SONG CONTEST BLOG

Slicethepie and Bebo announced a co-venture this week whereby Bebo members will have the opportunity to grab the A&R seat at Slicethepie’s artist career-funding network.  Strikingly similar in concept to Sellaband, Slicethepie is tapping into the leading British social network’s community assets while Sellaband remains very much an independent platform.  The music “business” role-play idea has been embraced by a number of players in one form or another, including Songness, TheNextBigSound, and  Soundout, a Slicethepie imprint, based on the belief that if potential fans are provided with both a true hand in an artist’s fledgling career as well as a financial incentive, consumer loyalty and word-of-mouth shall follow.  Perhaps the shape of things to come.

Songness, launched last summer, provides a platform for songwriters and performing artists to receive feedback from prospective fans.  Much like the SoundOut concept, Songness is geared toward populating relevant marketing reports through “virtual focus groups” that will help its music-making users identify potential fans and improve their craft through constructive criticism.  Songness has taken a unique approach to artist-to-fan interaction by focusing on the relationship between the artist and fan as the music is being created, rewritten and improved, rather than engaging the fan with the finished musical product, a strategy which OurStage and Sellaband have deployed with lots of financing and reasonable traction (see The Next Big Sound also).  With Songness, the idea is to test your songs before you go to market.  There is also the promise of turning new fans into paying customers but here, I think, Songness may be getting carried away.  I haven’t signed-up yet but the site looks good and the concept relevant.