Topspin Sold Again

It looks like Beats Music recent acquisition of Topspin was just a way to bring some money into the corporate coffers, as it was announced that Transom Capitol Group would now purchase it from Beats.

Transom Capitol is the holding company of Bandmerch and Cinderblock, which were both merged together recently. This now gives the company a very strong position in the merch space, handling both products and ecommerce technology.

The client list of the combined companies is very impressive, with names such as The Who, Manchester United, Kid Rock, Death Cab for Cutie and The National.

The Topspin name was also acquired, and the company will continue to use it to do business, announced Transom Capitol.

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Spotify Now Sells Your Merch

In another bid to outflank the hype from the newly launched Beats Music, Spotify announced that it will now sell allow musicians and bands to sell merchandise on their Spotify profile page. Not only that, they won't charge a fee for it either.

Artists will be able to display images of T-shirts, vinyl, concert tickets stickers or anything else that they sell, which will then link back to the site where the merch is available for sale.

This is actually a joint venture between Topspin and Spotify, so it means that you need a Topspin ArtistLink account to begin showing your merch first. ArtistLink is free, and you can sign up here.

Since this move doesn't cost you anything, I'd say it's a no-brainer, especially if you're an indie act.

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

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook 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.

An Interview With Topspin's Ian Rogers

Formerly the General Manager of Yahoo Music, Ian Rogers is currently the CEO of Topspin Media, one of the premier direct-to-fan services currently available. A frequent panelist at industry conferences world-wide, he is one of the most respected and widely quoted voices in the music business today.  I was lucky to  have him agree to an interview for the 2nd edition of my Music 3.0 Internet Music guidebook. Here's a brief excerpt from that interview.
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"Where do you see things heading a couple of years down the line?
I really see things crystalizing. The industry has been in the way of what consumers wanted for the last fifteen years, but it’s finally getting pushed out of the way. The way fans are consuming music will change again in the next five years time, which should really scare the industry. They just got used to the idea of digital downloads and now they’re going to see their distribution format change yet again.

Five years from now you won’t connect your computer by a wire and transfer tunes to it. CD sales will continue to decline, but they won’t decline to zero because some people will still want collectables. Things like box sets or 12 inch vinyl will still exist.

Then you’re going to have two types of services. One is the subscription services, which are the Spotifys of the world, like Spotify, Rdio, MOG, and Rhapsody. I don’t think you’ll see many new entrants there, and in fact, the weak ones will probably get bought by a company with an existing subscriber base, such as a cable or wireless company.
 And then you’re going to have Apple, Google and Amazon with these more sovereignty-based [cloud] services. You buy the track in some form so you own it, and then it’s lockered and you can access that track from any device. That’s what it’s going to look like.

Companies like Topspin are going to be dealing with the direct-to-consumer channel which will be for the higher end goods. Digital is 50% of our volume and 25% of our revenue right now, but it’s possible that ratio will decrease over time.

What’s the best way to break an act these days?
I’m not sure that it’s changed all that much. More than ever you have to have something that people are passionate about, and you have to build awareness through great recordings and touring. Step two is different in that you now have to build real fan connections and a real relationship with those fans. If you’re lucky enough to do both of those things, then you can talk about selling something.

I think another difference between the proverbial yesterday and today is that we’re moving from a mass market to mass niches, so you have to know what the first niche is that you’re targeting and then go after it. You don’t put the music out there and see who adopts you, you have to know when and how and where you fit. Square peg, square hole, you just go straight into it.

If you look at the way that Yeasayer did it, it wasn’t about an all-out blitzkrieg. Their manager said, “I know exactly the audience that is going to like this. I’m going to tailor our approach to fit that.” It wasn’t that he changed the way they looked or anything, but he didn’t let any photos of the band get out for the first twelve months. He had a specific way that he wanted people to experience the music and the art that went with it. He knew it would resonate with a certain audience, and that’s the way he let it unfold, naturally but still really deliberate. Once he saturated that niche, then he moved on to another audience that would likely dig it, and treated it like it was a brand new band and pulled all those levers again.

The typical scenario is more of a shotgun approach, that “If only I can get it out there, someone is going to find it” kind of thing. That may have worked in the past, but not now.
Yeah, you’re right, but if you look at Odd Future as an example, those guys didn’t really do anything. They literally did just put it out there and the right people did find it and then some magic happened, but that’s the exception because it’s proven that the way your awareness unfolds really matters.

There’s a great study that someone sent to me that found that the influence of people on other people matters a great deal. Having someone say, “You’re going to like this,” is really important. That speaks to the fact that trusted filters really mean something when it comes to marketing music. I think we’ll have more of that happening in the future, and getting music to those new trusted filters in the right way will become increasingly important.

What’s the best way to do that?
I’m not sure but I think this is where the relationship game goes in the future. Having a relationship with the right bloggers and things like that is really going to matter. I think that there will be a “relationship with trusted taste-makers” business somewhere down the road, which is something different. Getting introduced to those sites in the right way will soon be an important part of marketing."

You can read additional excerpts from Music 3.0 and my other books at 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.

YouTube Introduces The Merch Store

It was only a matter of time for this to happen, but YouTube has launched a store for selling songs, concert tickets and merchandise. Named "The Merch Store," it features some very strong 3rd party partners who will supply the infrastructure:

• Topspin allows artists to sell merchandise, concert tickets and experiences
• Songkick provides the concert listings
• iTunes and Amazon provide the music downloads.

YouTube has also made a few changes to make it easier for indie labels to become YouTube partners and share revenue when their music is played, even with user generated content. You can get the signup form here.

I think this will be a great boon to artists and bands at all levels. Why? Because you can never have too many ways to distribute your product. Since so many fans use YouTube every day (they say 800 million!), your fans can now find your products within the YouTube infrastructure instead of having to navigate out to another site. It's much the same as with digital music. You don't trust your product only to iTunes, right? You spread it all around to any distributor that will have you. Same thing with merch, which is why The Merch Store should be a no-brainer for every artist and band.

One of the unknowns yet is the financial deal between YouTube, the affiliate partners, and artists. Hopefully we'll get more details soon.

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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.

Direct To Fan Platform Overview

Oniracom (who's vice-president and creative lead Jacob Tell was recently featured in my Music 3.0 Internet Music Guidebook) recently posted a great overview of three of the most high profile direct-to-fan platforms (D2F for short).

D2F marketing is what every artist and band should be doing, but it takes a lot of time and a good bit of expertise. As a result, a number of companies have developed services that enable you to do D2F quicker and easier than you could do yourself. Let's take a look at an excerpt from their post. You can go directly to Oniracom's site for the full overview and their conclusion of who does the best job.


BANDBOX
Bandbox is a widget that you embed on your blog, website, and/or social profile that enables fans to directly purchase digital downloads, order full CD’s, and other merch bundles without having to navigate them away from your website or social profile.

Why it’s cool
It’s free and it’s right there! The fan doesn’t have to go looking for your songs on an online store or separate download application. Which is why Bandbox is great for independent and up-and-coming artists. This platform also enables you to set your own price for songs and physical products, which means each artist controls their own store.

In addition, Bandbox also gives you access to consumer data (e-mail and shipping address) to see who is buying your songs. This information is great for geo-targeting fans later on down the line.

TOPSPIN
The Topspin D2F platform consists of three components; a retail channel on social sites, blogs and websites, promotional widgets that drive and track traffic, and campaign management through integrated Google Analytics E-commerce reporting.

The embedded shopping cart enables you to sell customized merchandise and product bundles, where you are able to set your own prices and promotional agendas. Topspin is one of the few platforms that advocates a fan/customer support system.

Why it’s cool
Topspin is the only site that accepts international currencies and allows you to fulfill physical product shipments from any warehouse in the world. Topspin provides detailed information about each fan, which allows you to track specific fan behavior profiles.

The Topspin Knowledgebase is a great way to learn the basics of direct-to-fan marketing and how using their product can benefit both you and your audience. They did an excellent job at providing a user-friendly resource to go to with any questions or concerns, check it out here.

NIMBIT
The Nimbit D2F platform is comprised of three parts, Marketing, Direct Sales, and Business Management. Managed all from one Nimbit dashboard. Nimbit does not choose to utilize a marketing widget like the other two platforms, instead they capture fans through e-mail lists and sign-ups, in a customized store front that matches the skinning on your site or social profile.

Every time someone downloads a free track or purchases anything from your site, they automatically get added to your e-mail list. Which allows the artist to see what each fan is purchasing, where they are purchasing from and gives you a means to contact them, in order to sustain that reciprocal relationship between artist and fan.

Nimbit also utilizes very detailed analytics, click thoughts and geo-targeting features, that enable you to easily segment and customize your marketing campaign. Features include a fan list manager, content manager, campaign manager, message editor and custom search windows.

On the storefront, every Nimbit account includes digital and physical fulfillment, which means you don’t have to worry about shipping anything out to anyone, anywhere. Other features include nimbitskin, (allows for the customization of the retail store), Mystore and nimbitOMT (a channel to embed across your social profits).

Why it’s cool
It’s totally easy and user-friendly. Catalog and content management allows you to submit content once into the Nimbit dashboard and you can instantly add it across all of your social networks, blog, calendar and website, (I’m still uncertain about how this works for tour dates). But, it does provide the fans the opportunity to instantly buy tickets from you website or social profile.

People who don’t know how to write professional messages to send out in an e-blast can choose from a template and fill in the blank with a promo code to get free tracks. It tracks each fan’s activity for you, which allows you to foster a better relationship with the “super fans.”

Nimbit provides a means to capture fans as soon as they purchase a digital download or any other product from your customized storefront. This site also integrates text messaging into their marketing campaigns more so then any other site, which is definitely the next step in social media.

For the complete article and their opinion of who does the best job, go this page on the Oniracom's site.

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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.