Billboard Music & Advertising Conference…Chitown Edition

Posted on | September 2, 2010 | No Comments

The Billboard Music & Advertising Conference is back after a successful conference a few months ago in New York (you can read my pre-conference coverage here), the conference is back and hitting the belly of the advertising beast…Chicago.

New York’s Keynote was by the surprisingly witty Kid Rock. This time around Zac Brown will have a 1 on 1 with Billboard’s Bill Werde.

Panelists include: Alex White from New Big Sound (read my interview with Alex here), Chris Kaskie from Pitchfork, Dan Kuypers from Music Dealers, and recording artist Kid Sister.

Live in Chicago or wanna make the trip in, you can register here for $225 ($275 SAVINGS) when you use the promo code SOUNDC.

Category: events, music, social media, technology
Tags: advertising > alex white > billboard > chris kaskie > dan kuypers > keynote speaker > kid sister > music & advertising conference > music conference > music dealers > next big sound > pitchfork > promo code > zac brown

Thumbplay nominated for Billboard award

Posted on | September 1, 2010 | No Comments

Thumbplay, the unlimited on-demand music service, was recently nominated for “Best Music Streaming App” for the Billboard Music App Awards at Billboard’s Music App summit, which takes place on October 5 in San Francisco.

To quote Billboard, “[Thumbplay] runs on iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices, making it the most widely available mobile music service today.”

We all wish SoundCtrler Chris Phenner and the rest of the Thumbplay team good luck in the contest. To see the list of other nominees and categories, click here.

Category: major news, technology
Tags: Android > award > billboard > billboard.biz > blackberry > Chris Phenner > iphone > music app > music app summit > music streaming > on-demand > SoundCtrl > Thumbplay

3 questions with…Alandis from Go Forth Music

Posted on | August 30, 2010 | No Comments

Alandis contacted me after checking out the SoundCtrl blog. He told me a little about Go Forth Music and to clarify a few things, I had him answer a few questions because it seemed a lot like Artists House Music.

Q: What’s your pricing model?

A: Basic Membership to the site is free, which provides access to all articles/videos, forums, and the on-demand training library. We get paid when musicians purchase the services described in the previous email. Further down the line we also plan to offer a paid premium membership (geared more towards music industry entrepreneurs) that will provide access to more in-depth features like independent market research. Other revenue will come from ads./sponsorships once we get some steady traffic.

Q: Why would artists want to pay that if they can go to sites like Artists House Music and Music Think Tank for free?

A: Artists won’t have to pay for access to the site. They only pay for the services, something a lot of other sites aren’t offering. When we offer the premium membership, we will make sure that premium content is exclusive to our site (i.e. access to independent market research and data).

Q: How do you plan on promoting the site and its services?

A: We’re purchasing ads on a prominent music business site to run for the next few months.

Our first compilation is already accepting submissions through Sonicbids, and I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the site through those submissions.
Our freelance service providers will do some promotion via their social networks.
We’re providing free memberships to music business students and working on partnerships with colleges/ student music business organizations (coming up with activities to involve students like the project described in the previous email).
Above all, we’re developing high-quality, practical content with the hope that our visitors will gain our trust to provide them with services with the time comes.

Go Forth Music will be launching in Beta on September 20 with Basic memberships, but for the meantime, check out their blog for more details.