Less Well Known Artists Make Use Of Mobile Platforms To Interact With Fans

from the an-artist's-an-artist,-no-matter-how-small dept

Thu, Jun 18th 2009 8:52pm — Blaise Alleyne

When talking about the success of musicians adopting business models around the economics we discuss here, people often complain that it "only works for big artists" or "only works for the little guys," so much so that someone dubbed the exceptionalism as "Masnick's Law." I admit that it was easy to feel this way when Trent Reznor launched the Nine Inch Nails iPhone app. How many less well known artists would benefit from (or be able to develop) their own mobile app? Well, a company called Gigdoggy recently launched a mobile "Fanteraction" platform that lets bands easily create mobile websites for their gigs. In a blog post chronicling a show in which the platform was used and promoted, the first artist to play didn't really push it, but the second artist, Greg (one of the creators), made a point of explaining it to people. Basically, by queueing up each song on the site, an artist is able to provide lyrics and additional information that the audience can access via a mobile device while enjoying the performance. It's web-based, so it's accessible from different platforms without the need for downloads (or the risk of getting banned by Apple). Greg was able to get some people interested and following along. One audience member even prompted him when he forgot the lyrics to a verse! The platform is in its early stages, but it'll be interesting to see how it develops and what people do with it. At the very least, it's a good illustration that you don't need to be playing in stadiums to find a use for this sort of thing.

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Filed Under: connect with fans, fanteraction, music, musicians
Companies: gigdoggy

13 Comments

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Hephaestus (profile), 19 Jun 2009 @ 8:01am

Yet another thing to add to an open source music web site ...
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2009 @ 12:46pm

One day, you guys will wake up and figure out it isn't just about one on one connection, but on reaching critical mass. No band has enough time to personally connect with enough individual fans to create critical mass.

There is a huge missing link, and this isn't it.
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Blaise Alleyne (profile), 19 Jun 2009 @ 3:52pm

Re:
Um... this isn't a one-to-one connection, this is a one-to-many connection (from artist to audience). In fact, it's not even very personal...

The only personal thing about it is that the artist was playing to a small room. The small room is what's personal, not the technology.

The point is that this sort of technology has uses in both a small room or a stadium.

Or... are you suggesting that artists playing in a small room should ignore the people listening to them? I'd tend to think it's a great opportunity to form an authentic connection, and then have those people serve as ambassadors for your music and your performance elsewhere and grow your market.

Unless, you have another idea of how to reach a critical mass?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2009 @ 4:36pm

Re: Re:
Yup, there is this amazing way to reach critical mass, they are called record companies.

Promotion, marketing, recording, distribution, contacts with appropriate radio and TV in each market, local people on the ground, contacts with the event promoters, other bands to match an upcoming act with as the opening act, etc.

It's the amazing thing that nobody around here ever talks about.
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Blaise Alleyne (profile), 19 Jun 2009 @ 7:14pm

Re: Re: Re:
"Promotion, marketing, recording, distribution, contacts with appropriate radio and TV in each market, local people on the ground, contacts with the event promoters, other bands to match an upcoming act with as the opening act, etc."

What did I say to exclude record labels? Or, are you suggesting that artists shouldn't have to connect with fans or give them a reason to buy if they've got a label?

How are the labels doing right now that aren't focusing on connecting with fans?

"It's the amazing thing that nobody around here ever talks about."

Really?
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Greg, 19 Jun 2009 @ 11:41pm

Re: Yet another thing to add to an open source music web site ...
Hey - that's actually something we might consider, although i'm not sure yet what open source music web site you have in mind!

Do you know of any comprehensible OS music software resources? Would love to know.
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Blaise Alleyne (profile), 20 Jun 2009 @ 1:56pm

Re: Re: Yet another thing to add to an open source music web site ...
libre.fm is under heavy development, but I think that's geared more toward music listeners than artists (a la last.fm -- though, last.fm has features for artists too). *shrugs* That's the only one that comes to mind...
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jun 2009 @ 3:50pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yup, the only time anyone around here talks about record labels it's "greedy assholes" and "buggy whip sellers" and all sorts of nonsense.

Artists only have so much time in a day. Artist interaction with fans is severely limited because they just don't have the time. They can Tweet, but that is pretty much unidirectional ("I just 8 cookiez"). The band (or it's reps) can maintain a website and work from that. But no matter how you look at it, the opportunity costs of running a website versus making more music or touring pretty much makes it a losing battle.

So what happens? This is where those darn record labels and artist management types can come in, working to get the bands message out and create interactive things to work with the fans, where the band doesn't do anything more than they do at a meet a greet backstage (shake hand autograph something, next). Even all the great stuff about No Doubt, you know they aren't running their own site. They have "people" - likely from a record label or artist mangement company.
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Blaise Alleyne (profile), 20 Jun 2009 @ 9:35pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
"Yup, the only time anyone around here talks about record labels it's "greedy assholes" and "buggy whip sellers" and all sorts of nonsense."

Maybe it wasn't obvious that "Really?" was a link: Adopting New Music Business Models Doesn't Mean The Death Of Record Labels

Some other posts about labels who are doing it right:
1. Indie Label That Gets It: Sell Things People Want, Not Just What They Hear
2. Terry McBride Explains How Nettwerk Puts Fans In Control
3. A Record Label That Embraces BitTorrent
4. And a more detailed piece with a few different examples: An Outsider Gets A Peek Behind The Scenes Of The Music Industry's Mindset: Optimism Into Denial
More importantly though... when did I say that labels and management companies weren't useful? I'm not "anti-label," Techdirt isn't "anti-label," and there's nothing at all "anti-label" about the Fanteraction platform. I bet it'd be nice for an artist to have someone else to setup a page and queue the songs up during a performance.

But, my point was that this platform is even useful for the little guys who don't have a label or can't afford management yet. It's an application of the technology that makes it useful even if you've only got an audience of 10.

Is it anti-label to say that?
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jun 2009 @ 6:41am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Terry McBride is the guy who built his business on the backs of government handouts, mandates, CanCon rules, and payments from those over taxed blank CDs and DVDs. It is funny as heck to see him held up as some great leader, when in fact he has been profiting from the very rules so many people here hate.

But hey, carry on.
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Blaise Alleyne (profile), 21 Jun 2009 @ 2:17pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
That's all? You're going to ignore the rest of the comment because you disagree with the McBride example? Nettwerk was one of about eight examples over those five posts. (And McBride is a good example not because of how he built his business, but because of how he's running his business.)

Seems like you've got your mind made up and you're more interested in restating your complaints than actually responding to the post or to my comments. Hey, if that works for you...
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jun 2009 @ 3:36pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Blaise, Terry McBride is like Trent Reznor: If you ignore how the heck he got there, he looks like a genius today. But both are heavily leveraging foundations built outside of the "new" system, and I really wonder how they would do without that support.

Also, linking to stuff on techdirt is just linking to OPINION. If you want to prove a point, link to something that isn't your boss's opinion.
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Blaise Alleyne (profile), 22 Jun 2009 @ 6:08am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
"Blaise, Terry McBride is like Trent Reznor: If you ignore how the heck he got there, he looks like a genius today. But both are heavily leveraging foundations built outside of the "new" system, and I really wonder how they would do without that support."

I don't share your skepticism. Of course they've got foundations in old business models, because they got started when those business models made sense. This argument will be increasingly irrelevant as time goes on, and more and more people who've started up without those foundations continue to show what it takes to be successful.

"Also, linking to stuff on techdirt is just linking to OPINION. If you want to prove a point, link to something that isn't your boss's opinion."

*sigh* You are really bad at following conversations, eh? This will probably be my last comment.

You said: "The only time anyone around here talks about record labels it's "greedy assholes" and "buggy whip sellers" and all sorts of nonsense."

So, I linked to a bunch of Techdirt articles which weren't like that at all. The point I was trying to prove was about Techdirt's opinion.

If you can't follow the conversation, it's not worth continuing.
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