Sonicbids, the leading online event submission platform, has released a series of plugins for its 14,000+ promoters to better gauge the online presence and reach of the artists they may wish to book through the site. Now, when an artist submits his EPK (Electronic Press Kit) for an event through Sonicbids, the event’s promoter will have access to third-party, public data from Last.fm, Twitter and Google. As such, in addition to reviewing the artist’s content on Sonicbids, a snapshot of number of plays, listeners, mentions, links and posts across other networks should support and streamline the promoter’s selection process.
Sonicbids is home to 150,000 artists and bands, offering an event marketplace for artists to find gigs, and for promoters to secure talent. The site caters to every imaginable music industry sector, with a strong focus on live performances at leading music festivals and conferences, including SXSW, CMJ, Popkomm, Midem, and MusicExpo.
After winning The Singer/Songwriter Awards in the last quarter of 2008, Jesse Terry opted to work with We Are Listening’s accredited music supervisor and founder of Tinderbox Music, Jon Delange, as his prize package. With only ten copies of Jesse’s latest release, “The Runner”, Jon secured no less than nine network-sized television placement licenses on Jesse’s behalf, including MTV (Road Rules, The Real World, Road Rules Challenge, The Hills, The City, Human Giant, My Super Sweet Sixteen, Teen Cribs, Parental Control); E Network (Keeping Up With the Kardashians); and Oxygen Network (Bad Girls Club). The relative ease in which Jon placed “The Runner” is a reflection of Jesse’s adaptive songwriting style and compatibility with today’s leading pop-culture entertainment.
“Just got news that nine TV shows (including The Hills and The City) are interested in using music from my record. I am holding the licenses in my hand!! This is all possible because of We Are Listening and your investment in my career. I’m so grateful. I feel like things are really starting to line-up…” — Jesse
On demand music streaming service, Spotify, has been on my radar since the company announced a distribution deal with CD Baby in the first week of February. CD Baby, the leading force in independent music retail and digital music distribution, represents more than 175,000 artists which account for over one million tracks, all of which are now available through Spotify’s lightweight music streaming application. This licensing deal marks the ‘long-tail’ trend in music availability and consumption, and celebrates the access independent artists have today to mass audiences through pioneering music services, many of which had treated indie talent as nothing more than an afterthought after securing major label catalogues. Under the aphorism of “access not ownership”, the Luxemburg-based company has been growing exponentially since its €15.3m venture capital injection in October 2008 and, in turn, joining an elite group of legal music experience providers such as Pandora, Last.fm, TheSixtyOne, and others, which have found success in catering to music consumers through a balanced and worldly music library whilst reserving significant real-estate for up and coming artists: a pop-culture and grassroots music mix that appears to be paving the way for a new industry. A spot in Spotify’s limelight is not yet available directly for small acts and labels but CD Baby has certainly lowered the barrier of entry. Thank you Derek or, rather, Disc Makers for making this possible…
YouLicense, the first online music licensing marketplace, released a product update last week detailing the launch of Private Label, a new service catering to YouLicense’s target customer base comprising of independent labels and enterprising artists. Private Label is essentially a branded storefront, specifically developed for the streamlined procurement of synchronization and master use music licenses. This is a major turning point for YouLicense which, until now, has very much operated as a destination site and, arguably, the only standalone open marketplace for music licensing. The company has already converted noteworthy distributors and labels including INgrooves, Big Fish Media, AWAL, MBop Digital, Dashgo, and Cyberset Records. Private Label is currently in closed beta but interested parties can request an invitation here.
SoundReef, currently in closed beta, has come up with an interesting angle in a very lucrative ‘indie’ music licensing market which YouLicense.com is competing in and PumpAudio ? acquired by Getty Images in 2007 for $42 million ? has already won a tidy share of. Offering online music licensing solutions for independent artists and small companies, SoundReef hopes to encourage new business by making it possible for clients seeking music for commercial use to license music by compensating the artist (or copyright administrator) with promotional effort. What a clever idea! As most commercial use of music is small-scheme with zero-budget, music buyers now have an alternative currency to barter with and it just so happens to be the most valuable commodity of all for bootstrapping artists: Exposure. Let’s see how this venture kicks off.
I’ve been following Bandcamp for a little while now (see earlier post) and I noticed today that the company made some revisions to its home page. Most notably, Bandcamp created a “features” page which lists the entire suite of tools and services. I was also delighted to learn that Bandcamp now provides Creative Commons licensing designations:
Under the Creative Commons licensing designations, artists who make their music public, in this case via Bandcamp, are providing limited rights to other artists and music fans who wish to remix, share, or use the music in a variety of ways without having to formally ask permission.
Music search engine, SeeqPod, that has already indexed (but not stored) 12 million songs, has been handed a formal complaint from EMI following a lawsuit from Warner last year. Unlike Pandora and Imeem, the company has not pursued licenses to provide “playable search results” maintaining that they are not responsible for content sources and, therefore, free from any obligation to the copyright holder. Legally questionable, Seeqpod has become very successful and the two major labels are probably going after it to settle on a mutual business model rather than to shut it down. The news prompted me to play with the system a little and I enjoyed learning about their artist-centric advertising progamme that’s highly targeted and cost competitive. Providing 5000 “exposures” (i.e. impressions) a month for $19.95, SeeqPod Echo is a nicely put together search-oriented advertising interface which may very well generate some relevant traffic for artists and music promoters who wish to tap into SeeqPod’s massive music listening community. I’m curious to learn how the conversion rates stack up.
Kyte, the San Francisco based company providing turn-key solutions for online and mobile digital content production, distribution and monetization, has announced the launch of custom iPhone and iPod Touch apps as a new means for music fans to access their favourite artists’ music, videos, news, and exclusive content. In a separate affair, 90’s rock group, Presidents of the United States of America, who made a name for themselves with “Lump” and “Peaches”, have just released their own iPhone app along the same lines. For $2.99, fans can stream the band’s entire catalogue over a Wi-Fi or cellular connection, as well as gain access to exclusive content and previously unreleased music. This is exciting music industry news! iPhone apps are hugely popular and provide an unparalleled platform for artists to access their audience and visa versa. It won’t be long before we see more and more artists, from megstars to indies, harnessing this technology to promote themselves, monetize their catalogue, and upsell associated initiatives and assets such as concert tickets and merchandise.
Guitar Hero is one of the most successful video games ever introduced into the market, developed to provide players with a true guitar playing experience via a guitar shaped peripheral modeled on the Gibson SG. The Guitar Hero series has sold 23 million units to date, earning $1.6 billion at retail. Ranked sixth by Billboard’s “The 100 Best Ways For Your Music To Get Attention”, the music-focused gaming experience has changed the face of the music industry through lucrative licensing deals, uplifts in game-related downloads, and unprecedented exposure for any artist appearing in or in some way associated with the game.
Phenomenal success begets phenomenal marketing and advertising budgets. Guitar Hero is no exception. Here is a personal favourite (for obvious reasons):
Trent Reznor, a music pioneer on more than one level, has paved the way for a new music business attitude through forward-thinking marketing concepts to communicate with fans directly and provide them with a reason to consume his music and come to his shows. In 2007, Reznor under the famed band alias, Nine Inch Nails, prior to the release of the album, “Year Zero”, launched an online reality-themed scavenger hunt, intended to engage fans and deliver a unique user experience. In conjunction with this gaming initiative, Reznor dropped USB keys loaded with NIN music at his concert venue’s toilets for fans to pick-up and enjoy for free – and share. At the time, it was not clear whether the music was leaked by fans or by Reznor himself which spurred the RIAA to put up takedown notices, fueling the campaign even further. To make the album’s physical CD release distinctive, Reznor printed CDs that changed colour – a gimmick CD copies would not benefit from – to encourage fans to buy the originals to supplement whatever free digital content they may or may not have already had access to. After this episode, Reznor left his label and went on his own, beginning with the independent release of “Ghosts I – IV”. In this case, the 36-track album was offered to fans in a variety of attractive models, all under a Creative Commons license: first 9 tracks for free, $5 for all tracks plus a 40-page pdf booklet; $10 for 2 CD set plus a 16 page booklet; $75 Deluxe Edition Package (i.e. box set); $300 Ultra Deluxe Limited Edition Package, capped at 2500 units all signed by Reznor himself, which sold out in 30 hours. Collectively, Reznor grossed $1.6 million in the first week from this independent initiative. The album later became a number one seller on Amazon in spite of its attribution license which made the digital sharing of it legal. Reznor’s following album, “The Slip”, was offered entirely for free two months later along with sample tracks from NIN’s opening acts. All you needed to do is punch in your email address. Again, Reznor provided a unique fan experience, along with a visual depiction of the volume of downloads by location on Google Maps and a full tour venue listing and ticketing options. The tour was a huge success.
Subscribe via email
Subscribe via RSS
Follow on Twitter