This company, Prefueled, or one much like it is the future of offline music sales and distribution.
We expect this will be the year that CD’s are pulled from major retailers like Wal Mart, and are replaced with units like these. And you can bet Pro Soul will do our best to get our artists on them!
In the new music business, your audience and fans are your most important asset. Take it from Trent Reznor, Getting peoples attention, and then keeping that attention, and connecting with those fans is one of the most important thing you can do for your music career.
So how many people on your mailing list are ‘active’? By active we mean how many would actually reply to an email you send out about a show or new song? Those are your active fans.
People on our mailing list these days don’t “unsubscribe” like they used to when they don’t want your emails anymore. Eventually, they change their email addresses without telling you and your emails will get rejected and you may never be in touch with them again.
Industry leader and consultant Tim Sweeney recommends you “test your list”, also called verifying, or ‘opting in’ your email list subscribers. Here’s how you can do it. Write a new email about an upcoming show or something important and ask them to let you know if they can come or not. Start making a new list of the people who responded and call it your “active list” of fans. Include in this list the people who come to your shows and have bought CDs from you!
Or, use mailing list software such as reverbnation’s free fan reach, and ask everyone in your list to verify their email and subscription to your email list by responding to confirm their address. Our guess is over half won’t respond!
Tim suggests continuing to send general email announcements to the people on your list if you want to, but send a separate more personal email to the people on your new “active list.”
To jumpstart your career or to move it to a new level, you need to know who you can count on. It’s time to build a new fan base of people who want to support you versus being disappointed by the lack of response to hundreds of emails.
It’s not about how many fans you have or ‘friends’ on your social networking profile, it’s about how many of those people are ‘true fans’ who will support your music, help promote you, and puchase all your products. Those are the kind of fans that today’s artists need to have a music career.
Recently a new type of technology called Spotify has been taking off online. This is from Sweden and it does live streaming of music.
Many are tired of wasting time uploading their CD’s to their computer, but how do you think the creator of Spotify feels, finding all that music? A little more difficult task…
Spotify is free, legal and quick. So, what will this make of the CD? The ever slowly dying CD industry is being suffocated by creations such as these. But many feel having the actual CD is a thrill. Looking at the album work, and actually physically holding it in ones hand. Are MP3 USB drives are next? Will ideas like this stifle things like Spotify? Will the moblie phone with built in iPod be the ultimate victor as the method people access and listen to music?
We are at a stage where there are many questions, but one thing is for sure, we are swiftly moving towards the death of the CD, and that means artists need to fully embrace alternative ways for people to get music if they don’t want to suddenly left high and dry when CD’s become the least popular format for music.
Pro Soul would like to introduce you to our newest artists,
R&B/Hip Hop visionaries, Ellis & Knight!
Ellis & Knight was formed in 2007, under the scorching Brazilian sun. Roommates in the Brazilian capital, Vahid Ellis on Rhymes & Vocals and Hayden Knight on Guitar & Vocals, quickly realized that music was an inspiration they shared. Determined to expand this new musical synergy, they used 24 hour ATM rooms when neighbors complained about the noise. Fast forward to New York where the duo are currently settled, and have just completed their first album entitled “Groundwork”. Their music is a diverse urban fusion of R&B, Pop, and Hip Hop, with some Latin flavor thrown in.
Inspired by their Baha’i beliefs and a desire to positively change society through their music and social action, Ellis & Knight are poised to connect with fans who want to accompany them on their new journey.
We’re working on a new website for them, but in the meantime you can hear some samples of their tunes here:
www.reverbnation.com/ellisandknight
TicketMaster and Live Nation are considering merging the companies; this would create probably one of the most expensive ways in which to buy tickets for any concert.
But that is not the astounding news. Billy Corgan, the front man for the Smashing Pumpkins who are managed by Frontline header Irving Azoff (Also the CEO of Ticketmaster and promised a head position in the new company), has actually sent a letter to Congress in support of this merger! Corgan’s Letter states;
“…The combination of these companies creates powerful tools for an independent artist to reach their fans in new and unprecedented ways, all the while restoring the power where it belongs…In short, we have a broken system. This is a new model that puts power into the hands of the artist, creating a dynamic synergy that will inspire great works and attract healthy competition. The proposed merger you have before you helps create those opportunities by boldly addressing the complexity of the existing musical and economic landscapes.”
Here’s a video from their website of Corgan’s address to congress
It’s truly unfortunate that an esteemed artist like Corgan is so out of touch with the direction of the music industry that he would support such a merger.
Ticketmaster hits consumers with outrageous prices for tickets, for example, tickets to see Feist in Vancouver in 2008 are $49.50, plus a $10 “convenience fee”, plus a $2.50 “Building Facility Charge”, plus a $4.35 “Order Processing Charge”, plus optional express postage. That’s over $16 in additional fees!
But not all artists share Corgan’s feelings, in the 1990s, Pearl Jam brought a lawsuit alleging that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, whose anticompetitive practices allow markup prices of more than 30%.
Bruce Springsteen has also spoken out against ticketmaster along with many other artists.
So how exactly will this merging of companies actually help independant artists the way Corgan claims? Unfortunately, it will likely do more harm than good, but the individuals that will be hit the worst are the music lovers who support artists.
We feel that punishing music lovers has truly gone far enough, and it is clear that they won’t put up with it any longer.
We hope that a successful alternative will arise so that artists aren’t forced to work with the monopolies that Ticketmaster and Live Nation have become.
I just got back last week from another trip to Beijing, my longest one yet as I had 3 projects to work on and a number of meetings…
I was working with artist Elika Mahony as usual, she has just released a new album on the theme of Love, ‘Birds of Love’ that we were consulting about the promotion for, and developing a limited edition version of. We were also recording new material for an upcoming new age style progressive pop album as well as her instrumental album.
I was also producing an ambient instrumental relaxation album for Green T. Living owner, Jin R, who is also a very talented artist and performer of the beautiful Yang Qin. We also recorded some other traditional Chinese instruments I had never worked with, such as the Gu Qin (an over 2000 year old traditional Chinese instrument).
I met with some local Chinese artists including Chinese pop music legend, Cheng Lin who wanted to discuss the changes in the music industry since she started in the 1980’s and how she could move forward based on these changes connecting her offline and online marketing efforts.
In order to better assist her and assess where things were going with music 2.0 in China, I met with Tze Ern Liew, founder of the music 2.0 group on LinkedIn, and translator of the The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online in Chinese.
We talked about how due to bootlegging, China was ahead of the west in terms of digital delivery being the primary method people get their music, and word of mouth being a primary source of new music. We discussed how China has very different social networking sites musicians use rather than Facebook, Youtube and Myspace, often much more sophisticated than the English versions.
One of the most important things I wanted to learn on the trip is how to monetize music in a country with so many millions that are online, but do not use credit cards. The key was realizing that in Asia, by far the most popular way to communicate and get information is via mobile phone. That means the hub of the future of the music industry is the mobile phone, and in fact, artists using music 2.0 business techniques in China successfully are using cell phones to promote and earn income from music, since they are so prevalent there.
It all goes back to finding out what people want, how they like to do things, and what is convenient for them, and ultimately how to get their attention and keep it. China is a huge market, so understanding these things and experimenting with them to be able to assist artists is something very exciting to me.
I was invited to go to a live recording session with Ed Peto (hub of the Chinese music industry) as part of his new ‘free music, advertising funded’ music 2.0 Chinese record label, but I was to busy to do it this time. Next trip, most likely in the fall, I hope to meet with him and many others there in the business including some artists who are successfully using new music industry techniques to reach fans, and are monetizing their efforts using the mobile phone in China.
- Jarome
