Amazon Cloud Player Now Does Song Matches

Talk about a long time coming. Amazon recently updated their Cloud Player music service so it now has a function similar to iTunes Match where it scans your computer to match the songs in a master database. This allows you to listen to your songs on multiple devices without having the laborious task of uploading them to every one.

The only trouble was that iTunes had this over a year ago.

Here's the problem. A feature like this requires a new license from the record labels, which Apple was way ahead of the curve to get. Amazon had a long tough negotiation after the fact, since the labels felt that they could get a better deal than they got from Apple. So now that just leaves Google's music service on the outside looking in, but chances aren't good that will happen, since the majors don't feel that Google does enough to prevent piracy to begin with.

The new Amazon Cloud Player is available in two tiers; 250 songs stored for free, or up to 250,000 for $24.99 a year. The trick is that anything bought from the Amazon store isn't counted in those numbers, and even if you purchased a song at a lower fidelity, all songs are now available at 256kb per second. And the catch? - it won't upload anything with copy protection, which includes just about everything from the iTunes store prior to 2009.

Catch 2 - If you have more than 250 songs already uploaded and he opt for the free version, it will delete any songs above the limite, although you can reimport them when you upgrade. Catch 3 - Amazon has now separated Cloud Music from their Cloud Drive service, so they're now separate subscriptions. That means that you can't store your files along with your music on a single cloud area.

Oh, and there's a catch if you're an artist waiting for a payday thanks to the new license fees extracted from Amazon. Forget about it, since you'll see pennies on the dollar. Most of licensing money goes directly to the labels bottom line and not the artist's.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

The State Of Music Then, Now And Tomorrow

If a picture is worth a thousand words, the following graphic from theoatmeal.com is worth 10's of thousands, as it illustrates the music business of yesterday, now and tomorrow so perfectly.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

The Most Common Crowdfunding Mistakes

Crowdfunding campaigns for artistic projects are all the rage these days, but many of them fail when they probably shouldn't. Let's look at some of the most common mistakes you can make in a crowdfunding campaign.

• The goal is ill defined. If potential investors aren't sure exactly what you're trying to do with the money you raise, they most likely won't invest.  

• No audience to begin with. Although it's not out of the question that you can raise money for a music venture without an existing fan base, it really takes an outstanding idea, great promotion and an excellent campaign to do so. If you have an existing fan base, the bar is set a little lower in that you're already a known quantity. 

• The goal amount is unrealistic. If you're trying to raise $200,000 to record an album, you better have a good explanation as to where the money is going. Major label budgets are down to $40k and 50k these days, and everyone knows that most musicians have their own recording gear, so a large amount has to be justified. Remember, if you can't reach your goal, your campaign automatically fails. 

• The investment rewards are unappealing. If you have an investment tier of $100 and all the investor gets for that is a CD with a "thank you," you're going to fail. You have to make the rewards well worth the risk.  

• The price points are wrong. If your minimum investment begins at $100, you'll probably fail. Most investment comes from much small $25 and $50 denominations, but don't be afraid to include a $10 tier as well. Every little bit counts, and the more people that are on board, the more moment the project will have.  

• The campaign is too long. Most successful campaigns last for 30 days. If you think that you'll raise more money with a longer campaign, the facts don't bear that out. The first few days usually shows a big bump, followed by about 25 days of a lull, then there's a big investment push at the end. A longer campaign just stalls your momentum for little gain. 

• No pitch video. Most successful campaigns include an effective pitch video. It doesn't have to fancy, but it has to be sincere and get the point across of exactly what your idea is, and what the rewards will be for investing. 

• No call to action. Just like with all selling, ask for the sale in the video and elsewhere in the campaign.

Crowdfunding for music projects has a pretty good rate of success, with well over 50% being funded. Don't take that number for granted though, because a great campaign still needs a great idea, a lot of planning and a little luck to be a success.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

8 Principles Of Fan Communication

Here's one of my first posts a few years ago on this blog. Back then there weren't many readers, so I thought it was worth a repost, since the info has changed and is as important as ever.

Staying in touch with your fans is probably about the most important thing an artist can do these days, but the way it's done is equally as important. In an excerpt from the Music 3.0 Internet Music Guidebook, here are 8 principles of fan communication.

1 - Talk to your fans, not at them. Don’t try to sell them, but keep them informed. Anything that reads like ad copy might be counterproductive. Always treat them with respect and never talk down to them.

2 - Engage in communication. Communication is a two-way street. Fans want to know that they’re being listened to. You don’t have to answer every email, but you have to acknowledge that you heard it. The more questions you ask, polls you supply and advice you seek, the more the fan feels connected to you.

3 - Keep your promises. If you say you’re going to do something, do it in a timely fashion. Don’t let the fans wait. If you promise you’re going to email a link and post a song, sooner is always better.

4 - Stay engaged. Even if you’re only sending something simple like a link, take the time to engage the fan. Tell her about upcoming gigs, events or releases. Take a poll. Ask for advice. This is a great opportunity for communication, so take advantage of it.

5 - Utilize pre-orders. If you have a a release coming soon, take pre-orders as soon as you announce it, even it’s free. It’s best to get people to act while the interest is high, plus it gives the fan something to look forward to. To motivate the fan for a pre-order, it sometimes helps to include exclusive content or merchandise.

6 - Appearance means a lot. Style counts when talking to fans. Make sure everything looks good and is readable. Spelling or grammar mistakes reflect badly on you. Try to keep it simple but stylish, but it you or your team don’t have the design chops to make it look good, it’s better to just keep it simple and readable.

7 - Cater to uber fans. All of the members of your tribe are passionate, but some are more passionate than others. Fans have different needs and wants and it’s to everyone’s benefit if you can cater to them all. Try to always include a premium or deluxe tier for every offering such as a free T-shirt or backstage pass as a reward for posting, a free ticket to an upcoming show, signed artwork, extra songs, anything to satiate the uber fan’s interest.

8 - Give them a choice. Give fans numerous ways to opt-in since not everyone wants to receive their information, or the type of information, the same way. Ask if they would rather receive info by email, SMS or even snail mail. Ask if they’d like to receive info on upcoming shows, song releases, video content, or contests. And ask how often they’d like be contacted.

Follow these 8 principles and your communication with your fans will remain both smooth and profitable.

To read additional excerpts from the Music 3.0 guidebook and all my other books, go to bobbyowsinski.com.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

Spotify's First Year

Spotify certainly still is the music subscription service that still gets the most press, so let's look at its first year in the United States. There are some numbers that the company should celebrate, and others that should shake it to its core.

• First all, in the last year Spotify garnered more than 3 million US users, with about 20% of them being converted to paying customers. That's good.

• Not everyone is in love with the service, since a lot of those paying subscribes are not re-subscribing, and not many of the others are willing to upgrade their service to paying. That's bad.

• American users streamed 13 billion songs last year and shared almost 28 million. That's good.

• 55% of those came through Facebook, 41% came from Spotify itself, 2.7% came through Twitter and the rest came from other sources. Spotify has a tight integration with Facebook, which isn't looking all that strong these days of post IPO madness. That's potentially bad.

• Facebook users used the Spotify client almost 24 million hours last year. With 950 million users and over 500 million of those daily at about 45 minutes per, that's not all that much. Not so good.

• For artists, Spotify pays $.0051 per free stream, .0078 per unlimited stream, and .0153 per premium stream. It takes 47 plays to equal a single $.99 sale from iTunes, according to Ditto Music. Not so good if you're a musician, although it's better to get paid something rather than nothing.

What we have to remember is that these are still the early days of subscription streaming music. Things are still shaking out, and will probably change significantly when some major players enter the market (hint: iTunes). Let's check back next year and see how much progress has been made, not only by Spotify, but the streaming service market in general.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.