Madalyn's Blog

by Madalyn Sklar

So this morning I'm reading what is turning into quite the interesting article and blog comments about TuneCore raising $7 million for its digital distro service.

Apple’s iTunes music-downloading service and its iPod music players disrupted the music industry’s CD business. TuneCore is helping to complete that process.

That’s how the company just raised $7 million in a first institutional round of funding from Opus Capital. The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based company allows artists to distribute their music, videos and films to iTunes and a host of other online vendors.

I'm happy for TuneCore. They have done a great job building this company up and now with $7M they can do even more. I've known Jeff Price for a long time and he's come up with a great way for indie artists to get their music into the digital arena at an affordable price. They don't keep a percent of sales. YOUR SALES! This is why I feel strongly that their platform is better than CD Baby's. Why give your money away to CD Baby if you don't have to? I have been recommending TuneCore for years.

But then I run into a very interesting counter post on this subject at hyperbot asking a simple question: TuneCore Gets $7 M From Opus Capital. Why? They question this because ReverbNation is now offering digital distro at a cheaper rate than TuneCore.

Opus Capital's Gill Cogan told VentureBeat that he'd "screened a lot of music internet companies but didn’t find any that could do what TuneCore does." Well, Opus and VentureBeat should both hire new research departements. The flat fee distribtuion model has already been adopted by several companies. The largest, ReverbNation, offers a similar and sometimes cheaper flat fee service to 250,000 artist members. And ReverbNation offers an integrated suite of free viral promotional tools that TuneCore would do well to spend its $7 million copying.

I love ReverbNation! I'm a big fan. They offer hands down the BEST widgets to promote your music on the Internet. I love their Facebook applications too. I have been recommending them to everyone for a long time now. And I was thrilled to recently learn they are now offering their own digital distro and it's priced better than TuneCore. So you can guess which company I started recommending to my clients and the GoGirls community. Yep, ReverbNation. Oh and by the way, it's not just because their pricing is better. Nope. I've spent time with the people at ReverbNation. They "get it" when it comes to indie artists. And they are damn nice.

Here's a tip to remember: people like to work with people they like. Always be likable in this business!

I think this topic is going to get interesting. I'll be keeping a watchful eye. Stay tuned as this develops...

Send me your comments. I welcome your thoughts on this and would love to hear what you think!

Copyright © 2008 Madalyn Sklar, IndieMusicCoach

Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She has spent over 12 years helping independent musicians and music business professionals achieve greater success. Her motto is: working smarter not harder. She also founded GoGirlsMusic.com, the oldest + largest online community of indie women musicians.

Madalyn's Sites:
http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/
http://www.gogirlsmusic.com/
http://www.socialnetworksformusicians.com/

Labels: digital distribution, distro, ReverbNation, tunecore

ReverbNation Adds Distribution to iTunes, Amazon for Any Band
Artists Pay Flat Fee, Keep 100% of Royalty Revenue, Comes with Promotion Tools

(New York, NY – October 14, 2008) ReverbNation, the preferred marketing and promotion platform for over 250,000 musicians, labels, managers and venues, has introduced a low cost ‘On-Ramp’ for musicians and bands that want to get their music for sale on ten of the top digital retailers.

The service allows any Artist to submit their music for sale on iTunes (worldwide), Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster and eMusic for a flat fee of $34.95. Coupled with ReverbNation’s highly acclaimed marketing and promotional tools like FanReach (free email for musicians), Widgets, and Social Network Applications, the service will allow Artists from all walks of life to sell their music AND give them the tools they need to drive sales and grow their revenues from their fan base.

“Our sole focus is to provide Artists, and those that support them, with the tools and technology they need to grow their business and earn money,” said Lou Plaia, vice president of Artist Relations at ReverbNation.com. “Getting music up on the major retailers is important. But Artists need to be able to tie that purchase opportunity into every fan touch point in order to be effective. ReverbNation Artists, labels, and managers already use our marketing and promotion tools to reach 30,000,000 uniques per month. Adding a buying opportunity will help Artists take advantage of the reach they’ve already establshed.”

The service, dubbed simply ‘Digital Distribution,’ is available to every Artist at ReverbNation via their Reverb Toolbox. The feature is powered by INgrooves, a leading distribution technology company who also counts Universal Music Group as a client.

“The world of digital distribution is constantly evolving. We wanted to find a partner that could fulfill our Artist’s needs today as well as tomorrow,” said Mike Doernberg, chief executive officer of ReverbNation. “INgrooves has the technology, credibility, and a focus on building innovative products.”

“ReverbNation has quickly become a leading marketing technology platform for indie artists, and it’s easy to see why,” said Robb McDaniels, president & chief executive officer of INgrooves. “Their creative products and treatment of clients as business partners help to empower artists in the digital world. We are looking forward to ReverbNation and its artists utilizing our technology platform to manage the distribution of their releases around the world.”

Learn more about Digital Distribution from ReverbNation.com.

About ReverbNation
ReverbNation provides the innovative marketing solutions that musicians need to compete, cooperate, and differentiate in an increasingly noisy online environment. Unlike typical “closed” communities, artists use ReverbNation as their home base for approaching marketing and promotion across the Internet as a whole - be it via social networks, blogs, email, IM, or the artist’s homepage. Tools like TunePaks, FanReach, TuneWidget, and Street Team Manager give the artist the power to spread their music and information virtually anywhere. Real-time stats then provide a 360-degree view of how the music is spreading, who is listening, and which fans are actually passing it on to their friends and posting it on their pages. ReverbNation empowers Artists to take the music to the people, no matter where they spend their time online. For more information, please visit www.ReverbNation.com.

About INgrooves
INgrooves is a digital media infrastructure company that provides various distribution and marketing services via its INgrooves and ONE Digital services. ONE Digital uses the company's proprietary software platform to provide distribution and administration to large distributors, record labels and film production companies at rates far below the industry standard. INgrooves provides clients customized distribution, marketing, promotion, synch licensing and administrative support to help maximize the earnings potential of specific releases or catalogues. For more information, check out http://www.ingrooves.com.

Labels: digital distribution, ReverbNation