Nice Hypebot Promotion

A nice bit of promo for the Adva Mobile Service on Hypebot. Their new feature THE PITCH  showcases promising tech startups in the music industry. Check it out at http://bit.ly/AdvaPitch

Less Money, Mo' Music & Lots of Problems: A Look at the Music Biz

Jul 26, 2015

Jason Hirschorn, CEO and Chief Curator at REDEF, recently published a comprehensive and lengthy discussion about the music business. I've started his Article here, and linked to the full Article. Well worth the read!

The disruption of the music industry has undoubtedly benefited consumers, but for many on the inside, its consequences have been both profound and painful. Artists finally have direct connections to their audiences, but they must fight through more noise than ever before. Distribution is no longer constrained by shelf space or A&R men, but a stream or download generates royalties many artists decry as untenable. Audiences can now enjoy more music, more easily and in more places – yet the amount they spend is at an unprecedented low.

Music may have been the first media format to be upended by digital, but it remains deeply challenged even as video, publishing and gaming continue their path forward (however modestly). If the industry hopes to restore growth and fix the problems with today’s streaming models, it needs to confront its evolution: how have ecosystem revenues – from albums sales to concerts, radio plays, digital downloads and streams – changed and been redistributed? What is the underlying value of music? Did streaming erode this value or correct it? What’s the logic behind streaming royalty models and where are its flaws and decencies? How can it be improved? After 15 years of declining consumer spend, it’s time to stop focusing on what was or “should” be. Industries don’t rebuild themselves.

PART I: HOW WE GOT HERE: 

The Decline of Recorded Music Sales

Since the RIAA began its comprehensive database of US music sales in 1973, the category has never commanded less in consumer spend than it does today.

Continue reading this excellent research and Article HERE. 

The Future of Musician Marketing

The digital age has revolutionized marketing, making it more complex but also creating the opportunity to dramatically improve fan experiences, especially away from the concert experience. The rapid advancements in technology that enable the possibility of always-on connectivity between Artist and Fan have made it so that marketing as a discipline is now inextricably tied to tech—and mobile tech. For artists this transformation both challenges and empowers like never before.

Artists are brands and like brands, are starting to realize the insights and power that technology can bring to their fan marketing initiatives. Artists can, for the first time, use digital insights to power optimized fan interactions.

Outside the music industry, brands get it. The marketing technology landscape is exploding. In one survey, 68 percent of organizations had a separate digital marketing budget that averaged a quarter of the total marketing budget.

One key enabler of marketing technology is the capability to identify, understand, and interact with fans on an individual level. The early analytics from digital interaction with fans focused on aggregate metrics. How many visitors to your web site? Now, new tools allow you to drill down to individual fans and their interest in you. You can now separate the right data from the big data. This all starts with the creation of a comprehensive user profile.

Customer Profiles

Your fans are constantly creating more data. Clicking, searching, swiping, tweeting, and many other actions provide information in real-time about their interests. Marketing technology can capture and analyze these fan interactions in a profile so that you can make better decisions on when, how, and with what message to engage your fans.

Your fan profiles can be either known (you have their name, e-mail address, phone number, location, age, gender), or anonymous (the profile lacks identity details). And even data in the aggregate – preferences over watching videos compared to streaming music, for example, show that you can improve your marketing to your audience. Activity on your web app / web site can help tailor the Artist to Fan engagement experience accordingly.

Programmed Interactions

The last step is delivering the engagement to the fan, which takes two forms. The first is how you engage with your “new” fan, and this needs to be programmed based on a logical sequence and delivered in real time to the fan.  The good news here is that we are rapidly approaching where technology can automate this activity, so you don’t need to interrupt your day every time a fan opts in to your mobile fan base or email list.

The second engagement form is scheduled outreach to your community. Whether it’s location targeted to announce an upcoming show or a broad email/text/social post about a new video or music release, these communications need to be regular and relevant to the interests of your fans. While not purely automated, scheduling eliminates much of the marketing burden required to sustain a fan engagement campaign.

This is the future of marketing technology for musicians. Using the right data to understand your fans well enough to predict, prepare for, and deliver what they want from you. Using data to stay one step ahead of fans will enable you to develop extremely strong fan relationships that foster loyalty that will keep fans coming back again and again.

Smartphone Ownership Hits 75%

comScore is reporting that smartphone ownership in the United States has hit 75%, which means that 182 million Americans now have a smartphone. Three of every 4 US mobile subscribers aged 13 and older now own a smartphone. And it's even better for your audience. Almost 9 in 10 (88.9% of) mobile subscribers aged 25-34 owned a smartphone, with those aged 18-24 (88.6%) right on their heels. And smartphone adoption in the 18-34 age group is growing fast - as recently as January 2013, the adoption rate was 73.5% and 72.2%, respectively.

Why is this great news for Artists using SMS text marketing? Because as mobile phones get smarter, the effectiveness of SMS marketing increases.

Why are SMS messages sent to smartphones so much more effective than SMS messages sent to non-smartphones? While the SMS messages sent to smartphones & non-smartphones are the same, with smartphones you're able to direct your fans to an experience outside of 160 characters of plain text. And this is totally built into the Adva Mobile Platform. Since most texts you send to fans automatically link to your own branded Web App, your fans experience a powerful collection of different mobile experiences. Your fans...

Watch your videos.
Listen to your music.
Check out your photos.
Take your mobile survey.
Shop your mobile website.
Enter your contests.
Read about you.
Follow you on social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.)

 Isn't that great or what???

Success with Text? Look to Restaurants.

A follow up to an earlier post about SMS Text having success with Retail, and why they are important use cases for musicians. Text Marketing is also having terrific success with restaurants.

Most of the use cases are oriented towards Coupons…. That makes sense. The real value, though, just as it is for musicians, is building up a data base of engaged, opted in fans of the Brand. Check out these examples:

 Applebees – is another restaurant collecting email addresses through the use of a text message marketing campaign. The text message call-to-action appears in their menu, instructing customers to text their zip code and email address to their short code.

Arby’s - has created their own text messaging campaign to increase customer loyalty. You get a free small Dr. Pepper with the purchase of any sandwich when you opt-in, which is a great way for any text messaging campaign to grow their SMS subscriber database fast.

Baskin Robbins – is another brand turning to text messaging to grow their email database. Baskin-Robbins now has in-store signage instructions customers to join their Birthday Club by texting “BDAY” their email address to the SMS short code 31310.

Dunkin’ Donuts  - wanted to entice high school/college age students in the Boston area to try their hot lattes. They used text message marketing to drive in-store redemption of $0.99 small hot latte mobile coupon.  The SMS offer was sent to 7,500 targeted opt-ins. The campaign messaging coupled with radio created a 21 percent increase in store traffic and redemption of the mobile coupon. The SMS message promoted the viral element of the coupon. This proved to be a very beneficial aspect of the campaign, in that 17 percent of participants forwarded or showed the message to a friend. In the research subsequent to the campaign, 35 percent considered themselves more likely to buy lattes and coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts.

IHOP - is connecting with consumers using SMS Text marketing. Consumers are encouraged to opt-in for a free short stack of pancakes.Calls to action are publicized in Money Mailer direct mail pieces. Consumers are asked to text the keyword IHOPFREE to short code 686868. IHOP is seeing a 10% mobile coupon redemption rate.

Caribou Coffee  - ran a sweepstakes via text message that gave participants a chance to win free beverages for a year to celebrate the launch of a new store in Illinois. This contest generated awareness of the new store and built a database of opted-in mobile users for future promotions.

Hooters  - has been using SMS for years and constantly turns to the channel to drive consumer engagement.  Consumers were encouraged to text the keyword FOOTBALL to the short code 36832 in order to enter to win a trip for two to the 2013 Super Bowl. Furthermore, Hooters was able to build up its mobile database by 50,000 customers.

Jack in the Box –  are reporting that redemption rates for coupons from Text Marketing are 3-5 times greater than redemption rates from email marketing, and 21% of Text recipients are recommending the store to others.

Success with Text? Look to Retail.

Musicians looking for case studies and examples of where Text Marketing is having success can look to Retail. And since retailers are typically targeting the same consumer demographic that represents a Fan, the appeal of text for Artists to connect with fans is obvious.  Here are how some (of many) retailers are using text to connect with consumers both inside and outside their storefronts.

Abercrombie & Fitch - recently launched “club” programs that focus on mobile communications. Customers who “opt-in”for membership receive exclusive product offers and content, plus value-added services.  A representative states “growing our text file has been a very strong focus. You do have some issues on what and how often you can communicate to consumers via text because there are spam laws. But we’ve grown our text file essentially from a couple of hundred thousand to one or more million in the span of twelve months.”

Aerie & American Eagle Outfitters  - created a sweepstakes (contest) that includes a text-to-enter instant-win game wherein participants have the opportunity to win American Eagle Outfitters shorts and Aerie swim suits. While in the fitting room trying on the latest spring styles of American Eagle Outfitters shorts and Aerie swim suits, shoppers can enter to instantly win by texting in to American Eagle Outfitters or Aerie.

Aeropostale – created an opt in text campaign for an exclusive VIP invite to the launch of Aero by having consumers text REVEAL to 237687 (AERO87) and signing up for Aero Texts.

Toys  R Us – has grown their text database to over 450,000 subscribers. The retailer sends regular text messages supporting key shopping periods and promoting important new product launches.

Dress Barn – A representative states “More and more we are seeing that our consumers and target audience are extremely receptive to using both SMS messaging and their mobile phones to stay in contact and receive updates from brands with which they associate themselves.”

Kohls - is using SMS texts to inform consumers that if they spend $30, they can win various prizes including discounts at other retailers like Staples.

Lord & Taylor  With hundreds of the largest brands now running text message marketing campaigns, it’s no wonder that many of these brands sent SMS promotions to their customers in celebration of July 4th. It’s common for brands such as Lord & Taylor, Tommy Bahamas, JCPenney, Michaels, Simon Malls, Stage and Payless Shoes to use holidays as a chance to promote some special offer.  

Use Text Messaging for the "Moment"

Sending fans a text message creates a "moment" of connection between you, the Artist, and your fans. It's a tool to create fan loyalty and, ultimately, drive business results (a sale). Mobile text messaging is rooted in it's immediacy, and it's the trigger or catalyst for a mobile moment. It's a mechanism to get a fan to take action now.

These mobile moments are present throughout the entirety of the Artist - Fan relationship.

Engage: Connect with fans and have fun using Contests, Exclusive Content, or Voting.

Discover: Alert fans to new content.

Buy: Prompt fans to purchase show tickets, special deals, or send them a coupon.

Explore: Remind fans of all the cool music, videos and news they can find on your Web App.

Use:  The most engaged fans expect help to get the most of your Web App. Send texts to encourage activity so they get the most from their connection to you and your music.

Ask: Send fans a poll, asking them to vote on a topic important to them.

Your fans connect with you during their entire journey with you throughout your Artistic career. Map your mobile messaging to key moments in this journey. The immediacy and effectiveness of Text Messaging  drives fan action and increases sales, engagement and loyalty.


Thanks to Forrester Research for the inspiration, and some of the ideas, for this article.