Content That's Worth Paying For

I found this terrific INFOGRAPHIC that explains a shift in our buying behaviors.  For the preceding decade, content has been available for free online, both legally and illegally. But people are now buying content because technology is making content more convenient, attractive, relevant and emotional. From iTunes to Amazon, from Netflix to the New York Times.


The infographic is really an advertisement for an upcoming trade show / industry event put on by Business Insider. It's relevant to Adva Mobile Artists because monetizing your mobile fan base has always been the cornerstone of the mobile marketing platform we offer. Here's what the infographic says about content purchases, and how it relates to your Adva Mobile marketing platform:

1. Paying for Content is more convenient: We'll pay for flexibility across devices. We've learned to make micropayments, and pay from our phones. The Adva Mobile Storefront makes it easy for fans to purchase your digital content and physical goods right on their phones. 

2. It's Attractive: the visual web is here, so we can see what we're buying online. Freemium models have taught us to accept higher quality when we pay. The Adva Mobile Storefront lets you distinguish between content you want to give away and content you want to sell, and images associated with the product are presented on your store.

3. Your Content is more Relevant: Your data is everywhere. But options for your fans are scarcer as the big content providers scale back their free services. That gives Adva Mobile Artists more power to engage fans with free and paid for content and products, tailoring bundles to drive revenues. 

4.   We're buying on Emotion: With so much information, and the deluge of choices, we choose purchased based upon how they make us feel. Your Mobile connection to your fans is personal to them and their phones are always with them.

Although mobile purchases are billions of dollars today, we're just at the beginning of a revolution that will see more purchases being made using your mobile phones. Adva Mobile Artists can take advantage of this trend -whether through linking to iTunes and Amazon or using your Adva Mobile Direct to Fan Storefront. Every Artist should have items for sale on their mobile site and Apps.

You can see the infographic in more detail at  http://www.businessinsider.com/infographic-content-40-and-ignition-2012-8#ixzz24ORjyS3c

Nuggets from the "Meeker" Report

We've been followers of the Mary Meeker Report for a number of years now. Mary used to do this report when she was at Morgan Stanley and is now at Kleiner Perkins. Think of it as a State of the Union address, but for the Web.

The report, co-authored by Kleiner digital team member Liang Wu, is an in-depth exploration of the global population online: what they’re doing, where they’re going and how they’re consuming the bits and bytes of the Web. This year’s version was released at the D10 conference in May.

It's 112 slides, but you can go through it fast, especially the interesting middle section on re-imagination.
http://kpcb.com/insights/2012-internet-trends

Some of our favorite nuggets:


Mobile use is exploding, and it can be leveraged for revenue.

Who’s online: According to Meeker’s presentation, there are 2.3 billion global Internet users in 2011 — an 8 percent year-over-year growth rate since 2008, largely driven by emerging markets. Meanwhile, there are 1.1 billion global mobile 3G subscribers. Of the top 10 countries addding users to the Web over the 2008-2011 period, China ranks first and India second — with the U.S. coming in 8th. However, the U.S. comes in second in terms of total Internet users in 2011.

Apple: In terms of mobile device sales in the Apple universe, the iPad left its “siblings in [the] dust,” according to the report, with sales growing at three times the pace of the iPhone and all but obliterating iPod sales — the device that started the iRevolution in Apple’s mp3/mobile product universe.

We're noting this also at Adva Mobile, and our soon to be released next version will deliver HTML5 mobile sites to render correctly on iPads.

Android: The report finds that global shipments of phones on the Android platform have grown four times faster than iPhone over the past 13 quarters. But mobile phones still dominate smartphones, with 6.1 billion mobile phone subscriptions in the world, relative to 953 million smartphone subscriptions.

This is why we're bigger proponents of Mobile Web than Apps - you need both, but there are 6 times as many people who can engage you if you have mobile web compared to just an App.

The tablet market grows: In the U.S. tablet ownership is on the rise, with 29 percent of U.S. adults owning a tablet — up from 2 percent less than three years ago.

Mobile, mobile, mobile...: The good news in the report? It’s all about mobile, which accounts for 10 percent of Internet traffic. (In December of 2009, mobile accounted for only one percent of Web traffic.) And with this growth comes cash, with mobile monetization “growing rapidly.”  And when it comes to getting the biggest bang for your advertising buck, the Web — particularly mobile — is where advertisers should turn. Where not to go? Print (of course).

Lot's more nuggets in the report, including the re-imagination section. And thanks to the fine article by Emi Kolawole in the Washington Post for organizing a summary of the key points.

Living the Mobile App - Mobile Web Debate

Nary a week goes by when those of us in the mobile marketing space are not confronted with the continuing Mobile Web vs Mobile App debate. Even if it's overdone, the conversation is healthy. The latest, and directly applicable to musicians, is included in a new Podcast service from called The Upward Spiral Podcast, promoted by Hypebot. You can check it out out here.

It's worth a listen to, if only to get a sense of what the issues are. They make a number of confusing points, like "Artists should make their own HTML5 mobile web sites if they's already making web sites" (are Artists really interested in making web sites?) and a statement that musicians are behind the curve compared to businesses when adopting mobile web (go to any business url on your phone and, just like musician sites, 99% it's not mobile optimized). But they make very good points about millennials experiencing the digital universe on mobile devices, the "market your brand vs. sell your fans" discussion, and promoting your mobile presence from the stage.

I recommend the Podcast. It's the first 20 minutes of their 40 minute podcast - easily digestible.

Thinking About HTML5

An Adva Mobile friend was at a conference in London a few weeks ago and he saw a demonstration of HTML5 capabilities. The demonstration showed a website on a desktop pc, and as the demonstration applied different screensizes, from iPad(tablet) to iPhone (mobile), not only did the content render correctly but the content also changed based on the screen size. The webite was running a javascript program that captured the window size of the requesting device and told the back end server what content to send.

 So, this is real cutting edge stuff. It's absolutely the future, so those of you thinking about a single HTML5 website for your desktop/tablet/mobile experiences are right on. The "requirement" to change content, however, speaks to our position here at Adva Mobile that people engaging bands on desktop and mobile are doing different things depending upon the device. You may have read earlier posts from us that label "snackable" content when referring the the fan's mobile experience. Also, it explains why companies that offer a service to "mobilize" your web site are not successful (these companies arbitrarily eliminate content from your main website), and why a single web site for a band that simply adjusts for screen size won't be effective for your audience.

 As part of our portal redesign we're also creating new mobile website templates, and these will be coded in HTML5. What's needed next are "wireframes" that show the layout - on a web page - of the different content your fans want on different devices: desktop, tablet, and mobile. Once that work was done, we'd be comfortable providing you with a complete digital experience for your fans across all devices, that maintained your brand everywhere.

 We'll get right on it.

Crowdfunding - We're on to Something Big for Artists

When Adva Mobile undertook our Crowdfunding exercise, we knew we were testing a new idea. Raising money for a project by convincing a large group of friends, family, business partners and even total strangers to contribute a small amount of money wasn't a totally new idea, however past successful efforts were oriented towards cultural, philanthropic or creative projects. Crowdfunding for a commercial project was indeed testing a new idea.

Now we have the Crowdfunding Bill, part of the Jump-Start Our Business Start-Ups, or JOBS Act, through Congress and signed by the President. For those of you who haven’t been following the JOBS Act, it is a bill that will make it easier for startups and small businesses to raise funds, especially through online Crowdfunding.

The Crowdfunding exercise we underwent using IndieGoGo (like KickStarter) differs from those contemplated by the JOBS Act bill because, under the JOBS Act, we can now reward investors with equity. I believe Equity Based Crowdfunding  will fundamentally alter, in positive ways, small businesses, including those small businesses known as "Artists".

Touring Bands and Recording Artists should watch the early efforts of Artists who attempt Equity Based Crowdfunding projects very carefully. While fans may be willing  to donate small contributions for a nationwide tour, SXSW concert, or studio session, the significant money needed for large marketing campaigns, previously only available from large labels, may now be available to a much larger pool of Artists. Crowdfunding without equity through campaigns with KickStarter and IndieGoGo are still available to the Artist, so Equity Based Crowdfunding represents an alternative when more significant capital is needed.

The "crowd" also provides benefits beyond capital to Artist businesses. For example, a touring band that raises money via Crowdfunding may now have 150 new passionate fans as shareholders, who can serve as a great sounding board for new ideas and as brand evangelists -- a critical asset in Artist promotion.

Equity Crowdfunding will go a long way towards alleviating Artists' capital access needs, and benefit investors in the process. The capital markets have finally entered the 21st Century and the future for Artists looks bright.

Design for Our Times - The Adva Mobile Portal

Many of you know we're working on an entirely new User Interface to our mobile marketing CRM Portal for Artists, to make it even easier for Artists to take advantage of everything mobile has to offer. Over the past few months, as we've been building out the system and tying it in to our existing database, we've provided a "sneak peek" at the design and some of the back end pages that will help artists manage their online mobile presence. We're ready to show you even more, as we're preparing to launch our new portal and unleash Adva Mobile to the mobile industry.

We're big fans of Prezi - it's an online presentation tool that a big step up from PowerPoint. Video is great for an overview, but if you want to stop and study the details of what you're looking at, video doesn't cut it. Prezi is great because, like PowerPoints, you can move at your own speed.

We've built a Take The Tour Prezi, it's at http://bit.ly/advatour. Have fun checking it out, and let us know if you have any questions about how to use the service to connect to fans on mobile.

Adva Mobile Artist Natalie Stovall Voted Entertainer of the Year

 We couldn't be more proud to announce that Natalie Stovall has won both Entertainer of the Year and Female Entertainer of the Year by Campus Activities Magazine®. We've seen her perform at campuses up here in Boston and the audiences love the flavor of country she brings to her performances. Campus Activities Magazine® echoed this sentiment when they wrote:
"Well, she's finally done it folks. After just a few short years in the campus market, Natalie Stovall has been named the Entertainer Of The Year by the voters of Campus Activities Magazine® in the Reader's Choice Awards. One of the most common comments about this performer is "I don't even like country, but I like this country. It almost didn't even seem like a country show." Put it this way, when she rips "The Devil Went Down To Georgia," it's in a medley with some Metallica. Her's is a show bred for wide audiences, and this year that mainstream popularity paid off with her winning the big one."

Natalie is a pioneer using mobile technology from Adva Mobile to reach and engage her fans, and hundreds connect with Natalie on their phones - she has iPhone App, Android App and Mobile Web to reach the largest audience. Download her Apps, or text GETFIDDLE to 88704 to check out Natalie on your phone and download some of her terrific music.

You can read a great article about Natalie and why she won the award at:
http://www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com/articles.php?articleID=227&button=Go

Congratulations Natalie!