hypebot

Amanda Palmer Passes $1.12 Million With Hours Left, Plans "Party On The Internet" Tonight

Amanda Palmer had raised $1,123,971 on Kickstarter as of 4PM ET on Thursday from 23,541 backers.  The campaign runs until 11.59 PM EDT tonight. After several days of major media interviews, she was busy planning a "Party On The Internet" celebration live from Brooklyn from 6PM to Midnight tonight to be broadcast on Ustream.  An understandably excited Palmer wrote:

EDMbiz Invades Las Vegas Next Week & Why EDM Matters More Now Than Ever

Electronic dance music (EDM) is undeniably booming at an incredible rate in the United States and worldwide (although the U.S. is notoriously late to the game in terms of a mainstream influence). This means that there are plenty of new opportunities to be pursued by industry professionals. Recognizing this, next week’s inaugural EDMbiz conference (6/5-6/7) is designed to facilitate relevant conversations focused on the most pertinent topics specific to the scene including technology platforms, festivals, sustaining community, and more.

Music Monsters Creates Custom Mobile Music Games For Indie Artists

Capitalizing on the rising popularity of mobile gaming, Music Monsters is a mobile music game app that allows indie artists to sell music and generate game-based revenues by providing their fans an artist-custom version of the game. While playing the game on their iPhone or Android device, fans can buy the artist's songs, buy the game levels for the songs, and share the artist's game with their friends.

ArtistRequest Enhances Booking Efforts, Creates Request Form on Facebook Pages

Here’s a cool tool that could enhance booking efforts for artists: ArtistRequest is an app designed to entice promoters when they’re most interested about the artist they can potentially be booking. ArtistRequest creates a booking request form right on the artist’s Facebook fan page, and can also be embedded on their website or wherever else they’d like it.

Vinyl Business Booming: Third Man Records, Independent Label Market, Origami Vinyl

One of the bright spots in music sales is the still growing love of vinyl. Events like Record Store Day fuel the boom as does the desire for tangibility in an age when digital media feels as cheap and insubstantial as tap water. Examples of the boom include the success of Jack White's Third Man Records, the growth of London's Independent Market Label and the emergence of one of many LA record stores Origami Vinyl.

Why Isn't NoiseTrade A Bigger Deal?

By now, any musicians or music fans that don't know about NoiseTrade just aren't paying attention. The site has been around since 2006 [2008 official launch] when musician Derek Webb gave away his music in return for some info (name, email, etc...) and has seemingly been growing ever since. Visiting the site today you see big names like Jars Of Clay, Young The Giant,  The Rocket Summer, and Andrew Bird just to name a few. The problem is not content, but the fact that NoiseTrade is not on the tip of everyone's tongue.

Watch Sean Parker & Daniel Ek Dance Around What Artists Get Paid On Spotify (VIDEO)

When asked whether Spotify pays artists fairly, my answer has always been and remains that it's too early to tell.  Startup music services, particularly those built on new revenue models, need a great deal of time to develop.  Spotify is relatively new in the U.S. and most other markets, but many artists and labels in Scandinavia, who have known the service the longest, seem pleased with payments.  But watching Spotify CEO Daniel EK and investor Sean "Napster" Parker dancing around what artists get paid left me uncomforable.

10 Reasons gTar, the iPhone-Powered Guitar, Justifies the Crazy Hype

Guest post by Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

In a nutshell, the gTar is a $450 guitar with an iPhone for a brain. We reported earlier this week on how it has raised lots of money.

Many early supporters agree that this thing looks awesome, and it’s not even the first instance of a learning guitar, or even one that runs on MIDI for that matter. But it’s the first we’ve seen that puts it all together the right way, with the right look, and the right brain: a smartphone app on an iPhone.

Music Tech Startup News: Tracks.by, MusicBunk, RockStar Motel, 88tc88 & BandHappy

Music tech startups have been busy marketing themselves, adding new features and getting that money. Tracks.by marketed by going on vacation and appearing in Business Insider while MusicBunk staged a successful viral video campaign. RockStar Motel relaunched with new features and BandHappy is adding a teaching tent to the Warped Tour. Plus, 88tc88 got a major investment for their music distro services in China.

Musician's Arsenal: Killer Apps, Tools & Sites - ReverbNation Mobile Apps

On Music Think Tank, Ariel Hyatt has another mobile tool for musicians. This post covers ReverbNation’s mobile app and what it offers. What mobile tools do you use and have you built an app with ReverbNation?

Samsung's New Music Hub Takes On Spotify, Pandora, iTunes & iCloud

Guest post by Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

One year ago this week, we wrote about a company called mSpot and its quest to dethrone music service titans like Spotify, Pandora, and iTunes/iCloud by combining everything they all do into one unique package. Samsung acquired mSpot earlier this month, and already, we’re seeing what the electronics giant has planned for its acquisition — you know, just like Facebook and Instagram.

NEWS BRIEF: Google & Facebook Eye Vevo, UK Digital Tops 55%, FB Music, XLP8R Sold & More

Google and Facebook are exploring investments in Vevo as part of broader partnerships with the music video service, says today's NY Post. The talks come as each tries to land an advertising pact with Vevo,

• The BPI reveals that digital music accounted for 55.5% of total £155.8m UK music sales in the first quarter of 2012. (Guardian) It's the first time digital has topped 50%
• Is Facebook building an iTunes/Google Play competitor? (CNet) They've got the audience...

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Songkick Unveils “Tourbox”, Simplifies Tour Date Aggregation

Live performances have never been more important for a musician than they are today, making up an increasingly significant portion of an artist’s revenue stream. It is absolutely critical then to ensure that shows are posted accurately and in the best places in order to maximize visibility and audience reach. The only problem is, it’s usually a pain to do so. Easily one of the most frustrating aspects of marketing and managing a music career online is posting new tour dates, but Songkick is looking to make things a bit easier for artists with the introduction of “Tourbox.”

How I Earned My Place in the Music Business: 6 Insights For Breaking In

After a four-year journey that recently culminated with my college graduation, I write to you now as a full-time music industry professional – Senior Music & Technology Analyst for Hypebot.com, head of Business Development for Fame House LLC, and I remain an independent musician myself building a creative venture of my own. My journey has been anything but straightforward, and there were plenty of lessons I learned along the way that I feel obliged to share with both aspiring and established industry professionals.

How Well Does Social Media Marketing Work? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Facebook.  Twitter. Pineterest. YouTube. Google+.  Every day we share stats, tools and tricks on how to make social media work for you. Does it make a difference? Is the ROI of all your efforts amplification of your message or actual monetary gain? Amanda Palmer is proving with her $1M Kickstarter campaign that, at least for her, it can be both. But your not Palmer. You're running your own small business. Pagemodo asked business people: Does social media marketing work?  

Two Big Announcements For Hypebot

(UPDATED) It's a big day at Hypebot, with two big announcements to share. First, Hisham Dahud, who has been a regular contributor here, is joining us as a Senior Music and Technology Analyst. Hisham has just graduated from college, and will now have a daily presence on Hypebot, and split his time between writing, a bit of consulting for our sister company Skyline Music and his work in business development at Fame House.

The Crowdfunding Bible On Campaigns That Succeeded & Those That Failed [Free Ebook]

Scott Steinberg's new book, The Crowdfunding Bible: How To Raise Money For Any Startup, Video Game, or Project, is now available as a free download or a hard copy purchase.

If you're thinking about crowdfunding anything, it's worth a look for its detailed discussion of what to consider from start to finish. It includes a number of interviews with folks who ran successful campaigns but it's also quite useful for its discussion of campaigns that failed.

Internet Underground Music Archive Back Online With 680,000 Tracks

A unique chunk of digital music history is back online. Jason Scott has taken archived data from the Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA) and uploaded as much as he could at the Internet Archive. There are over 45,000 bands represented with over 680,000 tracks available for free streaming or download. IUMA was launched in 1992 and faded in the next decade but established a wide range of historical precedents for the emergence of digital music on the web.

The Four P’s Of Playing Live Shows: Post-Show

In The Four P’s of Playing Live Shows, Dave Cool talked about preparation, promotion, and the performance. In this recent post on Music Think Tank, Dave covers what to do post-show. It’s great to perform an awesome show, but you need to remember to thank the fans and others that were part of the show and people that helped put it all together.

Spotify Upgrades, Fixes Apple iOS Apps

This morning Spotify launched a number of updates, improvements and fixes for its Apple iOS 5 apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Long overdue is an interactive guide that guides users through Spotify's features and another offers insights into who is listening to your playlist.  Details:

Another Spotify-Like Music Service, This Time For The Middle East

Last week we reported on Dhingana, a legal Indian music streaming service that recently surpassed 10.5 million monthly active visitors, becoming the largest legal Indian music streaming service. Now, recognizing the need for an on-demand music streaming services in the Middle East, a pair of Lebanese entrepreneurs have started Anghami, a unique music service to the Arab world that offers unlimited and offline music streaming to its users.

UPDATED: Amanda Palmer Blows Past $1 Million On Kickstarter

UPDATED: "WE. FUCKING. DID IT. $1,000,000 OF PURE FUTURE ARTMUSIC ASSKICKING," tweeted Amanda Palmer on Tuesday afternoon along with a half naked photo with "One Fuckng Million" scrawled across her chest.  She'd asked asked fans for $100,000 on Kickstarterm and now she's raised 10X that. In fact, overnight the singer/songwriter added just shy of $50,000 more; bringing the Wednesday morning tally to $1,049,084 from 21,802 backers, with 40 hours left to collect more.

The Music Business Is No Longer 'One Size Fits All'

NEWS BRIEF: Facebook Fallout, WMG Exec Shifts?, Twitter + Pepsi = Music, Megaupload & More

Facebook stock fell to the $28 range on Tuesday, and fallout from the less than stellar IPO appears to be rippling through music tech, as well. VEVO is apparently dialing back it's IPO ambitions; and Spotify has yet to close on its latest major funding round. Pandora stock also retreated into the $10 range, erasing recent gains.

• WMG is actively seeking a replacement for caretaker CEO Stephen Cooper according the NY Post. The fate of senior exec Lyor Cohen is unclear. He's reportedly working without an new contract.
• Twitter Signs Up Pepsi for Big Music Promotion (Media Memo)

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Grooveshark Launches Beluga - Free Tool For Collecting Fan & Musician Insights

Despite ongoing lawsuits with major record labels and music publishers, Grooveshark is looking to diversify its product offering with the launch of a free music information tool called Beluga. Beluga combines Grooveshark’s in-house market research with the streaming service’s own data, providing music insights and allowing anyone to conduct in-depth research about a particular artist and their fans – completely free and with no registration required.

Musicians: Learn The Power Of The Pivot

As a musician, it is vital that you listen to your audience as much as you'd like them to listen to you. Sometimes that could mean going through a change. The Beastie Boys did it, Katy Perry did it, and the Black Eyed Peas did it among many others. At one point, these artists shifted their focus towards a newly refined target audience after realizing that their existing audience responded well to subtle facets of what they had to offer, and in some cases, embraced a completely new direction all together. Eric Ries, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author of The Lean Startup, refers to this maneuver as a “pivot.”