MUSIC INDUSTRY BLOG

This is a guest post by Brian Mazzaferri

Brian Mazzaferri here, Lead Singer / Songwriter / NES-Player from Chicago NES-Rock band I Fight Dragons.  You may remember me from “How To Get 200 New Fans A Week“.

Well, it’s been a good while, and our mailing list has continued to grow.  In fact, it’s more than doubled in size since then, and we’re also in the midst of our first national tour!  However, I wanted to write to answer one of the biggest questions that has arisen from my previous post.  Gaining fans is well and good, but at what point can one expect to actually turn a fanbase into a living?

Well, we took our first stab at answering that question 2 weeks ago.  We decided to offer this:

They’re Lifetime Membership USB Drives!

They come preloaded with all of the music we’ve ever released (including email-list only tracks), and they guarantee the owner a free digital copy of anything we ever release, as well as free admission to any live show of ours now and forever.  And there will only be 100 ever made.

We posted the link, sent an email to our mailing list, and within 48 hours all 100 were sold.

So why were we able to sell 100 of these $100 drives, being only 9 months old as a band, having never had a label supporting us, and only being part way through our first tour?  It wasn’t a terribly original concept.  Plenty of bands have tried to raise funds by offering limited run, high price items, and usually they will succeed if they’re already well established (Nine Inch Nails, major label acts), and fail if they’re not (the rest of us).  I believe there are 3 main reasons we succeeded:

1. We give a lot of free stuff away.  A LOT.

As I discussed in my last article, we regularly send out free, high quality mp3 files to our mailing list.  In fact, in the 9 months we’ve been a band, we’ve released over 15 free tracks to our subscribers (in addition to the 5 free songs they got for signing up!).  We’ve also gone out of our way to create new kinds of free stuff for them.  For example, when we reached 1000 subscribers, we offered them all free personalized signed wallet cards that certified them as one of our first 1000 fans.  We made and mailed them out ourselves, and fans really appreciated them.

My point is this:  we started our relationship with our fans by giving.  And then giving more.  Then more.  This is the first time we’ve really tried to sell anything to our mailing list, and it’s been 9 months!  Fans jumped at the chance to support us, and many many more were disappointed that we sold out so quickly, because they didn’t get a chance to buy.  We’ve shown our fans that we respect them and support them, and now they want to do the same for us.

2. The upside is infinite.

With a limited edition box set or super-deluxe package, you know exactly what you’re paying for and what you’re going to get.  However, with a Lifetime Membership, you will continue to receive value for the rest of your life!  Believe it or not many of our fans actually apologized to us for buying the membership, feeling guilty because they knew they would get more than $100 value out of the cards and they didn’t want to cheat us!

At the same time, the downside for us is very minimal.  Digital copies are free to make, and 100 fans spread across the world are easy enough to get free tickets for.  It’s a win-win.

3. We’re selling Memberships, not Products.

Instead of selling a deluxe, signed, limited edition box set or product, we decided to sell memberships.  The 100 people that own these cards are part of an elite club, and one whose membership will never expand, no matter how successful or well known the band becomes.  We’ve promised there will only be 100 of these drives, and we will stick to that promise.  It has become a matter of identity, not one of mere property.

So what does all of this mean?  Well, we’ve taken the first step in turning our music into a living, and we’re incredibly happy with the results.  Our fans are happier than ever too, especially the 100 who ended up with the Lifetime Memberships.  Many of them have even reassured us that they’ll continue to buy merchandise and physical versions of our music in the future!

So what’s next?  Well, we’ve still got to figure that part out.  I’ll keep you posted!

- Brian (I Fight Dragons)

Tweet My Song is an easy to use Twitter tool for song distribution and promotion on Twitter.  Simply upload a song on TweetMySong and tweet the link.  When you do, the link will direct to a hosted player where the song can be streamed in full, shared, and downloaded at the artist’s discretion.

The service provides reporting on trends, clicks and viral distribution.

Free and simple.

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Thounds is a new web application which helps musicians capture their musical inspirations and collaborate with other musicians in just a couple of clicks using any old mic or electric instrument.  Scratch ideas, demos, and finished tracks can be shared on blogs and popular social network pages.

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Grooveshark, the Florida-based streaming music startup that grappled with EMI earlier in the year, has reportedly inked a deal with the major label.

A Webware 100 Winner, Grooveshark allows its users to stream music for free from an aggregate selection of 15 million tracks.  No download or registration required.  The service is supported by online advertising or through a $3/month premium plan which eliminates the ads.

Developed by a group of music enthusiasts from the University of Florida, Grooveshark boasts one million registered users to date.

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This is a guest post by Brian Mazzaferri

My name is Brian, I’m in a Nintendo-Pop-Rock band called I Fight Dragons, and we currently get over 200 new fans signing up for our email list every week.

We officially launched just under six months ago, with 0 fans on the list.  As I write this, we have 3656 subscribers.  We didn’t add a single fan ourselves, these are all people that have signed themselves up, that we now know, love, and interact with on a regular basis.  They are our biggest champions and a constant inspiration to us to keep working harder and pushing ourselves.

Note: there has been no label investing in us, no management company pulling the strings, no 800-pound gorilla confusing the issues.  While I appreciate the creativity of endeavors like those of Radiohead and Trent Reznor, let’s be honest; it’s not rocket science to make the internet work for you when you already have legions of fans.  That’s the easy part.  Offer them stuff to buy, and they will buy it.  Tada.

But how does a new band go about getting fans when starting from scratch?  Most advice on the subject is sorely old-hat (just play as many shows as humanly possible and never stop), or hopelessly impersonal (add 500 targeted MySpace friends every day).  The problem is that it all revolves around impressing the industry and getting to the point where someone will drop a big chunk of change to buy you a fanbase.  And there’s the root of the problem, because in the internet age money just can’t do enough.  So unless you get on TV or become famous for some other reason, the key is finding a real way to establish and grow meaningful relationships with an ever-growing number of fans.

So I humbly submit our method, which so far has been going pretty well.  For the sake of brevity, I’ll boil our online strategy to three core steps:

1. Give your music away, but don’t throw it away

We’ve given away a free digital copy of our debut EP to everyone who signs up for our email list.  For people who don’t know us, it’s a free and easy way to learn about our music for free.  And then we’ve got their ear.  Note, this is VERY different to just posting it online for free download.  The price may seem the same, but the result is 100% different, because we now have a foot in the proverbial door.

2. Regularly give away stuff that’s way too good to give away

Next, we send an email to our list every Monday at 11AM (for the most part).  More weeks than not, that email contains free music.  And not just some off-the-cuff track, it’s a track that is up to our personal standards, which I’d like to think are very high.  In holding ourselves to that standard, we give our fans something new that they really want to show their friends.  And when the next new track goes out, the new converts get to become the evangelists.  But they need new music to do that, and not just any new music, YOUR BEST new music.

3. Be real, be available, and be involved

This seems like a no-brainer, but it actually takes a LOT of work.  We’re on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, our Blog, and TheSixtyOne every day, talking with people and being involved in conversations.  I’m NOT talking about one-way, blast-yourself-out-there stuff like MySpace adding.  I’m talking about joining in conversations on Twitter that you have something to add to.  About commenting earnestly on music you like.  About joining a community, not trumpeting your own message.

Of course, you’ve still got to play live (and put on as great a show as you can muster), you’ve still got to have great music and high standards (in whatever context you choose), and you’ve still got to get out there and network, to become a part of the physical community as well as the virtual one.

But ultimately, in the early stages it’s not about the money.  Or I should say, it’s not about the marketing money.  It’s about you, your music, and your willingness to put in the time and energy to develop real, deep, and meaningful connections with fans.

Following Radiohead’s example, Alice in Chains are giving away the first single, “A Looking In View”, from their latest album, “Black Gives Way To Blue”.  The much anticipated release was preceded by a number of videos of the group fooling around in the studio.  Get the single here.

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ReverbNation has officially launched the much-anticipated Sponsored Songs Program previously covered on this blog and, with that, revealed the sponsor behind the initiative: Microsoft Windows.  1000 handpicked ReverbNation artists are being featured on www.MySpace.com/Windows from June 24 through September 24, 2009 and their songs will be available for download for free.  Participating artists will be compensated by Microsoft for every free download to the tune of $0.50 in exchange for a Windows advertisement embedded on the digital artwork.  The three-way partnership is a potentially break-through digital distribution model, providing corporate brands with the means to tap into new, music-centric audiences and creating a fund for independent artists to finance their marketing and distribution activities.  If ReverbNation can find a way to scale this idea (i.e. bring on board more sponsors) and roll out consistent promotions, I am confident that indie artists from every musical sphere will be lining up to get on board.  While I’ve come across some cynics since the launch, I fail to see the downside.  Here is Microsoft’s point of view.

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Peter Kafka of All Things Digital, part of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, confirms that one of my favourite music sites and Webware 100 Winner, Grooveshark, is being sued by EMI.  Here is Grooveshark’s statement sourced from Peter’s post:

“For the past year, Grooveshark has been in talks with EMI Records and other copyright holders to negotiate licensing agreements for the use of their content. We are pleased to announce that over the past few months Grooveshark successfully concluded mutually bene?cial agreements with many artists, labels, and publishers that we hope to be a template for other such agreements with additional copyright holders.

Recently, EMI Records chose to abandon the template we’ve built with the help of other major copyright holders and opted for their traditional intimidation tactic of ?ling a lawsuit as a negotiating tool. We ?nd the use of this negotiating strategy counterproductive, as Grooveshark has been willing to conclude an agreement with EMI Records that is economically sustainable for both EMI Records and a start-up company the size of Grooveshark.

Grooveshark is run by a group of young and passionate musicians. We love music, we make music, and we believe that the use of all music should be paid for. We adopted this core philosophy at our inception and to date have concluded agreements with hundreds of record labels, major US performance rights organizations, and thousands of independent artists who support Grooveshark’s business model. (See: Grooveshark Artists)

As musicians, we support the rights of copyright holders and strive to sign sustainable agreements with all content owners, ensuring that all artists get paid– or we agree to remove content from our system in accordance with our DMCA Takedown Policy. We hope that EMI Records eventually follows the lead of the many forward-thinking labels we are already working with, who would rather get their artists exposure and a fair share of our revenue than block content access and force customers to illegal networks.

We understand that the economy of the digital music business is in a state of ?ux, and we hope to help ease this transition by providing the required new tools and services that lead to the next generation of the music industry. We respect the ownership rights of the major labels and publishers, and our core mission has always been to compete with piracy by offering a service that is genuinely better than what illegal networks offer, while also ensuring fair payment to copyright holders. Our next important step on our road to success is to conclude a mutually bene?cial agreement with EMI Records that is sustainable for both EMI and Grooveshark.”

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Duncan Freeman of Indie Music Tech uncovered an interesting startup over the weekend.  Smirp, in spite of its long-winded and confusing ‘how it works’ page, is a remarkably simple and practical service, allowing artists and music promoters to sell their MP3s at a customer-determined price point directly via email.  The set-up is brilliant: use your existing Google, Yahoo or other OpenID username and password to log in instantly, link your account to your Amazon account, upload your content to your Smirp ‘name-your-own-price’ page (example), and promote this page by embedding Smirp buttons on your website or social network profiles.  Your customers will click, enter their email, name their own price (or select the minimum price you establish) and receive a link to download your MP3s via email with a 12 hour lifetime [for security reasons].  At face value, it’s similar to Twitpay, the Twitter-dedicated payment solution.

Smirp’s two-tier pricing is more than fair: $6/month for unlimited use or Free in exchange for 20% of your proceeds.  On concept, inspired by Radiohead’s In Rainbows campaign, and ease-of-use alone, this is one of the hottest digital music distribution solutions I have come across.  Perhaps an alliance with CreateSpace, Amazon’s flexible print-per-order CD distribution service will position Smirp alongside the current indie titans, namely ReverbNation, CD Baby and TuneCore?

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TwitDoc may be an excellent, lightweight addition to your music marketing arsenal on Twitter… in the future.  The upload process is as simple as can be as is the recipient’s experience: click and download.  It’s a one-to-many file distribution solution which is perfect for a free music release or teaser, and perhaps a means to gratify potential fans for following you?  It’s like a stripped down SoundCloud for Twitter… potentially.  For now, it’s limited to document files (PDF, DOC, XLS) and image files (JPG, GIF, PNG), as the name suggests but I imagine that MP3s will soon be added to TwitDoc’s competence.

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