Tunesat - monitor your music on TV and the internet

We wrote a piece about an amazing radio airplay monitoring service on the main site.

Then I heard about this service, Tunesat, which is a similar service in that it uses audio recognition to track plays of your music, but its focus is on plays that happen on TV and on websites.

As such, it is particularly useful for people whose music is getting used a lot for soundtracks or licensed for synch uses.

Since a lot of use of music for background scenes on TV is covered by blanket licences (in a lot of countries, but not the US) you will often not know when and where your music is being used. Tracking it like this will mean that you can have the data you need to make sure that the collection societies are paying you what you're owed.

Of course, if you're making music for commercials, this service will be especially useful.

It's not free but it is reasonable on a track by track basis.

Check it out here.

What happens for musicians when radio dies?

Image by C.P.Storm

I'm not sure that I have any idea!

Bob Lefsetz has been saying for ages that radio doesn't break acts - but he's wrong, or maybe just speaking too soon! It and TV still have that reach that creates the 'water cooler effect' even if the water cooler is now Facebook or somesuch.

But it will happen and this great article on Hypebot looks at some of the ways that it will unfold.

What does it mean for musicians? - well, hopefully, the lessening of the power of radio means that not everyone will want to listen to the same homogenous sound and so opportunity for niche artists will increase.

Whether it does or not, we shall have to wait and see, but being au fait with what's happening, as it happens, and seeing how listeners' behaviour is changing is going to be something all aspiring musicians are going to need to be right on top of!

In the next five to ten years, the "what" of radio is going to be flipped on its head and transformed into something that's fundamentally different. The young and the digital are going to live through the greatest transformation that traditional radio and in-car music have ever seen. In this post, we'll talk about the democratization of radio, the app revolution, the personalized music experience, e-commerce on wheels, real-time station analytics, and the creative destruction that will ensue.

Read the whole piece (and comments) here.

NPR is the secret ingredient for music promotion in the US

We've written about the power of NPR in building awareness for new artists before.

In fact, it seems to have such a bearing on initial awareness in the US that we hope to talk to the folks at NPR and bring you some 'how to' info on getting on their radar. We'll keep you posted.

For now, this is a news piece on why their listeners are early adopters and the sort of people that you want to be reaching. Although they have a terrestrial following in the States they can really help your online music promotion as their flagship shows are broadcast on the web.

With so many music options available to listeners at any given moment, breaking a new act is more challenging than ever. Even the perfect alignment of mainstream press and promo — say, a Rolling Stone feature, a performance on Conan or a video in rotation on one of the MTV channels — won’t necessarily add to an artist’s bottom line.

But during the past decade, one media outlet has proved to be incredibly effective in connecting a band with its target audience, prompting an instant sales bump and, most important, spreading the word: National Public Radio. Arcade Fire, Florence + the Machine and Vampire Weekend are just some of the indie acts that owe much of their crossover success to the member-supported network, which boasts an audience of 34 million, according to Arbitron, along with a devoted online following.

Read the article here.