Big thanks to Mozilla for including MobBase in their Mozilla Marketplace Partner Spotlight! This video features MobBase co-founders Alan Khalfin and Charles Feinn and outlines how MobBase will use the Mozilla Marketplace and HTML5 to provide a cross-platform solution for artists to create mobile apps. Coming soon to a mobile device near you…
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We often write about the importance of musicians having to engage and involve casual listeners in order to build deep and lasting connections with them, and to convert them to loyal fans. These connections are what drive sales of the concert tickets, band merchandise and music artists need to pay the rent and put gas in the van.
While just getting your music discovered is no longer enough, it is extremely important that you get as many people to hear your music as possible. Obviously. The more people that hear your music, the more potential fans you have to convert into loyal fans. And while not every person who hears your music will like it (sorry), it’s a numbers game and maximizing exposure is critical in order to succeed.
Enter Jango Airplay. Jango Airplay gives you access to millions of active music fans that listen to their favorite artists on Jango.com, a vibrant social music service that lets fans create and share custom radio stations. Your music is guaranteed to play right alongside the artists that you choose in Jango’s custom radio stations, from Jay Z to Arcade Fire to Bella Fleck. Jango Airplay plays your music to their fans, who are likely to dig it. Based on what we’ve heard from many artists, this is a very cheap and effective way for you to get your music heard!
Jango is offering Evolving Music readers a special deal, where you can set up a Jango Airplay account (if you don’t already have one) and receive 100 guaranteed spins on Jango.com for FREE. Then, you can choose how much more you want to be played (packages start at as little as $10 for 250 plays) and where with basic geo-targeting. You’ll also get detailed actionable reports and data about your new fan base so that you can find out who likes you, where they live, how old they are and what other types of music they like. You got nothing to lose, so give this a try! Click here to get started.
Hello Music, the digital music platform and power tool connecting independent artists to industry resources and career opportunities, today announced it has partnered with MobBase to offer its artist community an intuitive and cost-effective solution for creating their very own personalized iPhone app.
Hello Music will offer the MobBase iPhone app solution as an additional opportunity for its independent artists to market and promote their music to fans. Through the deal, Hello Music artists receive a free month of MobBase membership, and for those artists who want more help designing their personalized app, they will also receive a free premium support package for three months valued at $200.
“Mobile is an incredibly valuable platform for artists of every level, and the mobile music market continues to flourish,” said Zack Zalon, Co-Founder, Hello Music. “While many independent artists previously found it cost-prohibitive to go mobile, MobBase levels the field for them. We are pleased to offer our artist community the ability to create their own custom app for bringing their music, photos, videos and more to the device that’s always at hand.”
“Connection fuels the fan – artist relationship” said Charles Feinn, CEO and co-founder of MixMatchMusic, MobBase’s developer. “A MobBase mobile app is one of the most effective and least expensive ways to make that connection. “Our relationship with Hello Music is a natural because we share the common goal of helping artists build their careers.”
Existing Hello Music artists are able to access MobBase through the Hello Music Dashboard. Interested artists not already part of the Hello Music community should go to hellomusic.com to join for free and then they can make an iPhone app!
About Hello Music
Touted one of Billboard Magazine’s 10 Best Digital Music Startups, Hello Music is the digital music platform and power tool for independent artists. Providing valuable insight, resources and career opportunities, independent artists can upload their music at www.hellomusic.com for FREE, to be reviewed by Hello Music’s in-house music screening team who listens to every song submitted and provides each musician with a FREE Music Feedback Report. Hello Music matches artists with opportunities that matter, from partners including Taylor Guitars, CMJ, New Music Seminar, Durango Songwriters Expo, Balcony TV, Topspin, Yahoo! Music, Slacker, Delta Airlines Radio, Jango Airplay, TuneCore, Dropcards, Getty Images, PlayNetwork, RootMusic, Swing House Studios, Gravity Studios, The Record Shop Studios, and Next Big Sound. Launched in 2010, Hello Music was conceived and incubated by Wilshire Media Group, a digital music product design and development firm founded by Zack Zalon and Brendon Cassidy.
MobBase, the fast, easy and inexpensive way for you to build your own iPhone app, has integrated Soundcloud and BandsInTown to its service to make it easier for artists to share music and get fans to their gigs. MobBase is also making it easier for artists to get their own apps by making them available from BFM Digital, Ditto Music, Musicfinity, and The Indie.
The new capabilities and distribution relationships coincide with an important new milestone – 325 MobBase apps have been developed and released since the service debuted in November, 2009.
“MobBase helps artists build their careers by making it easy and inexpensive for them to connect and engage with fans,” said Charles Feinn, co-founder and CEO of MixMatchMusic, MobBase’s developer. “Integrating Soundcloud and BandsInTown adds sought-after functionality, and distribution with BFM Digital, Ditto Music, Musicfinity, and The Indie makes it even easier for them to get the app they really want.”
More power to connect and engage fans
BandsInTown is a platform that connects live music fans to their favorite artists. Its integration with MobBase makes it painless for an artist to add and manage tour dates, with information about shows, including when and where it’s taking place and how to get tickets, sourced from artists’ Facebook and Myspace pages, ArtistData and thousands of venues around the world.
Soundcloud’s integration with MobBase makes it even easier for artists to add music to their custom apps. Artists can now stream tracks directly from their Soundcloud library into their MobBase app, eliminating the manual loading of mp3 files. The integration makes it fast and simple for artist to get their music into fans’ hands and on their phones.
The new technology partners complement existing integrations with Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, and Shoutcast. MobBase’s capabilities and extensive relationships with its technology partners make it a complete solution for artists.
“Our mantra is ‘get fans to the gig,'” said Todd Cronin, CEO of BandsInTown. “It’s a huge win for an artist to be able to deliver essential gig info via the same app they use to connect with fans, on the device that is with them every waking moment.”
More places to get your own custom iPhone app
BFM Digital, Ditto Music, The Indie, and Musicfinity are each offering their artists the opportunity to get their own, custom MobBase app. MobBase is also offered through IODA, Iris, and Tunecore – in addition, indie labels including Silverback Music/Controlled Substance Sound Labs, SMC Recordings, Welk Music Group, Vanguard Records, Town Thizzness, Red Bull Records, Sargent House, and 429 Records are also offering MobBase apps and promoting MobBase to their artists.
“BFM’s label partners are creating iPhone apps because they see the value of connecting with fans in real time via mobile technology,” said Steven Corn, CEO of BFM Digital. “MobBase is an ideal partner for such applications, as they are highly customizable, user-friendly and affordable for indie artists.”
More apps for more artists
More than 325 MobBase iPhone apps have been released so far, with scores more in development or in the Apple queue for approval. Prominent artists including Pepper, Parkway Drive, John McLaughlin, and Everclear are among the bands that have built and launched their own MobBase apps. MobBase is the preferred app solution for indie artists such as Rebelution, Paul Thorn, Jump Smokers, RX Bandits, Zion I, and Veronica Ballestrini.
Fast, easy and inexpensive way for artists to get their own iPhone app
MobBase is the 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.
So you’ve built an iPhone app through MobBase and it’s in iTunes. Now what? Time to market that app, baby! With hundreds of apps developed, we’ve learned a thing or two about marketing apps. Here are some best practices that we’ve learned on marketing your iPhone app (for free):
- Place big banners on all of your websites, including your official site, Myspace page, Facebook, etc., so that anyone who visits your websites will find out about your app. To increase conversions, be sure that your banners point directly to your app in iTunes. If you need help making a banner, let us know by emailing support@mobbase.com!
- Announce the launch of your app by sending out an email blast/newsletter, tweeting about it, sharing on Facebook, etc. You know your fans better than we do, so be sure to share the news wherever you normally connect with fans. If possible, be sure to include screen shots of your app, a description of what’s inside and any other relevant info that your fans would be interested in.
- Constantly update your app’s content and let your fans know when you’ve updated it by tweeting about it, sharing on Facebook, etc. This will give fans a great reason to keep coming back to the app and in doing so, they will be more likely to tell their friends about your app.
- Add exclusive music to your app that can’t be heard anywhere else. This will be huge motivation for fans to get your app.
- Tell your fans about your app during shows and live appearances, interviews, etc. Create pocket-size cards that promote your app, hand these cards out and have them available at your merch table. Be sure that the cards include something like “Just search [Artist Name] in the app store or go to [direct iTunes download link] to get the app!”
- Include your app in your online store, linking fans to iTunes for download.
- When setting up your app, be sure to include relevant iTunes search keywords, like your artist name, genre, and any other relevant tags that would help fans find the app in the app store.
- When setting up your app, be sure to write a persuasive and thorough app store description that lists all of the features and content included, and any other reasons why fans should get the app. After reading the app store description, fans should be so excited that downloading the app is a no brainer.
- Add your app to as many iPhone app review websites as you can and make sure that the entries are thorough and include screen shots, when possible. Most app review websites are free. Get a list of review websites and more info here.
- Drive awareness of your app by having fans contribute videos to it. More on this here.
- Create a video inviting fans to get the app and walking them through it. Embed this video on all your websites and upload it to as many video sites as possible.
- Share your success stories. Let us know how you’re doing, how many fans are downloading your app, and how it’s contributing to building your fan base. We’ll promote your successes too. Just email us at support@mobbase.com.
Did we miss anything? Let us know by commenting below! We’ll be updating this list, so follow us on Twitter for updates. For more tips on marketing your iPhone app, you can also check out this article. Now do it! Questions? Here’s more info on how to build iPhone apps
