Tag Archive for 'Soundcloud'

Survival Guide for Engaging Fans and Building a Career in Music [Infographic]

published
on November 14, 2012
by
Alan Khalfin
in DIY, future of music, MobBase, music, music business, technology, and tools for musicians
. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Careers in music are built on fans that are engaged with the music and feel connected to the artist. Fortunately there are dozens of services and tools to help artists. Yet if you’re an artist, where do you start? Do you need more than one service? If so, what’s the right combination for you? How do you make sense of it all?

With artists struggling to figure out what they need to do, we’ve developed a “Survival Guide for Engaging Fans and Building a Career in Music” to put shape around this increasingly confusing landscape. It illustrates the ‘tools-for-musicians’ ecosystem, some (but of course, not all) of the key players, their relationship to the whole, and how mobile plays into all of this.

Here’s how it works:

First, do whatever needs to be done to get discovered. This doesn’t mean getting discovered by millions of people, but rather, a core initial group of fans that you will build on.

Next, engage this core initial group of fans in an interactive and authentic way in order to convert them from casual fans into loyal fans. By doing so, fans will be much more likely to support you financially and spread the word.

Once a deep connection has been made, offer fans many ways to support you financially and make it easy for them to do so. This includes selling music and creative bundles directly from your website, offering unique merch, and giving fans the opportunity to invest in you through one of the many crowdfunding platforms out there, like PledgeMusic. Get creative and don’t assume the only way to get paid is to sell music in iTunes!

Finally, carefully analyze what has worked and what hasn’t, and adjust things accordingly. Then, repeat, repeat, repeat… and don’t forget about mobile!

MobBase Integrates Soundcloud & BandsInTown, Adds Key Distribution Partners

published
on September 20, 2010
by
Alan Khalfin
in DIY, MobBase, music, music business, technology, and tools for musicians
. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Soundcloud BandsInTown

MobBase, the fast, easy and inexpensive way for you to build your own iPhone app, has integrated Soundcloud and BandsInTown to its service to make it easier for artists to share music and get fans to their gigs. MobBase is also making it easier for artists to get their own apps by making them available from BFM Digital, Ditto Music, Musicfinity, and The Indie.

The new capabilities and distribution relationships coincide with an important new milestone – 325 MobBase apps have been developed and released since the service debuted in November, 2009.

“MobBase helps artists build their careers by making it easy and inexpensive for them to connect and engage with fans,” said Charles Feinn, co-founder and CEO of MixMatchMusic, MobBase’s developer. “Integrating Soundcloud and BandsInTown adds sought-after functionality, and distribution with BFM Digital, Ditto Music, Musicfinity, and The Indie makes it even easier for them to get the app they really want.”

More power to connect and engage fans
BandsInTown is a platform that connects live music fans to their favorite artists. Its integration with MobBase makes it painless for an artist to add and manage tour dates, with information about shows, including when and where it’s taking place and how to get tickets, sourced from artists’ Facebook and Myspace pages, ArtistData and thousands of venues around the world.

Soundcloud’s integration with MobBase makes it even easier for artists to add music to their custom apps. Artists can now stream tracks directly from their Soundcloud library into their MobBase app, eliminating the manual loading of mp3 files. The integration makes it fast and simple for artist to get their music into fans’ hands and on their phones.

The new technology partners complement existing integrations with Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, and Shoutcast. MobBase’s capabilities and extensive relationships with its technology partners make it a complete solution for artists.

“Our mantra is ‘get fans to the gig,'” said Todd Cronin, CEO of BandsInTown. “It’s a huge win for an artist to be able to deliver essential gig info via the same app they use to connect with fans, on the device that is with them every waking moment.”

Ditto MusicBFM Digital

More places to get your own custom iPhone app
BFM Digital, Ditto Music, The Indie, and Musicfinity are each offering their artists the opportunity to get their own, custom MobBase app. MobBase is also offered through IODA, Iris, and Tunecore – in addition, indie labels including Silverback Music/Controlled Substance Sound Labs, SMC Recordings, Welk Music Group, Vanguard Records, Town Thizzness, Red Bull Records, Sargent House, and 429 Records are also offering MobBase apps and promoting MobBase to their artists.

“BFM’s label partners are creating iPhone apps because they see the value of connecting with fans in real time via mobile technology,” said Steven Corn, CEO of BFM Digital. “MobBase is an ideal partner for such applications, as they are highly customizable, user-friendly and affordable for indie artists.”

More apps for more artists
More than 325 MobBase iPhone apps have been released so far, with scores more in development or in the Apple queue for approval. Prominent artists including Pepper, Parkway Drive, John McLaughlin, and Everclear are among the bands that have built and launched their own MobBase apps. MobBase is the preferred app solution for indie artists such as Rebelution, Paul Thorn, Jump Smokers, RX Bandits, Zion I, and Veronica Ballestrini.

Fast, easy and inexpensive way for artists to get their own iPhone app
MobBase is the low cost way for musicians to share music, photos, videos, tweets, news, information about shows, merchandise and other content with fans on their mobile devices. MobBase apps are priced for starving artists and also artists who remember what it is like to starve, with many artists paying as little as $0.50 a day for their own custom iPhone app.

Root Music: BandPages on Facebook

published
on June 10, 2010
by
Sandra
in DIY, fans, future of music, music, music business, social media, startups, tools for musicians, and website
. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Remember when the tables turned and MySpace went from being the coolest social networking site around to a shady place for scantily-clad teens in questionable photos and, well… musicians? Despite the seizure-inducing animated gifs and glittering madness that came with the pimp-your-profile craze, MySpace somehow still maintained its role as THE place for musicians. Your band maybe had its own website if, you know, it was all fancy and stuff. But your band definitely had a MySpace page!

Then Facebook came along and soothed us with its minimalist design and all its tangible real-world benefits, and rocked our collective worlds. And yet, the musician was always left to fend for him or herself.

Enter Root Music. Musicians now FINALLY have a home on Facebook. This clever little San Francisco-based startup has created a way for musicians to share their stuff right from within Facebook. The BandPage is a tab just like your photos, info, or wall tabs. While they browse your page, fans can listen to your music from the embedded SoundCloud player. Want to place a banner on your page? Easy! Just upload the picture you want to use. No need to create a custom one. Every section of the BandPage is easily editable. Just drop, drag, and customize as you wish.

What you end up with is a sexy place within your Facebook profile, which you already use and people are already looking at, to share all your stuff (info, photos, shows, twitter feed and much much more) with your fans. In the place where they are already hanging out! It’s an elegant solution to an obvious problem, and Root Music has done it with aplomb. Once you setup your Root Music Bandpage on Facebook, be sure to set it as the default landing page so that it’s the first thing fans see!