SONG CONTEST BLOG

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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ReverbNation, the leading provider of dedicated music commerce and communication tools, have added a simple yet crucial feature to their roster.  The new optional ‘Auto-Tweet’ feature automatically updates ReverbNation members’ Twitter accounts whenever they post a new song (with a link to play the song), post a blog entry (with a link to the blog), recommend another artist (with a link to the artist’s profile page), and/or add a show to their schedule (with a link to their schedule and tickets).  Given ReverbNation’s strong emphasis on fan relationship management, I think ‘Auto-Tweet’ will be very well received by their userbase of more than 375,000 members.  It may also pose a threat to ArtistData who developed an entire suite of tools around the auto-syndication theme.  Given the popularity of services such as Ping.fm, I expect ReverbNation to extend this offering by allowing its users to synchronize and distribute updates to several social networks and bookmarking portals automatically, not just Twitter.

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In a press release dated the 16th April, Bandzoogle, a DIY custom website builder for musicians, announced that its member artists have turned over more than $1 million collectively in music and merchandise sales through the service.

“The fact that Bandzoogle lets artists keep 100% of their sales sets us apart from the vast majority of e-commerce solutions for musicians,” says Chris Vinson, President of Bandzoogle, adding “our team is proud to have helped our members reach this million-dollar milestone which demonstrates how our tools are helping musicians succeed on the web.”

For a $15 to $20 per month subscription, Bandzoogle allows musicians to quickly build and customize a professional website with all the necessary features to showcase their media and gig schedule, sell music and merch, publish a blog, manage fan lists, and more.  Considering the cost of hiring and depending on a professional developer to create and manage a custom artist website, Bandzoogle will argue that its websites are cost effective and as easy to maintain as a social network profile. 

I previewed some of the sample sites and they do look good.  There’s no doubt that launching your own website can be a headache, however, if you’re cash strapped and can’t be bothered (as many musicians are), surely a free social network profile will suffice?  Apparently not.