The Celestial Jukebox
Perhaps you’ve heard about the “Celestial Jukebox”?  It’s the notion that anyone, anywhere will be able to listen to a continual and personalized stream of digital music through devices and computers connected to the Internet.  By the end of 2008, the Celestial Jukebox will have just about arrived.

The Celestial Jukebox is great news for artists.  The technology that powers the Celestial Jukebox will recommend you and your songs to those seeking your style of music.  The same technology will ultimately generate royalties and opportunities from sources you could only dream about three years ago.

To succeed in the Celestial Jukebox, make it though the Celestial Funnel.
Before you make any money from the Celestial Jukebox, your songs will have to make it through the Celestial Funnel. The Celestial Funnel is the widespread availability of, and the pervasive and coordinated reliance upon Same Sonic Science, Social Validation, Big Brother Systems, and upon Trusted Curators (all explained below).
 

The Celestial Funnel is the Music 2.0 phenomenon artists have been waiting for, and it’s the absence of it, that made Music 2.0 the bitch you didn’t expect.  Digital music was supposed to change everything.  Instead, it ushered in an unprecedented tidal wave of crap competition and clutter that’s unlike anything anyone had ever seen before.  The Celestial Funnel is game changing; it cuts out the chafe, eliminates the clutter, and it enables great artists and songs to be found…rather effortlessly.

Who will use the Celestial Funnel?
Eventually everyone.  However, since most people still find out about music the old fashioned ways, all of the gatekeepers that make and break artists, such as record labels, programming directors, music supervisors, booking agents and anyone with gravity in the music industry, will use the Celestial Funnel to find the best songs and artists.  

The Celestial Funnel will end music promotion, as you know it today.
By 2012, pre-popularity promotion will cease to be effective.  Prior to participating in any music related opportunity that’s bigger than a backyard barbeque, you and/or your songs will have to make it through the Celestial Funnel.  Artists should take note: no amount of indie promotion will take you or your songs through the funnel faster.  As the Celestial Funnel envelops the marketplace, you will no longer be able to put lipstick on the proverbial pig.

Why will the Celestial Funnel work?
My job is to understand the depth and capabilities of the new technologies and services that are being built for the music industry.  I can tell you that the technology that I am about to describe works well, and that it’s only getting better.  Second, and more importantly, the technology doesn’t have to work perfectly; it only has to cut the size of the haystack by 80% to enable those that need to find the needles…a simpler and less-labor intensive way to find them.  The people that are charged with sifting through mounds of songs and piles of artist profiles will readily embrace this timesaving technology.  

Stages of the funnel.  Stage One - Same Sonic Science
Same Sonic Science, also known as Music Information Retrieval, includes software and services that can:

• Recommend songs that truly sound like another song (the seed song).
• Funnel out songs that do not have the attributes that a listener is seeking.
• Measure a songs proximity to a cluster(s) of songs.
• Measure potential popularity (by counting charting-songs or by any subjective criteria) of songs in a cluster.
• And, many other related propositions via database design and user interfaces.

I call all this technology Same Sonic Science because when we describe or search for songs, we begin by describing some sameness to, and a relevancy/proximity around, a preexisting song or sound.  Same Sonic Science mimics the way music has always been described and discovered.  Go way back to the first song.  Eve said: “Give me a song that sounds like little morning birds, but not like the sound that comes out of Adam’s ass when he eats goat.”  Seeking some sameness in music is something we all do naturally.

There’s no danger that Same Sonic Science will cause every song to sound the same.  Any song is a jumping off point for seeking sameness.  This technology works, it will cut out huge buckets of bad, and it’s being glued into every single digital music proposition on earth.

Stages of the funnel.  Stage Two - Social Validation
Moving down the funnel, the next stage is Social Validation; it’s the first stage of the funnel that enables humans to correct the inaccuracies of, or the inconsistencies within, the Same Sonic Science.  Social Validation is what happens after someone pushes the Same Sonic Button on a digital music site, or within a digital music system.  It’s the next thing(s) people do after listening.  In no specific order, they bookmark, they add to a playlist, they share, they recommend, they tag, they buy, they vote, they download, they steal, they play again, they leave a comment, or they basically do anything that causes an information system to record a positive or negative event.  The data that’s generated from social validation will be observable everywhere.

Stages of the funnel.  Stage Three - Big Brother Systems
The next stage of the funnel is the use of systems that combine Same Sonic Science with as much Social Validation data that can be collected.  Huge pools of song consumption/activity data are accumulating across the Internet and elsewhere.  It’s now possible to monitor the world for songs that are bubbling under the radar in every niche.  It’s also possible to identify emerging trends and new niche genres.  Right now, there are a few gatekeepers that are preparing to act upon this data.  In the near future, every professional in the music industry will use this data to some extent.  Within five years, presentations of this data, through stunning user interfaces, will be available to everyone.     
 
Stages of the funnel.  Stage Four - Trusted Curators
Stages one, two, and three of the funnel, will eliminate 80% to 90% of the songs entering the funnel each year.  However, the funnel keeps getting bigger.  New songs mingle with old songs, and there are still too many songs for the average consumer to listen to.  Trusted Curators (refernce) are those that know how to extract the gems from the bottom of the funnel, and consumers will still rely upon these people to make recommendations.  Trusted Curators are record labels (still), programming directors, music bloggers, music supervisors, talent buyers, booking agents, others, and my favorite: artists that brand together to build a brand on the Internet.

Funnel Strategies For Artists  - 2010 and onward.
There will be no fooling the funnel.  There are too many sites and systems, and everything can be crosschecked and correlated.  Don’t waste your time buying plays or trying to find ways to game the funnel.  Eventually, you will be exposed as a fraud.

Hedge your bets and create a mutual fund for songs.  If you have some business sense and if you are skilled at promotion, become a Trusted Curator.  Pull numerous artists into a unified brand where everyone involved shares in some of the upside.

If I were an aspiring artist today, I wouldn’t spend much effort on promotion (single artist no, multi-artist brand yes).  I would wait for the funnel to evolve.  Your songs are going to settle into their natural place in the funnel regardless of how much or little noise you make about yourself.

Stop editing your own work.  Find a great producer / engineer to help you make the best songs possible.  Make lots of songs, and seek every bit of rip-it-apart, put-it-back-together feedback as possible.

Absolutely wipe the following thought from your brain: “If I could get a record deal and get my songs into heavy rotation on FM radio, everyone would love me.”  That’s never going to happen.  Record labels will be the biggest users of the funnel; especially Stage Three (Big Brother Analysis).  It’s all going to be about song quality (finally).  You can’t promote your way to a “deal”.  Make songs, obtain super critical feedback, fix and repair songs, repeat process; this is your best option.

Prior to becoming reasonably popular, putting numerous, iteratively improved and produced songs into the Celestial Funnel will generate more career progress than going on tour.  In my opinion, you are better off working the best day job you can find, and then investing in professional help to make your songs better (versus touring as an unknown).  

How do I put songs into the funnel?
Make sure you have a Free Song Strategy and a Digital Manager (a human) that seeks the most efficient way to manage your presence on anything and everything on the Internet.  Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to create profiles and to continually load songs into everything on the Internet, but you have to do it for now.

• TuneCore can help you move your songs around, but TuneCore’s reach is limited.
• ArtistData can help you move your data around, but not your songs.
• ReverbNation and TuneCore can help you monitor progress.
• All three of the propositions above need to be combined.

At what rate do songs travel through the funnel?
It’s early days for the funnel.  2008 is barely year one of the Celestial Funnel.  It will take several years for everyone to fully adopt most of this technology.  By 2011, fresh songs will take a year (one million new songs a year) to succeed or fail.  I have nothing to base this upon; it's just my estimate.

A word of caution…
I am always ahead of my time.  If you are 2/3 into your plan for success, you may want to ignore me and continue.  If you are just starting out, hit print and read again…

 

 

 

What would it take for an independent artist that is not on the radio to generate $100,000 a year in net income from digital music revenue?  The answer is 5,000,000 P-SPINS.  

SPINS ON THE RADIO
A spin on FM, satellite or Internet radio occurs when a radio station plays a song. Every spin generates a number of impressions.  For example, if 50,000 listeners on average are tuned in to a radio station when an artist’s song is “spun”, the artist receives 50,000 impressions from that one spin.  On that same radio station 20 spins would yield 1,000,000 overlapping and/or unique impressions.  

CONVERTING LISTENERS TO FANS
People are listeners first; they become fans through repeated exposure, filtering and imprinting.  The conversion from listener to fan is a complex process.  100% of the people that are repeatedly exposed to a song do not become fans and buyers of a particular song. 

• The number of exposures during a given time period is called Frequency.  
• The rate that listeners convert to fans is called the Conversion Rate.
• Listeners * Frequency * Conversion Rate = Fans.
• 500,000 Listeners * 10 (spins within a time period) * 2% Conversion Rate = 100,000 Fans

SPINS OFF THE RADIO ARE P-SPINS
Getting on mass-market radio isn’t easy. Most artists have to rely on Personal Play Spins or P-SPINS for exposure.  A P-SPIN can occur anywhere there’s a PLAY button tethered to one of your songs.  A P-SPIN can occur on MySpace, FaceBook, ReverbNation, Last.FM, iLike, your website, or within any widget carrying your music. The easiest place for a P-SPIN to occur FREQUENTLY is on a listener’s laptop or iPod.  

P-SPINS ARE MORE VALUABLE THAN RADIO IMPRESSIONS
Presumably, a listener is already motivated to press the PLAY button that causes a P-SPIN to occur.  The listener has found or obtained your song, and/or some level of filtering and/or imprinting has already occurred.  In addition, the effort required to purchase your song is minimal, as the ability to convert from a listener to a fan/purchaser is just a click away. 

UN-TETHERED P-SPINS DRIVE FREQUENCY
Remember this equation: Listeners * Frequency * Conversion Rate = Fans.  It’s always nice to see your P-SPIN numbers going up on a site where you don’t have to give your music away.  However, to convert many listeners to fans you need the FREQUENCY that only comes from un-tethered P-SPINS.  Un-tethered P-SPINS are the spins that occur on laptops or iPods that can be disconnected from the Internet.  When it comes to racking up P-SPINS nothing beats being in “heavy rotation” (most frequently played) on devices that can be used anytime/anyplace.

DIGITAL MUSIC CONSUMERS BUY DIGITAL MUSIC
I have not seen survey or statistical data that demonstrates what percentage of FANS actually purchase digital music instead of test-driving it.  There’s lots of information that shows that consumers have lots of stolen (for the purpose of trying) music, but what about those consumers that become fans?  At what rate do FANS convert to purchasers of music?  For the analysis I did here, I used 50% as the percentage of FANS that will eventually buy your music.  

AVERAGE FAN SPENDING PER ARTIST PER YEAR ON DIGITAL MUSIC
For this analysis I am carrying $3.00 per artist, per year.  Given that most digital music consumers are spending less than $250 per year on all artists, I believe that it’s safe to assume that $3.00 per year is an appropriate average for all artists combined.

THE MATH
Click here to download the spreadsheet.  Try your own assumptions.

THINGS YOU HAVE CONTROL OVER
Listeners * Frequency * Conversion Rate = Fans

• Listeners - one of the simplest strategies you can pursue to increase listeners is to be everywhere and anywhere on the Internet.  
• Frequency - set your songs free.  You need frequency/spins to convert listeners into fans.  The best way to increase frequency is to be in as many un-tethered devices (MP3 players for example) as possible.
• Conversion Rate - the percentage rate in which listeners convert to fans - you can improve this rate by improving your songs.  I have always maintained that a great producer is invaluable to improving the quality of your music.
• % Paid to a digital aggregator - try to push your fans to the store that charges you a flat annual fee instead of stores that extract percentages from your sales (coming soon).

THE SUBSTITUTION PROBLEM
I have been talking about how substitution is a far greater challenge to the music industry than replication.  As the use of digital music grows you will have less and less control over reaching Listeners and/or boosting Frequency (from the equation above).  The number of Listener will grow, but so will the number of songs attached to the shuffle, reverse and forward buttons.  Since we are talking about multiplication, you could argue that the equation will balance out.  However, the number of places digital music consumers hang out already challenges your ability to REACH listeners; this challenge is also part of the solution (hint).

DISCLAIMER
I am not an expert on radio promotion (not even close).  The purpose of my writing is to test my assumptions.  If you have any contradictory facts, figures or thoughts - blast away.  I intentionally left off all other revenue sources.  However, you should expect the potential for other revenue sources to be substantial when you have reached 5,000,000 P-SPINS.  Create your own projections by counting your P-SPINS to date and comparing that number to the digital music revenue you generated over the same time period.

 

 

A few weeks I wrote about a song we worked on called Mindless Robots. 

Over the last three weeks I estimate 5,000 people have come across the Mindless Robots post.  It’s my fault for stifling the comments.  However, I really didn’t get any feedback, email or otherwise on the song. 

I told you about the great people that worked on the song and I gave you a MySpace link so you could listen to it. 

What did I get?  I got cold silence and minimal full plays on MySpace, and that’s what I expected.  

I used the Mindless Robots post to demonstrate three things.

Silence Has Meaning
First, the way I described the song is typical of the emails I get from artists about their songs.  I typically receive a bit of a greeting, a note describing the talent that worked on the song, a link to a MySpace page, and usually a polite request for some advice or help.

I don’t have a music background; so I don’t feel comfortable commenting on songs.  However, I do know from talking to people in the industry that when you receive silence or polite replies, it usually indicates that your song is not ready for the world. 

Screaming and passionate enthusiasm from a brand new and qualified listener is probably the only positive feedback you can trust.  Otherwise, seek out the Simon Cowell’s of the world for unbiased criticism, and make no bones about the fact that you are prepared for the ugliest feedback you can get.  

Entertainment Adds Value
There was nothing entertaining about how I described the song, and there's nothing entertaining about how the artist posted it on MySpace.  The real story is entertaining and I believe that changes perception.

Here’s the real story about Mindless Robots.  The artist won a contest at a mall.  She had never sung in public; she had never written a song; and she had never seen the inside of a recording studio.  She wrote some lyrics by using her vocabulary test and we helped her with everything else.  The fast-cut ten-minute video (if I had it) of this entire experience would have been great entertainment.  The artist did a bang on job considering the pace and the circumstances, but we dropped the ball by not capturing the right story.

Competing With Everyone
More and more people are going to participate in the music industry.  Songs are relatively easy to make, and the blur between good and really good is hard for consumers to discern.  We could have made a music video, but the real story was the story we missed.  To compete you need the right song, the right story and the right people on your team to put it all together.  As I have hinted before, you need a bit of plan before you begin.   

Why am I Making Songs?
I try to understand the costs and challenges artists are confronted with.  Make a song, promote a song, divide up ownership, make everyone happy…  Doing it is the best way to write about it.  By the way, I like the song Mindless Robots.  Great job Julia, and thanks to those that helped.  The next time we do it, we will capture the right story.  

 
One Hundred Million People a Month and Growing
Three years ago nobody cared about MySpace or Facebook.  Now here we are in 2008, and one hundred million people around the globe are using social networking technology on a monthly basis.  What’s the motivation?  Alan Moore says in his recent article titled INFLUENTIALS ARE TOAST that “Human beings have an innate need to connect, communicate and collaborate.  Digitalization has revealed the true nature of humans, and that truth changes everything.”

Digitalization Has Revealed A Truth That Changes Everything
“Human beings have an innate need to connect, communicate and collaborate.  Digitalization has revealed the true nature of humans, and that truth changes everything.”  This is powerful and profound; you can’t unwind a truth; MySpace and Facebook have birthed a truth.  Obvious it is not.  Most things in life are assumptions; proof of truth is hard to come by.  The truth is, social networking technology will forever enable people to connect, communicate and collaborate - like they innately desired to, but could not easily do - in such a manner - until 2005.

Connect, Communicate and Collaborate - So What?
Moore also says “culture is created by the interaction between human beings”.  So, people are creating micro cultures or communities at a pace and via methods that were unheard of three years ago.  Good or bad - and irreversible, these communities are changing the game when it comes to music marketing and promotion; it’s communities that are dominating brands.  It’s not intense advertising, it's not celebrity endorsements, it’s not street-team marketing, it is the formation of communities that will dominate the creation, the maintenance and even the destruction of brands.

Brands Dominate The Charts
Not only do brands dominate the charts, brands dominate ticket sales.  If you are not creating music, you are probably thinking about how to create a brand.  Prior to 2005, you could build a music brand with a pile of money and a proven formula; record labels were pretty good at it; now, communities have all of the power.  Not only can members of the community try music before they buy it, a community or a micro-culture can rapidly form to breath life into a brand, or they can suck the wind out of it before it takes a second breath.

New Truth = Unlearn Old Methods
I read a printout of INFLUENTIALS ARE TOAST when I was stuck on a runway for two hours last week.  On a normal day I could have read right through this article without giving it much consideration; after all, the implications of social networking have been analyzed more than the laws of gravity.  However, it was the notion of “truth” that struck me as significant.  You can do some things in life based upon assumptions, however when you’re stoned with the truth, you have to make real adjustments.  Perhaps I have to unlearn everything I learned about marketing prior to 2005-2006?  Seriously!

Old Marketing Out - New Marketing In
Old marketing doesn’t work.  New marketing has barely been invented.  You may want to start by reading David Jenning’s book titled Net, Blogs and Rock “n” Roll.  You could also consider the next couple of paragraphs.  Moore goes on to say “communities form around values, interests and desires, not demographics.”  You should ask yourself (self) - how do you leverage the knowledge that communities are formed around values, interests and desires - and not demographics?

Hang a VID Sign
People that share your Values, Interests and Desires (VID) want - and may even have an innate need - to find and connect to you.  Making it easy for your “VID Tribe” to find you has to be an important part of your elaborate plan.

Your songs say a lot about your values, your interests and your desires.  You should post your lyrics, but unknown lyrics don’t translate well to the way people search for information; so, lyrics won’t help much in making that first connection to your tribe.  They will however, be invaluable after you’re found.  

You will have to go beyond lyrics and really think about how you want to STRONGLY communicate your values, your interests and your desires.  You can blog about these things, and you can post images and video that paints a picture of the community or micro-culture you belong in, or that YOU innately want to connect to.  Everything you post becomes searchable, and the more you say - the bigger the sign becomes!  

The Ends of the Battery
When you are hanging your VID Sign, remember: power comes out of the ends of the battery.  My advice would be to know who you are and strongly commit to it; don’t play the middle.  People may join lots of communities, but they will have millions of communities to choose from.  I am not talking about extremism as much as avoiding the trap of trying to appeal to the widest possible audience.  A strong commitment to your values, interests and desires powers the brightest sign.  You’ve heard of a brain dump, try a heart dump…

Be True
You can’t make the shit up.  Everything you say goes under a microscope if you’re successful.  If you manufacture the gravity you’re using to attract a community you will eventually be exposed as a fraud.  Every sentence you type is archived and searchable.  If you are taking a strong position on something, you may want to reserve your right to change your mind; you may also want to ask for feedback to shape an opinion that you are attempting to form.     

Inviting or Joining
Your hanging out your VID Sign that communicates your values, your interests and your desires - are you inviting members to your micro-culture or are you joining a community that already exists?  The answer is both.  If you enjoy things technical read this page about mesh networks.  Basically, you have to join and invite at the same time.  Nobody owns the community and the community goes on with or without you.  The marketing of artists use to involve making the artist the center of the universe, now the artist has to become a valued and accepted contributor to the community.     

How Do You Invite?
You have to become a blogger.  There’s no escaping the fact that you have to hang your sign and declare your positions if you want to be a contributing member of a community.  Declaring your positions means describing with word, image, song and video - your values, interests and desires.  Moreover, I believe this is an activity you can’t be skimpy about.  The “truth” has been revealed, and to ignore it by relying on pre-2006 methods to market and promote your music is a recipe for death by obscurity.   

How Do You Join?
Scout the earth for those that share your values, interests and desires and make real friends.  This goes beyond talking about your music, and it goes way beyond the fake-friending people do on MySpace.  Find real friends, start conversations, declare your allegiance to positions and then introduce people to your music and the interesting and COMMON things you blog about.    

Tools & Technology
Creating a blog under your own URL and using it in conjunction MySpace and/or Facebook is one option.  Facebook just launched Facebook Music.  In my mind, the right tool has not hit the market yet.  If you are going to go through the effort of “hanging a VID Sign”, “inviting” and “joining” as described above, you should strongly consider promoting your own URL; while using sites like MySpace, Facebook, iLike and Last.FM to drive traffic to your own branded blog.  If you are into messaging, you may also want to give Twitter a try.  

Communities Dominate Brands
For this post I stood on the shoulders of Alan Moore.  Alan’s blog is also called Communities Dominate Brands.  Alan’s article “Influentials Are Toast” was the inspiration for this post.

 

In Previous Posts
Previously, I wrote about the demise of traditional record deals.  I also stated that investors would find great songs and offer Single-Song-Investment-Deals to artists.  I also told you that record labels need to consider a new model where data is more important than marketing, and that marketing and promotion as you understand it today will cease to be entirely useful.  What I did not demonstrate is a clear example of how this will happen.

In This Post
I will show you one of the methods that will be used to find hit songs, and the example will demonstrate why promotion will take a back seat to data.  This post will also describe a $100,000,000 business that will unfold over the next 24 to 36 months.  I will also offer advice to artists as they prepare for this future.

Advertisement & Disclaimer
I will work with any artist-friendly company on refining and applying this vision.  My goal is to never have a great song go unheard again.  Also, I have no connection to Hit Song Science.   Although I have tried their technology, my analysis of their business model is based upon speculation.

How Songs Will Be Found
With millions of songs in existence and with hundreds of thousands of songs created each year, it’s hard to envision how Song Investors will find the needles in the giant haystack.  Imagine putting all of the songs in the world into a huge funnel.  The first step is to funnel out the 80% that are potentially unpopular; thus leaving the decent songs to be further funneled and analyzed by computers and humans (hopefully).

Hit Song Science   
Companies like Hit Song Science (read article) already have the tools that could be used to funnel out the first 80%.  A song can be loaded into Hit Song Science’s computers and they can measure within acceptable accuracy limits if a song could be a hit.  Click here to learn how Hit Song Science does this.  

I tried out Hit Song Science and I am satisfied that this tool could be used as I describe below.  To save you the trouble of loading up a bunch of songs, all of Jediah’s Hit Song Science reports are at the bottom of this post.  You can download or listen to Jediah’s songs and read the reports to see if you think they are accurate.

Hit Song Science just raised $7,000,000.  Don’t judge the company by their old website.  

The $100,000,000 Business
“Let me see your Hit Song Science Reports.”  Imagine if every label, club, talent buyer, booking agent, ad agency, filmmaker, television show, manager, promotion company, music supervisor, publishing firm and fans wanted to see your Hit Song Science Reports prior to moving an inch!  $10 times 10,000,000 songs is a $100,000,000 business.  Within three years, the phrase “Let me see your Hit Song Science Reports” will be as common as “How many friends and plays do you have on MySpace?”.  

Acceptable Accuracy Limits
I mentioned the concept of “acceptable accuracy limits”.  It will not matter to many of the report readers listed above if technology like Hit Song Science is less than 100% accurate; here’s why: in every segment of the music industry margins are slim; any tool that can reduce overhead and increase odds will be rapidly embraced.  100% accurate or not, (numerous) tools like Hit Song Science are going to be part of the future.

The Problems I Envision
This is not an obstacle that can’t be overcome.  The biggest problem with systems like this is: when it comes to music, the past or even the near past, is not the best predictor of the future.  Systems like Hit Song Science use previous hits to predict the future.  The problem with using previous hits as a baseline is that they were funneled using the smallest funnel on earth.  Small committees or a single person within a record label picked the potential hits.  If all of the hits in the comparative database had been organically crowd-sourced over the past fifty years then this would not be an issue (for me at least).  However, since the prior hits were picked by experts and not by the masses, I am pretty sure they will have to adjust for trends and tastes that were missed and (over or under) exploited.

If you want to dig deeply into music recommendation and discovery subscribe to Paul Lamere's blog titled Duke Listens  I would also go to this post on Paul's blog, scroll to the bottom and download his excellent PowerPoint presentation.  I have come to beleive that Paul generally knows as much or more about this stuff as anyone working in the field; if only I could get him to invite me up to Sun Microsystems for a visit.

Other Systems & Companies
Hit Song Science seems like an interesting spin on what you already know as music recommendation systems.  Companies like Pandora, MyStrands, iLike, Last FM, Music IP, and others should be able to offer differentiated services that perhaps predict entirely different outcomes, as each of these companies is approaching the prediction and discovery business differently.  The bottom line is: you will not be able to hide from the data your songs generate.

Science Wins - Marketing Changes
Surely you can see how this type of system changes marketing and promotion.  Artists will hold up their scores like a restaurant boasts about a five star rating or a great review.  Moreover, there will be companies that feature, promote and pay for highly rated songs.  On the other hand, marketing will cease to be effective for artists that can’t score a hit report.  

Preparing For Hit Song Science
The best way for an artist to prepare for a world that runs on these types of systems is to ignore them.  Well, sort of.  If I had the option to spend time and money right now on promotion versus creating, I would pick creating.  Making great songs will pay bigger dividends than adding fans to your fan base.  Don’t get me wrong, fans are great, but you could spend the next 24 months building a fan base, or you could just pop out on a report and get picked up by a national radio group.  One effort may get you 10,000 fans, but the other effort will get you 1,000,000 fans.  
        
Final Note
When iTunes was born everyone thought it was great that the music distribution barrier had been broken.  Then everyone found out that there is this HUGE HUGE HUGE promotion barrier.  When companies like Hit Song Science go live with their new tools (hopefully I have accurately predicted what their product will be), 80% of the promotion barrier will be gone.  With a good report card you will be able to jump to the head of the line.

Jediah’s Songs 
I will say that some of Jediah’s lowest rated songs are some of my favorites (such as Come Around and The Fears) and the fan-favorite (Butterfly) scored below eight other songs on their recent album; this was a big surprise.  However, I do see the validity of the analysis in the reports.  In addition, we could have used this data to alter the mix on several songs to improve our scores, and I may have used the data to push Don't Die or Flight instead of Butterfly.

To review Jediah's reports on a page with a song player click here (best option). 

Invidual Reports Below.  
Jediah’s songs are sorted from highest to lowest (as rated by Hit Song Science).  
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     DON'T DIE
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     FLIGHT
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     EVERYONE IS FINE (REMIX)
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     NIGHT'S A PUPPY
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     EVERY SONG
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     ALTER EGO
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     EVERYONE IS FINE
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     CRY DON'T CRY
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     BUTTERFLY
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     UNFAITHFUL YOU
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     THE FEARS
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     AS WE WERE
Song Page     Hit Song Science Report     COME AROUND

You can also quickly download all of Jediah's songs at Jamendo. 

If you are going to try Hit Song Science make sure your MP3s are encoded at the proper rate.  I believe Jediah would have scored higher if I had encoded the MP3s properly.

 

This post will argue that the one of the most effective ways build a brand on the Internet is to join forces with other artists.

Building a brand in any industry is difficult.  Building a nationwide or global brand in the music industry is a colossal undertaking.  When it comes to entertainment, there are dozens of alternative and competing product categories, and when it comes to music there are millions of options to choose from.

If you are looking to build a business in music that generates ongoing revenue, the only real option is to build a brand on the Internet.  If you have a strong brand on the Internet, your live show traffic will increase, you will sell and stream more music, you will sell more merchandise, and you will attract sponsors and advertisers.

The Unsprung Message Of The Month
You cannot build a great MUSIC brand on the Internet by being informative; you have to be entertaining.

The Number One Mistake Made By Record Labels And Artists
When attempting to build a brand on the Internet, every label and every artist I have ever studied fails to strongly and competitively deliver the correct, or desired (by consumers) value proposition.

The correct or desired value proposition for any product or service is the ONE BEST QUESTION that compliments the bolded question on the next line.
WHAT DOES THIS PRODUCT OR SERVICE DO FOR ME?
Does it make me sexy?
Does it feed me?
Does it make me horny?
Does it make me safe?
Does it entertain me?
Does it inform me?
Does it make me feel happy?
Does it make me smart?
Does it make me strong?
Does it make me healthy?
Etc., etc., etc.,

Does It Entertain Me?
Standalone Artist Websites And Profile Pages Are Not Entertaining
To succeed at delivering the WE ENTERTAIN YOU value proposition you have to COMPETE with EVERYTHING, AND I MEAN EVERYTHING, that delivers the WE ENTERTAIN YOU value proposition on the Internet.

By default, and by the nature of what it is, a website or profile built around ONE artist/band cannot easily compete (but it is possible) with other sources of entertainment like video games, Internet games, Internet radio, 500 television channels, movie downloads, or even with the activity of surfing the Internet, YouTube or MySpace for entertainment.  A single website or profile page just doesn’t compete.

Surfing from one web site or MySpace profile to another is entertaining, but when someone purposely dives into a website or profile owned by a single band or artist they are NOT really doing it to be entertained - they are doing it to become informed about shows, music or biographical information.

In addition, hitting the play button on your MySpace music player with five songs in it - is not the same as hitting the play button on an iPod with 300 songs in it.  The MySpace music player informs people about your music, whereas the iPod with your songs and 295 others - entertains people.  

Informative versus entertaining is the reason why the ratio of songs played per site/profile visitor is around 1.5 (songs played per visitor).  It’s also the reason why the average visitor to your site spends less than five minutes on it.  If you still think you are delivering entertainment, you are delivering the shortest form of entertainment in the marketplace.

If have to say this again (and again): You cannot build a great MUSIC brand on the Internet by being informative; you have to be entertaining.  You have to competitively deliver the correct value proposition.

If One Doesn’t Work - Try An Alliance
A gang, a consortium, a syndicate, or an alliance of many artists working together can competitively deliver the WE ENTERTAIN YOU value proposition on the Internet, and more effectively in the physical world.  Where a single artist struggles with just being informative on the Internet, numerous artists on a single site are instantly entertaining.

Long Alley - The Example
The easiest way for me to prove this point is to describe a fictional example.  Below you will read how Long Alley Music (the fictional example) competes with other forms of entertainment on the Internet, and with other things entertaining in the physical marketplace; including other artists.  (The Warped Tour is a great example of an alliance.)

Long Alley Music - The Description
There are forty-five artists contributing over seven hours of music from one hundred and ten songs on Long Alley Music (@ www.longalley.com).  Every song falls into a genre Long Alley describes as Jazz Infused Rock.  Each song on Long Alley is handpicked and voted in by the artists that co-brand under the Long Alley name.  Long Alley listeners streamed over one million minutes of music last year through Long Alley Radio.  Long Alley artists contributed over twenty-six thousand high-resolution photos of fans at shows that were snapped in thirty-six different cities around the globe last year.  The Long Alley website also showcases thirty-five recent videos featuring live and studio performances of twenty different Long Alley artists.

Long Alley Music Is Entertainment
The Long Alley website, the music player with seven hours of songs, the high-resolution photos, and the continuous stream of videos are entertainment.  Hopefully, you can instantly see and hear the difference between Long Alley and a website owned by one artist.  Long Alley can be played at a party, whereas your music player cannot (for example).

The Brand Proceeds You
Artists pre-announce and banner the Long Alley brand on every show they perform at, thereby sending smoke signals to fans that a Long Alley artist is in town.  It would be nice to show up in a city 1,000 miles away and know that you have brand recognition; especially if the brand equates to quality + the genre of music you specialize in.  It’s also GREAT for fans to be able to travel to another city and know that a branded (Long Alley) show is in town; as it’s a lot easier to make a purchase decision when you are comfortable with a brand.    

Everything Is Easier
From selling tickets to t-shirts, when fans can do it all one website it’s convenient and easier.  More importantly, if you build a syndication of artists located all over the country, it’s easier for national advertisers and sponsors to justify investing time into making deals with your brand.  Remember, if a dealmaker from a national beverage company (for example) has three hours to invest, she’s going to spend her time on the brand that has the potential to deliver the best audience.  (I will define best some other time; as best does not always equate to largest.)

Brand Together - It’s Done Successfully All The Time
Branding together does not have to be any more complicated than assembling a movie soundtrack, and as we all know, soundtracks are some of the best selling albums in the history of music; just look at High School Musical, the best selling album of 2006.

Branding Together - How Come Nobody’s Doing This Yet?
Beyond putting three bands on a flyer and playing a gig together, it wasn’t easy 24 months ago, and everyone’s brain is stuck in the past.  Look, everyone was chasing record deals and playing the zero sum game; if she got a record deal, you wouldn’t; there were only so many deals to go around…  Artists have been hoarding fans and competing for deals for so many years that real collaboration only happened with song writing or in the studio.  The days of traditional record deals are over; distribution is no longer a roadblock, and anyone can stream music and video on the Internet now.  The new mindset has to include collaborative marketing, fan sharing, website sharing, revenue sharing, and co-branding.  It’s the easiest way to be entertaining on the Internet.   

Never Put Sand Into Butter
This post on Branding Together is going to spawn an entire series of articles.  But, I want to mention a couple of cautions for those that jump ahead.  If you are thinking about assembling a content syndicate, here’s the biggest mistake you can make:  I call it putting sand into butter or glass into ice cream.  This happens when you let songs into the mix that radically diverge from the Spectral Deconvolution (melody, harmony, tempo, pitch, octave, beat, rhythm, fullness of sound, noise, brilliance, and chord progression) of the rest of the songs in your syndicate.  This is analogous to putting glass into ice cream.  

Second, if 80% of the artists you co-brand with play in coffee houses and in bookstores, use caution if you are thinking about bringing in a rock band that plays in live music clubs.  Remember, fans want stability in presentation as much as they want stability in sound.  

How To Build Something Like Long Alley Music
Sorry, the rest will come shortly.  Here are some topics I will cover in the near future:  
Creative ideas for choosing a name for a syndication of artists.
Creative ideas for sharing ownership.
Creative ideas for sharing revenue (which is different from ownership).
Creative ideas for putting the legal plumbing together.
Creative ideas for finding and selecting songs.
Creative ideas for approaching other artists.
Creative ideas for approaching advertisers and sponsors with opportunities.
Creative ideas for promoting your syndication (co-brand).
Creative ideas for doing merchandise and ticketing under a co-brand.