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Making a Music / Artist Community

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by Glen, Oct 2, 2006.

  1. #1
    My friends are planning on making a music community, but i wanted to give them some advice pointers that can help them, or advice that makes them re-consider if you guys think its a bad idea

    Basically a bit like myspace but for artists, guitarist, dj, drummer, that kind of thing to display their music and talk about it to others

    NOTHING ELSE...just that , like no extra people that myspace allow

    Is there good money to be made in music ads..and is there the market for ANOTHER music community

    THANKS IN ADVANCE ;)
     
    Glen, Oct 2, 2006 IP
  2. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

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    #2
    I've been planning one for a while myself as the next installment in my set of indie music sites. My plan to make mine different is to keep the focus not only on the artists, but on artist promotion (since I do a good bit of music publicity work, have articles written on the subject already, etc.). I haven't found that there are many well-paying music affiliates, and depending on your target you might have a hard time selling ads if you're not targeting "fans" as well. But if you find a niche, you can find people to target (anything from small indie labels to equipment manufacturers to recording studios to the bands themselves). I used to sell cheap ads to bands on my webzine and it went over well, but I cut them a while back during one of the re-designs. Now we'll be bringing that back when we re-launch again soon, so I'm hoping it works out. But it could be a good place to start. My best suggestion for you would be to add a little something "extra" to the community - like maybe a venue database, or club reviews, or radio contact list, or label listings... something that would keep them coming back that other communities might not be offering. There's always going to be room for "another" music community, as long as you can find a unique spin to put on it. :)

    Jenn
     
    jhmattern, Oct 2, 2006 IP
  3. Glen

    Glen Peon

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    #3
    is it true that ringtones ads are high paying?
     
    Glen, Oct 2, 2006 IP
  4. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

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    #4
    I'm not sure about that. I try to steer clear of ads that don't target the bands themselves (like equipment, instruments, band services, and occasionally online music retailers). They might be though.

    I thought of something else regarding your idea after I posted before. Keep in mind that the main reason bands join communities is to get people to listen to their music and promote shows. If it's only bands, you might have a harder time marketing it to them, so maybe some kind of limited membership for "fans" would help it build a following more quickly. They might also be the crowd that would be more interested in something like ringtones, so if they do turn out to be high paying, it could be beneficial in that sense.

    Jenn
     
    jhmattern, Oct 2, 2006 IP
  5. check

    check Guest

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    #5
    Sounds like a good idea. Guitar Center (music store) came out with an affiliate program about a month ago. 'Could work.
     
    check, Oct 2, 2006 IP
    jhmattern likes this.
  6. fireflyproject

    fireflyproject Active Member

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    #6
    Yeah, the aff program could work well. Also, you could sell a featured spot weekly on the website once it takes off. Make some extra bank.
     
    fireflyproject, Oct 2, 2006 IP
  7. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

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    #7
    I hadn't heard about Guitar Center. I'll have to look into that one too. Thanks for pointing it out. :)

    Jenn
     
    jhmattern, Oct 2, 2006 IP
  8. RNB80190610

    RNB80190610 Peon

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    #8
    I think that you are doing great. Personally your story kind of motivate me to make my new site work with adsense.

    Well advise while I think increasing traffic ulimately increase income, there fore I suggest you do some marketing.
    1.Consider article marketing,
    2.adwords
    3.forums that disscuss your niche interests.

    Good luck
     
    RNB80190610, Oct 2, 2006 IP
  9. Ste DIY

    Ste DIY Peon

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    #9
    You've really got to know your stuff, your niche, and your USP to launch anything music related these days, I'd say. We've launched two sites this year, and they've done quite well, but they've done it by having a voice, image and personality which has helped word of mouth push them forward. One is bubbling under nicely, building each month, the other is on about 140k uniques a month after two months, which we're really pleased with, considering we haven't even started to make a fuss about it. The one thing we HAVEN'T done is try to take on myspace. At all.

    The reason myspace works for music is not the functionality for the bands, but rather the critical mass of fans and listeners it puts them in contact with. We use it not only to talk to smaller acts we feature, but also to book support acts for the gigs and club nights we put on, and recieve demos for our record label. I think that's why it works; the ability for musicians to connect with fans, zines and all sorts of other outlets.

    I've dealt with/consulted for a number of BIG BIG BIG companies over here trying to do something similar or related to what you're saying - be it a development of the music community in a straight down the line fashion, or adding all sorts of added value features (ability to sell downloads etc etc). The reason they haven't taken off is because of the lack of average joe users. To musicians, bands, djs and such the internet is a tool of self promotion primarily, and they want to promote to fans rather than other people looking to promote themselves. If you don't have that, you're already on a downer.
     
    Ste DIY, Oct 3, 2006 IP
  10. MTbiker

    MTbiker Well-Known Member

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    #10
    Guitar Center is awesome, I can't wait to check out this affiliate program :D
     
    MTbiker, Oct 3, 2006 IP
  11. MTbiker

    MTbiker Well-Known Member

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    #11
    Also, I know a guy that has something like this in development right now. He got some funding for it and it should be pretty good. It won't really be connecting musicians with fans, but I don't think I can reveal any more info yet...

    So if you have something unique that is actually useful, go for it. If it's like a myspace but only for bands and not fans, then make sure you have some good "why" reasons behind that.
     
    MTbiker, Oct 3, 2006 IP