modern music marketing

Falling on Def Ears

A great story on Def Jam Enterprises' mobile ambitions...and why not? "I live wireless," said Russell Simmons..."Right now I've got a phone in my ear, a phone in my lap and a BlackBerry in my left hand. That's just what I do."
This month, Simmons will launch Def Jam Mobile, a wireless content platform created in partnership with AGMobile, the wireless services division of greeting card giant American Greetings. The new outfit promises mobile carriers a channel to connect with the urban youth market they have long pursued but never quite reached.
The story gushes a bit, but the going will be difficult in this already crowded market...Def Jam wants to ride its music and hip-hop culture creds and channel that into wireless. Surely, others more younger outfits like Bad Boy Entertainment and Roc-a-Fella wouldn't be far behind...
But it will be an interesting battle to watch..much more than perhaps what we've seen in the music market...

Dave Matthews Band Goes Wireless

Nancy Gohring fill us in on how Dave and his band use wireless technology at shows...

Dave Matthews Band uses between two and four Vivato base stations to cover concert venues where the band plays. The network is used for a variety of band-related business including ticketing services, audio/video information for crew, publishing of set lists for concert attendees, and band personal business including keeping in touch with family and friends.

The U2 iPod

(via Paid Content) Rumors on this surfaced yesterday and Forbes.com is confirming it...the U2 edition of iPod will come preloaded with the band's new album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, along with portions of the group's 25-year catalog. The iPods will be black and will be made available the same week as the band's 11th studio album, to be released on November 23.

The custom iPods are part of a larger agreement between the band and Apple. The company will have exclusive rights to sell all the songs from the new album online through its iTunes Music Store for at least the first few weeks following the release.

XM delves into online music

(via Dow Jones) XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. unveiled XM Radio Online, an Internet music service to debut in early October.

As part of the launch, eligible Dell Inc. customers who purchase Dell Inspiron notebook and Dimension desktop computers will receive a free 30-day trial offer for the online music service, satellite radio service XM said in a press release Wednesday.

XM Radio Online subscribers will be able to listen to its commercial-free music channels and other XM content over the Internet for a monthly fee of $ 7.99.

XM Satellite Radio subscribers will receive a discounted rate for XM Radio Online of $3.99 a month.

Ringtone Gaga

I used to be cellphone junkie a few years ago. I had a Danger Sidekick and thought I was the sh*t. My only problem with it was that I couldn't import polyphonic ringtones.

Flash forward: Ringtones are now such a big business that the Wall Street Journal is doing a front page story on the subject. And Billboard is even starting a ringtone chart. We'll ignore the fact that in a series in Forbes on the business of hip-hop, they did a story on the newest hip-hop accessory for the urban set: a cell phone with rap-inspired ring tones. And Brunei's most popular gourmet coffee café, CoffeeZone, has been offering their trendy customers, a ringtone or logo download card since December of last year. It's just nice to see the institutions noticing how popular ringtones are.

Outside of the US ringtones have been HUGE. There are magazines devoted to them. But here in the US they have only recently caught fire. If you want to keep up with ringtones (and who doesn't) I suggest Ringtonia. And if you really want to stay ahead...picturephoning.com

So does your band offer ringtones of your music to fans? Here's directions on how to make them yourself.

Buy your band a video camera (II)

So I get a call from my video genius friend Stan (who is also one of the cats behind Wrestling ViXXXens.com ) and he clued me in on what we have to look forward to when it comes to video on the net.

It intrigued me because just a few days ago I was reading Jeremy Allaire's article on ContentNext where he talked about the future of video of the net.

So take a look at this.

If you go to the CNN section in the middle and view the video you will notice no buffering whatsoever. How cool is that?

I won't fill you in with all the details of how it's done because this is a music marketing blog and I know this is not as interesting as the free Talib Kweli listening party at Table 50 in NY on Monday, but I will say this again. If you are a music artist and want to market yourself effectively...Buy yourself a video camera.

Buy a video camera

Forget about the problem of people downloading music. That is so 2000.

If you are an artist you should be asking yourself one question: What happens after what comes next?

The download problem will sort itself out. That's how markets work. I tell bands everyday to just put their music online. If you're a band just starting, it can't hurt you. What you really need to be doing is finding someone who can shoot you a cool ass video.

Yeah,video. With a digital camera and well edited.

Your website should have video.

Your emails should have video.

Next year everyone's going to be doing it, anyway. You may as well get ahead of the curve. Marketing is partially about standing out among the clutter. Right now, video does that. It won't always...
Jeremy Allaire gets it. Read his short article on Rafat Ali's site and let it soak in your brain.

Um, and when you shoot your video of your next performance be sure to include your fans in it. That's who it's about and for anyway...

Miami MobileMusiCon 2004

November 18-19 2004 

The Ritz-Carlton South Beach, Miami, Florida

The Miami MobileMusiCon, bringing together over 200 music, carrier, handset and technology executives is a focused discussion of the challenges, opportunities, models for success and solutions for the successful development and growth of music-based mobile entertainment and services. Featuring key executives from mobile carriers, labels, talent management agencies, technologists, solution providers and artists, MobileMusiCon is the only event of its kind solely focused on the challenges and opportunities for music industry executives seeking to maximize the potential of the mobile market.Providing your business with access to the executives and resources necessary to capitalize on the potential of the mobile market today and assure future success as the market grows, MobileMusiCon features:

• Keynote Discussions.  Intimate, high-level discussions between participants and mobile industry leaders, on the state of the mobile market, the potential to create new revenue, business models and strategy.
• Solution Presentations. Innovative companies developing mobile content and application solutions will present products and services in an interactive format, allowing participants to discover new techniques and tools to bring your product to market.
• Mobile Music Focus Group: A cross section of mobile music users ranging in ages and socioeconomic levels will give their opinions on new mobile music services, content, costs, devices and interact with attendees in a QA format.
• Industry Roundtables.  Carrier, label, publisher, handset and management executives and participants will discuss ways to successfully bring new content and applications to market, and methods to grow the mobile industry as a whole.
• Mobile Music Exhibit Hall.  Carriers, technologists, terminal manufactures and solution providers will display their newest handsets, services, applications and tools for participants to view, test and learn how they can benefit their mobile business.
• The Second Annual Mobile Music Awards: The Mobile Music awards are a showcase for the best technologies, talent, content, campaigns, artists and companies in the industry as judged by a panel of leading industry experts.
• Mobile Music Festival:  An all-night after-party featuring showcase artists, DJs and a display mobile technologies and services.

The Song Remains The Same

AOL and Burger King have teamed up to provide you with free music downloads...didn't this happen already? Oh yeah, that was McDonalds and Sony...

Here are the details: one free music download with every purchase of an Original Whopper sandwich. Customers can enter a unique download code found on their Whopper wrappers at the www.haveityourway.com Web site to get free music downloads from AOL Music, which offers 700,000 songs through a deal with online music provider MusicNet.