About.com Music Careers, Artists
House Music, KnowTheMusicBiz.com, MusicianWages.com, Revolution Number 3
and Hypebot banded together to create a basic, actionable music marketing plan designed around simple strategy,
prioritization of tactics, easy to use tools, and a reasonable budget. It’s our hope that any hard
working, talented musician can utilize this plan to grow their fan base and
help lay the foundation for a sustainable career in music.
Austin Collins from Austin Collins and the Rainbirds is the artist who anonymously participated in the Indie Artist X Project. Austin regularly demonstrates many of the traits required to succeed as a modern indie artist. Austin not only has the ability to write great songs and personally connect with fans but he is also tech savvy, business smart and has an undeniable work ethic.
To learn how Austin originally got involved with in the Indie Artist X Project check out this blog post.
Below
are a few of the statistics that were tracked during the 4 month project.
|
|
July |
August |
September |
October |
|
Total Website Visitors |
628 |
1189 |
1187 |
1134 |
Fan List |
739 |
760 |
774 |
786 |
|
BandMetrics
Score |
183 |
233 |
241 |
244 |
A Few IAXP Observations:
Like many experiments this one was far from perfect. For example, we were not able to successfully measure Austin’s distribution or direct sales. His previous label only provides semi-annual reporting on distribution sales and failed to provide the art files needed to setup direct CD or merchandise sales for Austin’s new website store.
Touring really makes a difference. Austin seems to have the ability to connect with fans when he plays live. His email fan list and website traffic both see positive, incremental growth when he tours. The flip side of this trend is that Austin spent much of September and October writing and recording his new record and less time playing live. The stats growth in both of those months slowed measurably.
Digital royalties are anemic at best. Even though Austin writes his own songs, owns the copyrights to his songs and has had thousands of plays on Last.FM, Pandora, Imeem, etc. he has never had royalties reported or paid through Soundexchange. He has only received two checks in the last four years from BMI. If there is ever going to be a musician middle class digital royalties must be paid on a per play basis.
Wrap Up:
Watching the many small successes and setbacks of a hard working indie artist from the front row has certainly been a great learning experience for everyone involved. Many thanks to Bruce @Hypebot, Andrew @Artistshouse, Cameron @MusicianWages, Heather @About.com MusicCareers , Martin Atkins, Katie and Joanna @RevolutionNumber3 and @AustinCollins for all their hard work to pull the Indie Artist X Project together. - David Rose









