SONG CONTEST BLOG

Yep Roc Records, home to Paul Weller, Madness, Apples in Stereo, among many others, has adopted ReverbNation’s robust newsletter client, FanReach Pro, as part of a new and forward-thinking promotional strategy.

“FanReach Pro is simply the best email service available in the marketplace for Labels and Artists,” said Hank Stockard, Director of Online Promotion and Marketing for Yep Roc.  “It’s the only solution out there that can integrate content with a single click, carry out a variety of very specific marketing objectives, and track the most important metrics about email marketing.  Its also baked right into our label dashboard alongside the other critical ReverbNation marketing tools, giving us a central place to manage online promotion for the roster.”

“Yep Roc is one of the most credible labels in the industry and we are ecstatic to have them using our solutions,” said Jed Carlson, co-founder and chief operating officer of ReverbNation.com.  “Fanreach Pro was designed to make it easy for labels or artists to drive sales of new releases, recruit new fans, grow and execute a street team, promote upcoming shows, distribute widgets and banners, and much more.”

Related Posts
Sponsored Songs Program
ReverbNation Site Builder
Jed Carlson Interview

MTV is leveraging its massively successful Rock Band game to independent artists by introducing Rock Band Network, Rock Band’s own music catalogue and store which budding and established musicians can submit their material for review by Rock Band’s music supervisors.  Artists will have total control over the music they submit, from mixing and editing for game related uses to pricing individual tracks for retail.  It’s a potentially incredible opportunity to publish and market your music to a very large, loyal and highly-targeted music-loving demographic.

Related Posts
JamLegend
Guitar Hero
Free Music Archive

Music Week published interesting findings on music consumption from a study conducted by The Leading Question/Music Ally, arguing that digital access to music is not a substitute to ownership but rather a gateway to it.  It appears that users of digital subscription services such as Napster and Spotify spend approximately 30% more on CDs and MP3s than the average music consumer. Furthermore, according to the report, 73% of music buyers prefer CDs and 23% of the filesharers surveyed burned CDRs.  Perhaps there’s still hope for music-as-a-product?

Related Posts
Polyphonic
Music Sponsorship Spending
Radiohead vs. RIAA

Launching this month, Freak is a new drama made for MySpace from the creators of American Idol, Fermantle Media.  Freak will air each week in 15 minute doses on MySpace, with sponsoring brands, Red Bull and Tampax, tied into the plot… It’s a semi-reality treatment reminiscent of MTV’s The Hills with a social networking twist where fans of the show follow the characters’ individual MySpace profiles and take part in the content, context and direction of the show.  Best of all, you can submit your band’s MySpace profile for consideration for the program’s soundtrack, here.

Related Posts
JamLegend
Free Songs from ReverbNation
Music Placement

Terry McBride’s Nettwerk Music Group, (home to Jamiroquai, Barenaked Ladies, and Sarah McLachlan), live music and media behemoth Mama Group Plc, and Brian Message’s ATC Management (manager of Radiohead, Faithless, and Kate Nash), combined forces to create Polyphonic, a new artist investment and development company embracing the 360-degree model, Music Week announced yesterday.  The company has committed more than $20m for its first year of operation, marking significant additional capital thereafter, to provide “an important funding option for artists” asserted Brian Message adding “ATC and Mama have co-invested in a number of new artists over the last three years and Polyphonic marks the next iteration of that business. Now, together with Nettwerk, we want to be working with a much bigger group of artists and managers and the capital we have available makes that achievable.”

Related Posts
J.Y. Park
Brian Message
Ian Rogers

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.

Related Posts
Fix Your Face
Chris Cornell
Free Music Archive

Pandora, the revolutionary streaming music and tastemaker service, and one of the most disruptive promotional platforms for musicians of every style and caliber, has imposed new rules for submission of music to its playlist database by artists and labels.  In the past, Pandora accepted music in almost any form at no cost.  Now, artists and labels must have a CD of their music, a unique UPC code for that CD (for vendors to keep track of inventory), and it must be available for purchase on Amazon, rules that most artists and labels already comply with.  However, some indies are not yet on Amazon.  In order to meet Pandora’s new criteria, artists and labels will need to obtain a unique UPC code for the physical album they wish promote prior to joining the Amazon Advantage Program at a cost of $29.95/yr, per Pandora’s recommendation, to make it available for sale.  These new measures will standardize the album artwork spec Pandora displays on its playlists, pulling all the images directly from Amazon, and linking every playable track to the Amazon store.  Amazon takes a 55% commission from sales from which it pays Pandora a share for referrals.  Considering that the Net proceeds of six or seven CDs annually will cover the cost of the Amazon Advantage Program plus the fee for the UPC code, I reckon that any artist worth hearing will be only too happy to oblige.

If you don’t already have a UPC code, you can get one here or through any number of musician resources such as CD Baby, Discmakers, and Nimbit.  Check out Pandora’s submission FAQ and Amazon Advantage Program for application details.

Related Posts
CreateSpace
Free Songs from ReverbNation – Sponsored by MicroSoft
Smirp

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.

Related Posts
ReverbNation Site Builder
Sponsored Songs Program
ReverbNation Auto-Tweet

In a press release distributed today by ReverbNation’s own Jed Carlson, ReverbNation, the all-under-one-roof music marketing portal with almost 400,000 users announced the pre-launch of a new product dubbed Site Builder, a collaborative effort with Bandzoogle, a custom website building service for indie artists.  Site Builder enables artists with no technical know-how to easily create their own websites in just a few clicks and automatically integrate their content from their ReverbNation accounts and connect their websites to other supporting ReverbNation features such as FanReach, the popular newsletter client.

“It’s critical for Artists to have their own ‘home’ where they can develop fan relationships, grow their brand, and conduct business directly with their fans,” says ReverbNation Co-Founder Lou Plaia.  “Site Builder is another step in creating a true, turnkey solution for the DIY artist.   Soon we will be adding a comprehensive direct-to-fan store that will allow artists to sell merchandise, music, ringtones, and tickets to their fans through all of their fan touch points online.”

The addition of Site Builder to ReverbNation’s comprehensive, one-stop service brings the company even closer to its 360-degree vision for DIY artists.

Related Posts
Sponsored Songs Program
ReverbNation Auto-Tweet
ReverbNation: Email Marketing

Animoto, the ultra slideshow-to-music creation service and one of my favourite properties for music marketing, announced last Thursday that the company has raised a second round of funding from Madrona Venture Group to the tune of $4.4 million.  Animito boasts 750,000 registered users, 10% of which are premium, as well as a Facebook application installed by 2 million users and iPhone application with a modest 300,000.