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.

Radio still matters....

....for now.

More @Lefsetz but with a big nod to Ian Rogers from Topspin.

Bob is commenting on an interview of old school label guy Al Teller by the Topspin boss.

In the video, Al tells us like it is:

"Mass appeal radio, saturation radio play, is still the single most powerful connective roadway for an artist to fans… Mass appeal radio is still the one last barrier that has to be broken down… It’s a very symbiotic relationship between the major music companies and the major radio stations. Once that link is broken, then I think the game is over, then I think the Internet reality, the ability to do all of the pieces of the puzzle, to get from an unknown artist to someone who can sell serious numbers of recordings, that’s when I think that game will be in a whole new dimension."

So, when, and what will replace it?

No-one knows, but it matters to you because until the fall of mainstream radio, the final piece of the DIY puzzle is out of your hands. Change will come and the promise of an entirely DIY route to mainstream success will become a reality.

Read Bob's piece here.

And here's the video.

 

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.

NPR is where it's at

Bob Lefsetz is always talking about the reach of National Public Radio in the US.
It should be of great interest to all artists because it is egalitarian and you have a chance of having your music picked up and played on one of their shows ('All Songs Considered' is probably your best target for new indie music of any genre) - which may be syndicated across nearly 1,000 local community radio stations across the States.
It's even better than that as most of the shows are released online as streams or podcasts.
I'm not saying that radio promotion of any kind is easy for the DIY musician in the US, but there are little chinks of light that you should go after.
Bob says this:
Whenever I’m on NPR, I hear about it multiple times, for months thereafter.  From people I haven’t seen since college, from people who care not a whit about the music business.  My mother will call and say her octogenarian friends heard me testifying.  Which is all a long story to tell you when NPR comes-a-knockin’, SAY YES!
Read his view in this piece here.