hypebot

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?

iLike Adds Custom iPhone Apps Plus Twitter, Ticketmaster, YouTube & MySpace Integration

iLike today launched an impressive suite of digital music marketing  tools including integration with Twitter, YouTube, MySpace and Ticketmaster, as well as, a system to easily create and distribute custom artist iPhone apps. The company has also added a Premium Artists Stats service offering reports on fan interactions across their syndication network.

Some of these digital tools can be found elsewhere, but iLike is offering them in a free, integrated and easy to use package which when combined with its existing iGoogle, Facebook, hi5, Bebo and Orkut apps, creates a must-use toolbox for any indie musician or label. New features include:

• iPhone Apps: Quickly create and distribute their own iPhone app with concert dates, photos, blogs, bulletins, and videos. The self-service system allows artists to customize the look of their app and submit it to the iTunes App Store. (Watch a demo)
• Twitter:  Link and artist's iLike and Twitter accounts adding “tweets” to the iLike music feed and profile as well as their Facebook page; and when a new song, video, or concert listing is posted, iLike will notify fans via Twitter.
• YouTube: Sync an artist's YouTube channel and iLike account. Every video posted to iLike can automatically be posted to a YouTube channel, and vice versa.
• MySpace: Enhance the concert listings on MySpace pages via a widget that adds buy inks and allows fans to “RSVP” and see who else is going. Artists can also configure the iLike Artist Dashboard so that any blog, bulletin, or video posted on iLike is also added to MySpace.

Seth Godin: Another View Of Free

We've looked at free music on Hypebot from almost every angle in recent weeks, but leave it to uber-marketer Seth Godin to find a new one: too much.  In this post "Too Much Free", which first appeared on his if-you-care-about-marketing-then-you-have-to-read blog, Godin cautions against too much free.

While Godin was not specifically writing about music, he certainly could have been. Giving away a free track or even an album is no longer a "breakthrough" idea.  Givng music away is "sample-this" free, but with so much free (legal and otherwise) available, will more free music- your free music - have any impact?  If not, how can you change, add to, or (gasp!) maybe even charge for music in way that makes it matter.

SETH GODIN: If you want to know who’s a newbie on a film set, just watch what happens at lunch. Major films have huge buffets laid out for cast and crew, and the newcomers can’t resist. It’s FREE! Over time, of course, the old-timers come to the conclusion that it's just lunch, and the crew gets a bit more jaded and learns some self-restraint as well.

The first time a previously expensive good or service is made free, we’re drawn to it precisely because of the freeness. The fifth time or tenth time, not so much.

Free online has two distinct elements, then...

Can Digital Music Marketing "Best Practices" Actually Increase Revenue?

Is it all a crap shoot or are there definable music 2.0 "best practices" that net results?  Topspin Media says there are and that their mission is not only to build the tools that power the band to fan relationship, but also to share what they are learning with the rest of us. 


Thus far, Topspin has been vague about exactly what their "best practices" are. You can catch glimpses in their work and in yesterday's post. They also promise to share more soon; which I promise to share with you. In the meantime they're teasing us with a calculator. "To estimate the difference between best practices execution on the Topspin platform and simply slapping buy buttons on your web site, enter your data below," says Topspin's  James Lamberti. "We can’t name names, but we’ve seen artists either totally ignore or totally embrace best practices. The difference in revenue is ridiculous and we have hard data to back it up." Plug in some of your own numbers above and you'll hope Lamberti is right.

Mounting A Band Web Campaign? Topspin Says "Best Practices" Matter.

  Early Data Reveals Surprises Including Twitter

Direct band to fan sales is the new holy grail; not just for indie musicians, but for a growing number of major label artists as well. Profits increase when you cut out the middle men and the chances for future fan engagement increase dramatically.  The artist captures a fan email address.The fan discovers a t-shirt or perhaps joins the community.

Selling on the web is, however, about more than just slapping a buy button on a web site or creating widgets for your digital street team to spread.  A few companies like Topspin, Bandcamp and Fan Mail Marketing are working to build the tools that empower artists to gather, communicate and sell to fans. But knowing which tools produce the best results and where point your resources has too often been mystery.

Enter James Lamberti, Topspin's VP of Marketing & Artists Services. Lamberti si fond of "Data is my A&R agent, viral marketing is my radio promotion, (and) direct-to-fan is my retail store" and he recently spent his 100th day collecting and analyzing data for Topspin. After more than 100K transactions for 50 artists, Lamberti says that patterns are starting to emerge pointing to a set of "best practices" that Topspin is using to drive efforts on behalf of its clients.

Rhapsody & Green Day Partner For Extensive New Release Campaign

Rhapsody has teamed up with Green Day to promote the release of their new album “21st Century Breakdown” to be released on May 15th. The collaboration leverages Rhapsody’s network of partnerships with MTV, VH1, Yahoo!, Verizon Wireless and  TiVo.

This promotion represents the largest and most collaborative promotion Rhapsody has created to date with any artist and the most collaborative with any artists including:

Coldplay Gives Live CD Away: On Exceeding Customer Expectations

, Every fan going to a summer date on Coldplay's summer tour, which starts on May 15 in North America, will receive a copy of the 9 track live album LeftRightLeftRightLeft. It will also be available then as a free download on coldplay.com and will contain versions of Coldplay hits like "Clocks", "Viva La Vida" and "Fix You".

Coldplay didn't need to give away a live CD to sell concert tickets. In fact they could have made some real money selling a live set. Instead they are spending some of thier own money giving their hits away free. In doing so, they have exceeded their fans expectations and insured their continued support.

How are you exceeding your fans/customers/stakeholders expectations?