Don't Know What You've Got 'Til It's Gone

Before I delve into this article, a little disclosure.  I am a paid consultant and music editor for the online radio & marketing company, Earbits.com.  However, I write this not as someone on the payroll, not even as an industry insider – the voice of this piece is that of a struggling DIY artist and band leader of Sweetwater & The Satisfaction.

Earbits is simple; it’s about music lovers looking for new artists and artists looking for music loving new listeners.   The most effective way for artists to reap the benefits of Earbits, is by investing in Priority Airtime – this allows an artist to get bumped to the top of rotation, pay for a guaranteed number of spins (listened for no less than 30 seconds) and get weekly reports on their music’s performance.  Music editors that work for Earbits have had the luxury of receiving significant priority spins for whichever of their original projects they see fit: although we do not pay for our Priority Airtime, we receive the exact same service as any other artist paying for their campaign, and its success still relies heavily on how the music is received.

My campaign with Earbits ran for just under a year, starting at the beginning of July 2012 and ending at the beginning of June 2013.   In that time, Sweetwater and The Satisfaction gained the following benefits from Earbits.

# of spins lasting over 30 seconds – 95,776

# of Facebook likes  - 937 (over half of our entire facebook fan base)

# of slideout ads clicked – 2,489

# of mailing list signups – 1,725

Despite the impressive numbers above, I must admit that I took them for granted.  Every day I saw my facebook numbers grow and sales tick away on itunes & bandcamp.  Even though I get the weekly updates from Earbits, which account for most of the previously stated growing numbers, I arrogantly believed that my semi-witty posts and tweets, combined with cleverly timed releases of snippets of music were the catalyst for our rapid growth…then Earbits paused my campaign (explanation forthcoming).  Facebook numbers went from climbing 10/day to 10/week; bandcamp sales went from 1 download/day to 1/week! 

Since having our airtime paused, I realized that the source of our growth and success online was this service designed to provide exactly that.  The model works; nearly 100k spins later, I’ve got a working and active fanbase, interested in what I have to say and what my band has to play.  I won’t directly compare this with other efforts except to say that the online traction we’ve received with Earbits is worth a lot more to us than some sixteenth of a penny we might receive elsewhere for airplay.

In my band’s year plus existence we have had great write-ups on blogs like popmatters.com as well as song placements on popular TV shows like “Sons of Anarchy”, “Franklin & Bash” & “The Real L Word”.  While each of these individually provided spikes in traffic and sales that last anywhere from a day to a month, no one event can account for a fraction of what Earbits has contributed. 

So, why cancel such a successful and inexpensive (free for me) marketing service?!  That was out of my hands.  I take great pride in saying that Sweetwater & The Satisfaction received so much love, airtime and feedback from our priority placement on Earbits that we actually began to take airtime away from other users with paying campaigns. Earbits, who already takes extraordinary measures to make sure their listeners have a great experience and that their clients benefit in the way they are promised, paused our priority spins in order to give more airtime to their other paying artists.  I mean, I guess I understand, but Earbits, I miss you.  I love you.  It was my fault.  I can change. 

Scott Feldman is an independent musician and producer living in Los Angeles

To submit your music to Earbits: www.earbits.com/submissions/earbits

To Find New Music on Earbits: www.earbits.com

To Listen to Sweetwater & The Satisfaction: www.sweetwaterandthesatisfaction.com