The Connect

Giving You The Game For Free, and connecting artists with valuable resources in the industry. The Aggregator for The Music Business Follow @InternationalO !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs'); Austin, Tx Music Blog Digital Distribution Tweets about "#GivinGameCampaign" !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

[theconnecthou]

Day in the Life of a Modern Day Music A+R

#GivinGameCampaign

Leading A&R for YouTube's Largest Music Network sounds like a made up job, or at least one that most people didn't know existed until about three years ago. Over the last few years, YouTube has become one of the largest and most talked about platforms for discovering music.  From VEVO and the major labels, to the singer songwriters covering a song and recording it with their phones, music is now a constant on YouTube and every day there are new artists making big breaks on the site.

My job at INDMUSIC is to find the band that understands the medium, as well as understands the YouTube community.  I search for the rare artist that realizes YouTube isn't just a casual spot to post some studio footage, but instead, a legitimate venue to debut the record you have been slaving over for the past year.  It's a place where you can be your own publisher and stake your claim on your music, engage with your fans, promote a tour, and (in one notable success of the past year) skyrocket to number one on the Billboard Charts.

INDMUSIC is the largest independent music network on YouTube.  We work with everyone from traditional record labels like Stones Throw, Reach Records, Mad Decent, and Temporary Residence to artists like Kraddy, Dillon Francis, Misterwives and Lord Huron.  Our job is to build unique engagement strategies to help them reach their audiences and increase their presence on YouTube.  We are able to manage their rights and ensure that they can both collect revenue on and claim any and all uses of their content across YouTube.  It was our initial strategies that helped ensure Baauer and Mad Decent were able to leverage the viral success of the "Harlem Shake."

I don't just spend my time scouring YouTube all day or going to shows looking for artists and bands that need our help (which is incidentally most everyone), but I also get to help facilitate new opportunities off platform.  This past summer, we teamed up with Bonnaroo to help bring a wholly unique experience to the popular music and arts festival.  Three of our artists, each with strong YouTube followings, traveled to the festival to headline an intimate "Superjam" on the Saturday of the festival with the purpose of highlighting the unique talent available on YouTube, and to additionally expose Bonnaroo to the talent of the larger YouTube community.

Having never met or collaborated with each other before, Soul Khan a Brooklyn rapper famous for destroying East Coast rap battles, Black Violin a hip hop group fronted by a duo of violin virtuosos, and drum and bass LA pop group Knower met for the first time at the festival.  There they linked up with Jeni Suk, a songstress from the Bay area, and rehearsed for three days straight.  Culminating with a performance in front of a massive crowd of festivalgoers who then became a massive crowd of fans.  The festival captured all of the highlights and featured each artist as part of a Bonnaroo 365 documentary.   Bridging these two worlds together is increasingly an aspect of what I do that is the most tangible, and easily the most rewarding for everyone involved.

Running A&R for INDMUSIC afforded me another opportunity to bring artists together on YouTube during our residency at the YouTube Space LA in October of 2013.  The YouTube Space Lab is a massive network of production facilities all over the world, the largest of which lies in Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles and is open to qualified YouTube creators. After meeting certain requirements, creators are given access to a massive array of professional camera equipment and editing tools, allowing them to create amazing videos to then release to a large audience.  Access to such tools and a massive production space is something the bulk of our independent artists or labels have never been able to experience, so we jumped at the chance given to us by the YouTube Music & Next Lab Teams.  For one month they opened their doors to us and allowed us to use the Space and create content for up and coming acts Vali and Leon Thomas(Rostrum Records).

Always the collaborators, we also leveraged our relationships with our sister Network, DanceOn, who helped provide choreography for the first video we shot at the space.  Renowned choreographer, Jasmin Meaken, added her touch, highlighting the video with her incredible moves.  One of the most rewarding aspects of what I do will always be assisting with the actual creation of the content and helping facilitate these collaborations to give talented artists access to a wider audience.  When our artists realize how powerful a medium YouTube can be and how engaged their audience is once they interact with them directly, then I know we're all on a path to success.

The "traditional" artist is always hesitant to say they're "big" on YouTube as if there is a stigma attached to being famous on the video platform and not on a Top 40 radio station.  As dead as radio is, for some reason, people still look to it to determine "success."  There are scores of artists that we have worked with in the last few years who have used YouTube as a tool for success.  Whether you believe this success is valuable or not, artists that use the platform properly can realize this goal.  And our Partners can achieve this because they have leveraged the YouTube community as independent artists to create their own success.

[theconnecthou]

Want To Live Stream Your Music Concert? Here's An Overview Of Options

#GivinGameCampaign

One of the most difficult aspects of writing about tech startups is that when a concept makes sense and gets funded, all sorts of other companies will get in the space. That quickly makes things hard to sort out. Over the last couple of years, Hypebot has covered numerous startups that offer ways to live stream videos of concerts. Recently I've been contacted by or come upon newer entrants. Today I'm sharing the full list and hope to start talking to musicians who've done well on such platforms in the near future.

Just to be clear, by live streaming platform I mean any site that allows you to broadcast your performances live via video, paid or free. There may be other features but that's the basic concept.

I've found at least 9 live streaming platforms that have been covered by Hypebot that are still in operation. They're included in a list of posts and links at the end of this post.

New Live Streaming Companies

Here are the companies that have recently come to my attention.

Living Indie

Living Indie looks really interesting and I plan to find out more about it.

The basic concept is threefold:

Live indie concerts and festival shows are streamed.

Shows are also archived for later viewing.

Additional features from live interview sessions to merchandise are included.

Living Indie is one of 13 startups to make it into the next round of Wayra U.K.'s tech startup mentoring process.

What's totally unclear at this stage is whether or not they shoot the shows themselves or are going for a broader platform. If it's open to indies for self-streaming, I'll definitely be back with more.

Zuzeen

Zuzeen is said to make it possible for "musicians to broadcast live interactive video performances to their fans."

However they're also merging with Rushmore.fm to expand on a experiment they partnered on last year with classical musician Lang Lang:

"Over ten days 40,000 fans followed Lang Lang via his Rushmore channel 'while he travelled from airport to hotel, to press conference, to sold out concert hall.' The broadcast also included a live exclusive masterclass. The tie-in with Telefonica presumably came about via the fact that Zuzeen is an alumni of Wayra, the telco’s accelerator program."

This could be an interesting combination and worth checking back in on especially given Rushmore.fm's lofty aspirations.

Kickit With

Kickit With: Viewer or Musician

Paul Sawers describes Kickit With and I've got to say it just sounds way too complicated.

Big artists are provided with equipment. Smaller artists provide their own cameras and get gear from a company that Kickit With is still in negotiations with.

Plus they have two websites, neither of which are that inviting.

Seems like a tough sell.

More Live Streaming Companies

The following Hypebot posts cover individual live streaming companies that are still operative:

Stageit - link

StageIt Review: A Free Streaming Video Service for Live Performances

Turntable Live - link

Turntable.fm Fights For Survival with Turntable Live Performances

Livestream - link

Livestream Removes Ads, Offers Free Version

BitTorrent Live link and ShowGo.tv link (possibly on hold)

Live Streaming Launches: BitTorrent Live And ShowGo.tv

Ustream - link

Ustream Opens Pay-Per-View To General Public Including "Your Brother's Band"

Live - YouTube - link

YouTube Live Streaming Opens To All Musicians

Concert Window - link

Concert Window Creates Live Streaming Concert Network

Evinar - link

Monetizing Music Videos & Live Shows With Evinar & Gyroskope

[theconnecthou]

Rap Genius Cuts Universal Publishing Group Deal: "We'll lend them a wheelbarrow..."

It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride for RapGenius. After quickly becoming a hot site and a VC darling, a majorr muysic publishing trade group put them at the top of a blacklist list, then backed off a bit. Next Google cut then restored their search engine rankings.  But this week RapGenius has something to celebrate: a new deal with Universal Music Publishing, one of the world's largest musci publishers.

On the site the, Rap Genius founder Ilan Zechory wrote: 

"We love UMPG! They have a truly incredible stable of writers – we will lend them a wheelbarrow for the Grammys they are about to win! Rap Genius lets UMPG's writers connect with their most obsessed fans, and we couldn't be more excited about solidifying this partnership."

This is RapGenius' second major publishing deal, following a Sony/ATV partnership in November.

[theconnecthou]

Facebook Usage By Platform [CHART]

[theconnecthou]

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Shares What He Really Thinks Of Beats Music

"Some celebrity brand"

"It's a competitor, for sure, but my way of looking at it is, if it gets people to understand the value of streaming, it is ultimately good," said Spotify CEO Daniel Ek in a Billboard interview. "Our way of doing this is not just slapping some celebrity brand on it and hoping it will be good. We are a social service; we are a product company. People have tried to put a brand on it and thought that's enough, and they have failed: Microsoft, Nokia -- many big companies."

[theconnecthou]

Neil Young To Launch PONO Music Player At SXSW

UPDATED: As if the digital music sector isn't crowded and confusing enough, Neal Young has signaled that he'll launch his new high end music player and service PONO at the SXSW music conference in March.  PONO says it will deliver a better quality audio experience than mp3's and iPods. 

“Being impressed by something, and how cool it is, and how sharp it is, and how snappy it is, is one thing, and that translates into almost any media. But when you’re singing something very soulful from your heart, and the echo is perfect and everything’s great and you’re using maybe an acoustic chamber and everything sounds great. And then you listen to it and you love it, but you hear it somewhere else and it’s gone – that’s terrible," Young said during a speech to the Recording Academy.  

"We don’t like that. Not many of us like that, we’re not happy about it. So we’re trying to change that, and we’re trying to make it better. We’re trying to make music sound technically better, and that’s what I want to do. So we have a player that plays whatever the musicians made digitally, and that’s going to come out. We’re announcing that at SXSW, we’re introducing it, it’s called Pono, and that’s my commercial, thank you very much”.

[theconnecthou]

IOU Music Launches To Support DIY Musicians Throughout Their Careers

IOU Music is a new service for artists that launched this week in beta. They're building a platform to support DIY music monetization and marketing. For example musicians can use their accounts to sell music, crowdfund, accept donations and create subscription services with more features on the way. I spoke with Founder and CEO Rob MacArthur about IOU Music and it's clear that the bigger vision is one that goes beyond simply aggregating sales and marketing tools to building a platform that also supports musicians in evaluating their finances, making financial goals and establishing specific steps for reaching those goals as a musician.

IOU Music is similar to SongAmpr, about which was wrote last week, in that it combines multiple features on one platform designed to support marketing and monetization.

Such platforms are partly a response to the current situation in which indie musicians and those who work with them have to use far too many separate tools to get the job done. But these platforms also have to have some patience while making the case that musicians should be shifting to their services.

IOU Music: The Backstory

Fortunately Rob MacArthur says he's taking the long view with this project. IOU Music's current status grew out of MacArthur's past ten years in the music industry.

Based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, MacArthur started out running a jam space and then launched a record label and got into managing bands. In the process he says he discovered that the industry was a total disaster and that starting a label was a good way to lose money.

Along the way he became more and more interested in business models and then started a coworking space through which he met co-founder Jessy Oullette.

IOU Music emerged from that combination of experiences. In particular, MacArthur sees it as a response to new thinking about musician-based business models. But it also addresses his observation as a manager that most musicians don't have clear financial goals.

What IOU Music Offers

The current incarnation of IOU Music addresses the issue of business models and monetization most directly. The services are all free with IOU Music taking 10% of revenue earned through the platform which also covers credit card and transaction fees.

Currently IOU Music provides:

1) "The option to sell music in six different digital formats using set pricing or pay-what-you-want pricing"

2) "Crowdfunding for music related projects"

3) "Soliciting donations in a tip jar"

4) "A monthly subscription service"

5) "You'll find a completely customizable profile page with streaming music player, video player, gallery, email list and more there now."

Future developments will include:

"a way to sell physical merch, goal and financial management tools, ability to embed your ioumusic store on your Facebook page or website and a mobile development"

MacArthur feels that the traditional recording industry model focused on big album releases followed by big tours doesn't fit current realities for most musicians. He feels that individuals have more varied needs and would be better supported by shifting to a subscription model featuring more regular releases of music.

But he also notes that people have different needs at different points. If you're reasonably established with a solid core fanbase, then you're probably ready for a subscription approach. If you're just getting started you might prefer other tools as you build support.

Taking the 1000 True Fans Approach

Perhaps more importantly, MacArthur is a proponent of Kevin Kelley's "1000 True Fans" concept and feels traditional music industry approaches obscure its value.

From a record label's perspective 1000 fans may not seem like much and shouldn't you be focusing on 10,000 or 100,000 fans?

But for a musician who's totally independent and can count on 1000 fans to subscribe for $5 a month you've got an annual revenue stream of $60,000 before taxes, expenses, etc. For a singer/songwriter, that might be enough.

What IOU Music wants to do is:

Become the platform that allows musicians to get past having to use multiple services so they can focus their efforts at one central location.

Provide tools and services that are useful at every stage of an artist's career so that they can choose to remain DIY throughout their careers.

Give artists the tools and support to maximize their efforts

This means that in addition to such obvious features as being able to sell digital downloads, IOU Music wants to add tools that would enable an individual artist or a group of musicians to calculate their financial needs and set financials goals.

Once one's needs and financial goals are established, such tools would help you figure out how you're going to make that happen and then calculate your progress as you move forward with your career.

Tools and features will also be inspired by research. For example, MacArthur reads widely on related issues from business to psychology. In reading about nonprofits and donations, he discovered that donors are more likely to give again at a later time if thanked after the first donation.

So that might mean including a thank you email in the workflow for fundraising efforts such as crowdfunding campaigns or donations.

This is potentially an extremely powerful approach in that research findings and related observations are built into the platform rather than, for example, simply appearing in a tips post on their blog.

But the idea wouldn't be to force artists to send thank you emails. Rather the idea is to not only encourage but to directly support artists in their efforts by making it easier to do the smart thing.

Taking Their Own Advice

MacArthur says that whenever they consider such features, their key question is, "Is this going to benefit musicians most?"

But that question goes beyond product development to guide other processes such as marketing. For example, in the fall, IOU Music wanted to do something at the Halifax Pop Explosion festival to get to know folks and promote the upcoming launch while also helping artists.

So they came up with the idea of the HPX Artists' Lounge which provided some really nice services to artists in a comfortable space.

They're also taking the advice they give to artists to have a goal, think long term and work towards it.

IOU Music's biggest goal is to help musicians make as much money as they can while maintaining their independence and they hope to be doing that for the long term.

More:

[theconnecthou]

Rdio Jumps On Free Music Bandwagon, Lifts Listening Limits

"If you love something, set it free," begins the announcement from Rdio, that they've dropped all listening caps on it's U.S. site.  The move comes just days after Spotify dropped all it'sfree listening limits on the web and mobile devices; and days before Beats Music launches as a paid only subscription music service.

As part of this update, Radio added in-stream messaging the web. The  company promises that the new ads are, "short and sweet... Free listeners will hear a mix of new feature announcements, messages from partner brands, notifications about exclusive content, and other helpful tips."  Radio like Station are also free on Rdio mobile apps.

Rdio Unlimited eliminates all ads and unlimited mobile access for $9.99 per month.

[theconnecthou]

50 Cent's Wireless Workout Headphones Fight Sweat (Video)

Beats by Dre is one of the electronics biggest success stories of the past decade. When conventional wisdom dictated that nobody cared about sound quality, Beats Electronics made enough money by selling premium-priced headphones to buy an election. Letting go of it was the biggest mistake its former parent company Monster ever made.

Rapper 50 Cent’s affiliation with SMS Audio is clearly modeled on Beats by Dre. With various products called “Sync by 50″ and “Street by 50,” the products feature a similar iconic “S,” to try to compete with Beats Electronics’ “B” symbol.

SMS and 50 Cent introduced a new earbud that purports to withstand the rigors of workouts. This is a problem well worth solving.

Over-the-ear headphones are way too heavy, and make your ears sweat. Standard earbuds let in too much outside noise, especially in a gym, because all gyms play horrible music that nobody likes. Meanwhile, in-ear headphones — even the rugged ones — can leech sweaty moisture from your ear canal, eventually causing one of the headphones to stop working. It happens every time.

SMS Audio and celebrity spokesrapper 50 Cent introduced the new Sync by 50 In-Ear Wireless Sport in-ear headphones ($160) in three colors, with basketball player Carmelo Anthony’s name on the box somewhere. They’re Bluetooth, which means no wires to get snagged (and possibly better sound than with previous Bluetooth headphones, because Bluetooth doesn’t suck as much as it used to for music, on iOS 7 anyway).

We’ve seen Bluetooth headphones before, and they are a good idea for the gym, even if most people prefer the wired kind. But what really has us intrigued is the “nano technology” mentioned in SMS Audio’s announcement (via Billboard).

This could be either hokum (“our technology has very small atoms or something!”) or awesome, because sweat getting into in-ear headphones is a legitimate problem for many of us.

“Each pair features sweat-repelling nano technology, which protects against water immersion, safeguards against sweat, and withstands extreme weather,” reads the announcement.

We’re going to try to test these out as soon as possible; stay tuned if that sounds interesting.

Here’s Engadget talking to 50 himself about the new headphones:

  Engadget at CES 2014: Interview with 50 Cent and SMS Audio's CEO

[theconnecthou]

Rock Is Most Popular Genre Among U.S. Album Buyers [CHART]

#GivinGameCampaign

Rock music was the most popular genre with U.S. album purchasers in 2103. Statista used Nielson and Billboard data to find that  34.8% of all albums bought here in 2013 were categorized as rock.  

Here is the full chart of all genres:

[theconnecthou]

Frisky Builds An Indie EDM Streaming Service

The news that Radionomy was buying Winamp and Shoutcast from AOL was good for many web radio broadcasters including Faisal Sultan of Frisky, an EDM radio station that added a streaming subscription service last year. As an original Shoutcast team member, Sultan had additional reasons to want to see Shoutcast continue but it was also a reminder to Frisky not to depend on one directory. Recently Sultan shared that and other details of life at Frisky.

Faisal Sutton launched Frisky as Frisky Radio back in 2001. In an interview with Brad Hill of RAIN News, Sultan explained that he joined the Shoutcast team at AOL in 1999 and began streaming music for testing purposes. WhenShoutcast.com launched, they needed content so he started his station:

"I started seeing the same IP addresses coming in [to listen] every day, tuning in. Pretty soon I started getting contacted by DJs who wanted to air their mixes on the stream. It didn’t have a name yet. My DJ name in college was Frisky, so that was a logical name..."

"Around 2007 I got together with some people who would run it with me. We decided on a show format, as if it were a TV station."

In 2013 Frisky Radio relaunched as Frisky, an EDM subscription streaming service with free ad-supported streaming. For $10 a month listeners get ad-free streams and downloads of the mixes.

You can find out more about the djs and shows and choose between a "Frisky" and a "Chill" theme.

According to Brad Hill, Sultan left AOL back in August to go full-time on Frisky. When he heard AOL was planning to shut down Shoutcast, he realized Frisky had made a mistake sticking to one directory.

Though disaster was averted Sultan says:

"It was a learning experience for us, and we have taken the lesson: Diversify. Go into TuneIn and others, be in as many directories as possible. Get the station out there in as many ways as possible."

Sultan clarified that though they offer a free ad-supported stream their focus is on the new subscription business which now provides over 50% of their revenue. He also feels ads are overly disruptive and that the subscription service offers a much better experience.

At the moment Sultan says Frist is growing with "features and products in the pipeline."

Though we mostly hear about the Spotify's and Pandora's, a lot of the more innovative activity is occurring with smaller services like Drip.fm and Frisky so such companies are a good place to look for fresh ideas.

[theconnecthou]

Bandsintown Partners With Sony Music Unlimited

Bandsintown has partnered with Sony's Music Unlimited subscription service to bring song previews to its concert listing app. Bandsintown users will now be able to preview music by artists whose concerts are listed in the app. After a 30 day free trial, song previews will be limited to 30 seconds.

Left out are local bands who do not have songs on the music service.

This deal allows Bandsintown to offer a new fetature at little of no cost, and Sony hopes that users will convert to paid subsribers after the 30 day triail. With increased competition throughout the music tech sector this is likely one of the many partnerships we'll see announced this year.

[theconnecthou]

12 Days of Monetization - A Summary of the 13-part Cyber PR Guest Post Series

#GivinGameCampaign

I’m guessing that you may have already begun to make some resolutions for 2014 and I am also guessing that making more money from your art may have been on your list of resolutions… If this is the case (or if this sounds good to you) look no further! I reached out to some of my favorite colleagues in the business and I asked them to contribute an article that talks about “making money from your music” I left it fairly open and their responses are FANTASTIC! Here is a list of the topics and each one is a full length article.

Day 1: 60 Do’s and Don’ts of Monetizing Your Life - Julie Flanders

This article was contributed by Julie Flanders, Achievement Expert and Creative Success CoachRecording artist and lyricist for October Project, a major–label turned independent artist with a worldwide following. Julie delves into the Do’s & Don’ts of monetizing your music.

Day 2: The Power of Positivity - Nikki Loy

Our super talented singer-songwriter friend Nikki Loy gives us insight into how to manifest good thoughts into real outcomes. She discusses how changing the way you think can change the outcome of what happens to you.

Day 3:Making Money from Live Shows - John Taglieri

Indie artist John Taglieri has released 11 albums, selling over 25,000 units, owns his own record label, publishing company, and studio, but 70% of his income comes from live touring. In this article, he discusses how and why you should focus on your live shows.

Day 4: How to Get People to Actually Buy Your Music - Debra Russell

Debra Russell, speaker and founder of Artist’s Edge, talks about the best ways to sell your music in the new digital age. She discusses the advantage of social media and making real, genuine connections with your true fans.

Day 5: Selling Direct-to-fan via Wordpress - Ross Barber

Ross Barber is a web designer who runs Electric Kiwi, a web design company that works primarily with artists in the music industry. He teaches you how to leverage your WordPress website to sell your music directly to your fans.

Day 6: 12 Ways to Make Money from YouTube - Jay Frank

Jay Frank, author and CEO of DigSin, gives you 12 ways to build an income stream from your underutilized YouTube channel.

Day 7: YouTube Monetization Through Advertising - Bobby Owsinski

Bobby Owsinski has written 23 books that have quickly become staples in music business programs in colleges around the world. Here, he gives us a few in-depth methods for monetizing your YouTube channel.

Day 8: What Will it Really Take to Make Money from Music? - John Oszajca

John Oszajca, singer-songwriter and founder of the Music Marketing Manifesto, talks about the popular “1000 fan” model and discusses how to start making a living once you get there.

Day 9: Connecting with Fans Through Contests - Corie Kellman

Our own Director of New Artist Relations Corie Kellman lets us in on how to connect with your fans through contests! Contests engage the fans and bring them together—everything you need to know here in this article.

Day 10: 4 Alternative Avenues to Monetize Your Music - Michael Shoup

Cyber PR friend and guide Michael Shoup offers up 4 alternative avenues to monetize your music; house concerts, office concerts, becoming an expert, non-tv syncs and licenses.

Day 11: Investing In Yourselves - Peggy Dold

In this inspirational article by Peggy Dold, you will learn the underappreciated value of investing in yourself, putting in the necessary time, money, and education to really achieve the goals you need.

Day 12: 5 Super Simple Steps to Make Money at Your Next Show - Madalyn Sklar

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach and social media strategist who foundedGoGirlsMusic.com. In this article, she teaches you five simple steps to make money at your next live show.

Bonus Day! It’s 2014. Time To Stop Starving and Start Living Empowered! – Jo-Ná A. Williams

[theconnecthou]

Researchers Discover Kickstarter Phrases That Pay

#GivinGameCampaign

Two Georgia Tech researchers have crunched the data on over 45,000 Kickstarter projects and claim they've revealed the top 100 phrases that signal that a crowdfunding project will or will not be funded. But the possibly more useful part is their analysis of the language styles indicated by these phrases and their relationship to the psychology of potential supporters. Though the researchers are clear on their limits, they do discuss the forms of persuasive language used and raise some interesting possibilities for further research.

Georgia Tech's Assistant Professor Eric Gilbert and doctoral candidate Tanushree Mitra have gotten into some interesting territory with their study oflanguage and Kickstarter success. They ranked phrases that are associated with successful and unsuccessful Kickstarter campaigns and came up with two lists of 100 phrases each that they share on page 8 of their study:

"The Language that Gets People to Give: Phrases that Predict 

The phrases themselves aren't much to look at but the researchers have teased out numerous patterns, for example:

"As is perhaps to be expected, phrases which exude negativism (not been able), or lack assurance (later i, hope to get) are predictors of not funded...phrases which signal lucrative offers to potential backers (also receive two, mention your) are positive predictors of successful funding." (p. 9)

The researchers found that various forms of persuasive language were present in successful pitches which were summarized in the news announcement:

Reciprocity or the tendency to return a favor after receiving one as evidenced by phrases such as "also receive two," "pledged will" and "good karma and."

Scarcity or attachment to something rare as shown with "option is" and "given the chance."

Social Proof, which suggests that people depend on others for social cues on how to act as shown by the phrase "has pledged."

Social Identity or the feeling of belonging to a specific social group. Phrases such as "to build this" and "accessible to the" fit this category.

Liking, which reflects the fact that people comply with people or products that appeal to them.

Authority, where people resort to expert opinions for making efficient and quick decisions as shown by phrases such as "we can afford" and "project will be."

The researchers go into a bit more detail with examples regarding each form of persuasive language in the paper.

The study includes a number of interesting points that aren't pursued but look worth exploring:

"pitching a completely new form of expression is associated with not fundedprojects, while drawing inspiration from something that exists seems to work better." (p. 11)

"we saw that 'Facebook Connected' is a positive predictor of funded, but we did not explore the rich space of social network predictors." (p. 12)

In addition, certain curious outliers emerged:

"Another perplexing finding was the occurrence of phrases like christina ( β = 2.51) and cats ( β = 2.64) in our top predictors. While christina ( β = 2.33) mostly referred to famous celebrity (i.e., Christina Aguilera), we had no clear explanation for the occurrence of cats —except for the commonly accepted wisdom that the internet loves them." (p. 11)

It would be great to have this kind of study focused on a particular area of crowdfunding such as music. However, though the role of positive persuasive language use is not surprising, the study offers a useful framework for thinking more specifically about that language use which should be relevant to music crowdfunding.

Still, in the end, maybe they've simply discovered that it's cats that will save the music industry.

[theconnecthou]

Indie Labels Now Control 34.6% Of U.S. Market

According to a Billboard Magazine analysis of 2013 SoundScan statistics shared by A2IM, independent labels grabbed 34.6% U.S. of the overall recorded music market.  That's up 2% over last year and means that collectively indies outpace each of the major label groups followed by Universal, Sony and Warner Music.

Since some indies are distriubuted by the majors, market share based on master ownership and not distribution. 

The top selling independent albums in 2013 included Mumford & Sons (Glassnote), Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Taylor Swift (Big Machine), The Lumineers (Dualtone), Vampire Weekend (Beggars Group) & Five Finger Death Punch (Prospect Park).

[theconnecthou]

Take Your Music Across Cultures With Plug.dj Listening Rooms

As many have noted, Plug.dj's social listening room experience is similar to Turntable.fm back when it existed. There are some clear differences but the idea of gathering together in groups to listen to music curated by dj's while chatting with friends and new acquaintances is pretty close. I spoke yesterday with Sachi Kobayashi, Director of Communications, about music marketing possibilities at Plug.dj and found myself in a discussion of cross-cultural differences and why they matter in both music tech and music marketing.

Plug.dj Often Compared to Turntable.fm

Plug.dj recently received $1.25 Million in a seed investment round. This news followed that of Turntable fm shuting down so many have crowned Plug.dj the successor of Turntable.fm. In fact, numerous users moved to Plug.dj from Turntable.fm and I'm told they have been quite positive about the new digs.

There are some noticeable differences. Plug.dj turns to services like YouTube and SoundCloud for music without having to deal with the expensive and time-consuming licensing process that Turntable.fm embarked upon. This choice also allows for music videos to be part of the experience.

Plug.dj doesn't have limits on room size while Turntable.fm broke big shows up into separate rooms which always struck me as somewhat odd.

My experience of Turntable.fm was limited to the early days but dropping into a show on Plug.fm reminded me of my dim memories of having an avatar in a virtual room focused around whoever was dj'ing with a chat feature that could be quickly overwhelmed by an active or large group. I noticed that my avatar wouldn't move and I felt a bit restrained by that but otherwise it seemed similar to my Turntable visits.

Cross-cultural Awareness at Plug.dj

However my experience of both platforms is limited so I took the opportunity to speak with Plug.dj's Director of Communications, Sachi Kobayashi, about examples of musicians using Plug.dj for professional development.

Actually I thought it would be a simple information exchange about what was happening possibly leading to a case study or similar post. But I was delighted to find that Kobayashi has a strong understanding of both the product and the social aspects of Plug.dj experiences, in part because of her own Masters research at USC Annenberg in Communications Management.

It turns out that, at one point, she went to interview folks at Plug.dj for her research and it turned into a job interview. Kobayashi was not only quite adept at digging into whatever topic I brought up but organically connecting it back to Plug.dj's mission and message.

I mentioned my brief experience of Plug.dj and we quickly got into the "why" behind some of what I found.

For example, I wanted to be able to move the avatar around in the space but Kobayashi pointed out that as a community serving a global audience they have to take into account cross-cultural differences including differences in personal space and physical interactions. Obviously other behaviors, such as weird negative activity, could also emerge but the cross-cultural issues and possibilities became a big focus of our discussion.

One of the benefits of a site like Plug.dj is that music often speaks across cultural differences. This is especially true right now with both EDM and other forms of electronic music which to some degree dominate Plug.dj rooms.

The popularity of EDM has opened up possibilities for artists to introduce themselves to new listeners from other countries. In particular, musicians from outside the U.S. may find it a good way to start developing fans in the States.

Listening Parties and Music Feedback

For example Wiyaala is a singer/songwriter from Ghana categorized as Afropop. Afropop has received widespread attention over the years but isn't necessarily recognizable to young EDM fans.

Wiyaala held a listening party on Plug.dj for a Remix EP of her single "Make Me Dance" featuring a broad range of EDM genres. To further broaden the appeal, she invited musicians from Greece and Australia to join her.

The result was a successful listening party with some interesting aspects. For example, Kobayashi said that many listeners came for the EDM and as they spoke with Wiyaala began to find out more about Afropop. This personal engagement in a group setting is one of the big opportunities artists have for reaching new fans on Plug.dj.

Kobayashi pointed to such encounters happening at multiple levels. In addition to being able to introduce new music and chat directly with fans and future fans, djs have used the service to share their experiments and talk shop.

For example, someone fairly new to production might experiment with a technique and then seek feedback from more experienced producers as well as from casual listeners. So what may appear to be primarily an enviroment for putting on a show can also support other interactions.

Getting Signed and Communicating Across Cultures

Monstercat is an EDM-label that is active on Plug.dj. Earlier this year they encountered and signed 7 Minutes Dead. While they use the platform to discover new artists they also encourage signees to have a presence which sometimes just means dropping into rooms and chatting with listeners.

Kobayashi says that Plug.dj is always looking for ways to support such activity and will develop future features with that in mind.

Kobayashi also noted that one of the special features of the community of users is that they were often quite willing to overlook cross-cultural differences in behavior in order to find out about new music. That's a good sign as small mistakes could otherwise be easily magnified.

Overall Plug.dj does seem like a welcoming space for musicians and music listeners. Given the depth of Sachi Kobayashi's observations it seems pretty clear that Plug.dj is strongly tuned into its users and is worth investigating if you're seeking new friends and fans.

[theconnecthou]

Topspin's Best Direct-To-Fan Campaigns Of 2013

#GivinGameCampaign

By the Topspin Staff

As direct-to-fan campaigns go, 2013 was a banner year. Over the course of the last 12 months, we saw some of the most creative, smart, ballsy, and just plain cool examples of  artists, flimmakers, and others connecting with fans that ever before in our 5-year history.

So it's no wonder our staff just couldn't wait to share their favorites. Enjoy...

WISH I WAS HERE (Zach Braff) by Nicole St. Jean

Topspin and our ace friends at PROD/Icon helped Wish I Was Here build a beautiful home for the film's community of Kickstarter backers and new fans. Every week of production new videos were posted, teaching all of us how a film is made – topics included props, costume design, special effects, casting, etc.

The videos were funny and informative. (Personally, I learned quite a bit too.  When we first launched back in August, I tried to correct Zach Braff's spelling of “previs” to “previous” only to learn that “previs” is a film term meaning “previsualization.” Doh!)

Watching the joyful comments from fans come in when each video posted was incredibly gratifying. And last week Wish I Was Here sold out of the first thing sold on the site: a limited-edition Jax “Sphero,” an impossibly cool robot toy hand-painted to resemble the Jax character in the film.

The cast and crew of this movie are fantastic partners, the film is incredible and our team has come to know the legions of lovely fans quite well.  From all angles, it's an awesome project.  Good thing there are more surprises in store for 2014!

CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS (Activision) by Aaron Pathammavong

I joined Topspin's Creative Services team in May and had the awesome privilege of working with some of the biggest names in entertainment. The campaign for Eminem's MMLP2 with the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts was the most memorable for me. Fans that purchased CoD through GameStop were given a unique code that unlocked MMLP2 at a discounted price.

Topspin was able to create a comprehensive, powerful, and beautifully designed campaign. What's cooler than a million dollars? A billion dollars. That's the figure for the first day Ghosts went on sale. Through those units sold, Eminem was able to gain 792,000 downloads of MMLP2 in the first week. It's impressive by any measurement. I've learned a lot during the creation of this project, and I can't wait to see what's in store for 2014.

RAIN PLANS (Israel Nash) by Miré Molnar

Israel Nash is a “self serve” artist (as we like to call them) who has shown us a few things about how to put together a beautiful campaign using our platform. We asked the artist if he could send us his Limited First Edition Rain Plans bundle and we were all very impressed with what he sent. I can't help but be so congratulatory to and inspired by an artist taking this much care, thought and time into the presentation of an album. Simply making an LP alone takes so much dedication and work - then to include hand-printed vinyl sleeves and a personalized viewfinder!!!??? Amazing! The songs and their production are dreamy, folky and well executed. The thoughtful package bundle elevates this delightful album to an even higher level. Kudos man!

REFLEKTOR (Arcade Fire) by Steph Lo

If I could send a letter to my 16-year old self, I'd say:

I know you're mad that you couldn't get tickets to see Arcade Fire at the Troubadour because you were stuck in World History with Mr. Hall when tickets went on sale. I know you just want to drive around blasting Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) with the windows down, and that's okay. Let Arcade Fire be the soundtrack to your teenage angst and high school trials and tribulations. Just continue to work hard and keep your eyes on the prize.

One day, the band will come out with “The Suburbs” and it will change of your life. A few years later, they'll release “Reflektor,” and you're going to help them sell it. You'll then spend your Halloween at a special Arcade Fire show at the Palladium, dressed up as a bank robber, dancing under a giant disco ball with a bunch of other dudes dressed up as Win Butler and it will be awesome.

Kind regards and high fives from the future,

Your 25-year old self

CRAZY KIDS (Ke$ha) by Miranda Degnan

As 2013 comes to a close, it's safe to say that this year was marked by the return of music videos. Pharell, Beyonce, Arcade Fire, and even Bob Dylan have pushed the envelope on traditional music video experiences and really turned over some great work on different ways to view and interact with videos. I am still really impressed with all of these artists, and one video in particular that stood out was the video for Crazy Kids from Ke$ha.

Our friends over at The Uprising Creative directed this great video for Ke$ha, and our Creative Services Team used YouTube annotations to sell T Shirts directly to her fans, which  you can still buy just in time for the holidays here. This is a really fun song and definitely an entertaining video to watch.

BORN AND RAISED (Smif N Wessun) by Jonny Young

Duck Down Music has put together some of the most creative direct-to-fan campaigns I've seen this year. In addition to the already out-of-the-box physical items such as the jute tote bag, rolling papers and acrylic grinder, their team also put together unique fan experiences available exclusively from the artist's store. The Ultimate Collector's package gives fans a chance to grab lunch with Smif N Wessun at Lily's in NYC. Also available are smoke sessions with Smif N Wessun in the studio, Skype calls, or even a custom verse from the duo.

ANTIPHON (Midlake) by Jim Wallis

Denton, TX's Midlake returned this year and premiered the opening, title track from their great new record Antiphon on BBC 6 Music, simultaneously directing fans to download the track for free in exchange for an email address over at midlake.net using Topspin. With the departure of frontman Tim Smith, this track moves away from the more downbeat sound of their previous record, letting the rhythm section of the leash, upping the energy levels and putting a little more of the rock back into their excellent brand of 21st Century folk rock.

MEDORA (Beachside Films) by Dick Fink

Setting: a small town in Middle America, with the factory gone, main-street boarded up, and little hope for revival. The high school's basketball team hasn't won a game in years; and as small, local schools continue to shut down and incorporate to cut costs they have to play increasingly large and skilled teams. If this sounds like a contrived story made up by someone in a coffee shop in Hollywood, it isn't. This is Medora.

This documentary film, produced by Steve Buscemi, is my favorite campaign of the year. It's an inspiring story, which gives a great inside look into the lives of a few teens in this struggling town. You don't need to care about basketball to enjoy this film; you just need to care about life.

I'm proud to say Topspin helped run the online store, and assisted in the digital marketing efforts.