Tomorrow (Nov. 3), MixMatchMusic will debut MobBase, a new service for musicians that makes it easy for them to create, launch and manage their own, custom iPhone applications. For as little as $0.50 a day, MobBase will enable musicians to share music, photos, videos, tweets, news, blog posts, information about shows, merchandise and other content with fans on their mobile devices.
“The iPod put music in fans’ pockets. The MobBase iPhone app puts musicians in fans’ pockets, with the high value content that fuels the artist-fan connection,” said Charles Feinn, CEO and co-founder of MixMatchMusic, MobBase’s developer. “We’ve made it so inexpensive, even starving artists can have their own app and have the same mobile presence as major acts.”
Feinn said many artists aim to engage and involve listeners in their music in order to build deep and lasting connections with them. Increasingly, these connections drive sales of concert tickets, band merchandise and music. Likewise modern music fans are looking for more and deeper interaction with musicians.
“Just a relative handful of artists have launched iPhone apps,” said Feinn. “MobBase makes it easy enough and inexpensive enough that every musician can have their own app.”
Rock-reggae stars Pepper among first bands to launch MobBase app
Twenty-two artists and labels including Pepper, Everclear, Zion I, RX Bandits, Silverback Music/Controlled Substance Sound Labs, Greg Laswell, Shanghai Restoration Project, the Jacka, Easy Star All-Stars, Rebelution, Town Thizzness, Throw Me the Statue, Killer Mike, Jennie Laws, Big Light, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, Black Gold, Enzyme Dynamite, The Blakes, Eoin Harrington, El Desayuno, and Gavroche have launched MobBase applications to deepen their connection with fans. To view all the MobBase iPhone apps that are live in iTunes, click here.
“Pepper fans can’t get enough about the band,” said Sally Nobbs, manager for Silverback Music, Pepper’s management firm. “And were excited about the way that our app will fuel deeper connections with our fans, by giving them constant access to Pepper’s music, backstage video footage, photos and news, and the ability to interact with Pepper through their iPhones, no matter where they are.”
Feinn said MixMatchMusic is now making MobBase available to other musicians.
“Connecting more fans more effectively with the music they love is fundamental to individual artists’ success, and to long-term music industry revenue growth,” said Susan Kevorkian, IDC program director, Mobile Media and Entertainment. “Services like MobBase are expected to play a key role in connecting artists to their fans with cost-competitive, versatile apps as smartphones assume an increasingly central role as sources of music and related information.”
Labels and music 2.0 companies endorse MobBase
Music 2.0 pioneer IODA, along with indie labels Controlled Substance Sound Labs, SMC Recordings, Welk Music Group, Vanguard Records, Sugar Hill Records, Red Bull Records, Sargent House, and 429 Records have each agreed to offer and promote MobBase apps to their rosters of artists.
Feinn said partners are offering MobBase so their artists can build the deeper connections that result in fan engagement and ultimately sales of music, merchandise and concert tickets. He said partners will promote MobBase as their exclusive solution for mobile applications, and that they will be marketing it on their websites, via direct marketing and other channels.
Content powers connection
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.
Feinn said there are no design constraints with MobBase. “Musicians have a blank canvas to project their artistic vision. We’re expecting an explosion of creativity and fun.”
Featured content supported includes:
Music. Artists just want to make and share music. By featuring their music in MobBase, they make it easy for fans to buy songs or even entire albums.
Videos. With MobBase, artists can share video out takes, footage from backstage and at parties, or even feed their YouTube channel directly into the application. Fans can also upload their own videos to their favorite artist’s app.
Photos. An image is worth 1,000 words, so artists can create and share photo collections including album artwork, tour pictures and other images fans are clamoring for. MobBase features seamless integration with Flickr and Picasa, so it’s easy to manage, update and add photos in real time.
News/Blog. Artists can use MobBase to keep fans up to date on news, blog posts and behind the scenes info with RSS feeds.
Shows. The best way to get fans to shows is to make sure they know when and where they are. With MobBase, artists can update show times, venues, directions and other info to make sure their fans know where to find them live. MobBase features seamless integration with ArtistData and MySpace, so it’s easy to manage, update and add concert info in real time.
Discography. Artists can connect fans with their entire catalog, album artwork, liner notes, and lyrics by featuring them in MobBase.
Twitter. Artists can make sure their tweets reach their fans with MobBase, and fans can hear what others have to say about the band. Artist and fans can also have conversations to discuss specific topics of the artists choosing.
Store. MobBase is like a mobile merch table, connected to artists’ web stores. It’s a great way for artists to show their merch where it’s easiest for their fans to find it (in their pockets).
Biography. Biographies provide fans with background and back story, information that makes the artist-fan connection that much more meaningful.
More and more. Because MobBase is highly customizable and supports additional functionality, artists can expand on the platform to do more and engage fans more deeply.
Easy. Customizable. Dynamic.
MobBase is built on an advanced content management system that makes it easy to add, manage and update content in real-time. Yet it is so easy to use, so easy to set up and so easy to maintain, even a rock star can do it. And because it is highly customizable, every artist – rock star or rock star-in-the-making, can easily create their own unique app with their unique image, look and feel. Artists aren’t locked in to a design either – they can change the app whenever the mood strikes.
Priced for starving artists
MobBase is priced for starving artists and also artists who remember what it was like to starve. 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.
Controlled Substance Sound Labs was formed by brothers Jon and Matt Phillips as an artistic pipeline for the family of artists under Silverback Management. As a firm that has represented the vision and career direction on the management side, they have created a refreshing record label and distribution scenario that caters to the new “independent” minded landscape of the music business, and its changing climate. They have created a trustworthy scenario to release albums and own their own masters and copyrights, which as we all know, is not a practice commonly held by the major label behemoths currently in a steep decline both creatively and from a business standpoint.
