hypebot

Songkick Unveils “Tourbox”, Simplifies Tour Date Aggregation

2012-05-30T13:51:10-04:00

Live performances have never been more important for a musician than they are today, making up an increasingly significant portion of an artist’s revenue stream. It is absolutely critical then to ensure that shows are posted accurately and in the best places in order to maximize visibility and audience reach. The only problem is, it’s usually a pain to do so. Easily one of the most frustrating aspects of marketing and managing a music career online is posting new tour dates, but Songkick is looking to make things a bit easier for artists with the introduction of “Tourbox.”

Tourbox is a back-end widget that connects to an artist’s Facebook fan page, and then automates the publishing of concert dates across web properties and in places such as YouTube, SoundCloud, Tumblr, Vevo, Spotify, Bandcamp, Foursquare, The Hype Machine, and more. Tourbox can thus help push freshly enthralled ears and eyeballs towards gigs, allowing artists to strike while the iron is hot in hopes of selling more tickets.

A large source of Songkick's data comes from ticketing companies and promoters, and Tourbox allows artists to have more control over their touring information across the various social networks. It can even instantly churn out information on any canceled or rescheduled dates, as well. According to Songkick, those who downloaded their app attended twice as many concerts as they did before a year prior.

The announcement of Tourbox comes as Songkick recently received a $10 million investment from Sequoia Capital.

Hisham Dahud is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for Fame House , LLC and is an independent musican himself. Follow him on Twitter: @HishamDahud

How I Earned My Place in the Music Business: 6 Insights For Breaking In

2012-05-30T13:00:00-04:00

After a four-year journey that recently culminated with my college graduation, I write to you now as a full-time music industry professional – Senior Music & Technology Analyst for Hypebot.com, head of Business Development for Fame House LLC, and I remain an independent musician myself building a creative venture of my own. My journey has been anything but straightforward, and there were plenty of lessons I learned along the way that I feel obliged to share with both aspiring and established industry professionals.

For you aspiring industry professionals, I hope that my story and insights can help you get a clearer sense of where you are in your pursuits, as well as provide you with motivation and inspiration to help you advance your own career. For you established professionals, I’m quite proud to call you my constituents, and some of you, my colleagues. For as much as I’ve idolized rock stars on stage, I’ve always admired those industry professionals that make it happen behind the scenes.

With that in mind, here are six insights for breaking into today’s music industry, as sourced and reflected upon through my own path to getting here:

1. Uncover The Source of Your Passion

I grew up the youngest child in a family of music lovers and was exposed to “the good stuff” very early on. I would receive hand-me-down instruments from my siblings, but gravitated and eventually fell in love with the drums at eight years of age. After playing in bands throughout my elementary and high school years, I eventually dropped all musical pursuits to attend college at the University of California, Irvine. Why? Because it was a good school and I got in… that’s it. I never once thought about making a career in or around music because, frankly, that idea was never encouraged. I was following the traditional “pipeline” of going to a good school, getting good grades, and getting a “good” job. However, with an insatiable appetite to play music, I would eventually join a band during my second year of college.

The turning point for me came during a gig in Hollywood, CA in 2008. I realized that I had spent far more time and energy on my music than I did on my studies. Here I was, playing a gig the night before a very important midterm exam (which I later ended up failing). I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that I was spending my family’s hard earned tuition money on my dreams of becoming a rock star, so I left U.C. Irvine and returned home to San Francisco – determined to make a living in the music business.

The Lesson – Find out why music means so much to you in the first place. Try to identify the source(s) of fulfillment that music provides you, and identify the possible areas of the music industry that you might find fulfillment being involved with. It needs to be a “sweet spot” combination of where you can contribute the most value (more on that later), and where you’d find the most fulfillments. List all possible roles because you will likely be doing more than one thing.

2. Study the Whole Industry

When I returned to San Francisco, my initial goal was to become a full-time drummer. I quickly found out, however, that it is tough to make money as solely a musician. Playing the drums alone would not be enough and I eventually realized that I needed to learn more about the industry I was entering into.

I enrolled myself into San Francisco State University’s Music & Recording Industry program, a specialized certification program that focuses students on either Music Business or Recording Arts education (I chose Music Business). At the time, my goal was to merely leave the program with an understanding of how the music industry operates, and apply that to my pursuits of being a drummer. But that all changed after going through what was, by far, the most influential college course I had ever taken.

Music Industry Career Planning was a ten-week intensive course taught by career growth and development expert (and music industry veteran), Gian Fiero. The course helped me uncover key strengths as an individual and incorporate critical career developmental exercises, while providing a broad overview of the current landscape of today’s music industry. Most importantly, it allowed me to pinpoint the specific areas of the music industry that I could provide the most value to. In conjunction with an academic study of the music business, I began reading every music industry blog I could find each day (including this one). My mindset was slowly beginning to shift to that of an industry professional.

The Lesson – Learn all that you can about the whole music business. Look at it from all angles. Whether it is formally in a classroom, or informally through constant and continued self-education and research. Personally, I recommend doing both. More often than not, the people teaching music industry courses are usually potential gatekeepers themselves, and it’s a great place to build relationships with them and your fellow students.

3. Study Yourself

There were no tests in Music Industry Career Planning, only personal essays. Instead of a final exam, the class culminated with a 7-minute thesis presentation about how you were going to “plan, prepare, and position yourself for a sustainable career in the music industry.” Half my grade came from Professor Fiero, and the other half came from a panel of industry professionals who were in attendance ready to offer jobs and/or internships to standout students. Needless to say, the pressure was on.

My thesis presentation required me to think introspectively – what did I really want to do? What were the steps that I needed to get there? I was forced to really study all of my strengths and weaknesses, and how I can apply them towards creating a sustainable career in the music business. I would receive high marks on my essays and be complimented on my writing skills, so I had took that as part of my value proposition. I also had a good (but not great) understanding of digital technologies and marketing at the time, so I had that to bring to the table, as well. I also had passion for music that could only stem from the heart of a musician.

By the end of the course, I wasn’t just trying to be a drummer anymore – although I did make a promise to myself that I would continue as a musician, and thankfully I’ve been able to uphold that promise. My goal now shifted to working within the music business.

The Lesson – While studying the industry, be sure to study yourself along the way. What is it that you really want to do? What’s the dream? What value do you bring to the table for potential gatekeepers? Understanding your value proposition is critical, especially when it comes to your networking. You’ve got to have something to bring to the table beyond your enthusiasm and your passion (although those are absolutely required).

4. Internships Are Invaluable

I cannot stress enough the value of interning. Internships have been, by far, the most instrumental factors in earning my place in the music business. In fact, my current positions with Hypebot and Fame House each stemmed from my time as an intern. One of the industry panelists during my final thesis presentation was Michael Fiebach – the Product, Marketing, and Merchandise Manager for the legendary DJ Shadow. Michael apparently liked what he saw and offered me my first internship, which became my first “in” to the music industry.

I was working with Michael on the day-to-day marketing efforts of DJ Shadow’s online and merchandise operations. It was a 90-minute commute each way, and I was balancing two part-time jobs plus being a full-time student, but I was determined to make the absolute most of this internship. I needed to leave a lasting impression on Michael, so I found myself working far over the required amount of hours, did independent research, and even volunteered to take on a project to single-handedly revamp a portion of the online store – all unpaid (I did receive college credit). By the end of that experience, I walked away with music industry-specific transferable skills, not to mention one hell of a name to affiliate myself with.

Proof that internships can lead to good things, Michael would eventually go on to found Fame House in 2011, and brought me on as his first employee. We’ve been building the company ever since.

The Lesson – It's difficult to work your way in among the gatekeepers when you have no skills, experience, or connections to offer them. Demonstrating an eager desire to learn by working for free will prove that you’re passionate and serious enough to sacrifice in order to earn your spot. Just make sure it’s an internship that’s legit, conducive to your growth, and that you’re gaining real skills. While you’re going to have to sacrifice time and pay, you’ll be earning invaluable experiences and aligning yourself with key allies.

5. Embrace Change and Connect the Dots Later

After my internship with DJ Shadow had ended, Michael connected me with Bruce Houghton (publisher of Hypebot) to do some event coverage for The SF MusicTech Summit. After writing a few conference coverage pieces for Hypebot, Bruce felt comfortable enough to bring me on as an intern, contributing pieces under the guidance of then editor Kyle Bylin (now at Live Nation Labs). I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to leverage this opportunity. I had no interest in music technologies at the time, and didn’t plan on entering the space at all. I just knew I could write and this was an opportunity in the music industry that I could somehow utilize. How exactly? I had no idea.

My first article as an intern was entitled, “HOW TO: Engage Fans on Twitter Like Snoop Dogg.” Sure enough, Snoop got word of that piece and tweeted it out to his (at the time) 2.1 million followers. Needless to say, Bruce and Kyle were excited about that. Hypebot then granted me creative liberty to write about topics that interested me, and I had found myself wearing a new hat – one that seemingly found me – and one that fit me just right.

I continued as a contributing writer for Hypebot until I finished my college education. And on May 21st, 2012, the very next Monday after I had earned my degree, I moved up to the position of Senior Music and Technology Analyst.

The Lesson – While it’s tremendously important to plan, be sure to leave room for sudden and unexpected opportunities. Try to remain open to any and all opportunities that are conducive to your growth. Just because you cannot connect the dots now, does not mean you shouldn’t begin aligning them today.

6. To Be Successful, You Must Live & Breathe This

I don't consider what I do a “job,” nor would I sell it short by calling it a "career," either. What I do is very much a lifestyle choice, and it has engulfed my entire existence (for better or for worse). To this day, I still attend as many live concerts as possible, I still play music as enthusiastically as I did when I was a child, and I wake up every morning excited to see what my inbox looks like. The vast majority of my friends are still musicians or music fanatics (yes, fanatics), and I care more than ever about where the music industry is headed because music is the lifeblood of who I am, and of those closest to me. I’ve chosen to surround myself with people and environments that keep my passion alive, and I never take for granted the opportunities that have been bestowed upon me.

The Lesson – There is no “on” or “off” switch when it comes to pursuing your goal. You must be “on” all the time. This is your passion, your life, and how you plan on making a living for yourself - don’t take it lightly.

I am incredibly thankful to be here, among you. This is only the beginning...

How Well Does Social Media Marketing Work? [INFOGRAPHIC]

2012-05-30T12:28:00-04:00

Facebook. Twitter. Pineterest. YouTube. Google+. Every day we share stats, tools and tricks on how to make social media work for you. Does it make a difference? Is the ROI of all your efforts amplification of your message or actual monetary gain? Amanda Palmer is proving with her $1M Kickstarter campaign that, at least for her, it can be both. But your not Palmer. You're running your own small business. Pagemodo asked business people: Does social media marketing work?

Click On Image To Enlarge

Two Big Announcements For Hypebot

2012-05-30T11:56:00-04:00

(UPDATED) It's a big day at Hypebot, with two big announcements to share. First, Hisham Dahud, who has been a regular contributor here, is joining us as a Senior Music and Technology Analyst. Hisham has just graduated from college, and will now have a daily presence on Hypebot, and split his time between writing, a bit of consulting for our sister company Skyline Music and his work in business development at Fame House.

I also want to acknowledge the increasing role that Clyde is playing on Hypebot with the addition of Senior to his title. Senior Contributor Clyde Smith will continue to post daily on topics across the spectrum of topics we cover here.

Please join me in congratulating Hisham and Clyde! As always, our goal is CANI - constant and never ending improvement of our coverage of music, technology and the new music industry.

The Crowdfunding Bible On Campaigns That Succeeded & Those That Failed [Free Ebook]

2012-05-30T11:28:00-04:00

Scott Steinberg's new book, The Crowdfunding Bible: How To Raise Money For Any Startup, Video Game, or Project, is now available as a free download or a hard copy purchase.

If you're thinking about crowdfunding anything, it's worth a look for its detailed discussion of what to consider from start to finish. It includes a number of interviews with folks who ran successful campaigns but it's also quite useful for its discussion of campaigns that failed.

The Crowdfunding Bible is available as a free download, no email or other info required. It can also be purchased at Lulu in a paperback edition.

Steinberg's created a thorough introduction to crowdfunding that goes far beyond anything else I've seen to date. Given that we're now at the point where a musician like Amanda Palmer can raise a milli via Kickstarter, there's a lot of data available and The Crowdfunding Bible is a good first step towards considering what folks have learned to date.

Steinberg advocates researching campaigns that succeeded but also campaigns that failed. He includes a section of research questions (pp. 14-17) to ask about each element of a project that offers a thorough approach to dissecting a campaign. Honestly it's the kind of thing that would make most people's eyes glaze over and makes me think that forming a discussion or work group to analyze campaigns would be a smart place to start.

Steingberg identifies key attributes of successful campaigns (p. 20):

A solid idea and sellable vision for the product or service
Careful pre-planning and preparation
A strong presentation, ideally coupled with high production values
A reward structure that appeals to the project's audience
Ongoing outreach to backers
Effective social media, marketing and PR strategies
The presence of a popular pre-existing brand or personality that's attached to the project, or an existing audience for the property

Whatever you think of Amanda Palmer, you should be able to see that her campaign had all these elements.

Steinberg also shares characteristics of campaigns that failed (p. 30-32):

Lack of a trusted brand, brand identity, well-known personality, and/ or lack of a compelling vision.
Failure to clearly explain and illustrate projects' core value proposition and/or benefits.
Lack of differentiation and the inability to define and communicate unique sales points.
Failure to generate awareness or engage potential backers.
Setting campaign funding goals too high.

The Crowdfunding Bible includes a series of interviews with people who ran successful campaigns (pp. 60-78). This section will be especially useful for learning through storytelling. It's a great balance to the rigorous approach advocated by Steinberg and gives one a chance to see different forms of success.

If you're ready to move beyond a handful of tips and a hunch, then you should definitely check out The Crowdfunding Bible.

Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith blogs about business at Flux Research: Business Changes and about dance at All World Dance: News. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

Internet Underground Music Archive Back Online With 680,000 Tracks

2012-05-30T10:56:00-04:00

A unique chunk of digital music history is back online. Jason Scott has taken archived data from the Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA) and uploaded as much as he could at the Internet Archive. There are over 45,000 bands represented with over 680,000 tracks available for free streaming or download. IUMA was launched in 1992 and faded in the next decade but established a wide range of historical precedents for the emergence of digital music on the web.

The Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA) was founded in 1993 with a focus on giving unsigned artists a place to share their music on the web and interact with fans. It began to change hands in 1998 and was shut down in 2006. The following news report from 1994 gives one a sense of its focus on DIY musicians using free streaming and downloads to promote themselves.

IUMA on CNN (3/9/1994)

This report is interesting for a number of other reasons as well including the idea that "music addiction" would encourage people to get on the web. As we've all seen since then, music has been widely used not only to build social networks, for example, but also to promote mobile services.

Janko Roettgers rightly points out that:

"The resulting archive isn't just a whole lot of interesting music — with many tracks of musicians who later went on to be famous — it's also an early testament of the power of disruption that the Internet would exert on the music industry."

Jason Scott uploaded the data to the Internet Archive from backup tapes of data scraped by John Gilmore when he realized IUMA was toast. Scott describes the downfall of IUMA:

"Like a lot of other such endeavors, it was sold in the dot-com boom years, Y2K edition, where it fell under the retarded purview of multiple owners, and then entered a state of living death through the mid 2000s until undergoing a sad, dull little shutdown around 2006."

Roettgers has a less colorful but more detailed view of the history that's well worth a read in that it also shows IUMA's trailblazing status as a project that couldn't keep up with changing times as various owners passed it around. zZounds has additional historical details.

Honestly, IUMA represents so much history that I don't feel I can really do it justice. As Jason Scott states:

"The best projects cause a lot of people to shrug or go "oh, that's nice" and then a much smaller percentage of people to drop whatever they're carrying and stagger forward in disbelief. Here's one of those."

The Four P’s Of Playing Live Shows: Post-Show

2012-05-30T10:30:52-04:00

In The Four P’s of Playing Live Shows, Dave Cool talked about preparation, promotion, and the performance. In this recent post on Music Think Tank, Dave covers what to do post-show. It’s great to perform an awesome show, but you need to remember to thank the fans and others that were part of the show and people that helped put it all together.

“Once your show is over, it is arguably the most important time to solidify relationships with your fans, with the bands you’ve played with, and with the venue.”

(Read On)

Spotify Upgrades, Fixes Apple iOS Apps

2012-05-30T09:45:50-04:00

This morning Spotify launched a number of updates, improvements and fixes for its Apple iOS 5 apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Long overdue is an interactive guide that guides users through Spotify's features and another offers insights into who is listening to your playlist. Details:

New:

Music notifications - "Find out who’s listening to your music, when subscribed playlists get updated, and lots more. Control your notifications in Settings."
Interactive Guide. Helpful stuff for new users.

Fixed:

Addition of the missing retina graphics on the iPad login screen.
"Retina album art will stay in sync when you offline sync your playlists."
"No more unresponsive tantrums when you scroll and navigate at the same time."

Improved:

Facebook login, screen locking when offline syncing, performance and stability.

Another Spotify-Like Music Service, This Time For The Middle East

2012-05-30T09:25:34-04:00

Last week we reported on Dhingana, a legal Indian music streaming service that recently surpassed 10.5 million monthly active visitors, becoming the largest legal Indian music streaming service. Now, recognizing the need for an on-demand music streaming services in the Middle East, a pair of Lebanese entrepreneurs have started Anghami, a unique music service to the Arab world that offers unlimited and offline music streaming to its users.

While Arabic music is available on Spotify and other music streaming services, users from Morocco to Saudi Arabia don’t have access to these. Anghami hopes to fill that void. The service offers access to a wide library of music, already signing with major Middle Eastern labels including Rotana, Mazzika, and Melody, as well as international labels the likes of Sony and EMI (a deal with Warner is said to also be in the works).

They’re funded, too. Anghami was one of five startups that received backing from Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) back in March, and a Turkey-based VC has also invested money into the company. Anghami is soon to launch in private beta in the form of an iPhone app, after initially intending to launch first as a Web-based service.

“We’re trying to provide all the music that a consumer in the Middle East would search for,” co-founder Eddy Maroun told The Next Web. “Our aim is to satisfy 90% of the queries, and I think we’re almost there. We’ll be the first music service in the region that will cover Arabic and international music.”

One of the more notable features about the product is its ability to offer users offline listening:

“You can have the ultimate music experience. You’ll never have to search elsewhere, you’ll never have to buy any songs, and you’ll never have to buy a CD. Your music library will be with you everywhere you go,” Maroun said.

In response to the troublingly slow Internet access in Lebanon (and many other countries in the Middle East), Anghami is said to be using state of the art technology in order to deliver quicker streams, emulating the feel of playing a song from a hard disk. They’ve teamed up with Dolby, utilizing Dolby’s Pulse encoding, which provides low-sized files, but sounds as if you’re hearing a 256K MP3 (it also saves bandwidth).

With a wide market of potential users, and a clear need that is aiming to be satisfied here, Anghami could easily end up being a "Spotify for the Middle East." It will be interesting to see how the company performs once they're out of beta, and into the mass Middle Eastern market.

UPDATED: Amanda Palmer Blows Past $1 Million On Kickstarter

2012-05-30T07:39:00-04:00

UPDATED: "WE. FUCKING. DID IT. $1,000,000 OF PURE FUTURE ARTMUSIC ASSKICKING," tweeted Amanda Palmer on Tuesday afternoon along with a half naked photo with "One Fuckng Million" scrawled across her chest. She'd asked asked fans for $100,000 on Kickstarterm and now she's raised 10X that. In fact, overnight the singer/songwriter added just shy of $50,000 more; bringing the Wednesday morning tally to $1,049,084 from 21,802 backers, with 40 hours left to collect more.

The Music Business Is No Longer 'One Size Fits All'

Palmer has shattered the previous record for music on Kickstarter of $207,980 by Five Iron Frenzy. But are we witnessing history in the making? Is this the future of the music business? Clearly most bands don't have the fan support to raise $ million or even $10,000. "You have to have fans before you can ask them to help you," reminds Palmer.

But there are lessons that every band can learn from Palmer's $1 million campaign. She spent years developing and getting to know her fanbase. Palmer also acquired the the skills needed to motivate them on multiple levels with this single campaign. Beyond just appealing for help, Palmer's Kickstarter is about a new record release, an art book, a tour that includes private shows for small groups of supporters and more.

The new music industry is no longer one size fits all. But today, Amanda Palmer proved there is still room for XXXL size success stories.

There's still time to pledge here.

NEWS BRIEF: Facebook Fallout, WMG Exec Shifts?, Twitter + Pepsi = Music, Megaupload & More

2012-05-30T07:21:00-04:00

Facebook stock fell to the $28 range on Tuesday, and fallout from the less than stellar IPO appears to be rippling through music tech, as well. VEVO is apparently dialing back it's IPO ambitions; and Spotify has yet to close on its latest major funding round. Pandora stock also retreated into the $10 range, erasing recent gains.

WMG is actively seeking a replacement for caretaker CEO Stephen Cooper according the NY Post. The fate of senior exec Lyor Cohen is unclear. He's reportedly working without an new contract.
Twitter Signs Up Pepsi for Big Music Promotion (Media Memo)

MORE:

Megaupload Wins Crucial Evidence Disclosure Battle With US Govt. (TorrentFreak)
Samsung Music Hub Takes on Just About Everyone (NYT)
Google wins YouTube copyright battle in French court. (CNet) German and U.S. courts say YouTube is responsible for pirated material, but a French court backs Google.
Why Social Networks Need Musicians (WSJ)
Rocker Fort Atlantic Releases New Album on Nintendo Cartridges (Wired)
How Berklee College became a mecca for modern music (Guardian)
Concert source Jambase has launched a Facebook app.
Music content specialist LoveLive makes senior hires (Televisual)
R.I.P. Doc Watson

Grooveshark Launches Beluga - Free Tool For Collecting Fan & Musician Insights

2012-05-29T13:45:00-04:00

Despite ongoing lawsuits with major record labels and music publishers, Grooveshark is looking to diversify its product offering with the launch of a free music information tool called Beluga. Beluga combines Grooveshark’s in-house market research with the streaming service’s own data, providing music insights and allowing anyone to conduct in-depth research about a particular artist and their fans – completely free and with no registration required.

With Grooveshark's 20 million unique monthly users, Beluga conducts analysis to find correlations between artist affinity and their listener's demographics, location, and survey responses. The insights themselves can be very specific. For instance, Beluga shows that on average, a particular artist’s fans tend to have iPhones, have no pets, prefer Flickr to other social networks, and tend to be students or otherwise work in the tech industry as developers/programmers. That sort of highly detailed data is fantastic for artists and for marketers in particular.

Beluga can help find statistically significant correlations between listening habits and brands, providing insight into what is trending in digital music consumption. Moreover, it can help in identifying typical demographic and psychographic characteristics of an artist's or brand's target audience.

"Any artist with music on Grooveshark can leverage Beluga's revolutionary data to learn about their fans, route their tours, sell merchandise, work on building a following, and take their careers to the next level," said Josh Greenberg, Grooveshark Co-Founder and CTO. "Beluga opens doors for advertisers and brands to partner with artists who connect with their target audience, presenting endless opportunities. Best of all, we provide all of this market research information entirely for free."

Beluga is said to collect data with transparency while still keeping user identities anonymous. It is the first big step in Grooveshark's broader goals for developing products and services that seek to empower artists.

Artists can sign up for Beluga here.

Musicians: Learn The Power Of The Pivot

2012-05-29T11:56:00-04:00

As a musician, it is vital that you listen to your audience as much as you'd like them to listen to you. Sometimes that could mean going through a change. The Beastie Boys did it, Katy Perry did it, and the Black Eyed Peas did it among many others. At one point, these artists shifted their focus towards a newly refined target audience after realizing that their existing audience responded well to subtle facets of what they had to offer, and in some cases, embraced a completely new direction all together. Eric Ries, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author of The Lean Startup, refers to this maneuver as a “pivot.”

Recently, Fast Company published an article on how startups should take cues from musicians in pivoting towards new audiences, and it got me thinking about how this tactic should not be overlooked when it comes to the artist’s career. Ries describes several different types of pivots in The Lean Startup, but the two that apply most aptly with musicians are:

The Zoom-in Pivot: When a feature within a larger product or system becomes the entire product
The Customer Segment Pivot: Changing the customer segment based on validated learning about your existing customer segment

What we are not talking about here is the old adage “the customer is always right." That idea exists primarily for the sake of a customer feeling satisfied now, so that they spend more money over the long run with repeated transactions. What we are talking about is the idea of gauging genuine reactions and impressions from your audience, and then making validated adjustments to capitalize on the positive ones and reduce the negative ones.

Pivots of the Past

The Beastie Boys for instance had initially started out as a hardcore punk band. Then one day, after messing around with the idea in the studio, they began incorporating rap elements into their live performances for sheer amusement. After discovering that their audience responded well to a hip-hop element, they would eventually perform a “zoom-in pivot” – taking what was once a feature of their offering (hip-hop) and turned it into what they’re known for today. In essence, The Beastie Boys market-tested their hip-hop element and pivoted towards a new direction once their audience responded well to it. They now hold a place in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Katy Perry is another good example. Before she was Katy Perry, she was Katy Hudson – a Christian gospel singer releasing wholesome spiritual music aimed at a relatively small audience that lacked mass-market appeal. She then underwent a "customer segment pivot” by altering her look (and thus her marketing) from “good girl” to “sexy bad girl.” Her lyrical content followed suit; from Christian worship to edgy and sexually suggestive. Both of these led to the natural shift in her market segment, from teenagers who listen to Christian soft rock to the mainstream. She is now one of the highest selling artists in history.

Pivoting vs. Resetting

Some artists may feel that the idea of responding to audience satisfaction may result in the tainting of the art itself, as it can be seen as “catering” to an audience. Pivoting does not mean resetting. It doesn't mean that you should adjust your sound to fit with whatever is hot or popular. Don’t become a pop artist merely for the sake of going pop, but if your existing audience happens to respond well to particular pop elements in your music, and you can then incorporate your own genuine artistic flavor to the mix, you might be surprised with the results of such a pivot.

It’s important to note that a pivot must occur over time, and that it must be validated by evidence. Don’t assume that your audience is going to love your new direction because you love your new direction, or because a small pool of respondants (i.e. your friends and family) likes your new direction. Experiment regularly, and don’t be afraid to communicate closely with your audience. Experimenting can keep your fans on their toes, and it will allow you to keep your art fresh and inspired. Once comfortable, try incorporating your new sounds into your live set one night and begin to gauge. Or begin releasing singles that feature your new style and ask for feedback. This could potentially draw in new fans that may not have discovered you otherwise, and they can be turned on to you as a result.

Your Audience is the Best Gauge

Chris Anokute, Senior VP of A&R at Universal Motown (and A&R for Katy Perry), revealed at last April’s ASCAP “I Create Music Expo” in Los Angeles his basic methodology for gauging an artist’s talent and potential success:

“As an A&R, I spend less time watching what’s happening on stage and more time watching what’s happening in the crowd.”

By paying more attention to what your fans actually want, they may begin paying more attention to you.

Do you agree? Have another viewpoint? Please share your thoughts and comments below.

Content Is King: Marketing Plan Tactics For Indie Musicians

2012-05-29T11:27:00-04:00

This week we continue with Marketing Plan Tactics For Independent Musicians. Check out part 1 and part 2 if you missed them. In part 3, Chris Hacker reminds us that content is king. Check out the marketing tactics on Music Think Tank.

“To build off of all this progress that has been made, you will now have to keep supplying content to strengthen your relationship and stay relevant with your current fans while at the same time this content will also help increase your fanbase.”

(Read On)

101 Distribution Launches Arena Mobile Music Streaming With 100% Ad Payout To Artists

2012-05-29T10:56:00-04:00

101 Distribution recently announced the launch of 101 Arena, a music streaming mobile web app that is free to listeners and pays out 100 per cent of advertising revenue to artists. It's a smart addition to 101 Distribution's services to indie musicians and filmmakers that leverages concern over streaming service payouts to artists.

Whether or not it's a serious direct competitor to streaming companies like Spotify and RDIO, 101 Arena is part of a growing group of options for indie artists questioning such services and strenghthens 101 Distribution among companies developing all-in-one DIY distro services.

101 Distribution provides a wide range of music and music video distribution and marketing options. Innovations have included support for preparing and making your music available on the Rock Band videogame.

101 Distribution's approach is to charge a fee for services and then give 100% of sales to artists. Their new project, 101 Arena, takes a similar path in that artists receive 100% of ad revenue in addition to sales. 101 Arena is included in 101 Distribution's flate rate distro service.

101 Arena is accessed via a free HTML5 mobile web app and is currently beta testing for iPhones. It's free to listeners who can create playlists for music and movies from 101 Distribution's catalog or pay for downloads and on-demand video rentals.

Additional features include:

Streaming Music Channels: Genres, DJ Sets, Live Performances
Music Videos, Shorts, Artist Interviews, Feature Films & Film-on-Demand
Recommendations Based on Playlist Choices

Though it makes sense to position 101 Arena as an alternative to major streaming services given the widespread concerns expressed by artists, when considered as an extension of 101 Distribution it strikes me as more of a competitor to music distro services focused on indies and DIY artists.

Given that an increasing number of digital music distro services are free or exceptionally inexpensive, 101 Arena adds to 101 Distribution's offerings that go above and beyond simple digital music distribution. But it also allows them to compete with emerging streaming and download subscription services such as Drip.fm and DISTRO.fm.

While indies and DIY artists may start off looking at free or low-cost services, the range of options is getting overwhelming and time-consuming to manage. That means that all-in-one shops like 101 Distribution that can keep up with new options, in this case streaming music as an element of distribution, have a competitive advantage among artists who need affordable services but recognize the time and effort savings of flat fee, all-in-one services.

New Facebook Camera App Sees Both Artists & Fans

2012-05-29T10:26:00-04:00

Guest post by Knar Bedian of Evolver.fm.

Buzz enveloped Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram even before its big IPO. Now, part of Facebook’s plan for its recent acquisition is unfolding.

Facebook released an Instagram-like camera app on Thursday. Photographers and musicians like me as well as plenty of other Facebook regulars could end up using. It carries different ramifications for music, given how much fans’ impression of their favorite recording artists now stems from social media. What does it mean when musicians’ photography skills becomes a factor, and why should we care?

First, it’s the direct connection with Facebook. Whether on MySpace five years ago or Facebook and Twitter today, most artists recognize the importance of doing something with these services. Their approaches vary, but stars maintain more direct relationships with fans than they would ever want to in an autograph line, and up-and-coming musicians find and expand their audience there.

Research shows that getting the word out and connecting with the audience corresponds to more revenue, but the game isn’t always easy. Apps like Facebook’s new Instagram property and its new app Facebook Camera can help — and probably will, given the size of Facebook’s audience and all that stockholder pressure on the company to keep expanding.

Instagram already affects the visual aspect of the artist-audience relationship. But Facebook has hundreds-of-millions more users — many of whom experience it partially or primarily through mobile apps. True, artists can auto-sync Instagram to Facebook artist pages, bringing those neat filter effects along. However, Facebook’s new Camera app adds extensive tagging and bulk uploading, and puts fans on the artist’s Facebook page rather than sending them somewhere else. And because Facebook is a more general network, that means fans that show up to see a photo might stick around to buy tickets, subscribe to updates, Like the artist, and so on.

Both of Facebook’s photo apps have to do with increasingly disintermediated artist-fan relationship, which doesn’t tend to get controlled by handlers (until something goes wrong). On top of that, artists and fans have these apps in common: When the stars (and the people who are stars in our personal worlds) take photos of their daily lives, apply the same filters we do, and upload them to the same places, it puts them on our level for a moment.

Whether it’s Matt and Kim’s photo of a box of Sweethearts to celebrate of Kim’s cavity-free dentist; Santigold and Rihanna’s pictures of their recently-done nails; or an image of Taylor Swift’s kitty, no one would be able to recognize the celebrity behind the camera without the famous username sitting next to it. That’s rather humbling, which might just be the beauty of this whole trend. (Although I could do without Justin Bieber’s endless picture uploads of himself).

Some artists have even gone a step further: Chicago-based band Gold Motel recently held a photo contest in which fans sent in Instagram photos to show their own take on the band’s music and style.

The end result: Gold Motel’s album features fan artwork. But if Facebook Camera had been around, the band would have been able to expand the number of fans that participated, just because Facebook is large.

Conversely, from the fan side, concert-goers will tag artists in mobile uploads, and those photos will show up in their friends feeds, which can only be a good thing for connecting artists and audiences.

Business & Music: EDMbiz Invades Vegas, NMS Adds NY Music Festival, Sweden's Trigger Creative

2012-05-29T09:49:28-04:00

Music industry conferences and live music festivals seem like a successful combination so news that new ventures are being launched to add business to music and vice versa should come as no surprise. EDMbiz is a new conference focused on the electronic dance music industry taking place prior to Las Vegas' Electric Daisy Carnival. The New Music Seminar is launching the New York Music Festival adding lots of live music to their business gathering. And, though the Trigger Creative Conference isn't brand new, it adds the business element to Sweden's Peace & Love music festival.

EDMbiz, June 5 to 7

EDMbiz launches in Las Vegas June 5 to 7 focused on the business of electronic dance music. Organized by Insomniac, it leads into their Electric Daisy Carnival June 8 through 10. Yet another sign of the times for electronic dance music.

EDMbiz includes two days of panels and keynotes with the popular among presenters but questionable practice of putting 4 to 6 people on panels lasting from 45 minutes to an hour. I'm obviously not singling out EDMbiz since this is a widespread practice that contributes to most industry panels being fairly useless. And that's not just in music by any means.

EDMbiz itself looks like a smart and timely move.

New York Music Festival, June 17 to 20

While the other two gatherings are industry conferences being added to music festivals, NMS New York Music Festival is a musical addition to the New Music Seminar. The festival takes place June 17 to 20 with over 140 artists performing at 17 venues in Manhattan and Williamsburg.

Announced artists include:

The Dunwells, Soul Khan, Alice Smith, Yonas, Ca$h Out, This Good Robot!, The Dirty Pearls, Brian Lopez, King L, Ariana and The Rose, The Black Box Revelation, The London Souls, Garland Jefferies, Hilary Hahn, Mingus Big Band

The New York Music Festival will also include over 30 of the artists nominated for the Artist On The Verge project.

Trigger Creative Conference, June 28 to 29

Sweden's Peace & Love festival takes place June 26 to 30 in Borlänge. In addition to tons of music, the Trigger Creative Conference will occur June 28 and 29 as an associated music industry event.

The States will be strongly represented in the program including special guests Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, cofounders of Sire Records among other accomplishments. Panels on new technology and global branding as well as globalization and China, Brazil and India will take place.

Trigger Creative Conference appears very focused. Might be fun to get in on something that isn't so huge you need mobile apps to find people.

The Week's Top Music Apps: Beethoven, Soundboards, Seaquence & More

2012-05-29T09:05:41-04:00

Guest post by Wren Leader and Knar Bedian of Evolver.fm.

Between Google’s Moog-inspired playable doodle (Moogle?) and our editor’s nomination for MTV’s NILF award, it’s safe to say it’s been an exciting week for the music nerds at Evolver.fm. In other, less-nerdy music news, American Idol just finished up its eleventh season. I don’t know about you, but I had almost forgotten about that show; apparently it has yet to run its course.

As we prepare for the summer, we’ve been busy looking for apps that can keep you entertained during those hot, lazy summer days. This week brings two colorful music-composition apps for making music without really trying, a new music trivia app for Android, and much more. This could very well be the only time you will ever see Beethoven and dubstep mentioned in the same article.

The Week in Reviews

Venerable Tivoli Audio Joins Music App Revolution via Bluetooth
Sonos SUB Adds Low-End Bass to App-Friendly Music System
The Hellfest App Is Brutal, As It Should Be
Rdio Wants To Pay Artists for Turning Fans into Subscribers

Apple iOS

eSonar Pro ($1)

With over 200 sounds and a clean, colorful interface, the aptly-named eSonar Pro music composition app has much to offer. Six colored circles produce a certain type of sound (bass, synth, drums, etc.), while their location on the sonic map affects the note’s tone and the overall rhythm of the piece. Multipliers make it easy to clone sounds symmetrically, maintaining rhythm and tone, and the speed of the sonar can be changed by altering the BPM. By saving certain compositions on one of the ten “racks” you can create separate layers that can later be combined into one piece.

Zion Sound DJ (free)

The idea of dubbing samples on top of songs on your iOS device might sound interesting at first, but the free sample sounds available on the Zion Sound DJ app seemed a bit childish. While you can purchase additional “premium” sound samplers, this free app will likely disappoint anyone looking for an extensive DJ app.

Dubstep Soundboard ($7)

Dubstep is taking the world by storm — really. Performers like Skrillex and Rusko sell out big venues left and right. Now, it’s time for you to join in the bass dropping action. iPlayTones has released the Dubstep Soundboard, a user-friendly iPad app that is filled to the brim with synths, bass and effects to suit your deranged d-step desires. With an easy-to-use interface and seemingly-unlimited variations, it will appeal to people who want to make dubstep without a complicated mixer. For those not so crazy about dubstep, developer iPlayTones offers other options such as Bollywood Soundboard.

Ananda Sukarlan ($3)

World-renowned pianist and composer Ananda Sukarlan hashis very own iPhone app, released through the developer PT Enervolution. Like thousands of other artist apps, this one includes selections of Sukarlan’s compositions and the usual pictures and videos, in this case of his work being performed. Why do we mention this one? Because his music is quite captivating and brilliantly played. Another thing that sets it apart is that it comes with sheet music allowing other musicians to play his music.

Beethoven String Trios ($2)

For beginning classical music fans, this little app provides a good stepping-stone into the world of Beethoven. Dreampocket compiled all of Beethoven’s String Trios into one collection into an app that’s not fancy — all you get is the music and a biography on the composer. In this one, Beethoven’s music is beautifully and truthfully interpreted with no surprises — perfect for someone who is hearing these pieces for the first time. We’d prefer if there were more information about the individual selections, but for a couple bucks, it provides a great introduction to the music of Beethoven. We believe you might have heard of it.

Google Android

Music Library (free, $2)

Here’s one for readers with lots of records and CDs — the ones who still frequent record stores, that is. By manually adding albums, scanning barcodes, or importing spreadsheets from Google Docs, Music Library tracks the music you own, in part so you avoid buying duplicates, but also because it’s just nice to know exactly what you have. You can select which “shelf” where each album gets stored, while a wish list and filtering system help remind you what you have — and what you want — should you come across a record store or flea market. The paid version lets you export your Music Library app to Google Docs and eliminates ads.

Songify (free)

Though not a new app on the iPhone, Songify was finally released for Android this past month. For those who missed our coverage of the app, let me summarize: This app mimics the concept behind the Gregory Brothers’ “Auto Tune the News” YouTube series sensation. All you have to do is record an audio clip of yourself saying anything, and the app will auto-tune your recording to one of their hit songs. Various in-app purchases let you add songs like their most famous one, “Bed Intruder.” You can save and share the songs you create.

Guess the Song (free)

Like a musical version of the movie trivia game Scene It?, this lets you choose a genre, to start a mix of song clips requiring you to name the song or artist. The app keeps score and records your average response time, and reports them the end of each round, after which you can choose a new genre. The songs were surprisingly current, and though the app sometimes loaded too slowly, it certainly has potential as a fun game to play with friends this summer.

Web Apps

14tracks (free)

This one introduces you to new music through playlists that consist of, you guessed it, 14 tracks. The songs all come from boomkat.com, a music store dedicated to relatively unknown artists and genres. Hovering over a track or its album art brings up a quick blurb about the song and where it fits in to the universe of style. In the center, you’ll find a button to buy the complete playlist. Unfortunately, prices are listed in British currency, and you can only listen to song previews — no full tracks until you plunk down some pounds.

Seaquence (free)

This virtual music composition site mimics biological lifeforms. First, you choose one of five different sound creatures, which will change their shape according to the rhythm, notes, wavelength of the sounds you assign them. Once it’s ready, the creature swims in a “dish,” which plays the final combination of all your sound creatures. Yeah, it’s weird, but it’s fun. Saving and publishing your composition is simple, and the app provides a link so you can share what you have wrought.

NEWS BRIEF: Samsung Music Hub, 'Soul Man' Loses Lawsuit, Viki + WMG, ToneMedia, IUMA Returns & More

2012-05-29T07:55:00-04:00

Samsung has launched Music Hub, designed simplify and consolidate it's mobile music offerings. 7digital has been named the music download and streaming partner, which debuted on the Galaxy S3 smartphone today.

How the Weinsteins Beat 'Soul Man' Singer Sam Moore in an important lawsuit. (THR) Publicity rights, trademarks, libel, unfair competition ... a suit over the 2008 film "Soul Men" had it all. Ultimately, the film studio beat the musician in a nasty fight with big implications for Hollywood.
Crowdsourced lyrics translation site Viki has signed a deal with Warner Music.

MORE:

ToneMedia, the ad platform servicing 100 music content and lyric publishers, has appointed media vet Cliff Paulson to lead it's sales team.
IUMA - The Internet Underground Music Archive is back. (GigaOm)
Music2text has beaten 40 start ups to win Best Pitch at Digital Shoreditch Capital Day. Music2text were also awarded Best Presentation.
Anghami: The journey of launching an unlimited music streaming service in the Middle East (TNW)
Facebook is working on it's own branded smartphone to be released by next year. (NYT) Facebook os also rumored to be in talks to buy Face.com. (CNet) Deal for Israel-based facial-recognition company is said to be valued at $80 - $100 million.
Vintage-guitar dealers, industry share little love for Lacey Act (Tennesean) Dealer is OK with required permits but hates the cumbersome process.

UPDATED: Amanda Palmer's Kickstarter Campaign Nears $1 Million With 63 Hours To Go

2012-05-28T12:26:00-04:00

(UPDATE 2) Amanda Palmer's impressive Kickstarter campaign has raised more than $981,881. With 63 hours to go as of 8:30 AM ET Tuesday morning, 20,482+ backers have put the D.I.Y. musician within easy striking distance of $1 million, well in excess of her original $100K goal. That shatters the previous record for music on the crowd-funding platform of $207,980 by Five Iron Frenzy. How did Palmer do it?

"You have to have fans before you can ask them to help you," reminded Palmer in her own critique of Kickstarter and her campaign. But after spending years developing and getting to know her fanbase, Palmer had the skill to motivate them on multiple levels with this single campaign. Beyond just appealing for help, Palmer's Kickstarter is about a new record release, an art book, a tour that includes private shows for small groups of supporters and more.

"Amanda Palmer has pulled off the biggest music hack to date," declares music industry entrepreneur and author Jay Frank. Palmer's campaign is "a veritable stew of ideas feeding off each other all focused in one place (Kickstarter)."

Donate to Palmer's Kickstarter campaign here.