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The 3 Most Profitable DIY Revenue Streams, And Why Many Artists Succeed at Only One of Them

Calling all DIY artists: Kyle Bylin brings us an essay by Jay Frank that gives us some brilliant insight into the modern music industry. Exploring the significant roles of YouTube, Live Touring, and Sync Placement, the focus is placed on the bigger picture. See for yourself as the world of DIY success become demystified on Music Think Tank.

Urturn Announces $13.4 Million Funding Round, Launches Mobile App

Urturn provides creative templates or "Expressions" for social media that shift the typical post and like exchange to an encouragement to take "your turn" and express yourself by combining audio and video elements in a shareable, postable form. It's been used for a number of music marketing campaigns since they started out in late 2011. Today they have two big announcements, the raising of a funding round of $13.4 million and the launch of their first mobile app.

Potential Of Direct-To-Fan Realized By Few Bands

By Kyle Bylin (@sidewinderfm), founder and editor of sidewinder.fm, a music and tech think tank.

Direct-to-fan marketing tools and services continue to hold a lot of promise. They enable artists to connect with their fan base and sell their products directly to them. But has the full potential of these tools and services been realized? Who is realizing it? What part of this potential has yet to be fulfilled? In this interview panel on direct-to-fan marketing, four influential executives in the music and tech industry weigh in on the potential of direct-to-fan.

Getting It Done: The Week In D.I.Y. & Indie Music

• Prediction: Major Label Will Aquire DIY Distributor
• Music Crowdfunding: Sam Tsui Kickstarts Debut, Songkick Detour Expands, JOBS Act For Labels
• The Tools of Music Fan Engagement [Part 2]: Newsletters

Direct-to-Fan

• The Early Beginnings of Direct-To-Fan: How Grateful Dead and Phish Made It Happen
• 3 Bottlenecks Holding Direct-To-Fan Marketing Back
• Direct-To-Fan Campaigns Don’t Diminish Album Release

REWIND: The New Music Industry's Week In Review

• Does iTunes' Daft Punk Album Premier Demonstrate Its Marketing Strength?
• Infographic: How We Discover And Consume Music
• Music Sponsorships Top $1.28 Billion In 2013
• With Murder For Hire Charges Looming, As I Lay Dying Cancels Tour
• Google Takes On Spotify & Pandora With New Streaming Music Service
• Kyle Bylin Releases Divergent Streams: Reflections and Explorations of the Modern Music Industry

Direct-To-Fan Campaigns Don’t Diminish Album Release

By Benji Rogers (@BenjiKRogers) founder and CEO of the direct-to-fan company PledgeMusic.

Direct-to-fan tools can — when used to maximum effect — become the thinnest skin between the artist and fan. The full potential is possible and exists; but only a fraction of the artists and labels out there use it.

Does iTunes' Daft Punk Album Premier Demonstrate Its Marketing Strength?

By Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

You might have noticed that every music blog in the world and half of its tech blogs are linking to Daft Punk’s iTunes page right now. As one example, Gorilla vs. Bear’s post simply includes an image, a video, and the words: “It’s here. Listen now at iTunes.” If you make the jump from any of these non-critical, “listen to this thing right now”-style posts to iTunes, you can indeed stream all of the French electronic duo’s latest album, Random Access Memories.

Cut Through The Noise: 3 Simple And Effective Ways For Musicians To Get Noticed

Mirror, mirror on the wall... do they notice me at all? How are you captivating your audience? Are you? If you're uncertain, so are your fans. Lukas Camenzind outlines 3 effective ways to get yourself, your brand, your band, and your music noticed on Music Think Tank.

UndergroundMusic.fm Offers Community Outlet For Free Streaming Music With Monetization Options

UndergroundMusic.fm is a new free streaming music platform for "underground" musicians designed to build community and spread music. Streaming is free but there's also a store aspect and an option to tip for each song. It's a nice idea that is ultimately dependent on who gets involved and whether or not an audience is drawn.

The Early Beginnings of Direct-To-Fan: How Grateful Dead and Phish Made It Happen

By Virginie Berger (@virberg), founder and general manager of the creative and development agency DBTH.

To cut to the chase and get at the heart of the matter, the biggest apparent challenge that I can identify for direct-to-fan is that the music industry is broken and no one has yet discovered a practical model that will allow the typical independent, DIY musician to make money.

The Rise of the Musicpreneur (Part 3/3)

Exploring what it takes to be an entrepreneur in the music industry, Tommy Darker wraps up his three part series on how to successfully be what he calls a  musicpreneur. Focusing intensely on the importance of developing your skills and approaching your endeavors with a trained mentality, if you're venturing out into the industry or already an active part of it, there is much to be gained by reading this series on Music Think Tank.

Content Is Still Hot: Nas Finds Investors For Mass Appeal, Mountain Dew x Complex = Green Label

Music-related content creation jobs took a hit with the recent closing of many AOL Music sites. But new possibilities are emerging as Mass Appeal returns with a vengeance and $1.2 million dollars while Mountain Dew and Complex team up on Green Label. These publications represent two important routes for music publishing today, one a strong original content center on which a larger business can be built and the other a sponsored content site providing branded content that's less about the brand and more about the demographic target.

Who Needs a Record Label?

Have you been wondering if you should be pursuing a record label or whether you're just wasting your time? There has never been a better time to be an independent musician but you have to know what your goal is and you must have an informed and practical plan of action. Mark Doyon helps sort through your best bets on Music Think Tank.

3 Bottlenecks Holding Direct-To-Fan Marketing Back

By Jason Spitz (@jasonspitz), an e-commerce expert who helps bands, comedians, and other artists build direct-to-fan businesses.

1. Shopping Habits

One big bottleneck to reaching the full potential of direct-to-fan is the audience’s shopping habits. Music consumers have learned that iTunes and Amazon offer a smooth, seamless shopping experience with reliable fulfillment. 

Free Social Media Marketing & Sales Platform For Musicians, Yala Backstage Launches

Yala Music, the leading Arabic based music service, this week announced the launch of Yala Backstage, a free social media marketing platform designed to capture and monetize social media audiences focused around YouTube. Yala Backstage builds on the services offered to major Arabic music stars by Yala on a more individualized basis, and is open to all.

Getting It Done: The Week In D.I.Y. & Indie Music

• The Business Of Phish: Building A Tribe
• 20 Tips For A Kickass Musician's Facebook Page
• Kosha Dillz On 8 Ways Musicians Can Gain Media Coverage Indirectly
• Indie Artist Ian Moore Bundles His Own Song-A-Day Service
• New Music Industry Think Tank Maintains There Are No Music Tech Tools For Poor Musicians

 

REWIND: The New Music Industry's Week In Review

• Pink In Open Letter To Fans: "Kiss My Entire... Ass"
• RIAA Revamps Gold & Platinum Certifications: 100 On Demand Plays = 1 Sale
• Infographic: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) For Musicians
• Soundcloud Takes Off, Traffic Jumps 26%
• Rhapsody Adds Liner Notes: A 1st For Digital Music
• Jack Conte's Patreon Unlocks SuperFan Revenue Streams For Web Stars

MORE:

New Videos: David Bowie Gets "Explicit"? Jack Conte Goes "Completely Batshit"?

An assortment of recent music videos were promoted or described as having racy material but, despite a selection that includes the old guard, David Bowie, the young contender, Jack Conte, and a crowdsourced world of cursors, an air of disappointment reigns. Certainly no attempts here to shock anyone that doesn't have their shock button set on automatic.

Music Ad Watch: Wilco Drummer Glenn Kotche Makes A Faucet Commercial [VIDEO]

(UPDATED) In the new "Instumental Touch" tv ad for Delta Faucets’ Touch2O Technology, Wilco percussionist Glenn Kotche plays a a bevy of faucet  The spot shows of Delta's touch it and the water turns on and off faucet tech, but sadly, not much of Kotche's considerable skill.

The Business Of Phish: Building A Tribe

A recent post on the Priceonomics Blog looked at "The Business of Phish" with a focus on the early years of Phish's steady development and the eventual emergence of Phish as an improvisationally-oriented jamband and touring phenomenon. Along the way they hit three touchstone concepts of contemporary tech and marketing that are well-illustrated by musicians at work.

20 Tips For A Kickass Musician's Facebook Page

Nic Robertson is the managing director & co-founder of Jaden Social, a creative Digital marketing agency based in Sydney, Australia. You can connect with Nic here - @nicjrobertson.

Good old Facebook. It seems like everyone knows how to use it these days; from those mischievous 10 year olds brazenly lying about their age in order to sign up, to the new breed of highly intelligent super-pets who’ve managed to set up their very own profiles, complete with a neatly cropped selfie, and then ever-so-casually added all of their owners’ friends.

Will Twitter #Music Grow From Artists Tweeting About Their Placement?

By Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

The nicely-designed Twitter #Music app for iOS made a big splash when it was released a couple of weeks ago, quickly becoming the most popular music app in iTunes.

What Is SoLoMo Marketing? And Why It's Time To Start Doing It

By Brandon Chiat, co-founder, Marquee a live music discovery and rewards application.

There’s a new buzzword being thrown around by marketing teams. SoLoMo, which stands for Social-Local-Mobile, refers to the integration of social, location-based, and mobile marketing tools into new customer acquisition platforms.

BitTorrent Bundle Launches With Robust In-Torrent Direct-to-Fan Features

BitTorrent Bundles debuted in Alpha yesterday with a promo package from Ultra Music's Kaskade who's building up to the release of his "Freaks of Nature Tour" DVD. The BitTorrent Bundle takes their earlier promo packages, a bundle of digital content, and adds features such as email collection and in-torrent transactions to create a true Direct-to-Fan torrent. If made available to a wider range of content creators, BitTorrent Bundles could one day become a standard D2F promotional tool.

BitTorrent Bundles come with this About message:

3 Ways Your Band Can Use Creativity to Make More Money

Whether you're a solo artist or a member of a band, funding your pursuit of music is a constant battle. Simon Tam explores three innovative ways to increase your income by commanding the attention of your audience on Music Think Tank.