SONG CONTEST BLOG

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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How to raise $10,000

1. Follow Terry McBride
CEO and Co-Founder of Nettwerk Music Group
Terry McBride is a two-time recipient of the Pollstar Industry Award for Personal Manager of the Year for his work with Sarah McLachlan (1997) and Avril Lavigne/Coldplay (2002), and recipient of the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award at the 2003 Juno Awards, recognizing an outstanding individual who has contributed to the growth and advancement of the Canadian music industry.

2. Follow Derek Sivers
Founder and former President of CD Baby
Winner of the 2003 World Technology Award, Derek Sivers founded CD Baby “by accident” in 1998 and turned it into the largest seller of independent music on the web, which he sold a decade later to Disc Makers.

» Continue…

By the end of this year, the TuneCore Artist catalog will have earned over $30,000,000.

This means that there is a song selling by a TuneCore Artist on iTunes every second.

Currently, TuneCore distributes between 150 – 250 releases a day.

I went head to head with Jeff Price, President of TuneCore, to find out how he created the world’s largest distributor of music in only four years.

“Music distribution is what we do, and we do it better than anyone else”, Jeff started.  “We are the first place music stores come to get the music and we pride ourselves on this.  When we launched four years ago, we got to change the world: For the first time in the history of the music industry, anyone could ‘sign themselves’ and get worldwide distribution of their music while keeping all their rights and 100% of the money from the sale of their music.  That was a game changing paradigm then – and still is today!”

TuneCore recently announced a partnership with Universal Distribution (Interscope, Universal Republic, Island Def Jam, Motown, Geffen and more), bridging the independent music market with the most sought-after music catalog in the world.

“This was a deal I did solely to provide artists with more options.” Jeff comments.  “In a nutshell, in addition to regular old TuneCore.com, we will also be hosting and serving websites for Universal labels that provide artists with distribution while taking none of the artists’ rights or revenues.  If an Artist chooses to get their distribution via one of the label portal sites (as opposed to TuneCore.com), they will have a direct line into that label.  This means the label will be aware of you, have heard your music, be up to speed on the success you are having, etc.  The label can reach out to you to offer more marketing, promotion, physical distribution and anything else.  If they do, the artist can choose to talk with them, tell them no, tell them yes, tell them they will get back to them or simply decide to continue to do what they had been doing to that point in time.  All the options.  No strings.”

From physical distribution via 215 Guitar Center stores to media widgets that distribute TuneCore customers’ content across the social web, TuneCore has made a name for itself by providing dozens of opportunities centered on the most accessible and competitive music distribution model of our time: Flat Fee. No Commission.

Not distributing your music with TuneCore?  Start now with a 30% discount!

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Yesterday, TechCrunch reported that Google is preparing to launch a music service.  The project, in partnership with LaLa and the recently acquired iLike, is expected to surface during a Hollywood event dubbed “Discover Music!” on the 28th October 2009.  More details here.

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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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ArtistForce, the web-based relationship management platform and marketplace for live entertainment, has introduced a free version of its service.  The free edition provides artists with up to five different industry resources per month and will make it possible for them to receive messages, negotiate booking inquiries, and use the ArtistForce widget, without paying any fees.  Entertainment buyers will enjoy free and unlimited access to review talent, negotiate performance offers, manage event expenses, generate documents, and manage contacts.

ArtistForce is offering a cash prize of $10,000 to the artist who books the most paid shows using any free or paid version of ArtistForce between October 9, 2009 and February 14, 2010.  The cash prize will be presented in Austin during the company’s participation in SXSW 2010, where the winning artist will also be given the opportunity to perform live at an ArtistForce sponsored event.

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Pubic Enemy is the first established act to sign with SellaBand, the fan funding platform for music artists.  SellaBand will facilitate the fan funding process for Public Enemy’s new album with the band aiming to raise $250,000 in increments of $25.00.  Fans who invest in Public Enemy will receive an exclusive, numbered copy of the album and share in the revenues from sales of the record.

“SellaBand’s financial engine model goes about restructuring the music business in reverse,” says Public Enemy front man Chuck D.  “It starts with fans first, then the artists create from there.  The music business is built on searching for fans and this is a brand new way for acts to create a new album with fans first, already on board.”

The news follows an earlier press release from SellaBand announcing an improved and more accessible fan funding platform for independent artists, which I wrote about here.

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Audiolife, an innovator in direct-to-fan eCommerce, has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with LA-based Hopeless Records, renowned for acts such as All Time Low, Avenged Sevenfold, and Thrice.  Audiolife’s comprehensive “on demand” digital and physical eCommerce solution will provide Hopeless Records with a robust merchant facility for its artists’ music and merchandise sales as well as all-encompassing and real-time analytics and sales trends.

From a press release published on the 1st Oct 2009:

“Working with Audiolife was an easy choice. Our fans are interested in digital content and sharing that content with their friends,” remarked Ian Harrison, Director of Marketing, Hopeless Records. “The Audiolife technology makes this possible very quickly. Within a day, we can post an artist’s branded store on their website, blog, and all social networks, and can deliver all of their merchandise, digital albums, and ringtones directly to the fans. We are looking forward to the many amazing opportunities that Audiolife has created with their eCommerce solutions, and are excited about the future.”

Added Brandon Hance, Founder & CEO of Audiolife: “Hopeless Records is the first among many indie labels who will integrate our technology into their artist marketing and promotions initiatives. We are confident that their leadership in the Direct-to-Fan space will give others the proof needed to launch their own eCommerce solutions for the thousands upon thousands of indie artists looking for alternative ways to monetize their careers.”

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Since 2006, artists raising funds on SellaBand had to reach the $50,000 mark to cash out (see previous post).  In a recent post on their blog, SellaBand announced that the company has reconsidered the model and will implement a flexible funding goal structure (from $10,000 to $100,000) which should make the platform accessible to more artists.

“When SellaBand was launched in 2006, we set out to make a difference.  A lot has happened, a lot has been achieved.  Over the years, the world SellaBand is operating in has changed, our environment has changed and our ideas of what the role of SellaBand as a company is has changed.  Almost on a daily basis we are being approached by bands, managements and labels, asking if they can somehow use the SellaBand concept and change it to their own liking.”

SellaBand is the first online platform to introduce the concept of fan funded music.  Anyone can invest in a SellaBand artist.  Once the artist has reached his or her funding goal, all Investors receive a free limited edition copy of the CD.  Artists and their Investors share equally in the revenues of album sales.

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