Indie Ambassador: helping artists build sustainable careers

Not quite sure what Indie Ambassador does, as I haven't seen their application, but it looks like they're going to provide some management tools for touring, including a comprehensive review database of venues, similar to Onlinegigs.

Founded by two recent Berklee graduates, Indie Ambassador is still in private beta, but you can request access here. According to their web site, they plan to release their public beta this Summer. Here's a short intro video about their progress.

Create an Artist Blog in Minutes with Lifeyo

I just read an article about Lifeyo, a free, easy-to-use blog/website builder (similar to Bandzoogle) that launched last week at SXSW. For musicians and bands looking to quickly create a nice looking blog in minutes, than you may want to explore what Lifeyo offers, and because it's a webapp, there's no software to download. But, if you're looking for a feature-rich solution, or a company that solely focuses on artists, than take a look at Bandzoogle. Below is a brief interview and demo with Lifeyo from CenterNetworks:

Free Music Business Panel Discussion April 24 in Atlanta

Save the date for a free music business panel discussion moderated by Bruce Burch of the University of Georgia's Music Business program. The event is open to the public and will be held at Eddie's Attic in Atlanta on Saturday, April 24 from 11am to 3pm. I'll provide more details soon; in the meantime, below are the confirmed panelists:

• James Andrews: managing partner/co-founder of Everywhere Social Media
• Aaron Arnold: CEO of MusicIsMyBusiness, former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs
• Mark "Dill” Driscoll: founder of World Sports Promotions, McCann Event Marketing, Momentum Worldwide, Ignition, and Entrepreneur in Residence at UGA’s Terry College of Business
• Chris Esposito: President and CEO of Digital College Network
• Duncan Freeman, founder of Band Metrics
• Tammy Hurt, founder of Outsource Events, Inc, and Placement Music LLC
• Clarkson Logan, co-founder of Maestro
• Richard Nailing, co-founder and CEO of Free All Music
• Doria Roberts, singer/songwriter

Also, I'll be live blogging from the event, and we'll try to provide a live video stream as well.

An Expanded List of Music Licensing Companies

The following is a guest post from James Allen. We've received a lot of interest about music licensing providers, so we thought we'd revise our initial list to include all of the companies that have been mentioned in the comments on IMT, and organize them in an alphabetical list below. If there are still more, please add them by commenting to this post. With almost two dozen providers listed below, and rumors that more are coming, which company do you think is the best?

• AudioMicro (license music for motion pictures, feature films, short films, radio advertisements, PowerPoint presentations, iPhone apps and more)
• BeatPick (showcasing 306 talented artists / 5000+ music tracks for film, TV, advertising and other use)
• Gamecues (music licensing for the gaming industry)
• Getty Images (music licensing through Pump Audio)
• iStockphoto (license royalty-free, pay-as-you-go audio tracks and Flash files)
• Jamendo PRO (music licenses for film, documentaries, promotional videos, websites and more)
• LicenseQuote (a music licensing e-commerce solution for music publishers, labels, artists or bands to license their songs and recordings directly from their own web sites while keeping 100% of the sales revenues)
• Magnatune (licensing for independent music)
• Mango Reel (a UK music consultancy with an extensive catalog of independent music for licensing within the television, film, video game and advertising industries)
• Matchless Music (a music licensing site which helps Indie musicians license their tunes to clients in television, film, video games, commercials and the web)
• Music Dealers (a full-service music licensing company that connects quality artists from around the world with leading brands, networks, advertising agencies, film production houses and gaming companies)
• NaxosLicensing (music licensing for classical music, from Bach to Wagner)
• Pump Audio (artists and labels communicate directly with those looking to license music for TV, film, commercials, etc. without giving up any ownership)
• Renommee (European based music licensing provider)
• Ricall (music licensing marketplace, connecting users wanting to license music directly with the relevant copyright owners)
• Rumblefish (licensing for television, film, advertisements, websites, videos, games, podcasts, and sonic branding - e.g. your music inside your local Gap)
• Sentric Music (has contacts across the globe that look for opportunities for their artists music in TV, advertising, film and games)
• SoundLounge (music consultancy helping clients to license their music across all platforms and territories)
• SoundReef (private beta service exchanging music for promotion in television, film, advertising, etc.)
• YookaMusic (a music licensing marketplace for music supervisors, marketing/advertising firms and the like looking to license music, as well as those providing music to license like artists and labels)
• YouLicense (music licensing marketplace, enabling artists and those seeking music to contact each other directly)

ArtistData Releases Improved UI, New Features, Paid Options and more

ArtistData just released some significant improvements this morning. Below is a little bit of what Brenden Mulligan had to say (go here to read his detailed announcement):

"Today we released the single largest revision to the ArtistData platform. For the past few months we've been reworking and improving the user interface to develop a framework that will allow us to drastically expand our site's capabilities. We are thrilled to share it with everyone today....

There are many back-end upgrades, including time-zone support to make our timed notifications more relevant, full character support so users all over the world can use their native characters and a ton of smaller bug fixes just to make the site work better.

The biggest and most visible user interface change is the way we organize our features. While previously the features were mashed together on one huge, confusing screen, now they are presented as separate installable applications. You can expect to see this application library grow this year as we introduce more apps that we build, as well as introduce 3rd party applications. This is a major step in our goal to provide artists with a central platform containing a robust set of apps built by a number of different developers...

We know going from a free service to a partially paid service is a tough transition, and we're expecting to hear frustration. But we're excited to make this transition because it will just make ArtistData stronger, smarter and more valuable not only for our users but for the music industry as a whole. Just as artists can buy better gear after their fans support them by buying albums and concert tickets, we will be able to build a stronger platform when our users support us. This is a major, exciting step towards providing the entire community with better resources."

Great work Brenden, congrats!!

How Does SoundExchange Work

Curious as to how SoundExchange works, and how it can benefit you? Then check out this short video they created a couple of days ago:

ArtistData Founder Brenden Mulligan Announces Consulting Service

Are you an artist looking to make sense of digital marketing, and the wide variety of social media and Internet based tools now available for bands and musicians? Then you may want to contact Brenden Mulligan, founder of ArtistData, as he recently started Brenden Mulligan Consulting aimed at providing custom, focused digital marketing advice for artists (he'll also work with labels and management companies too).

Not only is Brenden qualified to assist you, but he's got a no-hassle, easy-to-schedule service with great pricing to boot.

ReverbNation Partners with Label 2.0

ReverbNation has teamed up with the Internet music marketing community, Label 2.0 to offer advanced music promotion training for their 450,000+ members called, “Advanced Tips." This free step-by-step training module located in ReverbNation's Control Room helps "users to learn how to fully utilize their ReverbNation memberships." Presently, there are 8 chapters, from the "basics of getting started" to more advance customization and features, but Label 2.0 will continually update and add to this module as new tools and enhancements from ReverbNation are added, as well as "how to build the ultimate website using Wordpress and ReverbNation." See what this module is all about below - looks really informative! Hats off to Greg and Eric for a job well done!

Inference is the Difference: Gaining Insight from Music Data Analytics

One of the goals of Band Metrics is to help artists and music industry professionals gain insight from the quantitative and qualitative data we collect, as identifying correlations can be the difference between increasing revenue for your band, or spinning your wheels guessing as to how your fans interact, share and listen to your music. Below are two recent screencasts that help demonstrate a couple of the areas we're working on to make meaning out of your music data (view more of our screencasts here).

The first screencast demonstrates how radio play data (soon social data) could help you build relationships with broadcast stations that are, or are not playing your music. The second one provides a suggested tour map based on the data we're collecting about your band. These are both experimental mapping features at this point, one of the reasons why we're still in private beta, but we thought you might like to see them if you don't have an account:

Music Power Network

Dave Kusek, a music industry veteran, technologist, entrepreneur, author, consultant and Vice President of the Berklee College of Music, has released a web service called the Music Power Network (MPN) which helps developing artists, songwriters, managers, producers and other music industry professionals advance their careers by providing resources, interviews, advice, expertise and more. Essentially, MPN is an online structured system that provides step-by-step guidance, instruction and resources to help you plan and grow your career in the music industry.

The service is not free, but if you register now, you'll save 50% off, and you can try it risk free for 7 days. Given all that MPN provides, it's a great price. Here's just some of what an MPN membership includes:

• Online Music Business Course: Dave Kusek gives you a crash course on the New Music Business. Learn the importance of direct-to-fan marketing and independent promotion and how to build a team to help you succeed.
• Exclusive Music Video Interviews and Expert Advice: Gain insight from experts in the music industry responsible for the careers of hundreds of well known, Grammy winning artists, producers, managers, entrepreneurs and songwriters. Watch interviews with these industry professionals and search insights and advice across categories & keywords using our searchable video database.
• Resources and Connections: Tap into an up-to-date database of hand-picked resources and industry contacts including managers, attorneys, publicists, agents, booking agents, publishers, producers, merchandisers, digital distributors, labels, marketing services, music supervisors, promoters and more.
• Custom Interactive Business Plans: Use our Custom Interactive Planners to take you step-by-step through the process of setting your goals and planning your music career or business. Guide your success with proven methods & strategies.
• MPN Network: Gain exclusive access to MPN Member Forums and Music Industry News feeds. Get the information you need from people you trust. As an MPN member you will also receive discounts on products and services from our partners.

Recap Links and Photo Tour of the Future of Music Policy Summit

If you missed this year's Future of Music Policy Summit, you can read posts from their live blog, and they've added a few videos and articles here as well. Weathervane also wrote three great summaries about the conference. The FMC Summit was a fantastic event, one of the best music conferences I've been to all year - from the panels to the community, and I'd definitely add it to your list of events to attend in 2010. Below are a few pics I snapped during the conference:

A Brief Look at the Development of Bandize

Below is a short email interview with my friend Andy Miles of Bandize. He provides some interesting insight on the evolution of Bandize, it's a must read for anyone involved with or interested in music tech startups.

Q: If I recall correctly, it took about a year and half before you guys launched your initial product, why did it take so long?
In the beginning, we knew there was a definite lack in the marketplace for something like Bandize simply based on our own experience in attempting to organize our own bands and also by talking with several musician friends. We also do 100% of our development in-house, which at the time afforded us some major flexibility that we definitely needed when first getting Bandize off the ground. To really answer your question though, it took approximately one year to get the feature set we deemed necessary based on a few focus groups, user questionnaires, and general user feedback. We really take user feedback very seriously and sometimes it would even dictate which direction we'd head next.

Q: What challenges did you guys encounter building your application? What did you learn?
I would definitely say the biggest challenge for us was simply the size of Bandize. We had several early meetings where we tried to decide what features we definitely needed and which we could do without, but we always knew Bandize was going to be a very large system. Our current feature set deals almost entirely with the behind-the-scenes of band's career and that's exactly what we were going for. When we started Bandize there simply was no web-based DIY band management software out there, so we looked to the people we knew we could count on for direction: musicians. Band management is a complex and ongoing activity, but it doesn't have to be a stressful and unorganized one and that's exactly what Bandize is proving time and time again.

Q: Now that your initial product is live, what are your present challenges?
We knew Bandize was popular, but I don't think we were ready for the influx of user activity we experienced when we moved out of beta. After a few days of experiencing some growing pains, we added proxy servers and started to really tighten up the entire system a little more once we were able to see what our new users were benefiting from the most.

Q: How do you differentiate Bandize from your competitors?
For one thing, every single person involved with the creation of Bandize was, has, or continues to be in a band. In addition to being musicians some of us are also promoters, band managers, Moog collectors, record label owners, patent holders etc., and I believe this definitely sets us apart because we are our own users.

Q: Do you have plans to release a mobile version of bandize?
We have definite plans to release a mobile version of Bandize. Development has already begun and we hope to have it out very soon. We also have some other mobile treats coming down the pipeline as well, which should make it even easier for our users to access their accounts from the road.

Two Quick Band Metrics Demos

Below are a couple of quick screencasts on using Band Metrics. The first one demonstrates how to view historical data for an artist. The second one shows how to add and manage multiple bands within one account. As we make enhancements to Band Metrics, we'll provide new screencasts. If you have any questions, let us know here.

Music and Society: Segmenting your Fan Community

Yesterday I gave this presentation at the C/O POP Music Festival and Conference in Cologne, Germany. Essentially, I explored the relationship between music and society, and how artists can better understand their own fan community through segmentation, which can lead to fan growth and increased revenue for them. Since I had several people ask for a copy so they could see the Facebook example and the resources again, here it is. Btw, Band Metrics will begin providing fan segmentation next week.

Band Metrics Adds Multiple Band Management

If you haven't yet noticed, we quietly released our latest product feature earlier this week that allows you to manage multiple bands through one login - it's a fantastic tool for artist management companies, labels, venues, A&R reps, promoters, music supervisors, publicists, marketing agencies and others. We're still tweaking it, so please let us know how we can improve.

Btw, this is a premium service, so please call us to get access at +1/404.492-6511.

Band Metrics Partners with The Orchard

Are you looking for deep social, radio, and fan analytics that show geographical correlations to your digital and physical CD sales? Than our new partnership with The Orchard (NASDAQ: ORCD), which has a client base that represents 15% of all digital music may be what you're looking for, as that's what we aim to provide in the coming months.

Below is a clip from The Orchard's press release this morning:

The Orchard announced that it is launching a groundbreaking platform, using an API (Application Programming Interface) to provide clients access to third party business solutions from a marketplace within The Orchard’s proprietary client Workstation. For the launch, The Orchard has tapped many of the entertainment industry’s leading marketing, sales, and analytics application companies, including ArtistData, Band Metrics, TheBizmo, BMAT, FanBridge, Mediaguide, Mobile Roadie, New Reach Technologies, Peekok, Topspin, Trendrr, and uPlaya.

These launch partners will offer turn-key products geared to serve the needs of Orchard’s global client base, which represents 15% of all music available digitally. Within the Workstation’s marketplace, clients will be able to easily choose from this broad array of tools, each the best in its class. Over time, as the market continues to proliferate with innovative applications and services, Orchard will include additional qualified partners and continue to build out and manage the largest and most robust platform of third-party developers in the industry.

At launch, the applications, all selected with client needs in mind, will include various forms of sales and analytic tools, marketing vehicles, email and mobile services, widget creation, iPhone App creation, and data tracking. Orchard clients will receive a discounted rate for the services they choose, enabling these clients yet one more way of reducing their operating costs through their Orchard affiliation, without sacrificing sophistication or reach. Payment for use of the third party apps is secured through The Orchard and is reflected in client billing.

When clients opt in to a third party tool, the application will draw information (e.g. metadata, audio and video files, art work) from The Orchard’s secure interface to power customized marketing tools. To close the loop, clients can choose a data solution, which uses The Orchard’s metadata, to track their online exposure.

Band Metrics Expands Artists Mapping Platform

Last week we announced our Artists Mapping Platform for Band Metrics, and today we're excited to say that we've expanded it to now also display how your fans are sharing your music from over 20 sources, including the following:

• Blip.fm
• Foxytunes 
• IMEEM
• Lala 
• Last.fm 
• Napster
• Song.ly
• Songtwit
• Songza 
• Spotify 
• TinySong 
• Trackz
• Tweetj 
• Twisten 
• Twitum 
• Twt.fm
• #musicmonday and scores of other hashtags

Why is this important? Great question. Let's suppose you're trying to figure out where your hot markets (fan bases) are so you can earn the highest profit margin while on tour, because in this economy, you're better off playing 10 at capacity or oversold shows than 20 shows at 50 percent capacity. With today's addition of the social sharing display to our mapping platform, artists, managers, venue owners, booking agencies, promoters and the like can now gain insight into what cities have the highest concentration of not only your fans, but the highest concentration of your passionate fans and music enthusiasts talking about your band and/or music. The conclusion here is that the more passionate a fan base you have in a particular city, the more likely you are to draw a large crowd to your show. Below is what it looks like, but please know we've still got a great deal of work left to do on it, and you may encounter some bugs, but we thought you all would like to start using it anyway, so please let us know how we can improve it for you.

 

Band Metrics Releases Artists Mapping Platform

For the past few months, one of the things we've been working on that we're really proud and excited about is the Band Metrics Artist Mapping Platform. Essentially, it displays all kinds of data relative to artists, and their fans' activities. Earlier this week, we unveiled our initial Conversation Map that displays where your fans, non-fans, and music enthusiasts are talking about your band online from around the world as seen here:

We also unveiled our Popularity Map which displays the countries where your band has fans, ranging from the least amount of fans to the most by color intensity and popularity numbers as seen here:


Today, we unveiled our terrestrial Radio Map which displays not only the geographic locations where your band is getting plays, but also which stations, and the total number of plays.


We're still polishing our maps and mapping platform, so hang tight while we refine them and fix some bugs, but the above maps are only the beginning, so please stay connected as we add even more!

Bandize's Persistence Pays Off

My friends over at Bandize, a great band management service I wrote about 6 months ago, has moved out of private beta with the official release of their service this morning. As a fellow entrepreneur, I'm really proud of these guys, as I know first hand how difficult it is to launch a music technology company, and I think their tweet to Artists House Music sums it up best: "@artistshouse Just wanted to let you guys know that after a year and a half, we went public today!"

So congratulations Guys! Your commitment and dedication to your vision has paid off - Bravo!

Artist Reports Now Available on Band Metrics

We just released segmented reporting for artists using Band Metrics. This new feature displays quantitative details of activity relative to your band/music within social media, micro blogs, terrestrial radio and more. Below is an example of what it looks like this morning, but we're also building many more enhancements during the next couple of days, including: PDF exporting, graphical visualizations, trending percentages, and the ability to review reports for different time periods.

Since this is a new feature there may be a bug or two. If you find one, please let us know at help.bandmetrics.com