hypebot

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.”

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.”

Are Music Fans Craving Exclusivity?

Guest post by Marcus Taylor, founder of TheMusiciansGuide.co.uk – a website that offers resources such as music contracts for DIY musicians..

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you'll most likely be familiar with Amanda Palmer's impressive KickStarter campaign (she's raised over $750,000 through the crowd-funding platform). At risk of being 'one more to add to the list', I want to focus on what we can learn from her and what the success of her campaign suggests to me about how music fans are showing cravings for exclusivity.

Facebook Apps & Tools: Facebook Camera, Status Ads, File Transfers, Video Chat, Memes

The media frenzy focused on Facebook's IPO has obscured the fact that Facebook has continued to evolve, from ongoing tweaks of the site to experiments with features and services along with a variety of acquisitions. Third parties developers are also staying busy with new apps and services. The results include a variety of creative apps and tools useful for marketing music on Facebook.

Why Most Music Startups Fail - Hypebot Sessions @ NARM [VIDEO]

Earlier this month, Hypebot hosted a series of panels during NARM’s Music Biz 2012 in L.A. One, hosted by Kyle Bylin, examined of why most music startups fail and but others succeed.

 Why Most Music Startups Fail

File Sharing Research Supports Adaptation As Best Industry Reponse

A recent study from a researcher at NC State University in Raleigh found connections between increased filesharing of leaked albums and increased sales of those albums. The findings were a bit limited but it correlates nicely with an overview of filesharing research conducted by Drew Wilson at ZeroPaid. Wilson took a close look at nineteen academic studies of filesharing that, taken as a whole, suggest industry adaptation may be the most productive path forward.

MusicHype Identifies Top Fans, Creates “Welcomed Knock on the Door” Approach to Fan Marketing

MusicHype’s approach to artist-to-fan marketing becomes evident after just one look at their company motto: “Every fan counts, but some count more than others.” This philosophy stems from the well proven principle that those top tiered fans, those super fans, will account for the majority of an artist’s revenue stream; and will ultimately be largely responsible for their success. The problem for most artists (and those who support them) however, has always been the difficulty of specifically targeting those fans that are the most receptive to marketing messages based on their current interactivity and interest with the artist. MusicHype looks to solve that, by allowing artists and marketers to strike while the iron is hot.

Indie Rock Band Cab 20 Pitch For Funding On ABC TV's Shark Tank

Members of rock band Cab 20 and manager Tom Callahan took to the Shark Tank stage to pitch a deal to fund their band. When faced with the final decision, they turned down the offer, but gained a higher profile in the viewing audience and in the music industry. I spoke recently with manager Tom Callahan about Cab 20's experience on Shark Tank. 

Indaba Launches Social Contest Suite, Amplifies Marketing For Brands and Labels

Indaba Music, the well-known musician social network & collaboration platform, announced today that it has launched its Social Contest Suite, an end-to-end music-marketing platform that connects independent musicians with fans via a new socially integrated music discovery product. Geared towards both brands and labels, the Social Contest Suite syndicates musician activities (such as recording) and fan actions (such as voting) through Facebook and other web properties to amplify and instigate authentic user-generated conversations.

Indie Artist Website Review Grand Prize Winner: Megan Lynch [VIDEO]

After receiving dozens of entries for the Hypebot/Bandzoogle Video Website Review Contest, we selected 5 winners, with one of those winners receiving a Grand Prize of 1 year of Bandzoogle Pro service, including custom design help (value of $400). Today we’re posting the first of those 5 video website reviews, and we’re starting off with the Grand Prize Winner: Megan Lynch!

How A Small Music Festival Revived A Texas Town [It's Not Austin]

35 Denton is a local music festival in Denton, TX that features the excessive wealth of local talent in the Denton indie music scene while also including unique headliners. Begun as a SXSW side party for Denton acts, the event eventually relocated to Denton, TX where it has helped revitalize the downtown area.

35 Denton is an excellent example of a locally grown event that can raise a city's brand on a national level.

Using Pinterest for Artist Marketing

Guest post by Valeria Bornstein of Fame House

Pinterest has quickly become one of the fastest growing social media sites, now boasting over 11.7 million unique visitors per month and 17.8 million registered users. Pinterest’s rapid growth is the result of a few key factors. First, their platform is visually appealing. Users select items of interest based primarily on imagery, so there is very little text to read, ultimately retaining a user’s attention for much longer.

13 Step Guide To Building A Cult Of Superfans

While reading a recent set of tips for turning your fans into superfans, I was struck by how the list and related explanations made it sound like they were describing how to build a cult. If that sounds a bit too sinister, perhaps thinking of turning your fans into superfans by treating them like insiders will make these tips work for you.

Getting It Done: The Week In D.I.Y.

• DJ Shadow Adds Discography to Facebook Timeline
• Amanda Palmer Hacks Her Kickstarter Campaign All the Way Past $750,000
• 10 Promotional Strategies for Indie Musicians
• Top Tips for Placing Your Music in Movies, TV Shows, Video Games & Commercials
• London's Orchestra Of the Age of Enlightenment Features Fans in Marketing Campaign

MORE:

Gold Motel's Eric Hehr: The Musician As An Entrepreneur

(UPDATED) Guest post by Eric Hehr (@erichehr1955), guitarist of Gold Motel.

"The only thing that matters is the music." I'm sure you've heard this phrase before. As a musician who strives to facilitate a career in music, I've heard the phrase, thousands of times, and I've never agreed with it.

Creative Networks For Music Marketing & Community: Convozine, New Hive, Diaspora

Limiting one's creative awareness by focusing only on music is increasingly as big a career mistake as avoiding understanding the world of business. Social media has turned musicians into publishers, business is embracing design and creative networks are offering additional opportunities for musicians to find community while marketing their artistic brand. Such creative networks range from digital zine platform Convozine to creative center The New Hive to Diaspora and its increasing focus on creative expression.

FanCulture: Building A Fanbase As A Lifetime Relationship

FanCulture: The Evolution of Influence is a nearly 30-minute documentary focused on the relationship of brands with their fans. Created by Amplify, an agency specializing in "brand strategy, experiences and amplification," the documentary is somewhat of a meditation on the nature of fans and their interest in brands from a group of marketers and superfans. In some cases the brands are bands and in all cases the discussion is relevant to marketing music.

London's Orchestra Of the Age of Enlightenment Puts Fans Center Stage

London's Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has a history of featuring orchestra members in promo campaigns to emphasize that "not all orchestras are the same." This year they decided to feature members of their audience with "strong looks" to point out that not all audiences are the same either. The resulting digital brochure and related videos are available online with more publicity to follow for this innovative orchestra.

Indie Band I Love Lightning Bugs Debuts Album & Comic Combo @ Motor City Comic Con

Detroit's I Love Lightning Bugs are reissuing their debut album Kensington along with a comic book in which they are the protagonists in an otherworldly adventure. It's the first step in an emerging direction for the band that includes appearances at comic conventions and future releases combining EP's, videos and comics.