Insight into Retaining your Fans

Brian Mansfield of USATODAY wrote a great piece in Friday's edition about different ways artists are retaining their fans through interaction. Here's a snippet: "As CD sales decline, advances from record labels dwindle and audience demographics break up into smaller niches, more and more artists from all levels of popularity are seeking to retain fans by including them in the creative process."

The article may give you some ideas, and the comment thread is interesting as well.

Bon Iver's Rise in Popularity

If you haven't seen this video from the Wall Street Journal about Bon Iver's (Justin Vernon) rise in popularity via the Internet, then take 3 minutes to watch it, as it demonstrates the power of word-of-mouth recommendation from music listeners:

Imagine if you could track Bon Iver's rise in fans before he gained a ground-swell following... That's one of the services Band Metrics will attempt to provide.

Google Friend Connect for Musicians

Yesterday I was experimenting with Google Friend Connect, a relatively new service from GOOG that allows one to easily install social widgets created by Google and/or by the developer community of OpenSocial, a common API for social applications across multiple websites. Given its ease-of-installation and use, you may find a widget or two that would help you enrich your current web site or blog, helping you engage your current fans more deeply and attract new fans as well.

While their current catalog of gadgets is limited, expect scores of new gadgets over the coming weeks and months. I've added the member gadget to the right of this post as an example. You can also see an implementation at the Madtown Lounge (Allen McGuire decided to install the sign-in gadget among others after reading my tweet - congrats Allen - it looks great!). While the member gadget is similar to Yahoo's MyBlogLog, Google's minimalist interface is more intuitive, so definitely check it out. Here's a short video about Friend Connect:

Second Life, More than a Promotional Tool for Artists: Interview with Grace Buford (A.K.A. Cylindrian)

For several months I've wanted to interview an artist or band successfully using Second Life. A couple of weeks ago, Timothy Moenk sent me a link about a podcast that Rusty Tanton and Amber Rhea recently created on the Georgia Podcast Network with Grace Buford, an Atlanta based singer/songwriter. During this artist interview, Grace, A.K.A. Cylindrian, talks about her experience as a musician using Second Life to market her music. Her insight on how Second Life is helping her connect with new fans and promote her music is helpful, and so, I edited the original podcast and distilled it down to 10 minutes of her comments about Second Life, which you can  listen to here.

Not only is Second Life providing a global, real-time platform for showcasing her music, but Grace is also building a world-wide virtual following. This virtual audience interaction is also convenient and profitable, as Grace can perform on-line as much or as little as she wants, and when she wants, without travel expenses like food, lodging and gas.

Grace is primarily using Second Life as a way to build her brand, get new gigs and for broadcasting, like her IRL live shows and rehearsals. When Grace mentioned this, it occurred to me that Second Life is a great way to publish content to a potential fan community, as well as engage in one-to-one relationships with your existing fans, deepening your fans' loyalty to you. It's also a great way to get feedback on your new songs before you even release them. Who knows, one of your fans may just give you some feedback that's the difference between your song being average, and becoming a hit.

Second Life could also be a good avenue for artists to connect with one another in different parts of the country, helping each other with gigs in geographic areas where they have not yet played. You could also use Second Life to tap into fans that have never heard of your band by visiting the existing virtual communities in Second Life where people gather to listen, see and chat about other artists in your genre.

Towards the end of  this interview, Grace raises a great question... If Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Second Life, etc. are not increasing an artist's fan base or revenue, is it worth it to spend the time managing these promotional tactics? My response is that good music always finds a way to rise to the top, and if one is spending a ton of time marketing their music with little return, than it might be time to pursue another career, because if people don't like your music than marketing it is not going to help you sell it.

If you're an artist and have Second Life successes you would like to share on this blog, please contact me as I would like to post your experiences.

Increase Fan Participation with BackNoise

If you're looking to create on-line conversations on-the-fly that will enhance your band's live performances and build a stronger fan community, than check out BackNoise. Essentially, it's a free, ad-hoc backchannel service that allows you to create real-time conversations about anything in less than 5 seconds. All you do is either join a conversation already in progress or create one by typing out the name - it's that easy!

There are a number of ways to use this conversation app., from interviews to meetups and touring discussions, but here's an example of how to use it for your live performances:
1) Go to BackNoise and create your band's conversation. You can name it whatever you want, but it might be best to name it after your band to make it easier for your fans to find. For example,  http://backnoise.com/eels. Again, BackNoise does not require you to create an account, as the service is entirely anonymous, so this step should take less than 5 seconds to do.
2) Create an iFrame with your BackNoise URL and post it on your web site, blog, video streaming site, etc. so folks can access the conversation directly from your sites.
3) Send out an email with the URLs to your fan base letting them know you're going to have free, open conversations available during your shows for everyone watching online via sites like Synchronicity Live or Ustream. Also send them the RSS feed (e.g. backnoise.com/eels.rss), the iFrame code in case anyone wants to add the conversation on one of their own sites (nice viral aspect ), and for those attending the show, let them know that they can also access the conversation from their web enabled phone. That's it, but you may also want to remind your audience as you begin your show. Then watch the comments fly as anything goes in an anonymous no-login required environment.

Last week I used BackNoise at Startup Riot to discuss pitches that were being presented with others attending the event at the same time. It was a great way for us to interact, and I think you will see that BackNoise will give your fans something to talk about for days after one of your shows.

AdaptiveBlue: No Boiler Plate Autoresponder

Here's an example about developing loyalty you can apply to the art of building your fan base. A couple of days ago I installed the iTunes Top 25 Albums widget by AdaptiveBlue. Initially, I wasn't that excited about it as I really didn't like any of the music I saw. But, the next day I received an email from someone at AdaptiveBlue stating:

"We also offer the ability to make your own widget, that updates automatically, so that you could save an indie artist while surfing and have it automatically show up in your widget in your sidebar. If you're interested in setting this up, drop me a note and I'll help you out."

Not only was I surprised about the widget's feature, but that someone at AdaptiveBlue actually took the time to read what my blog was about and then sent me a relevant email. It was not a canned auto-response sent upon someone installing their widget. Rather, it was individualized and applicable. The individual even went on to recommend an indie band called, Sunset Rubdown. This kind of customer service is rare these days, and I'm excited to see it in action, as it was the modus operandi for an ISP I use to work for called MindSpring. A lot of companies talk about these kinds of customer service tactics, but are unable to fulfill them because their corporate culture doesn't truly embrace the necessary ethos (a topic for another day).

It goes without saying that I will be replying to this individual's email, and I look forward to learning more about how to use their music widgets, and AdaptiveBlue. I also think it's fair to say that they just acquired a loyal customer for free.

So what can an indie band or musician learn from this example, there are at least three things:

1) Thank your listeners and fans every chance you get, from when they download your music, to watching your live shows, as they are the very reason you even have an audience. This may seem like obvious PR 101, but many musicians do not do this. Just look at your MySpace account and count the number of times you thanked someone for adding your band to their friends page - I think you will see a low number. Letting them know that you truly appreciate their support will help you develop a loyal following, and it's free.

2) Find ways to reach out to your fans and listen to what they have to say about your music. You might learn a couple of things you could benefit from (e.g. your listeners want to hear more acoustic versions). Additionally, it will help you develop a relationship with them, which also translates into loyalty.

3) There are now over 4 million songs available on the Internet, and getting your music noticed in this ever crowding industry is becoming more difficult each day, but developing loyalty with your fans is one way to help you break through, as loyal fans are more inclined to spread the word about your music to people you do not know.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Peace