album.  Bands are also able to see what sites are mentioning their music along with the link to the site.  Where they can join in the conversation to promote future releases and see what people are saying about their music. Bandcamp also shows what sites have their music embedded, who is downloading their music, where and whether they are downloading for free or purchasing.

            Bandcamp is a win-win music outlet for artist and fans.  It is an easy setup benefiting both parties.  Fans can find new music and information on favorite bands choose to stream or buy songs while the artist can know who is buying and what they are buying to help promote their music even more. Bandcamp is a one stop for all music needs of the fan as well as for the artist. Designed to help bands succeed and connect with fans in a quick, easy way.

iLike

iLike – Maggie Hill, Tyler Hudson, Josh Rogers, Frank Walters

iLike is a social music discovery service co-founded by brothers Ali and Hadi Partovi in 2006.  It provides services like creating automatic playlists, offering new artist suggestions and personalizing concert alerts.  iLike enables artists to reach their fans and create a buzz about their music.  This company is the main application on Facebook.  It has more than 50 million registered users.  iLike uses social networking sites to reach out to potential fans.  It provides direct access to material on iTunes as well as direct access to artists’ websites and blogs.  Mainstream as well as indie artists will find iLike to be extremely beneficial.

iLike provides fans with many useful tools, like applications for iPhones.  It gives users a direct link to iTunes and Amazon to purchase music.  It also provides a link to Ticketmaster so users can purchase tickets.  Along with these features, it can also scan your library and compile a list of new music that is compatible with what you already have.  The iLike sidebar can alert users when a concert is going to be near, and when new releases are coming out.  These features make connecting with fans very easy.  Connecting with fans will usually lead to higher sales.

This company can be useful to artists in every stage of their career.  It is a very useful thing for new artists, because this service allows them to get their music out there.  They can set up a page quite easily.  With this application the artists can gain access to many different groups without much effort.  Once the artist signs up for one account, it is automatically published on all of iLike’s affiliates.  This cuts down on the amount of work it takes to maintain the account.

iLike would also be a great tool for artists in the middle stages of their careers.  They really need to keep their fan base and expand to include more people in their core fans.  iLike makes that a possibility.  Fans that use this application will be alerted for each new release of the artist, and when the artist is coming to town, so they will never forget.  At this same time iLike is helping the artist keep up with their old fans, it will alert new fans to the groups sound.  The cycle will continue.  One great thing artists can do with iLike is create their very own application.  They can offer exclusive items if their fans purchase their application, which simultaneously connects with fans and give them a reason to buy.

Overall iLike can be utilized by bands of all kinds.  Not only can artists create these accounts, but they also can watch their results.  iLike shows each group the stats on fan growth and sends out weekly statistic reports.  It has features that can help out any kind of group.  It can help artists market their music to new people, and it is relatively inexpensive and easy to use.  This is why iLike has nearly 150,000 artists that have accounts.  No group is going to say no to easy promotion.  Currently, Myspace is talking about buying iLike.  It is still in the works, but this would totally change the dynamics of the company.  Facebook is such a vital player, so this buyout would have huge ramifications.

New Media Outsource: TopSpin Media

By: John Freeman, Heather Gibson, Nikki Haynes, Jarin Stricklan

A new and effective source of marketing includes the growing trend of “direct-to-fan” marketing technique. Topspin surfaced in June 2008, founded by Peter Gotcher and Shamal Ranasinghe while controlled by Ian Rogers. Their artist roster includes top acts such as Beastie Boys, Eminem, Paul McCartney, and many more.
TopSpin allows for use of viral marketing, target marketing, direct marketing, the ability of flexible bundles for fans, and software that helps analyze different marketing tactics. The company’s tagline is “artist focused, data driven” which really describes its main focus, the artist. TopSpin allows for an easy purchase experience from any artist website to a consumer while providing a smooth transaction to the fan while helping the artist sell their content at the best digital quality. TopSpin also well assist in any other physical merchandise the artist chooses to advertise. How about having an email marketing system, widget platform, and data analytics engine all integrated within one application? TopSpin has created amazing software that offers all of these and has made it incredibly easy to use for the user. An addition to offering an incredible service, they also provide information from other companies that they have partnered with to help develop other important aspects of the artists career.
Topspin’s main focus is to offer help to artists to of managing their catalogs, while connecting with fans and ultimately creating a demand for their music. Connecting with fans while still maintaining a demand for the music has become an ongoing theme in today’s new music structure. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has proven this theory of connecting with fans will indeed create a demand for his music, as he is eliminating the middleman. Not only is Topspin great for top selling artists, but will also benefit the up and coming artists as well. They offer a service that will allow consumers easy access to their artist’s music, while providing an affordable alternative to traditional resale along with the elimination of the gatekeepers of years past. Topspin really helps new artists with helping create a marketing plan, while also providing links to other sources of information on marketing their music to fans. Another unique feature they offer on their website is their widget for calculating potential revenue from the Topspin platform, all the user has to do is input numbers into the platform then outputs an estimated six month revenue. Any artist could benefit from Topspin and should carefully consider utilizing the services provided, and may even be surprised by the outcome.

Sources:
1. Topspin Media. Web. 21 Nov. 2009. .
2. “Topspin Media, Inc.: Private Company Information – BusinessWeek.” List of Private Companies Worldwide – BusinessWeek. Web. 27 Nov. 2009. .

NoiseTrade

 

Chandler Kellogg, Charles Crumble, Mery Cole, Isis McCullough

As the music business crumbles, new methods of distributing music are arising. Entrepreneurial companies such as, NoiseTrade, are expanding, while major labels are cutting employees and experiencing dwindling profits.  Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Derek Webb founded NoiseTrade in an attempt to revolutionize digital distribution methods.  In essence, the company attempts to cut out the middleman from the music distribution process to create an artist-fan relationship without the aid of rack-jobbers, major labels, and $.99 download restrictions.  The company believes that instead of fans going to peer-to-peer sites to download albums, artists should have an outlet to provide a free service for their fans while gathering information that could benefit them in the future.  Their method theoretically results in creating a harmonious relationship between the artists and their fans where artists give away their music, and consumers don’t have the guilt of getting an album for free.

Derek decided to start the company after seeing the success of direct-to-fan methods from the marketing his own album, Mockingbird.  The album was downloaded 80,000 times in 3 months in exchange for fan’s email addresses.  Ironically, Mockingbird, saw an increase of sales on iTunes while they were giving away the album for free.  After giving away his album, Derek has sold more tickets and merchandise at his shows, and has made a steady living playing music.  If it worked once, Derek figured that the method could revolutionize the way consumers get music.

NoiseTrade’s service is rather simple.  Artists upload albums for free on the site in exchange for a 20% cut from donations given to NoiseTrade.  Customers browse the site by clicking on albums and then songs to test them out.  If they like what they hear, they can choose to either A) Give 5 email addresses of people who they think may like the album or B) Donate money to the artist.  While many people choose to give out 5 email addresses, this information can prove crucial to the success of an artist.   The artists can choose to send out emails pertaining to tour dates and updates to create buzz and increase awareness about the band.  As explained on the site, one email address can equal to one dollar after selling tickets and merchandising at the artist’s show.

Although NoiseTrade is a great idea in theory, it has many shortcomings.  For example, many people enter in fake email addresses when downloading an album.  This could be for many reasons: customers don’t want to annoy their friends, or because of address books, many people honestly don’t know their friends email addresses.  NoiseTrade realizes this problem and is trying to fix it by using easier and more functional mediums such as Facebook to garner information.  They have created widgets that artists are able to embed in social networking sites, but they have not found a way to send information directly to consumer’s social networking accounts.  Regardless, widgets have proven an effective means of advertising. Artists can embed these widgets into messages, emails, blogs, etc.:

When it began, NoiseTrade’s services were $250 and NoiseTrade kept 10% of the profits.  As of July 2009, the company’s one anniversary, they changed their policies omitting the $250 entry charge and are now taking 20% of all income.  After the update, they saw the number of artists on their site double overnight.  This change has been met with much resistance from artists who bought the service prior to the change.  To balance it out, NoiseTrade has refunded some of the money to artists who paid for the services before the change.  Other concerns from previous customers of the NoiseTrade’s services were that since now there are so many people on the site, potential downloader’s browsing the site will have a less likely chance of seeing their music.  This is a valid concern as now there are several artists added to the site everyday.  NoiseTrade is open about their imperfections, and is doing whatever necessary to make their innovative service a sustainable stream of revenue for independent artists wishing to make their music into a career.

Artist Data

By: Rebecca Quick, George Pace, Eric Parker, Brian Vollmer

Artist Data is a company that allows artists to manage, publish, promote, and organize their respective entities through one single organizational tool. The online company was founded in July of 2006 by Brandon Mulligan in Chicago. Brandon Mulligan’s belief is that artists should only have to enter their information once. Artist Data is currently in a beta stage and is free to any artist wanting to sign up. Artist Data lets artists sign up for free and post their updates to the website. Then, Artist Data takes the artists’ updates and posts them to many popular mass media websites. There are currently 22 social networks involved in the process, some of these networks include MySpace, facebook, twitter, artist direct, jambase and eventful to name just a few. Artist Data boasts that it has already sent 1,942,284 notifications to different media sources on behalf of their artists.

Artist Data is not only for the artist or the artist manager but is also directed towards record labels with more than one artist they would like to promote as well as venues, promoters, and talent buyers who may use the website to promote shows. After choosing which category you fall into, you enter in your information, whether it be for an organization or a band, and submit your information. Artist Data sends out a confirmation e-mail in which it gives you the opportunity to set up an artist or company profile. At this point you are officially a member of Artist Data. From here, you enter in your artist data complete with tour information and a full artist profile including a photo so that you can be searched for by businesses looking for particular artists. Once you are set up, you are on your way to becoming connected.

Artist Data wants to give artists more time to create music for the public. They do this by offering as many ways to connect the artist with different media outlets as possible. In addition to updating the artist on many social networks, Artist Data also handles a good deal of promotion for the artist. This starts with contacting local press when the artist is on tour and letting the press know information such as the artist’s bio and profile as well as when the artist is coming to town so that the press has the opportunity to promote the artist and create awareness around upcoming events in any given local area. Another part of the promotion process that Artist Data handles is connecting with the fans that wish to be updated with notifications of when the artist tours. Artist Data has a tool called Concert Syndication that does just that. It will contact the fans that show interest in a particular artist when the artist is coming to their town to do a show. It also posts full tour dates so the fans can know where and when the artist is playing on the whole tour. Artist Data tries to get the information to the fans so the fans do not have to go looking for the information.

Another neat tool that Artist Data has is an application to create Day Sheets. These Day Sheets are useful documents for the road crew and the concert crew as well as the other band mates. The Day Sheets help important members of the tour stay on top of any changes in tour itinerary including scheduling and transportation. In short, the Day Sheets insure that everyone is on the same page and that no one misses important events.

Artist Data has only been around for three years but already it has created an enormous amount of buzz. Additionally, the website has already been nominated for many awards, most recently being the Chicago Innovation Awards just last week. Artist Data ended up being a finalist and was given the People’s Choice Award by Chicago Innovation. This is a tremendous leap for the company and can only be accredited to the high number of users that Artist Data has already attracted. This graph below, compliments of Quantcast, illustrates this point.

Artist Data is a fabulous tool for artists, promoters, record labels, and fans alike. Artist Data is by no means the only way to make good use of time management by an artist. However, Artist Data definitely has the power to make an artist powerful just by the use of this one website. Artist Data makes some of the most time consuming aspects of promoting an artist as simple as logging in and spending five minutes a day updating an artist’s profile. Additionally, given the fact that Artist Data is still currently in a free beta stage of its life, it is without a doubt the most cost effective way to put artists’ information at the fingertips of the fans. If you are an artist and you have not yet become familiar with the power that social networking has on creating buzz then Artist Data is a wonderful tool for you. It is as simple as creating a profile on MySpace or facebook and it can bring you more results than any one social networking site can on its own. Artist Data is the all-in-one multi-tool of the recording industry.

Before The Music Dies

The Faron West documentary remains free at Hulu (read my review of it at AllAboutJazz):

The embed feature is not working so just follow the link here: