No Comments// Posted in Blog by admin on 04.02.10.
BigData moved to Austin for a few days last month to absorb everything possible about new interactive technology and, of course, great Mexican food!
Of the panels, Jack and I had our favorites, and some of the highlights included Gmail’s “Behind the Scenes,” “Scaling Beyond LAMP,” “Get Stoked: Web Typography,” and Gary Vaynerchuck’s keynote. Ok, we’re nerds, but if you’re reading this, you probably already knew that.
Some nuggets of wisdom:
- Gmail made it pretty clear with this statement “We have this amazing technology called ‘work really really hard.’
- You can’t help a Helvetica headline, even if you put it on the front of a My Morning Jacket poster (don’t worry- it was just an example- My Morning Jacket used a great font on their poster!)
- There are some ridiculously amazing things coming up in the technology world for musicians like Bandzine, Bandzoogle, and the like. Now you can manage your business, your tour routing, your online presence, your dog’s feeding schedule, all in one place… a full review of these platforms is forthcoming.
- No live music, read ‘none’ is happening during interactive. I mistakenly thought there would be at least a few bands hanging around. Something to look forward to!
- There’s nothing like a good beat-box routine to end a session (Thanks, @garyvee)
Thanks to our new friend Ryan for lodging and to the many sponsors who provided us with free food and beverages! We had a blast hanging out with folks from Ticketmaster, Rockhouse Partners, Treehugger.com, Studio Now and Claritas Partners, among many others, but we’re sad we didn’t get to stay for the ‘real’ SXSW and see the music… Next year!
1 Comment// Posted in Blog by admin on 03.23.10.
ReverbNation made a significant play yesterday, announcing the addition of new distribution platforms, including Pandora, Spotify, Last.fm and Walmart.com to its offering in order to provide the “world’s most comprehensive digital distribution product for Artists and Record Labels.” Artists who are already on the lower level of “Basic” service will be able to upgrade to the “Essentials” package and add these retailers at no additional charge.
This seems reasonable to us, especially considering the time it takes ReverbNation to get digital music up with all these folks is about the amount of time it would take you if you went through a major label’s distribution channels.
The constant improvement in product offerings is huge, but the design of the artist pages (and ability to modify them to our liking) keep us from jumping on board too quickly with more established clients. The cluttered back-end makes it difficult to use, and it’s hard to bring one call to action to the user’s attention in the outward facing pages.
They also have a really decent integration process with other social media sites, but it still lacks professionalism. I like the idea of being able to add the functionality of their “My Band” tab to a Facebook page, but the tag “My Band” in and of itself implies a DIY experience, and makes it hard to maintain the look and feel of a high quality brand.
All said, it’s a comprehensive, reasonably priced product for anyone starting out, and is definitely a contender as a platform for major label use- you can find many high profile artists across genres such as Madonna, Sugarland, and Pantera.
Artists and major labels alike can benefit from the two current paid levels of service for distribution in addition to the free option which includes a CMS, email service, stats capture, and widgets. We’ve posted the distribution levels below for simplicity’s sake, but you can check out all offerings here.
Stay tuned as we continue to review new features and other cool music platforms.
Reverb Nation Packages:
The “Essentials” Package – $34.95 per release, 29 sites
Submits a release to iTunes (worldwide), Amazon Mp3, eMusic, Rhapsody, Napster, MySpace Music, Last.fm, Spotify, Zune, iLike, MOG, Tesco, La Curacao, Synacor, GetPlaylists, Secure Media, Intertech Media, InMotion Entertainment, WaTunes, Get Green Music, Immergent, and Moozone.
The “Pro” Package – $59.95 per release, 39 sites
Includes submission to all of the stores in the Essentials package, plus submission to Pandora, Nokia, Lala, Wal-Mart (Liquid), Amie Street, We7, Myxer, Puretracks, ThinkIndie, and Shockhound.
No Comments// Posted in Blog by admin on 03.21.10.
We love what the folks over at Bandcamp are doing with their new ‘un-label,’ BCWax, not only because it is a great case study on bundled pricing for musicians, but also because the actual product is fantastic.
We should know- Jack is now the proud owner of the 400th something of 500 vinyl copies of Sophie Madeleine’s new album, “Love, Life, Ukulele.” The limited edition package includes an LP with a gorgeously designed album cover and an immediate digital download of all ten tracks. And, after watching her sing, you’ll wish you had it too.
But the real deal is this: BCWax did a couple of really cool things here:
- They differentiated this product from all other digital items by creating scarcity with the high quality (both in music and design) limited edition vinyl and a print of the album art.
- They bundled the higher value items, and then sold just the digital album for only $5 and individual downloads (in your choice of 8 file formats) for $.75, so there are multiple options for more casual fans and audiophiles. (If you want to pay more, you can choose your own price above the minimum)
- And most awesomely, they give just about everything away for free. The commercial-free video content is available on the blog and on YouTube, and all the information you’d get from the liner notes on the record, along with a stream-able version of every single track from the record, in its entirety, are available on the same page where they’re selling the product.
Bandcamp explains it all to the world in their blog here: Music as Artifact: Introducing BCWax, but it’s pretty clear how much this makes it possible to quickly find your super-fans, give everyone something special and make a higher margin on a musical format that has quickly become a commodity on iTunes. If you’d like a vinyl copy for your own collection, you’d better get it quick- they’re down to the last 74 copies.
No Comments// Posted in Blog by admin on 03.13.10.
Earlier this summer Jack and I headed up to the great metropolis of Manhattan to do some freelance work for Billboard.
We spent a couple of days there to cover panels at Billboard’s Media & Advertising conference for use on Billboard.com, listen to some great music at Dizzy’s and visit friends.
Little did we know, our newfound panel-covering skills were about to hit the big time. (Let’s just say it’s a good thing Billboard has great editors!) You can check them out at AdWeek here.
And don’t mind the haters in the comment section- they have clearly never tried to take diction at a panel session about the music industry.
