Monthly Archive for June, 2010

Camp Bisco Announces Remix Contest Winners and Launches iPhone App for Camp Bisco 9!

published
on June 30, 2010
by
Sandra
in collaboration, culture, fans, MobBase, music, music production, and remixing
. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Since the Camp Bisco Remix Contest, powered by MixMatchMusic and URB.com, launched over a month ago in anticipation of the 9th annual Camp Bisco music festival in New York, over 130 amazing remixes have been submitted by aspiring DJs and musicians, and shared and voted on by fans. This was a contest of epic proportions that saw more entrants than previous Camp Bisco remix contests, all delivering wildly varied styles from nearly every continent. Today, we to bring you the winners!

The coveted grand prize goes to DJ Geoffro aka Topshotta of Harrisburg, PA for his dubbed out remix of the Black Seeds‘ “Slingshot”! Among other things, Topshotta will be receiving a free iPhone app, powered by MobBase, and will get to perform at Camp Bisco in front of thousands of festival-goers. Congratulations!

Black Seeds “Slingshot” Topshotta Redub by Topshotta

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to play a set at the massive Camp Bisco festival,” said Geoff Altoff, aka DJ Geoffro aka Topshotta. “The lineup this year is ridiculous. Thanks to everyone who took a moment to listen and vote on my remix, I appreciate it. There are a lot of great elements to that Black Seeds tune that I felt would translate well to a dub, so I tried to keep the feel and movement of the original, but put my spin on it and dub it out.”

Congratulations to the amazing runners-up:

Bassnectar “Cozza Frenzy” McArthur Bass Mix by Hubsmoke, Faccio & Reza
King Britt “The Intricate Beauty” Technobears Redux by Ed Haskins
Disco Biscuits “On Time” Full Static Mix by Aman Ellis

Today also marks the release of the official Camp Bisco iPhone app, powered by MobBase! Access artist bios, videos, photos, this year’s site map and schedule, a kickass photo gallery by veteran rock photographer Dave Cann, the facebook page, and of course the Camp Bisco twitter stream, all from the comfort of your own pocket. Be among those in the know, navigate your way around the festival with ease and be sure not to miss any of your favorite acts. Get this free app here.

We’re two weeks away from Camp Bisco 9 (you can still buy tickets) and the official Camp Bisco iPhone app is the best way to stay connected during this summer’s premier 3-day music festival (July 15-17). The ridiculous line-up includes everybody from LCD Soundsystem and Thievery Corporation to Girl Talk, Diplo, Bassnectar, Caribou, Gift of Gab and more! Be sure to visit the Camp Bisco website for all the details!

Root Music: BandPages on Facebook

published
on June 10, 2010
by
Sandra
in DIY, fans, future of music, music, music business, social media, startups, tools for musicians, and website
. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Remember when the tables turned and MySpace went from being the coolest social networking site around to a shady place for scantily-clad teens in questionable photos and, well… musicians? Despite the seizure-inducing animated gifs and glittering madness that came with the pimp-your-profile craze, MySpace somehow still maintained its role as THE place for musicians. Your band maybe had its own website if, you know, it was all fancy and stuff. But your band definitely had a MySpace page!

Then Facebook came along and soothed us with its minimalist design and all its tangible real-world benefits, and rocked our collective worlds. And yet, the musician was always left to fend for him or herself.

Enter Root Music. Musicians now FINALLY have a home on Facebook. This clever little San Francisco-based startup has created a way for musicians to share their stuff right from within Facebook. The BandPage is a tab just like your photos, info, or wall tabs. While they browse your page, fans can listen to your music from the embedded SoundCloud player. Want to place a banner on your page? Easy! Just upload the picture you want to use. No need to create a custom one. Every section of the BandPage is easily editable. Just drop, drag, and customize as you wish.

What you end up with is a sexy place within your Facebook profile, which you already use and people are already looking at, to share all your stuff (info, photos, shows, twitter feed and much much more) with your fans. In the place where they are already hanging out! It’s an elegant solution to an obvious problem, and Root Music has done it with aplomb. Once you setup your Root Music Bandpage on Facebook, be sure to set it as the default landing page so that it’s the first thing fans see!

MobBase Speaks To Label 2.0 Members In Music Marketing Training Session

published
on June 7, 2010
by
Alan Khalfin
in DIY, interview, MobBase, music, music business, and tools for musicians
. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Last week, MobBase co-founder Alan Khalfin led a music marketing training session with Greg Rollett for Label 2.0 members. Alan shared some great music marketing strategies and explained how mobile apps are one of the best ways to engage with the modern music fan. He gave a thorough overview of the MobBase platform and shared some best practices on how to create iPhone apps for artists.

While the training session was limited to Label 2.0 members, you can listen to it here:

If you’re not a Label 2.0 member or don’t know who they are, you should definitely check them out! Label 2.0 is an interactive learning community for musicians that empowers you to build your own music business and keep all the profits. When you sign up for Label 2.0, you will receive monthly, interactive training programs that guide you through all the steps of managing your music business online.

You will get interactive screen cast videos, where you will learn how to setup marketing campaigns, manage online accounts, and utilize a plethora of resources to build a passionate fanbase. They also do white board training to deliver concepts and show processes of moving fans through buying and sales cycles. And just like they did with MobBase, they do live calls and sessions that give you the opportunity to ask questions and get feedback on your efforts. All from some of the digital music industry’s brightest minds. Check them out here.

How To Use Email To Grow Your Fanbase & Drive Music Sales

published
on June 3, 2010
by
Alan Khalfin
in DIY, music, music business, and tools for musicians
. 7 Comments Tags: , , , , , .
This is a guest post by MusicNomad, a musicians advocate organization that researches, reviews and ranks thousands of companies in the music industry to filter out the ones that help musicians the most.
Your relationship with your fans has never been more important. They hold the money and are the ones that want to buy directly from you. They love your music and are the people you need to develop an intimate relationship with if you want your band’s career to grow. If used right, email and email management is a powerful tool that can make the artist-fan relationship grow stronger. Email can be used in a range of ways, such as a personalized messages to give fans an update or a call for action to buy something from you. Here is a list of what we believe are the best ways to use email to connect with and grow your fanbase:
  1. Bands (and not management or interns) should always write their own emails to be authentic.
  2. Noon Eastern time on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday is the ideal time to send broadcast emails to your fans, as people are at work across the US and Europe.
  3. The ideal frequency of emails to fans is about every 2 to 4 weeks, with updates on your tour, merch and music announcements.
  4. Negotiate upfront if you leave from a record label that you keep your email list and you own it.
  5. Give great deals through email offers for pre-orders, such as a $50 package for $25.
  6. Don’t put links to iTunes and Amazon in your emails. Fans want to buy direct from you so always link them directly to your website (or Bandcamp).
  7. In each email, make sure you have direct and separate links to buy merch, buy tour tickets and buy music. Don’t be afraid to have a big “Buy” button in the email.
  8. Sell email exclusive package offerings around holidays such as Christmas, Halloween, Cinco De Mayo, etc or just give some music away for free that day in exchange for an email.
  9. Your fan email lists are gold and building them up is huge! Collect emails and zip codes from your fans at shows or ask for them in exchange for a free download.
  10. Pay someone to go around and collect emails and zip codes at your shows. It’s that important.
  11. Ask your merch company for the emails and zip codes for the fans that bought your merch.
  12. Send emails by zip code so that you can target emails to promote upcoming shows. The best time to send a show announcement is 30 to 45 days before the show date. The ideal time to send an email reminder about an upcoming show is 5 days before the show. Offer fans something special like a $5 off coupon at your merch table. In the subject line, be sure to put the name of that city, such as “New Tour Date announced in Chicago”. This will personalize the email and increase its overall open rate.
  13. Don’t go overboard in graphics and special effects in your email, but make it look nice and spend some time designing it.
  14. Before you send out a fan email, send a test email to you and your band members to see how it looks. Fix any issues before sending.
  15. If you have only a fan’s email and no zip code, give something away for free (like a live show recording or free album download) in exchange for it and tell them it will help you more effectively communicate with them about tour dates or special appearances in their city. It’s the truth.
  16. Don’t cut and paste blanket emails to your fans. Be authentic even if it takes you longer — you will be much more successful this way. Fans will tell a friend about the personal email they received from you and viral marketing will begin. Split up the emails and get everyone in the band involved.
  17. Send an email to fans in a city you just played in and thank them for their support. Have a local connection in your email to those fans and tell them what you did in or thought about their city besides your show.
If we missed something that you have found to be successful in your email marketing experience, please comment below!
About MusicNomad
MusicNomad is a musicians advocate organization that tries to make sense of the vast and fragmented music industry through researching, interviewing, reviewing and ranking thousands of companies in the music industry and filtering the ones that can really help musicians. They then do write ups on the companies, rank them and give you a direct link to their website. There are also tips, news and articles for musicians to explore. The website is free to use and focuses on fighting for the underdog, independent musicians!

IRIS Announces Partnership With MobBase To Create iPhone Apps For Indie Labels & Artists

published
on June 1, 2010
by
Alan Khalfin
in MobBase, music, music business, and tools for musicians
. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

We’re happy to announce that IRIS Distribution, the digital music distribution and marketing company that represents many of the world’s leading independent record labels, has partnered with MobBase to provide affordable and cutting-edge iPhone applications to its labels and their artists. MobBase is the new service that makes it easy for musicians and record labels to create an iPhone app.

“IRIS is always looking for new ways to help our labels get music in the hands of fans, and to enable artists to build audiences and careers,” said Bryn Boughton, chief marketing officer. “Mobile applications are quickly becoming a ‘must have’ part of the label and musician tool kit, and MobBase provides one of the best, fastest and most inexpensive ways for our labels to create a custom iPhone application.”

MobBase, a service of MixMatchMusic, is a low cost way for musicians to share music, photos, videos, tweets, news, information about shows, merchandise and other content with fans on their mobile devices.

“IRIS presents labels and their artists with a fantastic array of tools and services to help them connect with fans,” said Charles Feinn, CEO and co-founder of MixMatchMusic, MobBase’s developer. “A custom MobBase iPhone app is a perfect complement to these tools and services – it will help labels promote their acts and help artists engage fans and ultimately, get their music heard and tickets to their shows sold.”

Mobile music marketing
 MobBase gives artists a mobile, interactive fan club, storefront, merchandise table, and more.  The MobBase application is highly customizable, so artists can pick and choose the content they offer to fans and also the way that content is presented.

A custom iPhone app for as little as 50 cents a day
 MobBase is priced to be accessible to any artist. It costs just $20 to get going and many artists will never pay more than $15 a month to deliver music, photos, videos, tweets, info about gigs, merch and more to hundreds of fans.

About IRIS Distribution
 Founded in 2003, IRIS is the only remaining independent digital distribution company in the US. The company operates a wholly owned branded entertainment and music marketing agency, BlinkerActive.  IRIS boasts a strong roster of leading independent labels from all genres and distributes to over 450 digital outlets in 85 territories around the world.  Distribution and marketing clients include Ninja Tune, kranky, K Records, Palmetto, Scion A/V, CMH, BYO, Surfdog, Chemikal Underground, Metropolis, EMI, Projekt and more. The company is based in San Francisco and New York City.