Bandwith.Us Blogs

"Headcount: So in a sense you’ve been working on the metrics of fandom. @smartocci: Yes. Dan and I..."

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:00:44 -0500

“Headcount: So in a sense you’ve been working on the metrics of fandom.
@smartocci: Yes. Dan and I used to jokingly call this “the John Corbett Effect.” John lives in Scranton and was largely responsible for the dense population of Biscuits fans in the area because he used to get them all to come to their shows. So identifying and rewarding fans like him could really help grow your band.”

- Steve Martocci On Rewarding Fans, Activists

Great stuff from our own @smartocci. If you’re a fan of innovative product pairings also head on down to Planet Anthem to check out the Disco Biscuits unique product mix, another Bandwith project.

Labels may be losing money, but artists are making more than...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:35:44 -0500

Labels may be losing money, but artists are making more than ever

Music is leading the way for all media to rethink monetization. At the core is the live experience. The question is can the value of the live show be improved in ways more granular than simply a Ticketmaster drop?

Farewell to the casual music fan

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:26:58 -0500

Farewell to the casual music fan:

yvynyl:

tomewing:

A long - but worth it - piece taking quizzical aim at Kevin Kelly’s “1000 True Fans” idea, looking not at the individual economics of it so much as the cultural impact of a world where “casual fandom” is a thing of the past.

(I don’t actually buy all these arguments - mainly because I don’t think casual fandom itself is threatened, just casual fandom as expressed through purchase. But they’re all worth examination.

Bandwith believes that casual fandom is a gateway through which bands, leveraging data, can efficiently move fans from causal to passionate. The key in our estimation is to reveal the spectrum of fandom to bands and provide tools for reaching out across that spectrum.

yvynyl: FromtheBasement.tv: Nigel Godrich re-launches the site...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:39:31 -0500

yvynyl:

FromtheBasement.tv: Nigel Godrich re-launches the site with more dope clips from amazing bands.

(via culturite)

Here’s an incredible example of a promoting music through passion. As the founders of this site state on the homepage, From The Basement is about giving bands just what they need in terms of enviroment to perform at their peak. From The Basement is an archive of the performances that result from creating this environment and the performances are stunning.

I’m not sure how they monetize this but the contribution of their exquisite staging, HD video delivery and musical mix, makes this a must stop site and an important component of the future of music delivery. Enjoy these musicians.

Florence & the Machine This is a great band with an exciting...

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:19:44 -0400

Florence & the Machine

This is a great band with an exciting sound and apparently an amazing live show. What’s most interesting to me though is that David Letterman holds up an LP not a CD as the promotional piece.

This is evidence again of how the industry is tackling the ubiquitious and unlimited supply of digital music goods. Florence and The Machine blew up online and are using that digital introduction to offer an analog good.

The question is now how do you expand those analog good sales by distributing them in a way that respects the digital contributions of your fans. We’ve got some ideas at Bandwith and we’ll be showcasing those soon. Until then enjoy this incredible age of musical creativity that we are living in.

Have you heard of Washed Out? He’s just a dude from...

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:05:19 -0400

Have you heard of Washed Out? He’s just a dude from Georgia who started making awesome music from his bedroom and people loved it. He recently played Santos Party House in NYC and then got married. This video is not his music video, it is just some dudes who make beautiful films using his music. The result is stunning and arguably better than some purpose built music video.

This is the new era of music production and fandom and at Bandwith, we’re lovin it.

"You need music, I dont know why. It’s probably one of those Joseph Campbell questions, why we need..."

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:19:28 -0400

“You need music, I dont know why. It’s probably one of those Joseph Campbell questions, why we need ritual. We need magic and bliss, and power and myth, and celebration and religion in our lives and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it.”

- Jerry Garcia (via - who else? - newspeedwayboogie) (via yvynyl)

This brilliant example of remix culture is why we need to come...

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:01:25 -0400

This brilliant example of remix culture is why we need to come up with ways to make sense of fandom in a world where creative production is just a starting point. Enjoy the video and please think about how remix culture fits into the evolution of fandom.

The Lawyer, The Businessman, The Economist, The Bureaucrat and...

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:31:13 -0400

The Lawyer, The Businessman, The Economist, The Bureaucrat and the Musician

Bruce Warila has an excellent thought on how free culture helps to offset upfront risk, while maintaining upside payout.

At Bandwith one of our theses was that data good be used to convert interest to revenue earlier in the adoption curve. The specific example of this is Bon Iver.

I was introduced to Bon Iver by a great friend and soon after the band entered heavy rotation on my iTunes. Despite the band’s beautiful musicality I continued to pick up the music via music blogs. At the same time, I plugged Bon Iver into my concert finder and waited for the band to play in NYC.

The question we asked ourselves was, knowing this interest in Bon Iver, could the band have connected with me earlier in the adoption process and got me buying albums ahead of the concert. Cementing my fandom and increasing my commitment to their success.

It’s one of the use cases we’re pursuing to help bands increase their connection to fans and for fans to help a band succeed.

When EMI Dies, What Else Dies With It?

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:55:00 -0400

In the next few weeks the “music industry” is going to have to face down its mortality. By “industry” I refer to 20th Century labels and the universe surrounding them. That moment, as described by others more informed and eloquent than I, is when EMI must pay off ~$4.7 billion in loans, which it cannot service. No one knows what will happen, but what’s clear is EMI will more than likely cease to exist as an independent entity. Those companies that look at EMI will dig into the cash flow generated by it’s IP portfolio. These potential acquirers will have their analysts, internal and external, generate excel models that show a case for increasing this revenue line. Unfortunately, no labels seem able to afford EMI’s debt slug, so perhaps another PE firm will try its operational hand at squeezing revenue from EMI’s library. Most likely, people will just wait for the bankruptcy and then pick off choice assets in liquidation.

Whatever the case, as a musician without a catalogue, you’re not top of mind for EMI or any other label for that matter. You are a casualty of risk management in a time when the cost structures of labels do not allow risk taking. Labels have always been terrible risk managers, but previously they had monopolized (I use this loosely, call it oligopolized or whatever you want, but basically normal supply and demand pricing was not happening) distribution channels and made huge margins within these channels. This profit center allowed them to neglect the hard parts of success like risk management, a trend over the past 25 years. Now risk management is the name of the game and because the labels cannot afford artist experimentation and potential failure, the task of monetizing your career now falls squarely in the artists camp.

Paired with this new risk taking behavior are commensurate reward. Take for example the success of Metric. Using TopSpin to power their platform they made more money then they ever did on a label. Was it harder, absolutely, but remember in this time of transition between industrial to network economies, supreme effort is the only pathway to growth and success. Simple debt fueled growth doesn’t exist in the mid-term.

At Bandwith we’re in the business, or will be in the months ahead, of maximizing the value of the relationships between artist and fan. Now that you’re in charge of sales, you’re inundated with data which is supposed to help you sell more. However without some engine for making sense of this data, it is simply a pile of disconnected and intimidating information. Bandwith is building the engine for taking the multiple click streams, twits, listen and ticket sales into a single view for quantifying and qualifying your fanbase.

Whatever you do, artists, the future is yours and there are talented technologists, music lovers, entrepreneurs and companies that can help you make money doing what you love. The days of $400k A&R expense accounts may be over, but as EMI and their brethren fade, the good times will continue to roll for the artists that own their business.

Anoop, Steve and I were out last night talking about a Bandwith...

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:46:58 -0400

Anoop, Steve and I were out last night talking about a Bandwith product pathway and enjoying a beer at Black Door. We’ve got a firm idea of where we’re headed and what needs to be done in short order to get there. We’re looking forward to taking the wraps off the tool that folks have been clamoring for, so stay tuned. Also stay tuned to our post on the meaning of EMI’s looming bankruptcy to the music industry.

While at the Black Door, Passion Pit’s “Little Secrets” came on…it’s a nasty song. This is a great version performed live at Bonnaroo (where our partner Chewy created the most amazing VIP experience ever conceived for a live event).

Here at Bandwith we’re always interested in the unique...

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:28:00 -0400

Here at Bandwith we’re always interested in the unique ways that musicians take their art from an audience of 1 to an audience of 1,000s. Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová of Swell Season have a particularly unique story. Glen and Markéta were the stars of indie film sensation Once and are the winners of an academy award for the music from that movie.

While I think the idea of an artist focusing on a film release as a distribution strategy is crazy, I don’t think it’s crazy for an artist to use the narrative of video to tell their story and gain an audience. This goes beyond a music video. This is about a band telling a story of their founding and their production; engaging their fans in the input as much as they engage in the output.

If you’re doing this come and talk to us about how Bandwith can help you harness the data of your followers, watchers and distributers. With this data you can reward your fans for taking you to the next level.

Enjoy the weekend and this duo’s beautiful music.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post I finally had a chance...

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:20:50 -0400

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post I finally had a chance to go and see Rural Alberta Advantage and they were terrific. Their sound seemed to really fill the Bowery Ballroom and I walked away impressed. I also learned thanks to Nils that they had played NYC 8 times over the past year.

This is a rather stunning stat, but it points to the marketing intelligence of this band. Focusing on energizing a core fanbase and using that core as a launching pad. At Bandwith our goal is to help RAA and anyother band quickly identify their core, energize that core and then maximize the value of every fan relationship as the circle of fandom grows.

Speaking of energizing a core, I came away from this show totally impressed with the energy and sound of Kittens Ablaze. This was a happy coincidence and I hope that in the months to come Kittens Ablaze can take the momentum from this show and energize their own core fan base. Here’s a track that I particularly liked entitled, “Gloom Doom Buttercups.”

We’re fans. We’re fans of art. That art can take the...

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:53:14 -0400

We’re fans. We’re fans of art. That art can take the form of music or it can take the form of photography and pasting. JR’s latest exhibition “Women are Heroes” is a particularly stunning example of the latter.

At Bandwith we want to figure out not only how to connect fans to musicians, but fans to artists like JR so that as fans we can support more of this beautiful work.

This is Mumford & Sons “Little Lion Man”,...

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:42:31 -0400

This is Mumford & Sons “Little Lion Man”, it’s a great song and if you’re in NYC 10/22 you can check them out at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. However, what I want to talk about is their No.1 most popular song on Hype Machine today. How did this happen? and what will the impact be?

Let’s start with me. I happened across these dudes in late September on the advice of Tsururadio, who blogged about them based on the fact that they came up in his random shuffle. This random happenstance makes sense as the album started leaking way back in 2008, but at the time nothing caught. That’s all changed and with 1191 loved votes you can expect this song to continue to sit near the top. Not for nothing, I blogged about these guys on my personal blog about a week ago.

My guess is that this concert will sell out by the end of the week. Now what I want to get into is how does Mumford & Sons value the fans that are making this happen. Bandwith is working on that problem, and we probably ought to look closer at Hypem data. In the meantime here’s another great track by this band.

Looking forward to seeing Rural Alberta Advantage tomorrow night...

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:00:42 -0400

Looking forward to seeing Rural Alberta Advantage tomorrow night at Bowery. My schedule and apathy prevented me from seeing their earlier shows in NYC. Not this time.

Waking up this morning to the our weatherman telling me it was 39 in Newburgh, reminded me that summertime is over. This song is a bit of escapism. That said Fall in NYC is the best time to be here and a great time to see live music.

Found this on the We Are Listening Blog and really liked it....

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:55:09 -0400

Found this on the We Are Listening Blog and really liked it. April’s pitch is probably pretty familiar to you if you’ve been keeping your eye on the work that Jill Sobule has done innovating around funding her records. What I like is that April has been able to take advantage of a platform explicity built around Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 true fans theory. That platform is Kickstarter.

At Bandwith we’re always looking for new data sources that indicate fandom and there is a pretty rich data stream that would run out of Kickstarter. We’ll be keeping tabs on April and as we mature our own product on Kickstarter.

The Drums - “Let’s Go Surfing” Music Video...

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:56:52 -0400

The Drums - “Let’s Go Surfing” Music Video (via grammapolice)

Just heard these dudes on HypeMachine Radio’s latest installment. They’re on my list when they get back to NYC. Great stuff.

While the blogosphere is abuzz about David Letterman’s...

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:18:03 -0400

While the blogosphere is abuzz about David Letterman’s remarkable extortion dialogue last night (it is a statement of our age of transparency), we were taken by this incredible video of the great Jimmy Hendrix. Thanks to Andy at New Speedway Boogie for unearthing this gem.

newspeedwayboogie:

Jimi Hendrix - Machine Gun

Ben Chasny of Six Organs/Comets on Fire calls this the greatest guitar solo ever. This dude says “Jimi Hendrix’s tone during the song “Machine Gun,” recorded live at the Fillmore East in New York in 1970, is one of the shining moments in the history of the electric guitar”

This is an awesome video from Miike Snow who has been all over...

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:15:58 -0400

This is an awesome video from Miike Snow who has been all over Hype Machine of late and for good reason. The music rules. The first taste we had of Miike came out of a RCRDLBL exclusive remix of Vampire Weekend. Looking forward to seeing Miike in NYC. Enjoy the video and song.