By Keith Nelson, Jr.
Ever since social media connected every human with one another, word of mouth’s promotional value has increased exponentially with Facebook statuses acting as digital billboards. How do you revolutionize a constantly changing medium? Reward fans for being fans. Former Goldman Sachs employees took that idea and manifested it into a social reward service called Jamplify where artists can reward fans for constantly promoting the artist. Given their own custom URL, fans can share the artists’ music, music video, etc to Facebook, blogs, and a variety of other online platforms which can help them garner prizes set by the artist for the fan with the most referrers.
The service, which started in August of 2012, is not some unknown powerhouse. In March of this year, the startup raised $600,000 from an array of investors.
Jamplify co-founder Moses Soyoola spoke with SoundCtrl about the rise of Jamplify, its future, “Jampaigns,” and more.
SoundCtrl: How did the idea for Jamplify form?
Moses Soyoola: Our CEO Andy woke up one morning to a music video in his inbox that had hit 300,000 views just from word of mouth. It sparked the idea that fans can be a powerful marketing asset and that artists need better tools to drive word-of-mouth.
SC: What has the past year meant for the Jamplify brand?
MS: We launched Jamplify in August and have had a really exciting year, winning best startup in marketing and social engagement at Midem and best startup at Canadian Music Week. In the last nine months, we’ve worked with big players in the major and indie label communities and with names like 50 Cent and Bruno Mars. The last year has been amazing, but it’s just the beginning.
SC: Jamplify turns an artists’ fanbase into a digital ad agency with allowing them to promote their own unique link. Why this method?
MS: Fans are powerful and effective marketers. By giving each fan their own unique referral link, the fan can spread the word wherever they have social reach, whether Facebook, Twitter, or obscure community forums where they might be active. The average fan drives 50 referrals withJamplify, and that’s a testament to their creativity and tenacity in sharing their link around.
SC: What has been the most common “ScratchBack” offered by artists? What has been the strangest or most inventive?
MS: Most common: free tickets to shows. Most inventive: a day in the office with 50 Cent at G-Unit records to do a 12-photo shoot and make a 50 Cent calendar.
SC: Since Jamplify rewards users for referring links do you think this could cause the artist to have momentary fans instead of long lasting fans that are more engaged?
MS: Because the rewards are always things related to the artist rather than something like cash or an iPad, the fans that promote are the ones that really care about the artist. A person isn’t going to try to win tickets to a show if he/she doesn’t actually like that artist. In a lot of ways,Jamplify helps artists develop stronger relationships with their most influential fans. We’re building in a host of new features which will enable artists to reengage their promoters around all of their content releases and deepen those relationships over time.
SC: What will the new $600,000 in investment money rouded up last month go towards?
MS: The $600,000 investment will be focused mostly on product development. We’re building Jamplify into an ongoing digital street team platform that will provide long-lasting promotional value for the artists we work with.
SC: Jamplify connects to YouTube but are there plans of expanding the connection to other streaming platforms such as Spotify and SoundCloud?
MS: We’ve already run jampaigns for embeds from SoundCloud, and we’re set up to do jampaigns for Spotify or any streaming platform. Jamplify can be used to promote anything with a URL – so Spotify playlists, Rdio playlists, etc are all fair game.
SC: What are the people at Jamplify actively working on improving about the service?
MS: We’re really excited about the data that we can show artists on their top influencers. These are fans that can reach thousands of people with a tweet. Our goal is to help artists identify and foster a stronger relationship with these valuable fans. We’re building in all sorts of functionality to make this happen.
SC: What are the plans for 2013?
MS: 2013 is about helping artists get more than ever from word-of-mouth. We have a great group of artists that we’re working with today, and we’re excited for the Jamplify community to grow as more artists sign up.
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