New Perk for Bands Added to our Crowdfunding Campaign - Android App

We added another perk today for bands - an awesome deal to have an Android App and Mobile Web. With Android now running 50 percent of the smartphone market (iPhone only 10%) they'll have a great App, mobile web for non-smartphones, and a marketing platform to acquire, engage, and monetize your fans. Only $200 for 2 years, and only until the end of the crowdfunding campaign.

Crowdfunding Help from our Friends at Hypebot

Our friends at Hypebot wrote a nice article summarizing our Crowdfunding Campaign.
Here's the text:

Startup Adva Mobile Using Crowdfunding To Improve Free Mobile Sites For Musicians



Adva Mobile was featured on Hypebot in August for their free mobile websites for musicians. Now they're back with a crowdfunding campaign to help them bring the design aspects of their mobile portal and individual mobile sites up to the level of their backend and address what CEO Jack Kelly calls the problem of having a "Ferrari engine in a Chevy body."

When I spoke with Jack Kelly about Adva Mobile's services, I was impressed with what they offered and their general perspective on how such services should be managed.


The basic mobile website and service is free and they've come a long way as a small, self-funded business but they've hit a financial hump and are seeking help through a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo:


"We built our first version in 2008 and over 1,400 bands have found us and signed up. We give artists everything they need to take advantage of mobile – phone friendly web sites, Apps, text messaging, downloads, tour dates, and a storefront to sell stuff to their fans. Most of the bands choose our free service."


"Lately though, they're telling us that their mobile site is not cool and our web site dashboard to manage their mobile campaigns is dated – thus, they are reluctant to use it. Some of our partner opportunities are turned off because the portal looks so old, and one has refused to partner with us until we display current design standards.... So we need to fix that."


"As long as we're working with a design expert, we would also have him design new mobile web templates for our free and paid subscribers...For artists that choose our free service, even they should have a design that is current and modern."

So check out the campaign and rewards and see if Adva Mobile is a business you'd like to support!


Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and blogs at All World Dance and This Business of Blogging. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

You can read the article on Hypebot at
http://bit.ly/v3S4l8

Crowdfunding Update Nov 11

We're at the end of our second week of our Crowdfunding Campaign and it's been quite a ride! Twenty Five (!!!) of our friends and business associates have connected with our mission and already we've raised over $1,800 -  27% of our goal. From what I'm reading about Crowdfunding, there's a big push towards the end of the campaign, so we're still very hopeful and encouraged that we'll meet our goal.

Two things have really struck me about this campaign. First, every time a new contribution come in, we get an email and it's been a very warm, enjoyable experience to see who has contributed. These early contributions are mostly from friends who share our passion for Adva Mobile and helping both the business succeed and helping Artists use mobile to further their careers.

Second, the sheer volume of work to run this campaign! I'd read, during the research before I started, that making it successful was a full time job. You have no idea. While some people contributed upon receiving our first email, the truth is, many donors will need multiple "touches" before they take action, and it's this effort that's time consuming. Of course, it's fun to reach out to our network and let them know what's going on - and there are a lot of networks! Email lists, Linked In, Facebook, Bands, the blog community - and each need a different message, and contributors need a different update. So it's fun, but work - on top of Adva Mobile work! No problem, since it's important. Please help make it happen - contribute at http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Adva-Mobile-Campaign.

Finding our Design Partner

We’ve been in contact with a design pro from Rio de Janeiro that we really like, who could do a fantastic job for us. The talent we’re looking for is special, and it’s also global. We’re also talking to design pro’s from New Hampshire, Argentina and India. Very exciting for us to realize that, with your help, we can solve this problem and help bands use mobile to reach and engage their fans.

Adva Mobile Crowdfunding - Our First Milestone!

We’ve reached a milestone – $1,000 raised in our first week!!! Thank you to everyone who has contributed, it means so much to all of us on the Adva Mobile Team who are passionate about making this happen and helping bands and recording Artists take advantage of everything mobile has to offer. We’re excited about our progress and the comments from our friends who have made contributions are warmly received.



The Artists that use our service really appreciate what we’re providing to them. They know that mobile is the future, they need to get into mobile now, and we provide them a platform for them to take advantage of everything mobile has to offer. We communicate with many of them, especially in the beginning when we’re setting them up. It’s especially rewarding to get emails back like this one:
I’m going to start with YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!!! I love what your company does and you’ve just taken customer service to a whole new level!

Mobile can help Artists by providing a whole new revenue stream. It’s great to be leading a movement that can change an industry.

5 Days on IndieGoGo - What we've learned

Well we’re now five days into our IndieGoGo campaign – The Adva Mobile Campaign to provide Artists a better use experience – so we thought we’d share what we’ve learned so far about online fundraising!


1. Just because it’s online doesn’t mean that it’s easy

The success that some have found on the Internet often convinces many of us that achieving success online is easy, that all it takes is a halfhearted post into cyberspace and within 24 hours the post makes front page news. Well, after weeks of planning and preparation, and consecutive full time days working at this, I’m willing to go out on a limb to suggest that this is not the case!

2. Never underestimate the generosity of friends and family

We I have been blown away with the support we’ve received from our family and friends. We believe very strongly in our cause and project and are are grateful that others believe in it too.

3. Sharing is caring

One of the more difficult aspects of online fundraising is reaching people outside of your friends and family network. Pleading your case to strangers isn't effective. Conversely, when someone that supports your cause shares your project it speaks volumes about both the relevance of your project and that person’s belief in you to deliver.

4. Be thankful

We want to thank everyone who has gone out of their way so far to back and share our project. Your support means more than you could ever imagine. We’re early into our campaign and recognize there is still a lot of hard work ahead of us. However, we’re looking forward to the challenge, and to working even harder over the next 30 days to reach our fundraising goal. We’ll keep you updated in the weeks to come. Thank you so much!

We Need Your Help - Adva Mobile Goes Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a new financing tool and works exactly opposite from traditional venture financing. Instead of a few individuals each providing a large amount of capital, crowdfunding creates a community of many individuals providing small amounts of capital -- typically less than $100. Websites that help organize Crowdfunding campaigns are common today, and many are having terrific success raising money for a variety of projects -- everything from art, film projects, technology such as Adva Mobile, causes, businesses, photography -- anything that a community can help fund to get something done. Adva Mobile is working with a popular Crowdfunding management site called IndieGoGo that manages Crowdfunding campaigns for all types of projects.


Since we launched in early 2009, we've grown to over 1,400 bands that recognize the value of the service we are providing. It's going great, however these bands and new partner prospects are telling us that our Mobile Web designs and Portal user interface, while delivering compelling capabilities, are not modern and cool and is, in fact, lame and old. We need to fix this, and are going to raise the money to get you Artists new mobile designs that are sleek and modern (even for free users of our service) and a better user interface to manage mobile fans, assets and campaigns.

There are more details about our campaign on our IndieGoGo page at http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Adva-Mobile-Campaign but we are going to raise $6500 through many small donations from friends, business interests, and Artists such as yourselves to redesign the user interface of our Artist Portal and new mobile web templates for your sites. For Artists, there are terrific rewards should you contribute, including big discounts on our premium services. I hope you have the time to look at our program and contribute to our success. Every contribution helps. Thank You.