Steve

I'd like to meet:

Artists, Labels, and Music Retailers interested in internet Digital Music Sales & Distribution. You can sell with our process anywhere you can put a few lines of HTML code (ie. MySpace).

Music:

ArtistConnect Services

ArtistConnect broke online music selling into a few simple services. By mastering these few services and staying focus on the fan’s online experience, ArtistConnect has developed a dynamic and virtual selling process.

ArtistConnect developed a process that everyone gets an equitable chance to make money and that benefits the music fans with more music at a reasonable price. The process was designed in such a way, that ONLY those that produce results get compensated. ArtistConnect fully supports an INDIE approach to doing business – no need for a lot of extra people on the payroll.

ArtistConnect Catalog – State of the Art digital media catalog built on the most current media technology and managed by business professionals with decades of experience. Full services - sampling, selling, distribution, streaming, select play, and all the current media functions are available and reliable.

Virtual Selling – Sample, buy, and download CDs/Tracks online from anywhere with just a few lines of HTML. This is a very unique selling approach and has many benefits. Virtual Selling has subtle differences - often the differences are not appreciated untill experienced side by side with the other selling/download processes. The number of steps for the buyer has been minimized significantly.

Artist Rep – Liaisons are often requested or needed to assist the Artist with the business matters of distribution agreement/processes. Labels, Artist Reps, and even internet Music Stores often assist the Artist in these matters.

Internet Radio – Internet Radio is available as a promotional tool as well as a selling process. Streaming or select play, play list or random, all current industry functions are available. ArtistConnect integrated the buying process into the radio so listeners can purchase tracks/CDs while listening.

Customer Care – All ArtistConnect buyers get a Customer Care account set up automatically with the first purchase (note; they did not have to register). They can manage all and any purchase/download issue from this single account regardless of where they purchased (any ArtistConnect site) the music.

Many business models are supported:

Example 1. - An existing Internet Music Store (selling physical CDs) wants to start selling downloads. They can simply select the Artist/CDs that they think they can sell and post the HTML code to their site.

Example 2. – An existing Label has several Artist and multiple CDs that they want to sell directly from the Label’s web site. The Label can simply post the HTML code to the Label’s web site. The Label may also be managing Artist web sites. They can simply post the HTML code to the Artist’s web sites. Note – the Label is acting as the “Artist Rep” when the Artist’s works were added to the ArtistConnect catalog and thus gets a discount for performing this function.

Example 3. – An independent Artist wants to start selling downloads from the artist’s web site. Simply select the music and post the HTML code to the site. Select the HTML code and put it in an email to your fans. Put the code on your MySpace site, or any other sites you want.

Example 4. – Bob and his dad have owned a local music instrument business for years and know a lot of musicians. They have helped many of their customers get gigs, rent equipment, posted flyers, etc. and generally developed a relationship of trust. Bob convinces his dad to offer ArtistConnect services to their Artist friends. Bob does not want to set up an internet store nor does he want to do any of the selling. He and the Artist agree that Bob should simply set the Artist’s CDs up in the ArtistConnect catalog and let the selling network do the work of selling. Bob is an “Artist Rep” for the Artist and acts as the liaison with ArtistConnect

Example 5. – T-Rell and friends are HOT, HOT, HOT and they are selling out gigs everywhere, selling HOT in the music stores, selling HOT on the internet. They even got really good offers from the Major Labels (12 – 15%), but they are staying independent. They do digital downloads from many sites (they saved 9% CDBaby charges by going direct to the digital stores). These gentleman and ladies are not just HOT but also SMART. They will also use ArtistConnect because it is another place to ‘promote everywhere and sell everywhere”. T-Rell’s mama said “don’t miss a sell, T-Rell”?

Example 6. – Sally is a new mom and also is very talented studio artist. She is a virtuoso at many instruments. Her best friend Jane, also a new mom, is a great vocalist. They have a home studio and have created some great tracks that they know would sell. They do not want to tour, be on TV, run promotions, or run a web site. They simply want to see if they can make some money selling their works. ArtistConnect might just be what they want. They don’t have to invest the money for a run of physical CDs, spend a lot of money on promotions; they simply want to test the market with their works. ArtistConnect charges some minimal charges for total unknowns that are very reasonable ($35 for set up and $10 minimum monthly catalog fee). So for less than a tank of gas, Sally and Jane will test the market for their collection of tracks.

Movies:

For release May 12, 2005
The NPD Group: Computer Listening Behaviors On The Rise
"Radio remains the most popular way to listen to music; however, radio listening actually declined four percent since last year (194 million people aged 13 and over listened to music on the radio in March 2005, versus 203 million who listened in March 2004). By contrast, listening to music stored on a computer rose by 22 percent (63.2 million to 77.2 million), online radio listening increased 18 percent (45.3 million to 53.5 million) and free streaming of online music increased 37 percent (33.7 million to 46.1 million). "
http://www.npd.com/dynamic/releases/press_050512.html

Television:

For release December 9, 2004
The NPD Group: Digital Music a Prime Opportunity for Music Industry, But Challenges Remain
"According to the most recent NPD information, 62 percent of Internet-enabled households currently have digital music files saved on their PCs. “Nearly two-thirds of U.S. households are now personally familiar with digital music,” said Isaac Josephson, senior account manager of The NPD Group. “That means that among regular internet users who have been online during the past 30 days there’s a potential audience of 43 million domestic households with at least some level of digital music savvy. This represents big opportunity for digital music retailers – especially if they can find effective ways to convert those using free P2P services.”
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NPD found that teens are somewhat less drawn to legal services than are older consumers. Teens age 13 to 17 represent a 15 percent share of physical music (CD) purchases and 21 percent of P2P usage but only 12 percent of legal service users. By contrast adults age 26 to 35 represent 21 percent of all CD sales, 19 percent of P2P users and a strong 25 percent of legal service users.
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New releases versus catalog titles
“Catalog sales are a much larger part of digital music than they are in the physical-music realm,” Josephson said, “For some consumers the numbers suggest that digital music is filling a content void created by the limited shelf space available to brick-and-mortar CD retailers."
Check out NPD Group for more info.
So what this mean to us? My take is that it gives us a good idea on how large the internet market is, who is buying what from the catalog sites, and what the conversion rate is for p2p music consumers.
Missed in this market study is the influence these trends have on the independent or lesser known artists. It's not that easy to get your works on all the physical shelf spaces across the US or the World.
Our challenge is to utilize the p2p market, the legal download market, and the forum promotional market places to maximize exposure and sales.
Would love to hear your comments - blog coming soon

Books:

New Copyright opportunities
Creative Commons is a nonprofit that offers a flexible copyright for creative work New school approachwww.creativecommons.org While old-school copyright law assumes all rights belong to the copyright holder, works bearing the Creative Commons stamp automatically permit music junkies to swap, remix, sample or otherwise alter prerecorded music largely as they please. “The basic aim of Creative Commons is to get the law out of the way not by abolishing copyright, but by making it easier for people to negotiate it in a digital world,” says Lawrence Lessig, the Stanford Law School professor who developed the license and founded a nonprofit of the same name. “We want to mark content with the freedoms the authors intend as opposed to the default that the law presumes, which is no freedom without permission first.”
How does it all work? Some artists permit commercial use of works created from samples; others do not. Some artists encourage whole cloth file sharing; others limit freedoms to just sampling segments. “The idea that other people become great artists is not inconsistent with [the original musicians] being great artists too,” says Lessig. The original copyright law was written for a world where lawyers met with lawyers to decide how others could remix music, he argues. That rule does not make sense in a world where anybody with a $1,500 computer can produce content that rivals the best of what MTV can do. Check this out at www.creativecommons.org

Heroes:

For release June 7, 2005
iTunes More Popular Than Most Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Services
Legal paid download store gives peer-to-peer (P2P) a run for its money; WinMX most popular music download spot, while iTunes and LimeWire share second position

The following list shows the top ten digital music services, based on the number of households acquiring a digital song in March 2005:
1. WinMX (2.1 million)
2. iTunes (1.7 million)
3. LimeWire (1.7 million)
4. Kazaa
5. BearShare
6. Ares Galaxy
7. Napster
8. Morpheus
9. Real Player Store
10. iMesh

Check it out at http://www.npd.com