Seems pretty obvious when you read this, but its pretty clear that a LOT of companies don’t take this approach…and the same rules could easily apply to artists.

Want to Make Money on Twitter? Take a Look at How Dell Does It : Technology :: American Express OPEN Forum

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I’ve seen two examples of “augmented reality” today, this article about Topps baseball cards in the NYTimes, and the solar/wind power site that GE has set up. There are some other examples in this YouTube video:

Really neat stuff though it will need to quickly move past the novelty factor to have staying power as a marketing tool. Certainly Topps is making good use of it to differentiate their brand of sports cards at a time when their business has suffered an ~80% decline since its peak days. From a music industry perspective, there are clear possibilities for liner notes, as well as potential for download cards and other physical printed media associated with live and recorded music. If the technology has the capacity for full-on UGC or capability for at least some degree of user customization, there could be some cool community and even social networking opportunities.

Definitely a technology worth watching.

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Pew has just published a new study on consumer purchasing habit,s and the impact of the Internet as well as traditional media on their decision making. Clearly, the digital arena continues to grow in importance but it is only one part of the media mix, and carries different weight among different consumer groups.

Click here to see the questionnaire and here to read the results of the study.

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“Sixtyone is different from most read-submit-vote-comment sites because it has an elaborate point system…When you sign up, you get points; each time you vote up a song, you spend 5 points, but if others vote for the song and it gets popular, you earn your points back. Furthermore, you can earn free points by listening to The Rack, which consists of music that hasn’t hit the front page yet. As you earn more points, you go up in ranks….“

MP3.com Meets Digg: Find New Music on Sixtyone

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Jon Pareles offers his take on user generated content in today’s New York Times:

It’s on Web sites like YouTube, MySpace, Dailymotion, PureVolume, GarageBand and Metacafe. It’s homemade art independently distributed and inventively promoted. It’s borrowed art that has been warped, wrecked, mocked and sometimes improved. It’s blogs and open-source software and collaborative wikis and personal Web pages. It’s word of mouth that can reach the entire world.It’s often inept, but every so often it’s inspired, or at least worth a mouse click. It has made stars, at least momentarily, of characters like the video diarist Lonelygirl (who turned out to be a fictional creation) and the power-pop band OK Go (whose treadmill choreography earned far more plays than its albums). And now that Web entrepreneurs have recognized the potential for profit, it’s also a sweet deal: amateurs, and some calculating professionals, supply the raw material free. Private individuals aren’t private anymore; everyone wants to preen.

read the full article here: 2006, Brought to You by You – New York Times

technorati tags:User, Generated, Content

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Music itself hasn’t gone out of favor – just the opposite. There has never been a better time to be an artist or a fan, and there has never been more music made or listened to. But the traditional model of marketing and selling music no longer works. The big players in the distribution system – major record labels, retail giants – depend on huge, platinum hits. These days, though, there are not nearly enough of those to support the industry in the style to which it has become accustomed. We are witnessing the end of an era.

This is an important read for those who make and market music.

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ExtremeTech has published a roundup of 8 music recommendation sites/services, including:

* MusicStrands
* Liveplasma
* UpTo11.net
* Audiri
* Pandora
* Mercora
* Yahoo LAUNCHcast Radio
* Last.fm

They ran each of them through a series of tests using different artists and genres, and then compare and contrast the various features of each one, and the quality and quantity of the recommendation engines. The verdict? Last.fm and Pandora ran at the head of the pack, with Last.fm receiving top honors. My personal experience with Last.fm echoes this enthusiasm…if you are a real music geek, Last.fm should be at the top of your bookmark list.

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The AP reports this morning that Warner Bros. will use BitTorrent as a distribution mechanism for movies and TV shows that can be purchased online. While they’re still not jumping in with both feet as the downloads aren’t playable on standard DVD players, it is an important step forward in thought process. Essentially, Warner’s foray into using P2P for distribution validates the efficiency of BitTorrent technology.

Should this become a reasonable success, the bandwidth implications are considerable–a significant increase in legitimate BitTorrent use would cause a massive surge in bandwidth usage. Already, several ISP are using “traffic shaping” technologies to limit BitTorrent bandwidth, removing many of the speed efficiencies that the technology provides. This may spell the end of the “all the bandwidth you can eat for $29.99 per month” model. I think you’ll start seeing cable and DSL service providers offering tiered pricing, with high bandwidth users paying a premium for faster pipes.

Warner did not announce a date for when this will start, but discussions are already in full bloom across the blogosphere, tech news and entertainment sites…look for an update here shortly.

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It seems like video sharing websites like YouTube have mushroomed overnight, consuming bandwidth and productivity in offices and college campuses across the country. With a vast array of choices in this seemingly endless online marketing landscape and a giant vault of unrecouped music videos getting larger by the minute, what’s a music marketer to do? Where should you turn for your next campaign?

Well, thanks to Digital Video Guru, the answers may be one click away with their comparison of 10 leaders in the video sharing field. From YouTube to Google Video, and Eyespot to Revver, this summary is worth a few minutes of your time to read.

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There’s a good article in today’s San Mateo Daily Journal that offers a good summary of where things are between Steve Jobs and the major labels regarding the 99 cent price point for digital songs. The labels continue to make their case for variable pricing, with new and superstar music positioned at a higher price point while deeper catalog titles are offered at a discount. Jobs says this suggestion by the labels is greed, the labels counter that the marketplace should decide, not just a single retailer. The arguing has gotten louder over the last few months and as iTunes’ deal with the major labels is up for renegotiation shortly, expect the volume to increase even more.

In the air above the din is a potential issue mentioned at the end of the article:

Labels could respond by threatening to cut back the special promotional exclusives that now help drive traffic to iTunes, offering them instead to other online retailers or to wireless carriers that typically sell a song download for more than $2, analysts say.

Over the years, many online music destinations and retailers have offered featured placement for exclusive content, whether that be in the form of a music recorded specifically for that destination (such as AOL Sessions or iTunes Originals) or simply offering alternate album tracks, b-sides or videos. This featured placement of exclusive content has become a standard part of the marketing mix, but the value quid pro quo remains fuzzy. For example, having your artist on the front page of iTunes with an exclusive bonus track during release week is a great look, raises awareness and has generally had a positive impact sales. But it requires the creation of content and then agreeing that the content is available exclusively at iTunes….what are the real dollar values on both sides of the equation here? And, if you’re giving something to iTunes, you need to consider the creation of additional content for others in the space, from traditional retail partners with online presence to mobile carriers to other digital service providers….how much additional content do you need to create to give all the right players their piece of exclusivity? Will we reach a point of artists creating a 50 minute album with the need to create an additional 60 minutes of bonus content? And ultimately, is it reasonable to expect those consumers who are core fans of an artist to visit 10 different websites, subscribe to multiple digital music services and carry 5 cellphones if they want to get all the additional content by their favorite artists?

The currency of exclusivity isn’t receiving the same level of public attention as the pricing debate, but it is subject that will need to be addressed sooner or later…with the number of online entertainment destinations continuing to grow there simply won’t be enough content to go around, inevitably causing political friction. Furthermore, “superfans” won’t want to visit and/or register for dozens of online destinations to get all the bonus content…especially when P2P remains an easier option.

Stay tuned….

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