More than nine million musicians are trying to connect with more than 200 million music fans, according to some estimates. The huge numbers alone would suggest the odds are in their favor. Yet the channels musicians have traditionally relied upon to get their music discovered, promoted and sold are increasingly irrelevant and as a result, musicians are increasingly on their own, without labels, record stores or radio to help them. The artist's challenge is to convert casual fans into loyal fans, and loyal fans into paying customers. Getting music discovered is no longer enough. Musicians have to engage and involve casual listeners in order to build deep and lasting connections with them, and to convert them to loyal fans. These connections are what drive sales of the concert tickets, band merchandise, and CDs artists need to pay the rent and put gas in the van.

Record labels play a smaller and smaller role in breaking new bands or even promoting signed bands. Record stores are disappearing and radio is less and less of a factor in promoting new music. It's hard for a new band to breakthrough amongst the millions of songs in the iTunes Store. It's also true that music fans have changed, acclimated to the read/write web and the social interaction that comes with it, and looking for the same experience with music and the artists who create it.

While the business part of the traditional music business is breaking down, music is alive and well and there is more music than ever. MixMatchMusic is on a mission to help keep music alive by helping artists forge deeper and more meaningful connections with fans by giving musicians tools that they need to:

• Constantly interact with fans wherever they go through custom, mobile applications
• Engage fans creatively through remix contests and collaboration promotions that enable any fan with an internet connection and a browser to participate in a creative process.
• Virally promote their music on Twitter and other social networks.

MusicMatchMusic is addressing each of these needs.

The MixMatchMusic artist solution is built on four key products:

1. MobBase. MobBase makes it easy for musicians to create, launch and manage their own, custom iPhone applications. The iPod put music in fans' pockets, and the MobBase iPhone app puts musicians in fans' pockets. For as little as $0.50 a day, MobBase gives artists a mobile, interactive fan club, storefront, and merchandise table that enables them to share music, photos, videos, tweets, news, information about shows, and other content with fans. The MobBase application is highly customizable, so artists can pick and choose the content they offer to fans and also the way that content is presented. MobBase is also built on an advanced content management system that makes it easy to add, manage, and update content and design in real-time.
2. Remix Wizard. The Remix Wizard is a lightweight music mashup widget that lives on artists' sites and social network pages, and gives them a new way to engage fans through remix contests and promotions. Artists load stems of their songs into the Remix Wizard and invite their fans to mix and match the various parts and create entirely new compositions from those parts. The Remix Wizard is powered by the MixMaker, an online audio sequencer and editing tool, that combines the power of a professional Digital Audio Workstation music sequencer with an intuitive UI and ease-of-use that makes it accessible to the masses, enabling creative experimentation by fans. The Remix Wizard is free, simple to install, and easy to use and gives artists a cool viral tool for engaging fans, and allows them to emulate the hugely popular remix promotions mounted by bands such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails.
3. Tra.kz. Tra.kz is the easy way for musicians to share and promote their music on Twitter and other social networks. Musicians can create a Tra.kz page for their song that features a custom short URL and a player for the song. The page has all the tools fans need to share the song on Twitter, mobile devices, Facebook, and other social networks. Musicians can check how the word is spreading, even getting to see every time someone tweets about the song. Tra.kz is more than a URL shortener - it's a mobile music marketing machine.
4. the MixMatchMusic Community. The MixMatchMusic Community is a dynamic music creation community that promotes collaboration between artists and fans. Musicians contribute parts of songs, called stems, such as guitar riffs, drum and vocal tracks; works in progress; or finished songs. Community members can search thru this catalog of sounds and songs to find stems to complement their own song ideas and works in progress. They can also communicate with other musicians to discuss song or album projects. Casual fans — even those who don't play an instrument — can experiment with the sounds, discover new music, and download stems or songs for use as ringtones or soundtracks for slide shows. Members of the community use the online MixMaker to mix, match, mash up, and manipulate their stems along with stems contributed by various artists. The Community also includes a marketplace which includes highly transparent accounting processes and transaction logs that ensure musicians know the status of their work, are attributed and paid whenever it is downloaded or used in other art, or even by casual fans as ringtones. Musicians collect $0.85 cents on each dollar transacted.

There are numerous disaggregated sites that offer some parts of the MixMatchMusic service's functionality, ranging from hobbyist remix sites that offer popular music remixes to bulletin boards that offer musicians a chance to post and respond to opportunities. Only MixMatch music combines the collaboration tools, fan engagement, and comprehensive rights protection to allow artists and fans alike to profit from the creation and distribution of music.

MixMatchMusic is helping shape the way music is created, experienced and distributed in the 21st century. Its product roadmap includes the addition of greater functionality for its tools and expansion of its offering through a series of artist and fan friendly technologies designed to forge even stronger and deeper connections.