Is ReverbNation Losing It's Original Spirit?

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Without doubt, ReverbNation is one of the most beneficial specifically music sites
around for the independent artist. ReverbNation offers the new online musician
outstanding free statistics, promotional tools & means of maintaining contact with your fanbase. Over the last 12 months,however, more tools have been offered to independent musicians and guess what? Yup! They come with a price. 


Before you enter ANY data into ReverbNation, I suggest both finish reading this article and then jump over to ReverbNation and go through it with a fine tooth comb. It will make things much simpler & MUCH more effective as you can quite easily become sidetracked. It will save you money.


The promotional & statistical tools offered by ReverbNation are a real online highlight. Supporter sign-up forms come in varying sizes with colours also being able to be
customised. They can be deployed on your website, pages that you have on other
sites blogs & other online areas.


Additionally, ReverbNation have an assortment of mini-players that can be similarly
deployed. These players can be set on 'auto-play,' as suggested by ReverbNation. I
suggest NOT doing this & the vast majority of online listeners will agree. More of that
shortly.

As I recommend for all sites, upload no more than 8-14 tracks. Keep track 1 at the top
of the list as it greatly affects your statistics & continuity. It also helps you climb as far as Google is concerned.


ReverbNation keenly encourages artists to offer a track, or tracks, as “fan exclusive”
free downloads. I have had this conversation with everyone from D.J.s to promoters,
musicians & followers. Their argument is the same old “people like free things.” They
use this philosophy as a means of attracting followers.I find this extremely patronising towards listeners in general & statistics show that it DOES NOT boost a musicians true following. You want REAL followers, not transients.


IF you do opt to offer a free download, use it wisely. NEVER use what you consider to
be your best track or your most requested.


The “free download” widget IS a handy tool forplacing on your website, blog & so forth but bare in mind there's a lot of people will be put off by the fact that they go to
download the track only to discover that they have to sign up as a
ReverbNation member. Even though it's free, people STILL feel that they're being
roped in.....and roped in by YOU, not by ReverbNation. Don't try to dupe the public.


Once you have your ReverbNation page ready, launch it by making it known on other
music sites and; social networking sites using the assortment of widgets and banners
provided. Word will travel quickly, believe me.


ReverbNation gives your followers the option to join your mailing list. To my mind,
when used properly, it's THE single most powerful in-line communication tool for
musicians. To see it both under-utilised & abused by musicians played a part in me
embarking on the writing of this book. Unfortunately the limit for your mailing list is 500 fans. What happens once this limit is reached? I don't know.I'm still awaiting a response. IF it means that I lose my mailing list then I'll be catching the next train out of there.


Initially you will have a reasonably high percentage of followers who also sign up to
your mailing list. By checking the locations of who truly is paying attention via clickthrus'
in combination with song-play locations can help you delineate a target
audience, geographically & demographically. Through human nature your mailing list numbers will drop over time. Don't be disheartened by this. A mailing list of between 10 and 20% of your total followers is a good figure.

Mailing your supporters is FREE. One paid service offered by ReverbNation is
professional templates for your emails with additional features. From my experience
this paid service makes no difference at all. Keep your credit card in your wallet and you will save almost $120 a year.


The most common mistake I've encountered is artists emailing supporters with news
that people aren't interested in. This is a sure-fire way of watching your mailing list
plummet. Paradoxically, make your followers aware of upcoming & new releases. Let
them know that you are still thinking of them.


Don't email your list every time you hit a chord. Emailing your list every 2-3 weeks is ideal. Ensure your emails are relevant, well laid out & maintain continuity regarding previous mail. Spending a little extra time (not a great deal) on these little thing really DO make a difference.


If you enjoy it, your fans will too.


I am now wondering what their next move will be. No doubt it will entail a fee. For this writer/musician, ReverbNation began losing its' independent nature when it jumped into bed with Audiolife with regards merchandise & CD production. My monthly 'fair share' amounts plummeted without me doing a damned thing.


Call me paranoid but it appears tome that ReverbNation may well be trying to be the Amazon or Sony BMG of the independent music scene. Time will tell.



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mp3? iPod? Blackberry? Where's The Music?

The Rolling Stones via last.fm

Once upon a time, not so long ago, all one had to do to listen to music was switch on what was called

a radio. Admittedly the reception wasn't always the best and the selection of music left something to be desired but it was all we had and were happy with it. It has become blindingly (and deafeningly) obvious that we weren't.

The next great leap forward was the record player. People were now able to pick and choose who they listened to and when. The tape deck soon followed, making it possible to not only store larger amounts of music which was increasing in diversity faster than technology at the time but to transport around with us almost everywhere we went.

One morning I woke up and discovered that the aforementioned sound-players had been trampled almost to death by 'things' with names that still make no sense to me. CDs were but a dream. Admittedly I am middle-aged in years but I have never viewed myself as being middle-aged in mind. I guess most people my age don't. I have something of a minor mental dilemma with the speed at which technology is advancing today and my reaction to it and the speed at which it was advancing a generation ago and middle-aged peoples' responses to it then.

My parents speak first-hand about the invention of the television. There's no mention of confusion about the event. Quite the opposite. They tell me that my grandparents were the same. They also speak first-hand of 'Beatlemania' and how The Rolling Stones arrived as the bad boys of the scene merely because of their supposedly long and unkempt hair. Imagine how two groups of English guys playing music seemed to have more of an effect than the television?

Slightly earlier in the United States Elvis Presley caused something of a stir with his adventurous hip-swivelling. It was hardy the work of Satan but certain parts of American society at the time made enough of an issue about it that he was only filmed from the waist up on The Ed Sullivan Show. This merely served to increase his popularity. (I wonder if those people are still around?).

Now that music has become so easy to access it's difficult to take in. One certainly can't take in all of it and even taking in what you like would be more than a full-time occupation. Irrespective, record companies, internet sites, companies producing sound devices and a string of other interested parties are doing their darndest to force-feed their 'products' upon us. By 'products' I refer to anything to do with you listening to a song. The band, the individual artist, the record label, the merchandise, the sound device, the box-set DVD, the speakers, the earpieces and so forth.

I still have no idea what 'mp3' actually stands for. I know that it's a type of sound file and the type of sound file that my music is stored in. I know that an iPod plays mp3 files. I have only a vague idea of what a 'Blackberry' is. I assume that it's a 'fifty-billion-devices-in-one' affair with another

ninety-billion apps. I know that an app is an application and in the computer world it's something that's added on which makes something do more.

As a musician you may wonder why I'm so ignorant about these things as they are part of what I do. I choose to remain ignorant, not as something to boast loudly about as do (far too) many people who think inverted snobbery is cool (man). I do so because I don't need to know. I don't need to know how many Mbs a song is. I do need to know at what bit-rate it's processed at for various sites. These are things that I have picked up along the way through necessity. This very laptop on which I'm typing can do 90% more than it does but I don't need it to, just  the same as I don't have any need to learn rock-climbing.

I'm on Twitter as scotsbob. That's a funny sort of thing. I was rather enjoying it until they got rid of FutureTweets. The only reason that I go on there now is that, for what ever reason, it does well in the Google search engine. Really well, infact. I only have to think about Twitter and an alert comes up. It's a bit beyond my scope of knowledge or great interest, but I'll take what's there.

I deliberately mentioned Twitter as a segue into percentages.

As an independent musician it's all about percentages. For those of you reading who are independent musicians, sit down and have a

shot of something strong. You're not going to like what you hear initially but ideally it will spur you on, as it has me, to keep chiseling away without waiting for every day to be 'the day' or to lose faith in yourself.

I've always had a great fascination with statistics. My manager, Haych Storm© will verify this. At any given time I can give you an estimate to the nearest 5% of songs listened to, emails opened, responses received, and so forth from any given site that I'm on. This can then be relatively accurately translated to a 'hit rate' with regard to downloads or CD sales.

The hit rate for the independent musician is approximately 0.1%. This figure is pretty consistent across each individual set and thus, obviously, them all combined. One sale per thousand supporters. It doesn't sound good, eh? There is an upside. I have found that this one sale per thousand transfers somehow. It may not be the same person but it does seem to transfer. Any independent musician who gives astronomical percentages should be signed by Columbia Records or the likes as it is such figures that attract such companies. Either that or their family and friends are buying multiple copies of their material.

As for supporters, such a small percentage is partly to do with 'cross-supporting,' that is supporting an artist on different websites. This gives a falsely high reading and should be accounted for. There is also the sincerity factor. In the age where one can type compliments to an artist the actual sincerity of it may be questioned. On the flip-side it can be argued that a compliment doesn't need to transfer in financial terms to be sincere. I enjoy many genres of music but I don't purchase it.

This leaves the independent musician with a few punches to roll with and some rough calculations to do. I don't believe that there is such a thing as too much advertising. I do, however,

believe that there does exist advertising which is too aggressive and inappropriate.

Spreading oneself far and wide is all very well but it should be calculated, weighted and timed. I'm not one for putting every song that I have recorded on every website that I'm on. I only put a few on each site, generally a similar collection but not identical. I have recently taken to making each single available for download as soon as it is released. I use the same message on each of my sites and run a brief 'coming soon' campaign. I also make it clear on each site that they are not available on iTunes as some sites deceptively give the impression. I discovered through experience that once I had paid my fee for an album I basically vanished into a tiny silver button. Not at all handy for promotional purposes.

I have been distributing digital downloads via Nimbit for some months now using their free account and can't speak highly enough of them. I have been reliably informed by numerous people that the download process is a smooth affair and the fact that they offer PayPal as an option is a real bonus to those who have downloaded. For the artist they also provide outstanding tracking statistics, an easy website install with individual codes for each storefront to track performance and their MyStore can be added as a tab on both Facebook profiles and pages.

I have also been using Audiolife for some time as they cater

for physical CDs. Again, their digital downloads are an easy affair and CD delivery is prompt. I would suggest using the cheapest option as this option took 14 days exactly to reach Tasmania from the date of purchase. Audiolife is also now in partnership with ReverbNation whose store utilises Audiolife software.

If you are an independent musician who is reliant on music as a an income, as I am, prepare yourself for stress and be patient. many people say that hope is over-rated. It's only over-rated if you become totally reliant on it.
To become totally reliant on hope is detracting from your primary focus in the industry. You are a musician first and foremost. The remaining factors are necessities but one has to have a song to advertise, show off, and so forth. Keeping ones eye on the song and not the dollar will reduce stress no end.

So, am I a grumpy old musician? You bet.....but not really.

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