Digital distribution is going to get one step easier later this summer for the DIY artist. As you probably know here at Make It In Music we completely advocate 'direct to fan' marketing and love the facilities that Topspin have to offer artists, a comprehensive tool kit that help them to promote their art, connect with their fans, and build a solid business.
Well now we hear that Topspin are teaming up with Tunecore. Tunecore is a digital distribution company that has deals with iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, simfy, iHeartRadio and a whole bunch of other services around the world.
The two companies compliment each other perfectly, meaning you will be able to have your music auto-delivered from Topspin to TuneCore or from TuneCore to Topspin without having to re-upload.
This takes the pain out of numerous uploads in different formats and re-entering metadata and codes for both companies. And the data from your direct to fan sales at Topspin are merged with the data at Tunecore so you can see where you are with sales in a single glance.
Check out what Topspin has to offer the DIY artist here.
For more information on this merger you should go here.
People who write about the music industry love that word. They use it all the time and apply it to every new disruptive idea.
But, this time they could be right.
The big news for most folks about today's launch of Google Music is all about the service for music consumers - the unlimited cloud storage, the download store, the social sharing.
And it's a big deal - can they catch iTunes? - we'll see.
But the part that is potentially truly disruptive and amazing for the average DIY musician is the 'Artist Hub'.
This allows every DIY musician to have a direct relationship with Google, to upload and sell songs through Google on an Artist Page.
Build your artist page, set your own prices and sell your material. Google Music users can play their music purchases instantly on any device.
This is THE BIG DEAL.
People are already complaining that Google are just copying Bandcamp or CD Baby - and they are to a degree. But having the biggest (the behemoth) company of online services and seacrh offering to host your music store and hub could be a massive win for the DIY musician.
You cannot deal direct with iTunes as a DIY artist, but you now can with Google.
You can also tie your Google Music hub to your YouTube channel - the de facto place for music search. That is very smart integration.
A $25 set up fee and a 30% cut to Google is comparable to Tunecore, but is of course an additional expense for artists as they will still need to use a digital distributor to reach other services such as iTunes.
Only available in the US for artists but with a global roll out close behind, this is big news.
I think you'll read about this everywhere today, but I can't ignore it as it's important and resonates with some consultancy that I've been doing.
I was asked last week to work on the marketing for a forthcoming album for a major label established artist and one of the things that they wanted to look at was the use of 'affiliate marketing'.
If you don't know what this is, it's when somebody is paid a percentage of a sale in return for sending a buyer to a website. It is used a lot by many online retailers (such as Amazon) but hasn't been used a great deal by musicians (Joe Bonamassa being the exception and trailblazer - reading his 'affiliate page' will help explain it as well).
So, I was gobsmacked when the Kaiser Chiefs announced the online digital release of their new album this morning - available only from their own site and in an innovative way. There has been no pre-release to the press for review (save a single sent to radio earlier in the week) and they have decided to make the recordings of the new album available to all at the same time.
In an official statement, the band said their intention was “to create a music experience that can be shared and enjoyed by all and at the same time revitalise and subvert the industry standard”.
"It can re-engage the excitement and spontaneity of offering new music immediately to fans, allowing them to hear the record at the same time as media and critics alike and hopefully giving people a fun experience at being the Kaiser Chiefs A&R department,” they added.
Fans can go to the band's official site - http://www.kaiserchiefs.com/ - and create their own version of the album by selecting 10 of the 20 available tracks and designing their own artwork. The digital album is then bought for £7.50 and then a page is created for that version of the album as an affiliate page.
Fans can then promote that page (i.e their version of the album) and earn £1 for every copy sold.
Sure, there is some seriously cool coding going on on this site to make it all seamless, but it's not an impossible thing for a DIY musician to acheive - there are affiliate systems available available to all budgets. What's more important is that Kaiser Chiefs fans are lapping it up. Alerted by an email from the band (see how that mailing list is important), they are embracing the idea and tweeting about it like mad. The band have very cleverly engaged their fans.
The process of selecting the tracks and designing the artwork is very nicely designed and the code that builds the affiliate page is very smart - helping to make the experience for the fan simple, as well as new and exciting.
There's also a clever little film introducing the idea which connects the online album creation to a real world experience in a very well thought out way as well.
Whether you're a fan or not, you ought to check it out and go through the process of creating the album to see how it's been done.
The best piece on it that I've seen today is this one from the Guardian which details the concept and also some of the band's reasons for doing it this way.
Of course, there will be a definitve physical CD release in the near future as well!
It's a great summing up of why any musician would be wise to check out Bandcamp for selling their music - and he looks at it from the point of view of both the listener and the musican - the service that Bandcamp offers is great for the consumer just as much as the seller.
Would I use Bandcamp as my only 'direct to fan' sales channel? No, I wouldn't.
In fact, I might if I couldn't afford any other route as it's free at the point of use and charges a 15% share of any sales income.
Why wouldn't I use it as a sole sales presence if I had the financial choice? Well, it's not as flexible as building your own store and offering bundles and packages of tracks, merch, different formats - the model that Topspin is pioneering.
That said, it is a cracking way to sell digital tracks direct to fan and I would always have a Bandcamp site, even if I had my own store at my band site selling tracks as well.
Back in the day, it used to be every musician’s dream to see his CD on the racks of the local record store (raise your hand if you’ve ever sold your own disc to a shop in order to see it in the “Used” bin). Now iTunes is the place to be when it comes to hocking music.
If we’re talking about the paid digital download market, iTunes easily outpaces its competitors. And while Amazon just dropped its download prices and launched a cloud-based locker, iTunes still reigns supreme for now. That’s why we’ve taken a look at how to get your music up there as easily as possible — and it’s pretty damn easy.
Tunecore announced a major upgrade to their service this week.
If you don't know what it is, Tunecore is one of the digital distributors that will get your music (yes, anyone's) on all the major digital retail outlets - iTunes, Amazon etc.
It charges a fee per release and takes no further commission or rights. It's a great option.
However, if you want to know everything that you'll ever need to know about which digital distribution service to use, check out Adrian @Buzzsonic'samazing post here.
You might not think that matters that much, but it all adds up.
iTunes now accounts for 80% of most of my client's income outside of their own direct-to-fan sales from their websites, so adding another 5% to that makes a noticeable improvement.
And it's relatively easy to do.
What this post teaches is that you should swap bare links to your music on iTunes for 'affiliate' links. Now, if you don't know what an 'affiliate' link is, the short answer is that it's a link that the vendor (in this case iTunes) tracks to see where people coming to their store are being sent from. And, if the visitor buys as a result of coming through your link, you get paid a commission.
This is a massive business online and if you've never heard about it, go and search it up and have your mind blown!
As a musician though, you should follow the advice in this post and use affiliate links to your own music on iTunes.
BTW, the same thing applies on Amazon and various other digital music retailers.
The majority of artists already have their music on iTunes, thanks to simple services like CD Baby and Tunecore. You get 70% of the money every time someone buys your album. But if you are sending you fans to iTunes, you need to sign up for an iTunes Affiliate Account to earn an extra 5% every time one of your fans buys something after clicking on your link!
I know that I owe someone for pointing me to this, but, sorry, I can't remember who!
It's a great video that sets out 7 ways that your songs can make you money - and it makes the very good point that once they are out there earning money they will do so up to your demise and beyond - meaning that a somewhat successful musician has a retirement plan built into their songs!
Obviously, they need to be good to get that kind of income.
So, watch the video and learn the 7 ways that your songs can make you money.
And then, go and check out Sentric Music if you're in the UK and Song Trust if you're in the States. Both these companies offer a great service and will publish your songs no matter whether you're signed or not or how successful you are. One takes a commission on what they collect - at a very fair rate - and the other charges a small monthly fee.
Crucially, neither takes your rights from you. So, should you get a hit record or your career takes off some other way you can finish your deal with them and do a 'big money' deal with a major publisher - if you want to.
I really like the guys at Sentric - it's a great service and very fair. I don't know the Song Trust people but I hear similar good things.
Write songs, get them published, collect money - another basic part of the plan for all musicians.
In essence, he says that music bloggers (and early adopter fans aren't far behind) are using Bandcamp as a sort of new MySpace and are searching for new music to write about on Bandcamp, using the tags that musicians use to describe their music.
So, just by being on Bandcamp, you may get noticed.
But there's more than that to being on Bandcamp - there's a certain section of people who prefer to buy any commodity from one place - lots prefer iTunes for all their music, but some love supporting artists on Bandcamp.
In selling music 'direct to fan', it's no secret that I am coming down heavily in favour of Topspin. But, even if I was using that as a diy musician as my main sales and email system, I'd spend the time to have a Bandcamp profile and store, just for discovery and 'completeness'
A discovery phenomenon has been creeping up amongst music bloggers lately: they’re digging through Bandcamp pages by clicking tags and exploring other artists with those tags. It’s a little bit like the MySpace phenomenon of a few years ago, where bloggers would discover new music by clicking through other bands’ Top 8 friends, but even less efficient (the Top 8 is almost an explicit introduction from the artist).
This post is written from the point of view of the fan buying music and advising them which way will return the most cash to the artist.
But, as a basic primer for you, the artist, it works just as well.
And, in short, what it tells you is that the direct sale to the fan is the one that will make you the most cash. Sort of obvious, but it reminds me that Ian Rogers of Topspin says that you're not in the business of selling 79 pence / cents single track downloads. It just doesn't work.
You're in the business of selling the music experience of your band to the core element of your fanbase - and that starts with selling CD's or album downloads to them. Learn about the direct to fan model from Topspin, Nimbit (this link is their direct to fan training) or Bandcamp.
Say your favorite band is putting out a new album and you've decided to buy it. You want to make sure that when you do, the band gets as much of your money as possible. Where do you shop? Best Buy? Your local record store? iTunes?
I've been using Topspin for a little over a year and have learnt a huge amount about the platform and also the methods that work when you are trying to build a two-way relationship with your fans.
Let's just say that DTF is going to work for you if you already have some momentum and, crucially, if you, the artist, get involved and want to see it work.
If you leave it to the 'manangement' or the 'office', you might as well not bother!
That said, Topspin looks set to be 'the Daddy' when it becomes available to all artists this month.
Eric Hebert has written a great piece about the opportunities that this presents to all artists.
Well it looks like Topspin’s up coming public release just might be the real solution I’m looking for. Now, I’ve been keeping an eye on Topspin for years now, and have a kind of love/hate relationship with the service. I LOVE the widgets and overall look of the tools they have, they are very well designed, fast loading, look very customizable, have no branding whatsoever, etc.
The HATE part comes from simply not being allowed to use the service, as I’ve never had a client with an established fan base to meet the Topspin requirement. For years Topspin seemed to only cater their service to somewhat established acts. In a way I guess I was always just jealous that I wasn’t established enough to be in the cool kids club.
But, I'm still waiting for the killer platform. Topspin is not as good as an email system as the best (such as Aweber). It needs better automated follow-ups (known as autoresponders) and better segmentation so that you can follow up with people who do or don't open your emails. Plus, you have to enter much of your music's metadata to use Topspin so it would make sense if it could distribute to iTunes and other digital stores as well. And thirdly, it doesn't auto-integrate with Facebook like RootMusic or DamntheRadio. It would be great if it did!
I reckon Topspin knows about these three things and will maybe bring them in.
If not, then that's the killer platform that we're waiting for - Topspin plus those three!
I liked this article because it forced me to stop and think.
Not every fan is going to buy your music and other stuff - merch, tickets etc.
But they can still be very valuable in monetary terms - because their social network spreads your music.
Once upon a time, being a "diehard fan" meant buying a band's album, show ticket, T-shirt, limited edition signed LP — anything your earnings would allow. Today the term can have a very different meaning. You can be a "diehard" by blogging about everything the band puts out, posting links to your Facebook wall, re-Tweeting the band's messages, and commenting on its Soundcloud page, all without paying a dime.
Engaging with music in this way doesn't mean you're hurting your favorite band, either. Recent studies suggest quite the opposite: they show that fans who actively engage in social media bring more cash to the artists they love. Liking something on Facebook or re-Tweeting a favorite song can generate real world dollars.
But it's a killer little technique for getting your music genuinely heard and purchased. It's something that you should be doing to promote your music.
As Cameron Mizell says in that post:
I’ve stumbled across a way to sell my music on iTunes to hundreds of people that otherwise have never heard of me without getting any page space or paying for advertising. This has become quite successful for me, and I hope it can help you, and we can all help each other. All you need is an iTunes account. Here’s the deal:
iTunes allows you to publish playlists that you create (on the left side of iTunes). The playlists can be rated from 1-5 stars by other customers, and top rated playlists appear on the page for every album that has a song in the playlist.
This is a crackingly good reference on how to use Bandcamp for your band.
Bandcamp is one of he best options for running your own digital sales from your own site and other online presences. We thoroughly recommend it.
Enter Bandcamp, a service that allows musicians to price and sell their work as they see fit, in whatever digital format they choose. This user-defined pricing scheme puts a great deal of control in the hands of artists, albeit at the cost of a profit percentage that goes to the site. In essence, a user's sales fund the service's operations, which in turn aim to help market and sell the musician better. It's a trade-off that has proven to be a powerful tool for accomplished musicians such as Sufjan Stevens and Amanda Palmer. But Bandcamp can benefit the less established as well -- as long as they're willing to accept the compromise. Read on to see if Bandcamp's innovative business model is your key to freedom from the shackles of iTunes' uniform pricing, or just another shady tactic from the record industry.
We looked at Viinyl when it was first released a month ago, and now Chris Bracco has written a great 'how to' piece on his blog.
It's undoubtedly a great addition to the myriad methods that you now have available for online music promotion, but one that stands out for it's simplicity in both idea and use. I recommend it highly.
Viinyl is a fairly new service that popped up in late 2010 that allows you to create “song-based websites.” They ended up being one of my top picks for 2010′s most interesting and innovative music start-ups, and I’d like to dive a bit deeper into the free service with this post.
If you ever find yourself wanting to promote a single, using Viinyl is an excellent way to provide your fans with a rich media experience surrounding a single song. In this post, I want to show you how you create a one-song web page with Viinyl, and how you can link to it via a subdomain on your official website (e.g. “singleimpromoting.mywebsite.com”).
Moontoast is a new suite of tools that allow you to sell your music direct on your Facebook fan page.
It also promises much more - interaction, storefronts on multiple platforms (your website and others) with email collection and track sharing to come. Is it the answer to Facebook for musicians that everyone is looking for?
Will it be better than RootMusic? It looks like a more comprehensive offering, but, I haven't used it yet, so it's a case of watch this space.
Some of what we teach on our main site - Make It In Music - is the application of Internet Marketing techniques to the promotion, marketing and sale of your music.
Some of what people call Internet Marketing has a very cheesy image (rightly) and many people view Internet Marketers as con-men. Most aren't but they do find themselves peddling 'How to make money' ideas in order to make money - which is obviously circular and therefore feels wrong.
However, taking those methods that they have developed and using them to sell your music isn't cheesy or wrong - it's very right and it WORKS.
Building an email or friend list of people that like your music, giving them free stuff to show your appreciation and asking them to buy your artistic output when appropriate is the most valid way to work the diy musician route.
Brilliant article from Hypebot that gets the in-depth lowdown from DJ Shadow's 'Project, Marketing and Merchandise Manager' on how they work offline and online music promotion.
It ranges from street teams, free badges and old school email sign-ups to a super innovative license back scheme from his label to allow on-artist site digital download sales. Very tricky to get your major label to buy into that!
Essential read.
I am almost at the 5 year mark in working for Shadow, and the web and merchandise business has changed drastically in that time. Through the years, we have had to remain aware and nimble. I think we have done a great job at staying on the cutting edge of the web and merchandise space, and Shadow is ALWAYS on the cutting edge of music. My job is a 10-7 sort of gig most of the year (with the exception of the occasional sleepless night before a launch), but about once a year, I am asked to come along for a tour. In the past, I have managed the website remotely, run the merchandise, and assisted Shadow and the tour manager with any extra help with organization or logistics. This time, I am handling the same tasks, but we are taking it to a new level with the marketing push and the website involvement. Here is what we have lined up:
Brilliant post from Mashable that you shouldn't miss, covering 4 ways that the diy musician can make a few bucks from online services whether you have a record deal or not.
One of the 4, Indaba, I had heard about but not really looked at - I will do now.
We see you out there — the future musicians of the world, pouring coffee, mixing drinks, designing websites for shifty moving companies, all the while dreaming of making it big: signing to a label, cutting a record, reaping the benefits that only a throng of gaping groupies can herald.
While not all of you will make the proverbial “Big Time” — we can’t all be Lady Gaga, nor should we strive to be — that doesn’t mean that you can’t reap some monetary benefits for your musical labor.
Nimbit is a great direct to fan platform that allows you to deal with all the tasks that come with selling your music on your own.
Watch this video from the Nimbit co-founder Phil Antoniades where he covers some of the topics that you need to be thinking about as a diy artists - from deluxe packages to free promo codes.
We looked at Viinyl
