Author Archive for Alan KhalfinPage 7 of 16

28 MobBase iPhone Apps Released in Just 2 Days

published
on March 11, 2010
by
Alan Khalfin
in MobBase, music, music business, technology, and tools for musicians
. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

It’s been quite a busy week over at MixMatchMusic HQ, where the MobBase team has released 28 new iPhone apps in just two days! Amongst all the fuss going on about “cookie cutter” iPhone apps earlier this week, the release of this batch of apps makes one thing pretty clear: MobBase apps are much more than just web-views and RSS feeds. All in all, there are now 134 MobBase apps in iTunes!

This batch of apps was made by musicians and music companies from around the world, and features a variety of eclectic content for you to enjoy. The apps turned out really well, and as you can see below, they aren’t cookie cutter at all — each MobBase app can have its own unique image, look and feel.  Check out all the new MobBase apps here. Or, find out how to make mobile applications.

MobBase Doubles Number Of Apps In Just One Month With 100+ iPhone Apps Released

published
on March 4, 2010
by
Alan Khalfin
in DIY, future of music, MobBase, music, music business, social media, startups, technology, and tools for musicians
. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .


MobBase is again proving the market for iPhone applications that connect musicians with fans, more than doubling the number of apps released in just the past month. MobBase is the new service that makes it easy for musicians and music companies to create, launch and manage their own, custom iPhone applications.

“The MobBase adoption curve is getting steep, fast,” said Charles Feinn, CEO and co-founder of MixMatchMusic, MobBase’s developer. “It took about 90 days to launch the first 50 apps and just 30 days to get to 107. It’s more clear with every day that artists are adopting mobile apps to help build their careers, and that they choose MobBase as the fast, easy and inexpensive way to get their own app.”

MobBase 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. MobBase apps are priced for starving artists and also artists who remember what it is like to starve, with many artists paying as little as $0.50 a day for their own custom iPhone app.

Prominent artists including Pepper and Everclear are among the bands that have built and launched their own MobBase apps. Feinn said growth is also coming from long tail artists, such as Tribal Seeds, Cash Lewis, NatStar the King, Radagun, Supreme The Eloheem, and indie label, Let It Burn Records. The MobBase platform has also been used to create the official iPhone app for Showtime’s Nurse Jackie soundtrack.

MobBase is a great solution for established acts,” Feinn said. “It’s also a fantastic solution for artists with small but devoted followings who are making music for the love of music. The extremely low price, the super ease of use and the ability to customize it to reflect your own look and feel makes it perfect for artists in the long tail.”

Music distribution powerhouse, IODA, and indie labels including Silverback Music/Controlled Substance Sound Labs, SMC Recordings, Welk Music Group, Vanguard Records, Sugar Hill Records, Town Thizzness, Red Bull Records, Sargent House, and 429 Records are offering MobBase apps and promoting MobBase to their artists.

Feinn said there have been more than 60,000 installs of MobBase apps by fans.

Dave Holland Uses Topspin To Bring You Some Silly Dope Jazz

published
on March 1, 2010
by
Alan Khalfin
in artist/album reviews, music, music business, and technology
. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .
It’s big no secret that artists need to focus on web and mobile initiatives to promote, market and distribute their music in a dramatically changed music industry. Even the major labels now understand that you need to embrace, and not fight, technology in order to successfully engage the modern music fan. But, it’s particularly refreshing to see a legendary jazz musician embrace this concept.
Jazz master Dave Holland has enlisted the help of music technology platform, Topspin, to launch a new digital marketing campaign that includes a solid new website, an array of  widgets, and direct-to-fan distribution of creative bundles and premium offerings. For those of you unfamiliar with Topspin, the  platform helps artists generate direct-to-fan demand using three channels: viral marketing, target marketing, and direct marketing, as well as, providing data-driven feedback.
To kick things off, Holland is releasing a new downloadable Archive Series of  live performances. The first installment is an hour-long, four-song recording from a 2007 European tour with his water-tight quintet. If you’re into moderately acidic, yet organic modern jazz, you absolutely need to check this out! The concert is a nice amuse-bouche for the Dave Holland Octet’s upcoming live release “Pathways,” which is also available for pre-order on Holland’s site. What a great way to give fans some very special content and to build up interest prior to a new release. And, the best part? The 320 kbps MP3 download costs only a buck, and you can stream it for free!
What’s particularly interesting here is that Dave Holland is 1) legendary and 2) a jazz musician. Generally speaking, legendary musicians and jazz musicians think that they are in a special category of artists, where for marketing, promoting and distributing their music, they can just do what they’ve been doing for years — put out records and tour. They tend to think that because they’ve already built a fanbase over the years, that they’re immune from the effects that take place if you avoid using technology to engage with fans. Some even say that their fans aren’t using the web and mobile devices to discover and enjoy music.
But this can’t be further from the truth, and these artists are missing out on a massive opportunity to not only develop stronger bonds with current fans, but to also expand their fanbase. And the longer they hold out, the more irrelevant they will become with the modern music fan. So, Dave Holland, we salute you!

MobBase Gains Traction with 50+ iPhone Apps

published
on February 3, 2010
by
Alan Khalfin
in DIY, MobBase, music, music business, startups, technology, and tools for musicians
. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Some great news straight from the MixMatchMusic garage (aka HQ)! MobBase is proving the market for iPhone applications that connect musicians with their fans, with more than 50 applications launched since the service debuted this past November.  MobBase is the new service that makes it easy for musicians and music companies to create, launch and manage their own, custom iPhone applications.

“The Pepper iPhone app is helping us stay to connected with our fans 24/7 and the connection has been amazing,” said Bret Bollinger, a founder of Hawaii’s premier rock band. “We’ve seen a huge influx of new fans and have been able to reconnect with long time fans through our app’s integration with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and many other sites since its launch.”

Pepper fans have installed the band’s MobBase iPhone app more than 25,000 times since the start of 2010, and have streamed Pepper’s music more than 500,000 times through the app. The Pepper app was featured in iTunes’ “What’s Hot” section in mid-January.

“For Pepper it starts with great music.  They are also a great example of a band using all of the tools at their disposal to connect and engage with fans online and on their mobile devices,” said Charles Feinn, CEO and co-founder of MixMatchMusic, MobBase’s developer. “A custom iPhone app is an important part of that mix, and key to the equation that results in engaged fans buying more concert tickets, band merchandise and music.”

MobBase 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.

Bands like Everclear, RX Bandits, Rebelution, the Jacka, and Jump Smokers are finding it easy to create their own custom iPhone apps, and easy to add, manage and update content in real time through the MobBase dashboard.

IODA, one of the world’s leading digital distribution companies, is promoting MobBase as its premier solution for iPhone applications.

“We have had a great response thus far from our clients to MobBase’s iPhone apps,” said Adam Rabinovitz, vice president of marketing at IODA. “Mobbases’s web interface enables real time updating which is great for touring artists and busy, on-the-go label managers. We’ve also been testing the product ourselves with the IODA Promonet app and have been very pleased with the results.”

Additionally, indie labels Silverback Music/Controlled Substance Sound Labs, SMC Recordings, Welk Music Group, Vanguard Records, Sugar Hill Records, Town Thizzness, Red Bull Records, Sargent House, and 429 Records are also offering MobBase apps and are promoting it to their artists.

MobBase is priced for starving artists and also artists who remember what it was like to starve, with many artists paying as little as $0.50 a day for their own app. So, start building your app today! Or contact us to learn more about how to build mobile apps.

MixMatchMusic Selected as Finalist for Red Herring’s Global 100 Award

published
on January 12, 2010
by
Alan Khalfin
in music business, social media, startups, and technology
. Closed Tags: , , .

We’re excited to announce that MixMatchMusic has been selected as a finalist for Red Herring’s Global 100 award! We are thrilled to be included in this very prestigious list that honors the year’s most promising private technology ventures from around the world.

The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of 1,200. The nominees are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.  This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company, which allows Red Herring to see past the “buzz” and make the list an invaluable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.

Finalists for the 2009 edition of the Red Herring Global 100 award are selected from the regional recipients or finalists of the Red Herring 100 awards in 2007, 2008, or 2009 ranging from Asia, Europe, and North America. For the past three years, the award has been given to the top 100 global technology companies based upon their technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition, and financial health.

What a great way to kick of 2010 for MixMatchMusic!