Pepsi Sponsors Downloads From Yala, World's Largest Arabic Music Service

Pepsi Sponsors Downloads From Yala, World's Largest Arabic Music Service

Yala Music is a unique hybrid music service featuring Arabic music. Though developed for the Middle East and North Africa, Yala's listenership has grown most strongly in the U.S. Yala offers streaming options but is currently focused on ad-supported downloads with Pepsi as their first sponsor. In addition, Yala offers services to artists including management of YouTube channels and Facebook pages.
I spoke yesterday with Camille Moussard of Yala Music, who is now based in France but previously worked in New York at The Orchard before becoming Yala's U.S. country manager. She is now focusing on other projects and so was able to give me an overview of the company as well as a number of interesting details regarding their unique operation.
Yala's Development Based on Listening Habits of MENA Region

Yala was founded in 2010 by CEO Patrick Chassany who began signing licensing deals with Arabic music labels and artists. Moussard informed me that they now have deals with all the major Arabic labels and around 450 agreements with independent artists. Yala has worldwide rights for these labels which has made them the world's largest Arabic music service.
Yala's focus began with the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) and the company has developed in relationship to listening habits there. Typically internet and mobile access are inconsistent and online payments are not an established practice so music tends to be owned and is widely pirated. Though they do offer ad-supported streaming and are developing a premium product, they're making big strides with ad-supported downloads.
Pepsi is Sponsoring Downloads

Yala's first sponsor is Pepsi and, in late January, they began offering DRM-free MP3 downloads after watching a Pepsi video ad. This allows for offline listening via desktop or mobile. Yala provides a variety of apps for mobile phones, tablets and desktop.
They're also addressing the issue of web piracy by reaching out to sites affected by Google's plans to cut off advertising in the hopes of encouraging them to link to legal music via Yala. So far they haven't had any takers but this effort is in its infancy as are Google's stated plans.
Despite their focus on MENA, Yala's largest user base is in the U.S. among its sizable population of Arabic music listeners. At the same time, they've signed deals with such companies as EMI, The Orchard and Warner for the MENA region to provide other forms of music. Though iTunes and Deezer are entering the territory, Yala's in a strong position there both as an early entrant and as a culturally attuned company.
Yala Also Offers Services to Artists

Yala is a unique music service in other ways as well with direct relationships with and services for artists and managers. In particular, though they do have a YouTube channel, they've been focusing on managing Arabic artists' channels. They basically take care of centralizing artist assets on their channels and helping them build their YouTube following.
Yala also has a presence on Facebook and manage some artists' Facebook pages as well. These often include the Yala music player featuring the individual artist's music.
Yala's Hybrid of Music Service and Services to Artists Worth Watching

Yala Music is an impressive hybrid, one made possible by direct licensing with a focus on a huge segment of music and an underserved market. Their development of alternatives to piracy is notable as is their approach to building with an understanding of user listening habits.
The combination of music service and services to artists is especially interesting. The overall picture that emerges is of a company well worth watching.
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch/@crowdfundingm) also blogs at All World Dance: Videos and maintains Music Biz Blogs. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

Location:Rohrerstown Rd,Lancaster,United States

Screenburn Helps The Rolling Stones Rent Movies To Their Facebook Fans

Screenburn Helps The Rolling Stones Rent Movies To Their Facebook Fans

Today The Rolling Stones and Eagle Rock Entertainment revealed their choice of Screenburn to bring rental movies to Facebook. The Stones are making 6 documentaries available from "Ladies & Gentlemen...The Rolling Stones" to "Stones in Exile." Movies will be streamed via a Facebook app created by Screenburn. Each title rents for $5.50 for 48 hours.

London-based Screenburn offers both sales and rental of video on Facebook. The Stones aren't their first clients by any means. They've been supporting a wide range of Facebook video releases from artists such as The Libertines, Paul McCartney and Katy Perry.

The Rolling Stones rentals are available through a Facebook app.

Movies are displayed in a slider that includes video previews. Once you pick one for viewing, you're signed into the app and then taken to checkout all while still on Facebook.

While Screenburn also offers sales, rentals seem more in keeping with the current direction of web consumption while also opening up revenue for movies some folks may not want to own but might want to see.

Rolling Stones movies available on Facebook include:

Sweet Summer Sun Hyde Park Live:
"The Rolling Stones historic and triumphant return to Hyde Park was without doubt the event of last summer. Over 100,000 delirious fans of all ages packed into the park for two spectacular outdoor concerts to watch Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood do what they do best."

Crossfire Hurricane:
"The film, directed by Brett Morgen, is released as part of the ongoing 50th anniversary celebrations of The Rolling Stones. This superb new film tells the story of the Stones unparalleled journey from blues obsessed teenagers in the early sixties to their undisputed status as rock royalty."

Ladies & Gentlemen:
"The legendary concert film “Ladies & Gentlemen…The Rolling Stones” has been fully restored and remastered from the original film print and multitrack audio masters and now finally receives its first authorised release."

Some Girls:
"The Rolling Stones 1978 tour of the USA in support of that year’s “Some Girls” album is considered by fans to be one of their very best. The tour followed immediately on the release of the “Some Girls” album and by the time the band arrived in Texas in mid-July the album had hit the No.1 spot on the US charts."

Stones in Exile:
"In the spring of 1971 the Rolling Stones departed the UK to take up residence in France as tax exiles. Keith Richards settled at a villa called Nellcôte in Villefranche-sur-Mer and this became the venue for the recording of much of the band’s masterpiece “Exile On Main Street”."

Live at the Checkerboard:
"On 22 November 1981, in the middle of their mammoth American tour, the Rolling Stones arrived in Chicago prior to playing 3 nights at the Rosemont Horizon. Long influenced by the Chicago blues, the band paid a visit to Muddy Waters’ club the Checkerboard Lounge to see the legendary bluesman perform."

More:

Screenburn's $500k Angel Investment To Grow Streaming Music Film Rentals On Facebook
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) recently launched DanceLand. Send news about music tech startups and services, DIY music biz and music marketing to: clyde(at)fluxr

Location:Rohrerstown Rd,Lancaster,United States

5 Tips For Getting Featured On Beatport

5 Tips For Getting Featured On Beatport
A Guest Post by Symphonic Distribution

So you have a new release and want it to be featured on Beatport. Get ready! There is a lot of competition, but the good news is that it can all happen with some consistency and good music. Here are some simple yet effective ways to increase your chances of being featured on the coveted site.

1. Plan ahead.

Planning ahead is vital in order to be considered for a feature. All banners that you see on the site are actually planned weeks ahead. So remember to deliver your music 2-3 weeks prior to your release date and to communicate in the featured release form the entire promotion efforts you will be doing for the release.

2. Get a high quality release cover

Make sure it’s as sharp and high-quality as you can. Use smart design principles. Get help from a professional graphic designer if need be, we can also help you design your release. We cannot stress this enough: This is your music’s first impression, so spend some quality time on this. Everyone sees the cover art before they hear the music. Not only will Beatport judge it – all the blogs will. It should draw full attention. This will not only help you get more fans, but Beatport will see you have taken the time to get some cool art work and have a strong branding effort. If you’d like more details on what younger music fans are looking for get the scoop here.

3. Remember to spell check!

Editors will notice any misspelling and will not take these types of releases in consideration. Remember to have a solid release bio as well that describes the release itself and not the bio of the artist. Keep it short and to the point, but as descriptive as possible with key words.

4. Sharing and Social Presence.

Your social networks, websites, and photos should all be cohesive. Beatport and other retailers do their research and there is a chance that they will support someone that has a solid social presence – AND a well-branded social presence. You must have a logo or professional press photo as well as a well-designed Facebook cover picture. Make it look great – it’s not that costly anymore to get top quality design.

Also, one of Beatport’s best indicators that your release will sell well is the traction and plays your release has. Work on getting as many REAL plays as possible. Join Soundcloud groups to help get more traction as well. Get the scoop on Soundcloud groups here.

5. Get prepared to answer some questions.

Stores like Beatport want to know that you are doing to promote your music. To increase these chances you should supply: Amount of Fans Artist has, amount of fans label has, DJ Support, marketing efforts done & expected sales. Make sure that any coverage you do get while you’ve been promoting, you actually communicate it to marketing@symphonicdistribution.com at least a week in advance, so we are able to communicate to the specific genre managers.

Beatport does not send us notifications about the releases they select for features, so we suggest you review the various pages of Beatport on release week to see if your release was selected. Best of luck!

Ready to submit for a feature? Just fill out the form in the content portal and we’ll communicate your interest! Not selling on Beatport yet? Check out our distribution options and we make it happen!

Word shuffle

First write a few random words on some index cards or small pieces of paper, one word for each. Then mix them up and place two side-by-side. Try as hard as you can to come up with a new idea from the two resulting words.

This creative idea is great in so many ways, and you never how people really use this idea to come up with some of their ideas. Song writers, authors, poets, and I use on a daily basis, but my problem I can't remember everything that I come up with LOL. But like I was saying everyone is most likely to be using this creative idea themselves. So why not you. Give a try to see what you come up with.

Related articles

• Before the First Draft Part 5: Outlines, Beatsheets and Index Cards (thenovicescreenwriter.wordpress.com)
• 6 Great Apps To Improve a Writer's Creativity (makeuseof.com)
• PrepOutMon-day: With An Idea And a Bus Pass... (penandstink.wordpress.com)
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35 Things To Consider When Starting Your Own Record Label

35 Things To Consider When Starting Your Own Record Label

The following guest post is an excerpt from the new 4th Edition of Music Is Your Business by Christopher Knab.

Deciding to release your own record is only a good idea if you know what you’re getting into. As you read through the following questions, mark the ones that you can’t answer and make an effort to find the answers. We answer some of these questions throughout the book. There are, however, some questions that only you can answer, and a few that are outside the scope of this book.
(Answers to any business start-up issues are widely available on the Internet and in many books devoted to that specific topic.)
35 Things to Consider When Starting Your Own Record Label

1. Why are you starting your own label? (What is your motivation?)
2. Why would anyone want to buy your music?
3. Is there currently a market for your kind of music? Prove it!
4. If you’re not releasing your own music, have you ever read a recording contract?
5. Are you aware of all the traditional clauses that are in such 75–100 page contracts?
6. Do you know anything about copyright law?
7. What is a mechanical royalty? What is a performance royalty? Internet play royalties?
8. Have you heard of the Harry Fox Agency, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC? What do they do?
9. What do you want to achieve by starting your own label?
10. What do you know about the day-to-day business of selling music?
11. Will your new company be a sole proprietorship, a partnership, or some type of corporation? (Do you know the pros and cons of each?)
12. Have you trademarked the name of your company to be sure you can use that name?
13. Will you need recording equipment, office equipment, and supplies to run your label?
14. Do you have a recording studio you can work with, or will your laptop recording really do the job?
15. Do you know any record producers and/or engineers?
16. How much money will it cost you to start your label, record your records, and market the recordings for the first year? Second year? Third year?
17. How will you raise the money you need to start and run your record label?
18. What local, state, and federal tax responsibilities will your label have?
19. How will you sell your records? (Live shows, Internet sales, mail order, catalog sales, distributors, stores?)
20. What specific distribution and retail sales plans have you arranged so that people can easily find your releases at retail stores?
21. Do you have the money, time, and determination to compete in an industry that releases over 1,000 new records a week?
22. What configurations, (CD, vinyl, MP3, etc.), based on your knowledge of your fans habits, will you need to make?
23. How much will it cost to manufacture your CDs and/or vinyl, and convert your recordings to downloadable formats?
24. How many copies of your releases do you think, realistically, you can sell?
25. What deals are offered by CD manufacturers? Will you use their barcode or buy your own?
26. Will you need to make posters or other materials for retailers? If so, how many and how much will that cost?
27. Will you be making special novelty items like t-shirts, baseball caps, etc., and how much will that cost?
28. How did you estimate the number of copies you needed to manufacture?
29. Did you count into your estimation the number of free CDs you’ll have to give away for promotions of various kinds?
30. How will you go about finding other acts to sign to your label? Are you the sole artist? Then how many new releases will you have every year or so?
31. How important do you think graphic design is in making your label’s logo and cover art work for your releases?
32. Do you know any graphic artists with record design experience?
33. What information should go on the CD cover, back-cover, spine, booklet, and label?
34. What will your website look like? What online marketing news and fan opportunities (blogs, podcasts, etc.) will there be for your fans to interact with you?
35. Do you know how to write a marketing plan, a distributor one-sheet, and other promo materials?
Plus an extra question (this may sound familiar):
36. Who are your customers? NEVER forget this important question! If you think you know them, then describe them in very specific terms. And keep in touch with them. Create an event page on Facebook and invite them to interact with you on Twitter.
And on and on it goes. Welcome to the new music business!

By Christopher Knab, Copyright 2013. All rights reserved. The new, 4th Edition of Music Is Your Business has 100 pages of more info to help musicians help themselves with the business of music.

Related articles

• 35 Things To Consider When Starting Your Own Record Label (djduece.wordpress.com)
• 35 Things To Consider When Starting Your Own Record Label (hypebot.com)
• 10 Career Mistakes Every Singer Should Avoid. (wolebgb.wordpress.com)
• Irving Azoff Reinvents The Major Record Label (forbes.com)
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“Data Is The New Hustle” – Is The Music Business Getting Any Fairer?

“Data Is The New Hustle” – Is The Music Business Getting Any Fairer?

During last Tuesday’s SF MusicTech Summit, I had the privilege of moderating a panel alongside several top minds within music and technology, where a short, yet powerful quote was said that resonated deeply with myself and several members of the audience. “Data is the new hustle,” pronounced BitTorrent’s Executive Director of Marketing Matt Mason. The traditional music business has never been rational (as Incubus manager Steve Rennie pointed out), nor has it ever been easy or straightforward. However, Mason points out that the democratized use of online tools and metrics is beginning facilitate a new kind of music business – one that is becoming fairer for artists.
“The music game has always been about hustle,” Mason says. “I've worked in the content industries since my teens, and have never seen a successful artist who didn't, at one time or another, figure out a way to get their stuff in front of people that mattered to their career in a really creative way.”
To Mason’s point, artists of yesterday would have to employ a hustle mentality in several different ways in order to get their music heard. The trouble was that in order to do so, one would have to go through a number of gatekeepers – many of which were nearly impossible to access without the right connections or a large enough bank account.
“In the music business, hustle has taken on many forms over the decades,” he continued. “We've all heard stories of payola, threats, favors and bribery, but there's also a negative side, to mangle a Hunter S. Thompson quote on the music industry. It's never been fair, it's never been rational, and it's always been dirty. Which is why data is such good news for the music business.”
Nowadays however, executives all the way up to the major labels are examining the very same data figures that we all have access to such as YouTube views, SoundCloud plays, and social media metrics. With data, popular artists can now prove they are popular. If they decide to approach labels, brands or other industry sources, they can now demonstrate that they really have an audience, and can even pinpoint exactly where they are and to what degree they engage and spend money with them.
“Artists now have so many tools at their disposal,” Mason said. “The real problem is knowing how to use them, knowing how to understand the right metrics and then act accordingly to get a better outcome. But that's a better way of hustling than paying off a DJ to play your record. Data means the music business is getting a little more democratic.”
While many would argue that artists continue to get the short end of the stick in today's music business (perhaps especially in regards to licensing with streaming platforms), artist data metrics can now prove to be just as powerful - if not more powerful - than any personal connection or bribe.
The proof is always in the pudding, as they say. If you as an artist claim to be remarkable, and you've got the stats to back it up, that data will certainly place the ball firmly in your court.
—
Hisham Dahud is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for Fame House and an independent musician. Follow him on Twitter: @HishamDahud

Related articles

• "Data Is The New Hustle" - Is The Music Business Getting Any Fairer? (hypebot.com)
• Breaking Into The Music Business Today (djduece.wordpress.com)
• The Top 10 Truths Of The Music Business (djduece.wordpress.com)
• The Top 10 Truths Of The Music Business (hypebot.com)
• Breaking Into The Music Business Today (hypebot.com)

The Top 10 Truths Of The Music Business

The Top 10 Truths Of The Music Business

The music business has changed quite a lot throughout the past decade, and while new technical innovations may have caused the restructuring of many business models (and the inner workings of them), several other truths continue to remain the same today – such as extremely compelling music continuing to be the cornerstone of any artist endeavor. In this downloadable lesson from Berklee College of Music, Future of Music co-authors David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard have identified what they feel are the Top 10 truths that will guide the future of the music business, as well as define the nature of the relationship between artist and fan.

The Top 10 Truths Of The Music Business

1. Music matters more than ever: the music market is alive and vibrant.

2. The record business is not the same as the music business.

3. The artists are the brands, and entertainment is the main attraction.

4. Artists and their managers will shape the future.

5. Publishing income is a crucial income stream.

6. Radio is no longer the primary way that people discover new music.

7. Digital niche marketing outperforms mass marketing.

8. Customers demand—and get—increasing convenience and value.

9. The current pricing model goes out the window.

10. Music is mobile, and new models will embrace a more liquid view of music.

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• Breaking Into The Music Business Today (hypebot.com)
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Breaking Into The Music Business Today

Breaking Into The Music Business Today

By Mika Salmi, CEO of creativeLIVE.

Whether you love making music, or love listening to it, there are now more ways than ever to break into the music business.

It's been 14 years since Napster emerged, marking the start of an industry-wide revolution. Today, more music is being made and listened to than ever before, and the flow of both money and opportunity has changed radically.

Once upon a time, six major record labels controlled the music business. Now there are only major three labels — and they don't control the industry like they used to. With the traditional gatekeeper model all but destroyed, what opportunities are available to the aspiring musician or manager?

Musicians As Entrepreneurs

In the past, if you were a musician, getting signed to one of these labels was your only goal (okay, besides sex and drugs). That's not because it was easy to do; it was straightforward. The only way to make it big was to land a major deal with a major label.

Today, as an artist, you have a multitude of options — all starting and ending with your own bare-bones initiative. You can create music in your bedroom and distribute it directly via online platforms like Beatport or Soundcloud. You can play it like Macklemore did and spend years on the road, playing hundreds of live shows, building a fan base that will eventually fill arenas and land you on Billboard charts. You can try the old (and hardest) way and sign to a label. Or you can do all three.

Your path depends, first, on your talent and, second, on how much control you want over your career. Today, musicians have choices that hardly existed pre-Napster. You can now decide.

Music Fanaticism Is Now a Career Path

If you are not a musician but a music junkie like me, your only option in the past was to get a job working for a record label. These jobs were in short supply so they were hard to get, but you once your were "in", you were set. And then sometimes you'd have career-defining moments like I did, when I discovered the Nine Inch Nails back in 1988.

Today, after a few decades running music and entertainment companies, I'm the CEO of creativeLIVE, an online education company. And guess what channel we just launched, because we see such a huge opportunity? Music.

If you are a music fanatic, you have as many choices as the artists themselves. You can go work for a technology-based music company like Spotify or Pandora (there are hundreds of these companies popping up every day) as a product manager, engineer, or in business development. Or, you could choose to work at an ad agency or media company sourcing music for commercials and TV and movie soundtracks (many, many companies here too). Or, you can go work for a label and help them figure out how to stay relevant in this ever-changing industry.

Anyone Can Try to Make a Career in Music

Alternatively, whether you see yourself as a music artist or a music fanatic, you can now learn how to make music on your computer. creativeLIVE is bringing a world-renowned DJ, Big Chocolate, in to show you how to make Electronic Dance Music (EDM) tracks in Ableton Live. EDM is the hot thing right now, permeating all genres.

Due to the democratization of the industry over the last two decades, music is alive and well and the opportunities are numerous. The days of being a "cigar-smoking fat cat music exec" are pretty much gone, but the music lives on. Music "careers" are now more creative and exciting, taking a number of shapes, both on the artist side and the business side.

Whether you are an aspiring musician, a marketer, a deal maker, or a coder, there are more, and, in my opinion, better opportunities today to follow your passion for music and make a good living doing so.

Former label exec, current Incubus manager, and all-around man-in-the-know, Steve Rennie will be on creativeLIVE on September 12 teaching a workshop about networking. While the landscape of the music business is constantly changing, one thing remains the same: it's all about who you know. Steve is a candid and insightful expert who has seen it all and managed to stay both relevant and honest.

Hisham Dahud is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for Fame House and an independent musician. Follow him on Twitter: @HishamDahud

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• DJ Bay Blog: Breaking Into The Music Business Today (djbaymusic.com)
• How I Listen: creativeLIVE's Mika Salmi (hypebot.com)
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• Irving Azoff Reinvents The Major Record Label (forbes.com)

35 Things To Consider When Starting Your Own Record Label

35 Things To Consider When Starting Your Own Record Label

The following guest post is an excerpt from the new 4th Edition of Music Is Your Business by Christopher Knab.

Deciding to release your own record is only a good idea if you know what you’re getting into. As you read through the following questions, mark the ones that you can’t answer and make an effort to find the answers. We answer some of these questions throughout the book. There are, however, some questions that only you can answer, and a few that are outside the scope of this book.
(Answers to any business start-up issues are widely available on the Internet and in many books devoted to that specific topic.)
35 Things to Consider When Starting Your Own Record Label

1. Why are you starting your own label? (What is your motivation?)
2. Why would anyone want to buy your music?
3. Is there currently a market for your kind of music? Prove it!
4. If you’re not releasing your own music, have you ever read a recording contract?
5. Are you aware of all the traditional clauses that are in such 75–100 page contracts?
6. Do you know anything about copyright law?
7. What is a mechanical royalty? What is a performance royalty? Internet play royalties?
8. Have you heard of the Harry Fox Agency, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC? What do they do?
9. What do you want to achieve by starting your own label?
10. What do you know about the day-to-day business of selling music?
11. Will your new company be a sole proprietorship, a partnership, or some type of corporation? (Do you know the pros and cons of each?)
12. Have you trademarked the name of your company to be sure you can use that name?
13. Will you need recording equipment, office equipment, and supplies to run your label?
14. Do you have a recording studio you can work with, or will your laptop recording really do the job?
15. Do you know any record producers and/or engineers?
16. How much money will it cost you to start your label, record your records, and market the recordings for the first year? Second year? Third year?
17. How will you raise the money you need to start and run your record label?
18. What local, state, and federal tax responsibilities will your label have?
19. How will you sell your records? (Live shows, Internet sales, mail order, catalog sales, distributors, stores?)
20. What specific distribution and retail sales plans have you arranged so that people can easily find your releases at retail stores?
21. Do you have the money, time, and determination to compete in an industry that releases over 1,000 new records a week?
22. What configurations, (CD, vinyl, MP3, etc.), based on your knowledge of your fans habits, will you need to make?
23. How much will it cost to manufacture your CDs and/or vinyl, and convert your recordings to downloadable formats?
24. How many copies of your releases do you think, realistically, you can sell?
25. What deals are offered by CD manufacturers? Will you use their barcode or buy your own?
26. Will you need to make posters or other materials for retailers? If so, how many and how much will that cost?
27. Will you be making special novelty items like t-shirts, baseball caps, etc., and how much will that cost?
28. How did you estimate the number of copies you needed to manufacture?
29. Did you count into your estimation the number of free CDs you’ll have to give away for promotions of various kinds?
30. How will you go about finding other acts to sign to your label? Are you the sole artist? Then how many new releases will you have every year or so?
31. How important do you think graphic design is in making your label’s logo and cover art work for your releases?
32. Do you know any graphic artists with record design experience?
33. What information should go on the CD cover, back-cover, spine, booklet, and label?
34. What will your website look like? What online marketing news and fan opportunities (blogs, podcasts, etc.) will there be for your fans to interact with you?
35. Do you know how to write a marketing plan, a distributor one-sheet, and other promo materials?
Plus an extra question (this may sound familiar):
36. Who are your customers? NEVER forget this important question! If you think you know them, then describe them in very specific terms. And keep in touch with them. Create an event page on Facebook and invite them to interact with you on Twitter.
And on and on it goes. Welcome to the new music business!
By Christopher Knab, Copyright 2013. All rights reserved. The new, 4th Edition of Music Is Your Business has 100 pages of more info to help musicians help themselves with the business of music.

Related articles

• 35 Things To Consider When Starting Your Own Record Label (hypebot.com)
• Irving Azoff Reinvents The Major Record Label (forbes.com)
• Reversion Rights Come to Play in 2013 (artherworldblog.wordpress.com)
• 10 Career Mistakes Every Singer Should Avoid. (wolebgb.wordpress.com)
• Starting a Record Label? (gearslutz.com)
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YouTube For Musicians: Single Frame Music Videos, Free Analytics, Creator Updates

YouTube For Musicians: Single Frame Music Videos, Free Analytics, Creator Updates

YouTube continues to be a primary tool for many musicians and fans and third parties are here to help out. To create a quick single frame music video, see TunesToTube. Want to track your YouTube action across the web? Try Strike Social. Just need more insights into using YouTube? The Creator Playbook has been updated.

TunesToTube Creates Single Frame Music Videos

YouTube is not only a great way to market your music but, for many musicians, it's becoming a great way to monetize as well. And since making a full music video for every track you with to add to YouTube is probably out of the question, some musicians are creating videos with one image that then serves primarily as an audio player.

TunesToTube (via Musformation) offers a free service to combine an MP3 and an image into a music video that's then posted to your YouTube account.

For those who donate to the site, an upload to SoundCloud option is also available.

Strike Social Offers Free YouTube Analytics

Strike Social is a new YouTube analytics service whose current features are free and should remain that way. According to CEO Patrick McKenna, long-term plans include additional premium features for monetization.

Special features include:

"Strike Score" - One overall score based on "more than 100 data sets across YouTube, Facebook & Twitter."

Engage - Discover and engage with viewers across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Promote - Video advertising to increase viewership.

So the Strike Score gives you a quick overall take while you're also able to get more detailed, for example:

"Publishers can also look at what people are saying about the video, sort those comments based on the size of each commenter’s social media following, and respond to specific remarks from within Strike Social — in particular, McKenna says that the tools are 'more actionable on the Facebook side' than the competition."

YouTube's Creator Hub & Creator Playbook Updated

YouTube recently announced the update of their resources for videomakers, Creator Hub and Creator Playbook.

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch/@crowdfundingm) also blogs at Flux Research and Crowdfunding For Musicians. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

Related articles

• YouTube For Musicians: Single Frame Music Videos, Free Analytics, Creator Updates (hypebot.com)
• How to Test New YouTube Features Before They Come Out! (rpmcommunity.com)
• Getting It Done: The Week In D.I.Y. & Indie Music (hypebot.com)
• Monetizing Music Videos: Vimeo, VideofyMe, YouTube (hypebot.com)
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How To Make A Music Website Like Ed Sheeran, Case Study Part 1

How To Make A Music Website Like Ed Sheeran, Case Study Part 1

BY: SHAUN LETANG 

Hey guys, today I’m going to show you how to make a top music website which will allow you to better turn visitors into fans, capture their details for future contact, and effectively make more money from your music career. I’ve already show you how to set your site up from scratch, so I won’t be talking about that again (use that guide if you haven’t already got a music website). What I didn’t cover in that guide however, is how to structure your site to make the most of your visitors.Having your own website as a musician is vitally important, as it provides a piece to thesales funnel you simply can’t get with social sites like Facebook and Twitter. Add a mailing list to your site, and you’ll be able to find your most interactive and valuable fans much more easily.That said, you need to structure your site correctly for it to have these benefits. All too often a good looking design is put up, and the site stays looking the same for the rest of it’s life. Just because it looks good though, it doesn’t mean it’s laid out properly for maximum fan conversions and retention. A bad layout and site structure can mean you’re not retaining anywhere near as many fans as you could have other wise, and your site may even be turning would be fans away. Both of these things lead to less buzz and income for you.So how should you be laying out your website? Well, to help you better get a idea of what a good site structure looks like, I’ve picked a site I think does quite well in terms of getting fans interactive and keeping in contact with them.The site in question is the Ed Sheeran website. If you’re not sure who that is, have a look at his website for the lowdown.

Here’s a look at Ed’s website’s home page as it is at the time of this case study. Click the image to see a larger one pop up in a new window:

As well as looking at what this site does well, I’m also going to look at what I would do differently and why.

The aim of this guide is to show you what goes into making a top website for your music career, mainly in terms of layout. If you’ve already got your own .com website (or .co.uk / .ca etc) then you can use this guide to help you better structure your existing site. If you haven’t already got a site (I’m not talking a Facebook page here), you really need one. I’ve already put out a guide on how to set up your own professional site quickly and easily, so if you haven’t got one yet, first get one sorted in the next 20 or so minutes using that guide. Then come back here for an idea of the structure you should implement.

So now you know what we’ll be doing, let’s have a look at what goes where on Ed Sheeran’s website and why.

The Video On The Front Page

The first things I want to mention about Ed Sheeran’s website, is the video he displays near the top middle of his home page. This is what most people will instantly notice when they visit for the first time. Not only is it in a prominent position, but it’s also eye catching.

In this space, Ed puts his video playlist. The reason for this is simple: video is one of the best ways to get people interested in what you’re offering!

Think about it, how many times does it take you hearing a song before it sticks in your head? While it’ll only take one listen for some songs, in general it usually takes two, three or more. On the other hand, usually if you see a good video, you remember it instantly. It’s also a lot easier for most people to get hooked watching a video, over hearing a song for the very first time.

Of course this is generalizing as everyone takes in music differently. But as a general rule, video and music grabs people’s attention a lot quicker than plain audio does.

My bet is that this area is one of the most popular on the website’s home page.

One more thing to note about this area is that the embedded video also contains a playlist. So if you’ve seen the first video he displays, you’ve the option of looking through his other material either for something you haven’t seen before, or for your favorite song of his.

Social Boxes In The Right Sidebar

The next thing I want to look at are the social boxes in the right hand sidebar of his website. He displays a Facebook ‘like’ box showing how many Facebook fans he has, as well as a Twitter follow button above it at the top of the sidebar.

There are two main reasons for this:

1. Social Proof.
   People like reassurance that what they’re doing and what they’re into is socially acceptable. Social proof is a way of convincing people this is the case, and is a good way to get people to become a fan of your music much quicker. If you see that your friends has already liked Ed Sheeran’s facebook page for example, you’re more likely to click and like it yourself. And if you see that almost 3 and a half million people already do like him, most people would take that as a sign that he’s talented and worth looking into some more. Even if you haven’t heard his music before but then hear he’s got 3,404,045 Facebook fans (which he has at the time of writing this), chances are you’ll be that much more likely to think there’s something too him, and want to hear for yourself.
2. He’s Working On Building Up His Social Following.
   When you’re building up your audience, it’s very important to retain the people that arrive on your website. If they come but you don’t get them either on your mailing list or social sites, the chances that you’ll get them on your site again will drop greatly. If you did get their contact details in some form however, you can contact them when something new and exciting is happening, and send a wave of your fans where you want them relatively easily.

While Ed has both the option to sign up to his mailing list and social sites on his website, he’s chosen to focus more on building up his social presence than collecting email addresses. This is shown by where he places both his social profiles and mailing list opt in box. His social profiles are near the top of the page in one of the first places people usually look (the top right hand side of the sidebar), while you have to scroll down the page to see his newsletter opt in box (also known as ‘below the fold’). On top of that, the mailing list sign up box is on the thinner left hand side sidebar.

I personally feel it’s better for musicians to focus evenly on both their mailing list and increasing their social presence, but you can do one or the other if you like. That said, I feel it’s possible for Ed to increase the amount of email addresses he collects without it affecting the growth of his social presence too much. I’ll explain how a little bit later.

The Top Nav Bar

When internet surfers visit a website, they often expect to see the website’s navigation bar in one of two places:

1. At the top under the header, or
2. At the top of the left hand sidebar.

As a lesser rule, nav bars on the top right hand side of the sidebar are also becoming increasingly popular. If you don’t have your nav bar in one of these place, you’ll often confuse your website’s visitors more than you need to. And when your website confuses people, people leave.

In the space where the top navigation bar usually goes, Ed (or his website creator) has chosen to put two things:

1. His music player.
2. A link to all his social profiles.

Again, this shows that he’s actively building up his social presence. It’s not common for websites to have these kind of links directly under the header, so it shows he wants to get people to join his social sites wherever possible.

The music player provides visitors another way for people to listen to his music. Even though people have the option to view his videos when they first come on, not everyone has fast internet, and may not be able to play these videos for this or another reason. The music player helps with this; songs don’t take as much internet usage to play as videos do, so more people will be able to hear his material over if he was to display video alone.

What I’d Do Differently 1

As I’ll look into more later, his mailing list opt in box is a lot lower down the page in the left hand sidebar. The sidebar navigation is directly above that. I would personally take the social icons out of the top nav bar, and place the sidebar nav links in the area for the top nav. I’d then move the mailing list opt in form to the top of the left hand sidebar, and put the links to the social profiles below the mailing list opt in form in the left sidebar.

I’d do these things because, even though he’s mainly focusing on getting social followers, building up your mailing list is still very important. I’ve already looked at why this is andhow to build your list here, so I won’t go into that again.

Ed already has his main social profiles prominently displayed on other parts of his website (Facebook, Twitter and Youtube), so having these links here seems to be a bit of a waste of space. By moving these links, he’ll still get his social sign ups from other parts of the website, but he’ll also most likely increase his list subscriber numbers as it’ll be in a much better position.

On top of this, by using the structure I mentioned, it’ll also mean he has links to his social profiles both above and below the fold. While it can’t be confirmed either way until tested, this may actually increase the amount of people he gets clicking over and signing up to his social sites.

The Side Navigation

The next part of this music website we’ll look at is the left hand side navigation. I want to point out the order in which the links to each page are in. They go as follows:

1. Home.
2. News.
3. Live Dates.
4. Photos.
5. Videos.
6. Lyrics.
7. Contact & Links.
8. Store.

While a lot of things can be drawn from this ordering of pages, there’s one key things I want to point out: His store page is listed last!

Now while some may assume this is a bad move and that he should be trying to sell people things asap to make money from them, I disagree. I actually thing this layout is pretty smart.

All the links above the store page are there to get people to find out as much as they can about Ed Sheeran, and really buy into what he’s doing. They can hear his music, see his videos, see what the latest news with him is, see where they can see him live and the like. Then after they’ve taken all that in and are now a real fan of his (if they’ve got that far and are still browsing they can be classed as a fan), they’re directed to the shop page where they can buy some of his songs and merchandise. Of course, here he offers them some cool goodies they can’t get without coughing up the money.

If he was to send people straight from the home page to the store page, chance are a lot more of his visitors would ‘bounce’ off that page and leave without buying anything. By giving them knowledge and the chance to really buy into his movement however, he increases the chance that they’ll want to at one point get involved with him on a financial level.

By displaying your store page last, you won’t generally lose out on sales. If someone really wants to find your store before they’ve gone through every link, they will. So don’t be in a rush to sell straight away. That said, always give them the option to buy and make it easy for those who are ready to invest in your music. If you haven’t yet got something to buy on your website, you’re missing out on a big opportunity.

Side note: By Ed showing his live gig dates quite high up in the nav bar, not only is he encouraging people to come out and see him live, but that’s also another way he’s monetizing his music career. When you go onto his Live Dates page, you see both details of his live shows, as well as have the option to buy tickets to these shows in question. It’s not done in a forceful way, but the option is there for those who are ready to take that step.

How To Make A Music Website Like Ed Sheeran End Of Part 1

Even though we’re only half way, above you’ll find plenty of handy tips you can use and apply to your own music website. If you haven’t got a site yet, I suggest you make one right now using my guide on how to create a music website using Wordpress. In it I walk you through the steps which will get you a professional looking website up within 20 or so minutes. It’s the same process I used to make my own sites, so give it a go.

Next week I’ll post part two of the guide, and look at the remaining features of Ed Sheeran’s website. What it does well, and the areas I feel it can improve on. If you want to be informed of when that’s out, be sure to sign up to my newsletter here. You’ll also get a free ebook on music marketing for doing so. :)

Shaun Letang,
Music Industry How To.

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