Perhaps more than any existing modern music marketing and sales platform Topspin is based on data. They collected it from the beginning, have done enough diverse campaigns to see the trends and have a team to understand the patterns. At a recent MidemNat presentation Topspin co-founder Shamal Ranasinghe shared the most in depth overview of their findings to date.
Some of the important and perhaps surprising trends that Topspin has discovered include the importance of physical goods to many fans and their love of premium offerings. More than half of the transactions in the Topspin study are under $10, but they only accounted for 17% of overall revenue. Rather the majority of revenue for most artists came from items priced $25 and over that included physical items.
Other findings include conversion rates for a variety of marketing activities and channels. Anyone serious about music marketing needs to watch this presentation and read more of the conclusions.
"The point I highlight in the presentation is to approach your first direct to fan campaign as more of an investment in data gathering to understand your fanbase and less of a silver bullet for overnight marketing and distribution success," says Shamal. "With each subsequent campaign you’ll gain more intelligence on the unique dynamic you have with your fans."
The full presentation in its slide form is below. It reads better in full-screen and even more so if you download it in Powerpoint or PDF.
