MUSIC INDUSTRY BLOG

Before I joined the management team at MyDrifts, I was in the process of raising money for my ‘big idea’.  I met with all the prominent VCs as well as a couple of angel groups in Israel.

My big idea: The LinkedIn For The Music Industry.

Just imagine a professional network dedicated to music professionals.  An environment where music publicists can solicit their services to record labels, college radio promoters can collaborate with social media marketers, music festivals can advertise their venues to music-centric brands etc.

Not a marketplace for music.  But a marketplace for music resources.  Wow!

It’s a terrible idea. And for more reasons than one.  But mainly because The LinkedIn For The Music Industry is LinkedIn!

I have learned to avoid big ideas and focus on big problems.

If I can help someone with his or her problem, that’s big.

If I can help lots of people with their problems, I’m in business.

Are you solving a problem with your music?

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1. Follow Trent Reznor
Nine Inch Nails
In May 2008, Nine Inch Nails released the The Slip as a free digital download accompanied by a note from Trent Reznor, “This one’s on me”, as a courtesy to NIN’s loyal following.  The album was downloaded over a million times before the end of May 2008.  Many of the music industry’s most disruptive paradigms, including the “Free” and “Direct-To-Fan” concepts, can be traced back to Trent Reznor’s independent marketing activities.

2. Follow Don Passman
Author and Entertainment Lawyer
One of America’s top entertainment attorneys, Don Passman is the author of the non-fiction bestseller “All You Need to Know About the Music Business”, which has sold more than 300,000 hardcover copies in print.

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I’m delighted to announce the release of a landmark music industry resource co-authored by one of our very own panelists, Don Grierson.  It All Begins With The Music: Developing Successful Artists and Careers for the New Music Business is a practical guide and music business blueprint for artists, managers, agents and executives competing for a share of the ever-evolving music market.  Providing an in-depth view of the mechanics of artist development, music production, retail distribution, publishing, PR and marketing, Don Grierson and co-author Dan Kimpel, two industry veterans, have compiled a series of pertinent artist and executive interviews, insider tips, and autobiographical accounts to help budding and established music professionals navigate through the increasingly chaotic music landscape.

Available on Amazon and Barnes&Noble

Online streaming radio and music tastemaker, Jango, has launched a somewhat controversial artist promotion programme called Jango Airplay.  Essentially a pay-to-play scheme [and reminiscent of terrestrial radio “payola” which has been illegal since the fifties], Jango Airplay provides artists and their agents a direct means of plugging their songs to Jango’s listener base of 6 million for a fee.  Much like the StumbleUpon advertising initiative, displaying a sponsored web page for every nine unsponsored web-pages, the promotional value of this scheme is not absolute: “If you get 50 positive ratings, your song starts playing for free in general rotation on Jango. If your song continues to get good ratings, it will be played more and more often and in more and more stations.”  For $30, Jango Airplay offers 1000 plays, each track linked to its distributor (i.e. Amazon, iTune).

Pay-to-play may be an unpopular paradigm among musicians but this is actually an unprecedented opportunity for artists and labels to reach a new audience and guarantee some rotation.  For not much more than pocket change, bootstrapped musicians can gain some insight on who is most likely to listen to them, rate them up, and perhaps even purchase something.  Assuming that Jango Airplay plugs sponsored tracks appropriately, this is a truly awesome marketing platform for the music industry.

Related Post: SeeqPod

Over the weekend, I learned that Nimbit, which has been on my radar since Jon Delange of Tinderbox Music introduced me to the company’s CEO, Patrick Faucher, several months ago, has secured venture capital to the tune of $1 million.  The company provides eCommerce solutions for artists and music promoters, and bespoke services such as digital distribution, CD/DVD replication and merchandise production, and web design.  The company’s turnkey approach incorporates web technology to market and distribute digital music with physical solutions such as download cards and promotional prints.  Nimbit appears to be acting in two ways: the first, as a technology company developing digital retail and marketing solutions such as embeddable storefront apps; and, the second, as a broker for commercial print requirements, from CD/DVD replication to custom-branded merchandise which complements its web facet. 

Nimbit’s DownloadCards (credit card-sized branded cards with a unique ‘download’ code) can be sold or given away to the fan at the live venue and later redeemed online as digital tracks through a custom Nimbit store.  This is an excellent example of digital commerce converging with physical commerce, however, DiscRevolt offers an almost identical solution.  Emusu is also competing for a share of this market.  In terms of digital music distribution, Nimbit is facing strong competition from TuneCore, ReverbNation, and CD Baby.  As for print and duplication, Discmakers dominates the US music market and recently acquired Oasis, another formidable opponent in this space.  Although Nimbit’s individual services are not particularly competitive as stand-alone features, the services, as a group offering, and Nimbit’s convenient all-under-one-roof approach, may satisfy artists and promoters with a slight edge.

As an artist, getting your ass on stage and performing to as many people as often as possible is key.  In the US, SXSW is arguably the largest draw of both music fans and artists, certainly independent artists.  Should you get on a SXSW stage?  Of course you should.  However, assuming that you are not yet well known, playing live at an over-crowded and super competitive event has its limitations.  Sometimes, you have to get off the stage in order to truly make an impact and, year after year, I’m seeing more independent artists attending music conferences, on their own behalf, and with their business hat on.  Although the largest of the lot, Midem in Cannes and Popkomm in Berlin, also offer a variety of live performance opportunities to acts big and small, the true event value is in the aimless wondering between the booths and random handshakes with industry professionals.  I’m not joking.  You’ll meet a lot more people on the floor than on stage.  If you meet someone who wants to hear you play, both Midem and Popkomm have listening rooms big enough for you to perform acoustically.  If nothing else, attending these events will teach you a lot about the current music market and provide you with the confidence to approach prospective partners who may [or may not] invest in your next recording, touring, licensing, or writing initiative.  You never know.

Related post: RedGorilla

Audiolife is an LA-based artist services company founded in 2005 by three USC graduates.  Their mission is “to create a middle-class in the music industry by giving all artists simple tools to generate revenue so they can spend time on what they love and do best – make music!”.  Currently in public beta, the company announced this week that it will be accepting submissions for its “Artist Advancement Scholarship”, an initiative geared toward college level music school students, artists and otherwise, in pursuit of a professional career in the music industry.  Don’t let the inclusion of the word “scholarship” fool you though; this is a writing exercise where $500 cash is on the table for one winner, not a scholarship application to potentially finance your future academic studies.  I imagine that Audiolife is seeking to achieve two things with this campaign, the first is to establish the company’s perceived value and, the second, to  draw more users to learn about their offering by writing competitively about it.  Personally, I would prefer to reward the best ten applications with $50 each and use their essays as original content on the site to raise Audiolife’s natural search ranking…

Applications must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. PST on April 1, 2009, in the form of an essay addressing the question, “How do you see Audiolife affecting the music industry in the next two or three years?”, in 1000 words or less.  Students in any accredited academic university or music institution enrolled at least part-time during the 2009 academic school year are eligible.  A winner will be selected by Audiolife’s management team and announced by April 20th, 2009.  Essays should be emailed to Travis Dean at travis[at]audiolife.com

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.