New changes and improvements to your Mobile Fan Club!

We're excited to announce exciting new changes to your Mobile Fan Club

• Changes to the Links on your Mobile Page Footer
  We've replaced the old links with new fun icons for your Gigs, Merch sales, News, Buzz and your Twitter pages.
• Your Keyword and Shortcode are changing
  
  
  
  
  As of Nov 1st, Your keyword is going to change from what it is today to be prefixed by "get". We found it to be much more intuitive to fans to remember "get"+the band name, "get" + the artist name etc. (if your keyword is "Santigold", it will become "GETSantigold". If it's "NBS", it will become "GETNBS". If it's "metal", it will become "GETmetal").
  Our shortcode is also changing from 43863 (GETME) to 88704. So, next time you do a shoutout, or in your mailing lists (if it's after Nov 1st), remember to tell your fans to text "get"+your existing keyword to 88704.
  
  
  
  

PS. If you want to change your keyword, you can always do that on the artist portal at AdvaMobile.com.

Introducing new partners: Brimstone and Hector

Adva Mobile welcomes two new partners to our mobile fan club program, with mobile sites designed specially for them and the Artists they serve.

Brimstone Radio is a Web Site and Internet Radio station with Music from the Underground....Way Underground!! Broadcasting 24/7 with 6 weekly shows that air live every week allowing you to hear undiscovered bands from the safety of your own home! Visit BrimstoneRadio.com to check out all of their our live broadcasts, cd reviews, personal profiles of other Brimstone Radio listeners, and of course to listen to the very best of the UNDERGROUND.
Their mobile site includes a a unique search function where fans can search for Brimstone supported Artists by by genre - Rock, Metal, Punk, and Blues. Text BRIMSTONE to 43863 to check these guys out. (GETBRIMSTONE to 88704 after Nov 1).


The Hector Fund conducts Artistfunding campaigns as a service to independent artists and administers the fulfillment of tangible goods to their fans. It’s simple; Fans donate money to support the creative endeavors of their favorite musicians in exchange for exclusive access and perks. Hector also provides Online Marketing Solutions and Mobile Sites with Mobile Shell Applications for iPhone, Android, Palm Pre, Blackberry, etc. Their mobile site lists, and links to, Artists with funding campaigns, and mobile is a key component of their fan interaction. To see what an Artist funding campaign looks like, text HECTOR to 43863 (GETHECTOR to 88704 after Nov 1).

It's time to choose your own password!

Hi all,
In the past we've had many people unhappy with the way we managed passwords when they signed up: previously, we would create a random password for you, and send it to your email. That method was far from perfect...what if we got the wrong email, or that email went into your junk mail...Even if you got the email, you would need to go and change your password on the portal.
Too many people had password issues! no more!

We've just introduced a new signup method, where you can enter whatever password you like. Like before, we will enter you right into the portal so you can start checking out the amazing features we have for you and we will send you the email reminding you of your username and password.
The facilities to recover your password and change it are obviously still there for you!

Hopefully this makes a lot of people happier =). Go sign up now...

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.