hypebot

There's Still A Place Where Albums Outsell Singles

Many say that the album is dead and they have the proof. According to Nielsen SoundScan, sales of individual digital tracks led digital album sales by 16 to 1 (1.07 billion to 65 million) in 2008. 

But there ares still places where the album reins supreme. Digital delivery and marketing platform Bandcamp says that their albums outsell tracks 2 to 1. 66% of paid downloads on Bandcamp are for albums, compared to only about 6% for the greater Nielsen reporting world. They postulate that a number of factors contribute to the stunning difference in album interest:

• Most Bandcamp artists are indie and attract fans more interested in complete works than the average Hannah Montana/Lady Gaga flavor of the moment consumer 
• You can listen before you buy via Bandcamp.  Not just 30 second samples, but rather the whole album.
• iTunes and others price most CD's at $10. Bandcamp artists have found that name your own price with a $5 minimum is a real sweet spot.
• iTunes and others encourage single track purchases with page layouts, buy buttons and featured tracks

But even on Bandcamp what constitutes an album is evolving. 

An Insider's View Of Amanda Palmer's Success

Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls has shown very public disdain for her record label Roadrunner/WMG. So when she made a splash recently by earning $19,000 in 10 hours on Twitter, some in the indie community saw it as affirmation that Palmer's well tuned social marketing skills rather than her label were responsible for her success. Others retorted that the primary reason that Palmer had so many Twitter followers was because of previous promotion by Roadrunner.

Which is correct? Is Amanda Palmer a success because of or despite her relationship with her record label? To find out more, Hypebot turned to Emily White of Whitesmith Entertainment who has a long history with Palmer and the Dresden Dolls"

I tour managed The Dresden Dolls from 2003-2006 and later co-managed the band as well as managed the launch of Amanda Palmer's solo career.  The band self-booked a spring 2004 tour around SXSW hitting everything from sports bars to a bbq restaurant.  They had no label, publicist, radio promo, agent, etc. to help book or promote the shows.  Before hitting the road, I thought, "who is going to turn up to these shows outside of the Northeast? (as the band is from Boston).  How will anyone know about them?"

But kids DID turn up.  Whether it was 100 folks in Carbondale, IL or the amazing show Appalachian State University students put together in Boone, NC, the tour was a smashing indie success.  I asked the fans at the merch table and the folks who helped us put the shows together how they knew about the band.  The answers were consistently along the lines of "my cousin in Vermont IM'd me," "my boyfriend sent me a CD from Boston," or "someone forwarded me one of their mailers."  It was true word-of-mouth about an incredible new band, fostered by Amanda and Brian's commitment to playing killer shows, writing personalized mailers and signing an autograph for every fan who wanted one, no matter how many hours it took.

Around that time the band also signed to Roadrunner Records. 

GOOD IDEA: Beck Re-Records Classic Albums For Free Series

GOOD IDEA

an ongoing series of doable ideas that might be worth riffing on

Beck has started something he's called the Record Club for which he and friends like Devendra Banhart, MGMT, Jamie Lidell, and producer Nigel Godrich get together and re-record someone else's classic album in its entirety with little or no rehearsal.

According to Pitchfork, Beck will use his website as well as the websites of the other musicians involved to  offer up a free song from the sessions every week. He bravely started off with The Velvet Underground and Nico. I guess because he's giving it away, he's not too worried about paying songwriter royalties.

Why couldn't your band along with other bands in your town or scene or on your record label do the same thing?

Help Name Milestones In Modern Music Marketing

I 've started working on a post of my Top Top 10 Milestones In Modern Music Marketing. I thinking about marketing campaigns or events that represent major shifts in how music is now marketed.  Of course, there's Radiohead and Reznor, but what else?

At the moment I'm stuck at 7 or 8, with a few that could be squeezed off the list if stronger choices come to mind. So, please help me out a bit...

What Are Your Top Milestones In Modern Music Marketing History?

A Blacklisted Artist Responds To Hype Machine

Last week music blog Hype Machine blacklisted 40 artists that it said had been trying to manipulate its rankings.  Neil Cartwright of marketer Media Junction, who works with Master Shortie, one of the named artists, shared their side of the controversy:

There is delicious irony in this story - Hype Machine, in an effort to protect their integrity, have revealed a list of 40 artists who they claim were manipulating their charts by creating multiple profiles and favouriting themselves. In other words, hyping their position in the 'Most Popular' chart.

One of the artists, Master Shortie, happens to be one of the artists we work with. I'm going to declare now, it wasn't us or Master Shortie - frankly, we have better things to do in our lives than create 50 fake profiles.

The point is, what is the difference between hype & promotion, when is it marketing or manipulation and where is the balance?

Berklee's Mike King On Modern Music Marketing

Berklee College of Music instructor Mike King gives a strong overview a modern integrated music marketing campaign. (via IndieHipHop.net)

What If There Were A Coolness Rating?

Is Michael Jackson cool?  Who is cooler - Dolly Parton or Ricky Martin?  Is Katy Perry cool or a fool? We all know the answer when it comes to Britney; or do we?

Paul Lamere asked these tough questions and more. "Imagine if there was an objective measure for coolness  – a number that could be attached to each artist that indicated how ‘cool’ the artist was," he postulated. "We’d be able to do all sorts of interesting things with such a ‘coolness index’.  We could make a ‘music makeover’ playlist that would take you from Miley to Miles in 12 songs  (consider it a 12-step  taste recovery program) or we could create a music rehab playlist that takes you  from Amy Winehouse to Kate Nash. 

But of course, the concept of cool is too hard to nail down." Or is it?

Last.fm has published a list of  tracks that were most frequently deleted users scrobbles (public playlists). Tn other words, these are tracks that Last.fm listeners didn’t want other people to know they had listened to.  

But Lamere did not stop there in his coolness quest.

Video Interview: Amanda Palmer On Making $19K In 10 Hours On Twitter

Amanda Palmer: Friday Night Freaks.

Just in case you missed the story of Amanda Palmer earning $19K in 10 hours via Twitter, here she explains how it all came together. You can also read more here.

Post Music To Twitter Using Soundcloud

The guest post is by Dave Haynes, OpenMusicMedia founder and UK manager for SoundCloud. You can also follow him on Twitter @haynes_dave.

There have been a number of services crop up recently to allow you to post music to Twitter. But did you know there's three different ways to do exactly the same using SoundCloud? A few people told us they didn't realize just how simple it was so here's a little "how to".

1) Click Share, hit Twitter

The easiest way to share one of your tracks is to go to where you've uploaded on SoundCloud, click the share button and select Twitter from the dropdown.

If you're logged into Twitter it will simply send a message straight to your Twitter Home page with the track name and link back to stream and/or download. And you can always edit the message before posting.

2) Post to Twitter automagically

Why Would Microsoft Want To Give Away Songs From 1000 Unknown Artists?

Why would a major brand like Microsoft decide to partner with a music startup like ReverbNation to give away songs from a thousand mostly unknown bands, as was announced yesterday?  "It lends itself to the idea of the internet connecting people across borders as well as celebrity," wrote Group Marketing Manager Marty Collins on the Windows Social Media Team blog. "I love the idea of spotlighting new, upcoming artists and together combining our social networks to promote each other. Two networks is by multiply more powerful than one."

The ReverbNation program places ads next to the artwork that is displayed on media player or portable device when a song plays. The ad revenue is then split with the artists and the songs are downloaded via MySpace.

YouTube Upgrades Channels But Fix Yours Before They Fix It For You

If you don't have a channel on YouTube for your band or label you should. It's a great way to gather your videos in a single place. (Here's a basic channel Kyle Bylin is building for us at Skyline Music.)

Now YouTube is upgrading Channels with some strong customization and search features.  The only hitch is that if you don't go online and upgrade your channel now, they will do it for you between now and July 15th and some of the customization and features you added to your old design mey not automatically transfer over.  Watch the video above for details.

ReverbNation Teams With Microsoft Windows For Massive Song Giveaway

  

Today ReverbNation is officially launching Sponsored Songs, a program that Hypebot covered previously that offers fans access to unlimited free mp3 downloads from 1,000 mostly indie artists. In addition to the promotional value, artists are compensated for the downloads thanks to a sponsorship from Microsoft's Windows

A passive ad is embedded alongside the cover art that is seen whenever the track is played offering the advertiser ongoing exposure without disrupting track portability or the fan's listening experience. Sponsored Songs will be available free June 24 thru September 24th at MySpace.com/Windows and will feature music from independent and mainstream artists across all genres.

Is Beyonce Really Helping The Hungry Or Herself?

Not that I'm complaining, but I don't get many "celebrity" press releases for Hypebot. So an email subject line that shouted "BEYONCE PHOTO FROM FEEDING AMERICA PRESS CONFERENCE" caught my eye.

Beyonce is using her well earned fame to help feed the homeless. Along with General Mills’ Hamburger Helper and non-profit Feeding America more than 3.5 million meals will be delivered to local food banks through the Show Your Helping Hand campaign.The only problem is that sponsor Hamburger Helper is exactly the kind of food poorer American's should not be eating. In fact, it could be killing them.

ReverbNation And Bandzoogle Partner For D.I.Y. Artist Web Site Builder

D.I.Y. music marketing platform ReverbNation is partnering with website software provider Bandzoogle to launch Site Builder. The new offering enables easy yet robust self-created web sites that automatically integrate content loaded onto ReverbNation.

Songs, videos, shows, ticket inks and more entered on ReverbNation.com are instantly updated on the artist's site, with the Fan Reach email service, on widgets and across ReverbNation's other viral and social marketing tools. Artists will able to use their own url whenSite Builder, which is currently in private beta, goes public sometime in July at a cost of about $20 per month.

"Mom, I Need Help Marketing My Music"

According to eMarketer, there are 32 million moms online in the US today, and the number is growing. A new pr and marketing program from Child's Play Communications dubbed Music Moms hopes to tap into that market by putting music in the hands of influential mommy bloggers. Music Moms reviews music across all genres including children's music, and Universal Motown has already used the service.

The Dares Do A Digital Age Houdini

The Guinness World Records has recognized jive act The Dares for the first concert to take place simultaneously in two places at the same time. Earlier this month during the video gaming confab E3, the the band performed the theme song for virtual world Free Realms, as well as songs from their debut album. In sync with the live set, The Dares performed on stage in the 3D Free Realms virtual world, which was then in turn projected behind them on stage at E3. Does that make it three worlds at once? I'm confused...

Your Online Music Marketing Report Card

This guest post is from Nick Crocker who runs Native, a digital agency based in Australia.  You can read his blog or follow him on Twitter.

Not every artist needs an A+ online.  But everyone needs at least a C-.

The challenge for independent artists, label managers, artist managers and anyone working with artists in online marketing is deciding where to apportion effort.

Am I doing enough online? Should I tweet? 

Should I blog on MySpace?

Do I need my own website or is a MySpace enough?

Do I need a Facebook page?

For digital music and music marketing in general to move forward, I think it’s important that some basic standards are established around an artist’s online presence.  If these standards are established, music marketers can spend more time innovating and less time worrying about whether the Bebo page has enough of a photo gallery.

If we agree on a minimum standard, then we can define what is exceptional and extraneous.

Digital agency Native has developed an online artist report card to help structure decision-making and reduce the grey area around representing music online.It moves from the basic to the advanced and is intended for all levels of artists.

A threshold: This is the minimum requirement to pass. You need to answer ‘yes’ to questions 1-5.

Jay-Z Says Wendy's Ad Helped Kill Auto-Tune

Explaining the inspiration behind his new track "Death Of Auto-Tune", that always marketing savvy Jay-Z pointed to a recent Wendy's commercial that spoofed both boys bands and the over-use of the note shifting technology.  "I just think in hip-hop, when a trend becomes a gimmick, it's time to move on," Jay said in an interview on a Chicago radio station according to MTV. "I saw a Wendy's commercial and they're using Auto-Tune. They're joking on it. It's like, OK, enough of that ... It was a trend, it was cool in the beginning. Some people made great music with it, now it's time to move on."  Here is the "inspirational" ad:

A Look Inside Topspin's Premium Offerings

Deluxe and limited editions are one of the new tools in the artist monetization Toolkit that seems to be working. Think of it as music's version of retail up-selling ("Do you want fries with that 99 cent burger?")  Nine Inch Nails was one of the first to use it effectively offering versions of a new release from for free to $5, $15, $75 and even $300.  Whatever your level of income of interest; there was a product for you.

Topspin is helping to refine the concept of premium music offers with a series of deluxe and limited edition packages, and Topspin's lead guru Ian Rogers has been recording the unboxing of several of them.  These clips aren't going to win awards at Sundance, but they provide some insights into this effective marketing and monetization strategy.

And if you're thinking that your band is not "big enough" to start charging fans a premium, then maybe your not thinking enough out of the box about what you'd put into your deluxe box to make it worth buying.

Metric's Fantasies Deluxe Edition

Microsoft's Bing Seach Engine & The Music Industry: How Does Your Band Bing?

No, that's not a typo (for once). I didn't mean bling. I'm referring to Bing, the new Microsoft search engine. It's the computer giant's latest attempt to grab search market share from Google (65%) and Yahoo (21%), and they're backing it with a $100 million marketing campaign.

Why should artists, labels and the music industry care?  Bing searches for and delivers results in a slightly different way than Google and Yahoo; and since the most people look for information about a band, concert or album via their search engine,  how results about you and your projects are delivered matters.  Lower search rankings means less discovery.  It's a simple and important as that.

I'll leave how Bing works (video after the jump) to people far smarter than I am, but a few sample searches of things like White Stripes" and "Roger McGuinn"...

Google Wave: What Is It And What Will It Mean To Music Marketing?

Whether text messaging or Twitter, its important to keep up to date with the  latest tools for maintaining the all important artist - fan relationship. The  newest tool for communication - so new it won't even be in beta for months - is Google's Wave.  The open source app combines email, IM, chat, Twitter and more in  a single stream or wave.  Here's how Google describes Wave:

• A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
• A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.
• A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

Wave sounds a bit confusing. But since Google created it; it's certainly worth paying attention to. There's an hour long video of a Google developer explaining Wave after the jump below and here are links to shorter Lifehacker and TechCrunch explanations.

How Wave Could Change Artist To Fan Communications

Increasingly artist and fan communication is less about make announcements (i.e.OUR NEW CD!) and more about having a conversation or ongoing...

Travis Barker & DJ-AM Offer Mixtape In Exchange For A Tweet

Drummer Travis Barker and turntablist DJ-AM will trade you their latest mixtape “Fix Your Face Vol. 2 – Coachella ‘09” in exchange for a tweet.

The duo, collectively known as TRV$DJAM, are an inventive pairing of DJ-AM’s mixes with Barker’s rowdy live drumming. Now they are attemptin to reinvent the way their projects are distributed by using an application built by Santa Monica start-up Culture Jam.

Using the custom engine, TRV$ and DJ-AM will give away their new mixtape as a free download after a user has sent a message via Twitter to “Download the new #trvsdjam mixtape ‘Fix Your Face Vol. 2 – Coachella 09’ to  http://twitter.trvsdjam.com". Fans are then encouraged to re-tweet and spread the word.

Longer, Higher Quality Music Samples Lead To More Sales, Study Finds

A report to be published in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising says that longer, higher quality free music samples engage more listeners and reduce the number of "free riders".

Ask any food manufacturer, free product samples give consumers the opportunity to try before they buy. This marketing model works well for products as diverse as shampoo and washing powder, instant coffee and bubble gum. But in the digital age these free offerings to often aren't provided at full quality. Music files are usually compressed or shortened to 30 seconds, for example.

Yanbin Tu in the Department of Marketing at Robert Morris University and Min Lu in the Department of Finance and Economics, have studied digital music samples.

Reader Poll: What Email Program Do You Use To Connect With Fans?

UPDATE: Please participate in an updated poll here.

What program do you use to collect email addressees and stay connected with your fans?  They come in all shapes and sizes and cost anything from free to hundreds of dollars a month.  Which one works best for you?

The Rules:

1. Let us know the name of the email program that you use in the Comments Section. Sharing why you like it and a url is great, but not required.
2. We'll count up the top programs and put together a formal poll later this week for you to vote on. We reserve the right to add a company or two to the poll if some of the most popular programs are not included.
3. We'll share the results in a special post with links to and reviews of the top programs.

What program do you use to collect email addressees and stay connected with your fans?

Band Rewards Fans For Burning Their CD And Giving It Away

It's no secret that there is promotional power in giving away music, but just slapping a FREE banner on a web site doesn't cut it anymore.  Free is everywhere.  But what if the free music was on a CD given fan to fan with no strings attached?  That could get pretty expensive...unless the fans do it for you. 

Free fan created CD's os exactly what indie band Chester French is encouraging fans to do with a video series about an an uber-fan who "burned tons of copies and gave them out to everyone he knows (and a bunch of people he doesn’t!)". Through the videos, "Bryce wants to teach you guys how to be the Ultimate Chester French Supporter, just like him." Then the bands asks, "So, how did you guys promote the mixtape?" Brilliant.

But the band doesn't just embrace "free" with fan burned CD's.

SayNow Connects Artists To Fans Via Voice Mail & Text Messages

Our Call Katy Perry Now post last week led us to service provider SayNow. This free service connects bands with fans via voice mail and text messages.  Rapper Soulja Boy regularly connects with 2 million opt-in fans via SayNow.

Fans get voice or text messages broadcast from participating artists and can call in to hear a message recorded by the act, leave their own...

ReverbNation To Indie Artists: We'll Pay You To Give Away Your Music

New Sponsored Songs Program Also Offers Brands A Unique Opportunity To Connect With Elusive Indie Music Fans

ReverbNation today announced that about 1000 of its almost 400,000 artist members will be eligible to participate in a new revenue generating Sponsored Songs program.  The initiative makes it possible to tap into the kind of major brand relationships that have typically been elusive for unsigned and indie talent.

“Traditionally the music business has been synonymous with the record business where the lion’s share of revenue came from selling music. With reduced emphasis on music sales, the music business must develop new revenue streams that leverage the artist as a brand,” Michael Doernberg, CEO of ReverbNation said in a statement. ReverbNation will pay participating musicians $.50 per free download with each track incorporating a small section of branded messaging within the digital cover art displayed every time the song is played.

The downloads, which the company confirmed to Hypebot will be in the MP3 and M4A formats, will be offered to fans on a set of branded landing pages. When a fan initiates a download, patent pending technology...

Is Music Marketing Changing To Meet Shifting Internet Usage Patterns?

From Teddy Wayne in the New York Times:

"Internet use for “short-tail” sites with large audience reach has evolved... from portal-oriented sites, like shopping directories and Internet tools... to social networks, YouTube and providers of niche content.

...the video audience also exceeded the e-mail audience for the first time, and sites with long-form videos (averaging six to eight minutes) are showing much more growth and user time spent online..."

It's been clear for some time that having and using a great email list is just the beginning for music marketers. The importance of...

Music ID Service Shazam Sued

 
Apple, Amazon, Verizon, AT&T, Samsung And Others Also Named

Music ID and discovery tool Shazam has been sued for patent infringement.  Apple, Amazon, Napster, Motorola, Samsung Gracenote, Verizon Wireless, LG Electronics, AT&T Mobility and Pantech Wireless were also named in the suit as profiting from the alleged violation.

U.S. Patent No. 6,941,275, was issued to Remi Swierczek and Tune Hunter in September 2005. The patent covers "a music identification/purchasing system, specifically to a method for marking the time and the name of the radio station in portable device such as a key holder, watch, cellular phone, beeper or the like which will allow the user to learn via internet or regular telephone the name of the song, artist and/or music company by matching the stored data with broadcast archive."  Shazam, which is among the most popular in the iPhones App Store, is accused of violating the patent with its music ID application.

Is The Tail Really Long? New Study Says P2P Primarily Peddles The Hits.

A new study by UK licensing body PRS and internet music activity tracker Big Champagne says that the top songs listed on the traditional charts are also the most popular on the file-sharing networks. "After taking into account some geographic differences, the top of the many music charts, from licensed and unlicensed venues, are markedly similar," says the study. ""Much of the volume (sales or swaps) is concentrated amongst a small proportion of the available tracks."

The authors of the study believe that there findings disprove Chris Anderson's Long Tail which postulated that the internet would mean more exposure and sales for niche product and less for the hits.  "We are yet to see a big hit or wildly popular release in the pirate market that was not also a top seller in the licensed market," said BigChampagne CEO Eric Garland. The study goes on to recommend the licensing of P2P as a way for labels to capture some revenue.

THE RIGHT QUESTION
Just because the top of the tail looks the same as traditional sales charts, does it freally follow that the rest of the tale will as well? More importantly, how many artists can be found in the middle or even near the end of the tail that would not have been left in obscurity prior to the internet?