In the Spotlight: Bobby Bishop

Bobby Bishop
Genre: Hip Hop / Christian / Rap
Hometown: Lynn, Massachusetts
Fans on Mobile Club:74
Keyword: Text bobby to GETME (43863) Until Nov 1st, GetBobby to 88704 after.


Bobby Bishop fell in love with hip-hop as a child. Raised in a quiet Boston suburb, it took some digging around and frequent trips to the city to wrap his head around the passion he heard from the mouths of his favorite emcees.
With the need to follow his own conviction, Bobby began serving teenagers as a youth minister in gritty Lynn, Massachusetts in 1996, and has been there ever since. He began writing and recording rap music as a teenager himself, and the fusion of his faith in God and a passion for rap was a natural one. He realized his experience as a youth mentor and minister gave him the opportunity to reach out using hip-hop, particularly as he discovered his knack for storytelling. A church plant ensued in 2001, with the vision of pursuing a neglected city, and rap demos and independent CD’s were penned in conjunction with his community experiences. Hip-hop’s pioneer’s birthed a sound expressing everyday life, struggle, determination, and redemption.
Bobby was adamant from the beginning not to forget hip-hop’s roots, but to offer the hope of Christ as life’s solution.

Topspin: Data is the future of the Music Biz

Topspin media CEO Ian Rogers gives advice on the value of fans, reaching out to them and collecting their information, and collecting and analyzing the data you get as an emerging artist.

It's a really great advice from Ian.

One note that caught my attention was the following note: "The small artists actually have the same behavior as the large artists in terms of conversion, what people are willing to spend...it's just a different scale. but if you're looking at it on a pure percentage, what percentage of people are willing to pay for the top tier item is the same. that's really good news. Just means the dynamics are the same, you just have a smaller fan base."

"Participate in anything where a fan can express interest in what you're doing and you can then communicate with them."

"The No. 1 reason people don't come to shows is because they don't know about them."

Watch it, I well recommend it!

For mobile Music-As-a-Service, How Soon is Now?

GigaOm's blog publishes this morning an interesting article by Paul Bonanos on the topic of recent mobile music applications success. (GigaOm's blog is covering new technology and marketing).

According to them, the new Raphsody iPhone app has been downloaded 330,000 times since it's launch in Sep 9, making it the 2nd music app in iTunes store. However, only a minority of Raphsody's web subscribers used the iPhone app to stream music.

The question asked is: "are users finally ready to pay a monthly fee for ubiquitous access to a massive library of music?" (ie. pay extra to listen to music on their phone).

Here's their take:

"The burst of interest in Rhapsody’s app certainly reveals pent-up demand for mobile streams. Some consumers will surely be willing to pay for the chance to hear what they want, when they want, wherever they are. But many would still rather own their music, and some will be content with more restrictive, but free, options. It’s possible that the success of mobile streaming apps will mean that the music-as-a-service model’s time has finally come. We’ll know it has when people stop experimenting, and start paying."

What's that mean to you?

Well, we think your fans are mobile today. They certainly come to your shows and listen to your music in any way they can. They are following you, and "owning" the music you play just makes them "better" fans. that means, more money to you. But, as you well know, nobody pays for music anymore. Those days are gone, so we all had better think of alternative ways to make money. What are some of those channels? Tickets to gigs, merchandise and more. Yes, fans do pay at the door or pre-purchase tickets to your shows. They do buy your CDs, T-Shirts etc.

If you agree that you can excite your fans at the show, and get them to buy something right there, then the way to make money is through their phone, which is exactly what we provide, for free, at Adva Mobile.

Now is the time to get your own free mobile fan club, get started here.

CNN: it's harder than ever for artists to make a living selling CDs

CNN's Matt Rosoff has this article about the reality of selling music:

"More than 115,000 new albums were released in the U.S. last year. Of those, 110 sold more than 250,000 copies in the U.S. last year--that's not such a surprise, as big stars have always been rare. But only 1,500 titles cracked the 10,000 mark, and fewer than 6,000 sold a paltry 1,000 copies.

..Selling 900 CDs at $12 a pop would gross almost $11,000, which would be enough to cover low-budget recording and manufacturing expenses and perhaps buy some new guitar pedals and drumheads. Nobody makes a living selling 1,000 CDs.

What about 10,000 discs? If you're just starting out, making over $100,000 from CD sales sounds like a dream. Of course, you have to split that money among the band members, and anybody else who gets a cut, like the producer and manager. And if you're signed to a label, you might already be that deep into the hole for your advance and recording expenses, so forget about royalties and just hope they'll pay you an advance for the next one. At 10,000 copies, you're probably getting a little radio play somewhere, so you might earn a few small paychecks from publishing royalties, and if you've got a good live act and are willing to tour endlessly, you might be able to sell more tickets than CDs over the course of a year. So perhaps 10,000 is the low-end baseline for making a living playing music. (AR- reminder, only 6,000 of those sold in the US last year).

Of the new titles released last year, almost 99 percent of them didn't sell enough copies to let their creators earn a living from CD sales, and almost 95 percent of them didn't sell enough copies to cover the most basic expenses involved in their recording.

For an unknown band just starting out? Better polish those chops and gas up the van, then get ready to live on ramen noodles for a couple years. And don't worry about devaluing your recordings by selling them cheap or giving them away--worry about getting enough fans to hear them so they'll be interested in coming to your shows, and dragging a few friends with them."

Say no more, Matt. We're with you 100% there.

Adva Mobile gives you a FREE marketing tool to engage your fans on their phones, get them involved, bring them to your shows, and sell to them your tickets and merchandise. That's the way forward.

Microfundo - Microfunding - Ask your fans to fund your next project!

Here's a great idea! Have your fans support you and your projects (touring, recording, etc.) in exchange for VIP Access and Exclusive Perks. Microfundo is an organization that applies the microfinance model to music in order to support independent musicians struggling to make it in the developing world. Your fans lend you money to finance your project. Microfundo collects the funds and then passes them along to you once you have reached your goal. Over time you should be able to repay the loan via sales of digital downloads of your music that is distributed through Microfundo's media partners at National Geographic and Mondomix.

Microfundo plans to use mobile marketing services from Adva Mobile to collect money for Artists Projects right at concert events, where the Artist - Fan connection is strongest. And, Microfundo plans to help fans discover emerging artists on their mobile phones by promoting artists geographically, through the Microfundo Mobile Fan Club. Text microfundo to 43863 - GETME - to check out their mobile page. They're also at www.microfundo.com and our joint press release is here.

A Lesson In Building Community (Or A Love Letter To Rob Gordon & What Are Records?)

Note: This blog is reprinted from Ariel Cyber PR. Ariel Hyatt is one of our favorite resources for musicians to help you understand how to market your music. You can find her at http://www.arielpublicity.com.

Hello from the Rocky Mountains!
I am in Colorado this week taking some time to reflect on the whirlwind that has been my life for the past two years. I lived here for seven years and founded Ariel Publicity here. And lost of great memories have come flooding back.
I have been spending time with Rob Gordon – my first boss at the only record label I ever worked at What Are Records? What I learned at What Are Records? has set me up for a successful career in the new music business and that is because of Rob’s genius around building community.
Rob Gordon had an uncanny knack for understanding it before many in the record business caught on and I continue to operate Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR campaigns based on his teachings. What I learned from What Are Records? is understand the value of community and connectivity and harness it to grow.
What Rob knew was: Observing and staying in constant contact with a rabid fan base, and nurturing them was the ultimate way to earn money in the music business.

Here’s what Rob Gordon did:
Harness Energy and Enthusiasm way before the Internet was used daily in the business Rob found a bound called The Samples and saw a phenomenon that was in the process of happening. Every show they played was packed with college students, screaming along to every song from coast to coast, the word was spreading and the crowds were growing each show. The incredible part was The Samples had been dropped from their major label deal. Rob signed them and started recording their new album and at the same time negotiated their major label album back so he could re-release it on his label.

Go Team
Rob assembled a team of young ambitious employees who were dying to make a mark in the music industry (myself included), and he showed us exactly how to build a record label. We all worked in one big room so we could each hear what every single dept at the label did.

Think About The Flow Of Money
Rob put his own distribution channels in place. A tracking system was used that he built from scratch. We mailed the albums directly to the stores and tracked the sales, cutting out the need a distribution company, and directing the profits back to the band and the label. This, at the time, was completely unheard of.


Keeping Us All in Community
We moved our offices from New York City to The Samples hometown, Boulder, CO. This put us in direct community with the band, who stopped by the offices when they were off the road and hung out with us socially. This move also put us in community with many of the core fans, promoters, managers and team who were spreading the gospel of The Sample from the band’s home base. It was not unusual to drive around town and hear The Samples blasting from car windows, frat houses and in bars and restaurants. It was an exciting reminder of our mission.

Communicating with Fans
Through physical mailing lists, postcards, letters, and catalogs and we began to communicate with fans in a ways that artists rarely utilized. In this day and age we can use E Newsletters, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to talk to thousands of fans at once but back then it was rare. (And now with Mobile Fan Clubs! JK)

Build The Funnel - Continually Put Out Products to Satisfy the Fans
We gave the fans what they wanted. Rob Gordon understood from the very, very early time when people were only selling records that it was about having a product funnel. The Samples not only sold CDs and tapes. They also sold T-shirts, hats, hoodies, sweatshirts, CD carrying cases and VHS videos of the band having a blast on the road in their wonderful movie Ten Wheels. We had great products and they sold well both at shows and through the catalogs.

Keep Them Ignited and Excited
Rob Gordon also learned that if you could keep a fan base ignited and excited that they would come back and continue to buy more. He listened to the fans, and he put out exactly what it was they wanted. In every album, there was a pamphlet that allowed artists to write back to the record label and request whatever it is that they wanted to have.

Sharing & Rewarding Those That Help
After a year with What Are Records I got a job opportunity that was too good to pass up. On my last day, Rob Gordon did something that I could not believe. He gave me the label’s entire press database of writers, and journalists, and he said since you helped to build this, I’m giving it to you as a gift. It was this database that helped me build my company and later it became the backbone of Ariel Publicity.

Rob understood that sharing information would be the only way that we could all succeed. Years later I traded databases with Rob again so we could both benefit and I now share as much information as I can through my newsletter http://www.soundadviceezine.com
So, Rob, as I mark my 13th year as the owner of my own music PR firm, I thank you for being the ultimate teacher. And thank you for showing us that the future of the music business has to be based on community, sharing and open source information.

Here's the original article.

Adva Mobile Partners with AC Entertainment / Concertwire, promoters of Bonnaroo

We're pleased to announce a partnership with AC Entertainment / Concertwire, one of the country's premier promoters of music and entertainment. Specializing in the production and promotion of concerts and music festivals throughout the southeast, including the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival ( 125 acts this year, and 75,000+ fans), fans will now be able to access information about music and entertainment events as well as purchase tickets to the events through their mobile devices. This new relationship with Adva Mobile will also allow AC Entertainment to build mobile fan clubs that provide fans a unique interactive experience, including mobile messaging and mobile-optimized web sites that offer search and event information. Interconnected Venue and Artist sites will provide news, music and video downloads, interviews, ticket and merchandise sales, recommendations about other artists and influences, contests, voting, raffles, backstage passes, text to screen, etc. This new mobile platform augments AC Entertainment’s existing Web based event listing and music discovery site CONCERTWIRE.com.

Read more about this exciting new partnership here and here.

Even better, visit Concertwire mobile site: m.concertwire.com