Ringing in 2010: Two music platforms put fans at the helm of live music
Everyone agrees the most valuable commodity for touring artists success is a loyal fan base. There is consensus on both sides of the aisle about fan loyalty when literally every other topic is up for debate. The profile of the fan - young or old, audiophile elite, or MP3 junkie - matters less than full-frontal engagement and live performance. Two cyber-savvy companies have launched Internet music platforms that engage fans at the tip of the decision-making pyramid, inverting the antiquated top-to-bottom marketing model into a rigorous grassroots movement handing the reins over to ticket-buying public.
Http://LiveMusicMachine.com and http://Scout66.com are online communities set up to engage music fans in some of the most critical decisions made in touring artists’ careers.
LiveMusicMachine.com, founded and developed by David Sherbow and Cara Peckens, creates a new wave of live music connections enabling fans to book their favorite artists with the ease of a few clicks on their computer. Fans can book an artist in one of four ways using LiveMusicMachine:
LiveMusicMachine’s portable web tool (widget) allows fans to book an artist from anywhere on the Internet including: MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. The site guides fans through the booking process providing interactive checklists, sample contracts, secure payment solutions, an e-vite system, and a party page. The fee-based model charges a $10 fee to both the artist and to the fan who books them.
Scout66.com focuses on a narrower slice of the branding process inviting the ticket buying public to write reviews of concerts they pay to see. Scout’s founder, Janet Hansen says, “Who better to write reviews supporting live performance than the ticket-buying public in the absence of mainstream media?” Musicians depend on reviews to further their touring careers.
The popular ArtistData application is built into Scout propagating tour dates and information to the web’s most popular music sites. Artists and venues alike are invited to put up pages to highlight great live music. As content deepens an at-a-glance calendar develops by state. Artists may choose Scout to document merchandise sales as an independent outlet if they cannot report through Soundscan.
The fan-to-band relationship is centered on a participation model over and above the spectator model. Folk legend Pete Seeger said, “Participation will save the human race.” Seeger’s activism in the folk movement led the largest sector of the U. S. population, the Baby Boomers, to engender a national music explosion. 78 million Baby Boomers live in the U.S. with over $3 trillion dollars of discretionary income. This demographic has always loved music and continues to embrace all genres whether the music is performed by established professionals or emerging artists.
LiveMusicMachione’s, Sherbow, has an extensive 35-year music business background, including artist manager, booking agency owner, independent label operator and record promotion executive whose companies have broken over 100 No.1 records nationally. His biography is available at http://musicbizguy.com/about. Peckens is LMM’s project manager of development and design and has studied Digital Media at the University of Denver Masters Program. Contact LiveMusicMachine.com via davidsherbow@livemusicmachine.com, http://twitter.com/musicbizguy or cpeckens@livemusicmachine.com , http://twitter.com/cpeckens or by calling 410-504-6544.
Hansen began her career in 1984 and has three Grammy award-winning campaigns to her credit. She has also contributed to the legacy of two of history’s most popular songs. “Classical Gas” by Mason Williams is cited by BMI as the most-broadcast instrumental tune in history. The Fabulous Wailers arrangement of “Louie Louie” is the most-recorded rock song in history which surpassed Paul McCartney’s “Yesterday” in the mid-2000s.