Spotify. Where are you? That’s the question I pondered a few months back. Spotify has since arrived and I for one am hooked.
Spotify launched in the United States in the middle of the summer, making millions in legal music available to listeners. Many people noticed, and along with it’s release came the critics. While in the US Spotify is only a few months old in Europe the company is in its third year of operation. At a time when more music start-ups fail than succeed, that’s quite impressive. The critics aren’t all that impressed. In its short time indie labels are protesting Spotify, saying that the model isn’t financially sustainable for indie labels. Will Spotify pay up? Apparently it has – Spotify released a statement last month that in just three short years, where they were mostly operating in Europe, they have already paid over $100 million to labels and publishers. IFPI figures actually showed that Spotify was the second largest source of digital revenue for labels in Europe. Impressive for a little start-up.
Currently, users of the free Spotify accounts can listen to anything they want from the database, as many times as they want, with advertisements in between. The free trial lasts for 6 months. So what happens after? You can still access Spotify, but with a few restrictions. Listeners will only be able to play each track 5 times, and will only be able to listen for 10 hours a month. The move has worked well in Europe were restrictions are already in place. In March, when there were free restrictions, 17.8% of the active user play was paying users. By June, when the restrictions were in place, 32.9% were paying users. Sure they lost more than a million free users, but they also gained more than half a million paying users. It’s left to see what will happen in the US once the restrictions are enforced. Analysts however feel that once their financial-year-ending reports are released, Spotify will have turned a profit. Isn’t that the goal of all start-ups – to turn a profit within three years?
Are you using Spotify? When the restrictions are in place – will you begin paying for a subscription? I sure will. Having an artist’s entire catalog available to me at the click of a mouse is amazing.
References:
Spotify Payouts Top $100m as it Responds to Indie Label Critics
Exclusive: Spotify Subscriptions Surged to 1.5m After Free Service Restrictions
9.16.2011
9.04.2011
Artists & Social Media
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) artists are nothing new. Yet, as the digital landscape of the music industry keeps changing it’s important to use new technological initiatives to ones advantage. Receptive Music released the following infographic a few weeks ago.
At first glance it can be kind of over whelming, but if you break it down it’s much easier to navigate.
The Essentials:
Creating an online presence is the most important thing an artist can do to further their career. It’s not only about the music you play – but also about who you are. It’s important to create an avenue in which current and perspective fans can connect to you. Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow artists to directly engage with their fans. Artists should strive to make two-way conversations with people consistently.
Tyler Cordy, from the band 2AM Club, runs the band’s Twitter account and he makes it a point to communicate to the fans. If you mention the band, he’s more than likely going to respond to you. Fans love being noticed by their favorite bands – it makes them feel appreciated and as most musicians know, it’s now about the quantity of your fans, but the quality. One hundred die-hard fans will be more profitable to a band in the long run than one thousand casual fans.
Share Your Music:
After you’ve created an online presence it’s important to get your music out there and available to your fans. Websites such as SoundCloud allow you to upload your music and then share it through various platforms.
Sell Your Music:
While making your music available for streaming online is important – it’s also important to monetize your music. From direct-to-fan sales available through websites such as Audimated and Nimbit to digital distribution through TuneCore and ReverbNation, it’s important to find ways to monetize your music. The problem isn’t always that people don’t buy music – it’s that people can’t find the music to buy and thus resort to pirating it online. Making sure that your music is available online, as opposed to strictly physical copies sold at shows, is vital.
Tour Dates:
In the current music industry touring is one of the most profitable avenues for artists. It’s important that fans know when and where you’re performing, with enough time in advance that they can arrange to show up. It’s also important to list the details of a performance – cover charge, age restrictions, etc. Ex: If you’re performing at upscale clubs with a specific dress code make sure you let your fans know. Listing your tour dates on a website such as BandsInTown allows for not only your fans to find your tour dates, but also users who are in the city as well. At first login a consumer can see the tour dates of their favorite artists, as well as upcoming shows from other bands in their area. Plus they also send periodic emails to users informing them of shows in their areas.
Blog / Website:
While social networking websites allow you to directly engage with fans, it’s also important to maintain an artist presence outside of that – weather through a blog or a website. Tumblr provides the easiest form of blogging – that of micro blogging. Artists such as Pete Wentz have embraced the trend that allows you to share pictures, videos, audio, as well as short and long bursts of text.
Share Your Videos:
Video killed the radio star, at least that was the theory when MTV first premiered and launched with video from the Buggles in 1981. While MTV might not play as many videos as they used to, online platforms such as YouTube have allowed music videos to continue it’s rise. Some artists such as Soulja Boy and Rebecca Black have gained extensive media attention thanks to their YouTube video views. Creating a fancy music video is not a requirement though – sharing live performance videos works well too. Just make sure the audio isn’t distorted to the point that the music can’t be heard. Artists such as Lil Wayne have also taken it up another notch, using LiveStream and UStream to stream live footage in the studio.
Newsletter:
It’s also important not to forget about the marketing tool that preceded social networking – newsletters. Obtaining fan e-mail addresses is still an important aspect that should not be ignored. It also shouldn’t be limited to online. If possible try to obtain e-mails at shows and then proceed to send a show follow-up the next twenty-four hours. First time listeners of your music will be impressed, as will the loyal fans. Newsletters are also great for summarizing crucial band information and then sending it out to your fans. It’s imperative however not to bombard them with e-mails.
Measure:
After everything is said in then it’s important to measure the fruits of your labor. Knowing what platforms is attracting traffic, and which ones fans respond to more is important. It let’s you know what works, and what doesn’t. Measuring your visitors through websites such as Google Analytics also lets you know how the majority of your fans are reaching your pages. Active monitoring might lead you to find a page that’s supporting your music.
As the infographic points out – don’t take on more than you can handle. If your going to use the medium for a month and then abandon it, it’s best to just avoid it all together. No one wants to tune in to a page that hasn’t been updated in months. And if you’re still feeling overwhelmed – websites such as ReverbNation and TopSpin incorporate many of these tools into one platform. However they do charge you yearly fees.
References:
2AM Club Twitter
The Musician's Social Media Food Pyramid
25 Top Social Media Tools for Musicians
Video Killed the Radio Star YouTube Video
Pete Wentz's Tumblr
At first glance it can be kind of over whelming, but if you break it down it’s much easier to navigate.
The Essentials:
Creating an online presence is the most important thing an artist can do to further their career. It’s not only about the music you play – but also about who you are. It’s important to create an avenue in which current and perspective fans can connect to you. Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow artists to directly engage with their fans. Artists should strive to make two-way conversations with people consistently.
Tyler Cordy, from the band 2AM Club, runs the band’s Twitter account and he makes it a point to communicate to the fans. If you mention the band, he’s more than likely going to respond to you. Fans love being noticed by their favorite bands – it makes them feel appreciated and as most musicians know, it’s now about the quantity of your fans, but the quality. One hundred die-hard fans will be more profitable to a band in the long run than one thousand casual fans.
Share Your Music:
After you’ve created an online presence it’s important to get your music out there and available to your fans. Websites such as SoundCloud allow you to upload your music and then share it through various platforms.
Sell Your Music:
While making your music available for streaming online is important – it’s also important to monetize your music. From direct-to-fan sales available through websites such as Audimated and Nimbit to digital distribution through TuneCore and ReverbNation, it’s important to find ways to monetize your music. The problem isn’t always that people don’t buy music – it’s that people can’t find the music to buy and thus resort to pirating it online. Making sure that your music is available online, as opposed to strictly physical copies sold at shows, is vital.
Tour Dates:
In the current music industry touring is one of the most profitable avenues for artists. It’s important that fans know when and where you’re performing, with enough time in advance that they can arrange to show up. It’s also important to list the details of a performance – cover charge, age restrictions, etc. Ex: If you’re performing at upscale clubs with a specific dress code make sure you let your fans know. Listing your tour dates on a website such as BandsInTown allows for not only your fans to find your tour dates, but also users who are in the city as well. At first login a consumer can see the tour dates of their favorite artists, as well as upcoming shows from other bands in their area. Plus they also send periodic emails to users informing them of shows in their areas.
Blog / Website:
While social networking websites allow you to directly engage with fans, it’s also important to maintain an artist presence outside of that – weather through a blog or a website. Tumblr provides the easiest form of blogging – that of micro blogging. Artists such as Pete Wentz have embraced the trend that allows you to share pictures, videos, audio, as well as short and long bursts of text.
Share Your Videos:
Video killed the radio star, at least that was the theory when MTV first premiered and launched with video from the Buggles in 1981. While MTV might not play as many videos as they used to, online platforms such as YouTube have allowed music videos to continue it’s rise. Some artists such as Soulja Boy and Rebecca Black have gained extensive media attention thanks to their YouTube video views. Creating a fancy music video is not a requirement though – sharing live performance videos works well too. Just make sure the audio isn’t distorted to the point that the music can’t be heard. Artists such as Lil Wayne have also taken it up another notch, using LiveStream and UStream to stream live footage in the studio.
Newsletter:
It’s also important not to forget about the marketing tool that preceded social networking – newsletters. Obtaining fan e-mail addresses is still an important aspect that should not be ignored. It also shouldn’t be limited to online. If possible try to obtain e-mails at shows and then proceed to send a show follow-up the next twenty-four hours. First time listeners of your music will be impressed, as will the loyal fans. Newsletters are also great for summarizing crucial band information and then sending it out to your fans. It’s imperative however not to bombard them with e-mails.
Measure:
After everything is said in then it’s important to measure the fruits of your labor. Knowing what platforms is attracting traffic, and which ones fans respond to more is important. It let’s you know what works, and what doesn’t. Measuring your visitors through websites such as Google Analytics also lets you know how the majority of your fans are reaching your pages. Active monitoring might lead you to find a page that’s supporting your music.
As the infographic points out – don’t take on more than you can handle. If your going to use the medium for a month and then abandon it, it’s best to just avoid it all together. No one wants to tune in to a page that hasn’t been updated in months. And if you’re still feeling overwhelmed – websites such as ReverbNation and TopSpin incorporate many of these tools into one platform. However they do charge you yearly fees.
References:
2AM Club Twitter
The Musician's Social Media Food Pyramid
25 Top Social Media Tools for Musicians
Video Killed the Radio Star YouTube Video
Pete Wentz's Tumblr
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