Spotlight.fm Helps Artists Earn Placement on Tours, Features on Albums and Much More…

By Brian Parker

After surprising success in the music industry, the founders of competitive social media platform WomStreet are geared to launch their new, music-focused Spotlight.fm. Spotlight.fm will host competitions by musicians and labels, in which artists will submit their songs and remixes to earn spots on tours, features on albums, and gain exposure with a new base of engaged music enthusiasts. Artists will create free profiles that allow for easy submissions when new opportunities arise on the site. Using WomStreet’s “active-user” platform, fans interact with the hosts, competing artists, and other members of the Spotlight community by voting in contests and sharing their votes via social media channels.

Ahead of the October 1st launch date, SoundCtrl spoke with Spotlight.fm’s Head of Business Development, Taylor J. Winum. We spoke to Winum about the concept behind Spotlight, the user interface and technology, as well as the scope of the company’s growth moving forward.

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SoundCTRL: What types of contest opportunities will be offered on Spotlight.fm?

Taylor Winum: Spotlight.fm is actually the new comprehensive music-focused version of our previous platform, Womstreet, which gained over 70k users in just over a year. Womstreet was meant to be used for small brands and unexpectedly gained significant traction in the music sphere. Spotlight.fm will offer a multitude of competitive opportunities for artists and fans across the country, and eventually internationally. Artists will create profiles to submit original songs or remix stems of popular tracks to earn opening slots at shows and gain exposure through premier musicians and labels. Headlining artists can virally market entire tours by offering local artists the chance to open shows at each stop. The platform will also offer active fans the chance to win free passes to shows and festivals just for offering their opinions.

SC: Are the contests/competitions based on votes, and if so what is the process to vote?

TW: The way in which contests operate is up to each individual opportunity host. They will have the option to select winners using fan voting or no voting. If the host choses to utilize fan voting, they will have the option to pick winners from the top 5,10,15, or 20 most voted. These opportunities are not meant to be popularity contests–rather, voting helps promote the event, brand, or song across social media and provides a mere indication of each artist’s following. If the host choses to use voting, they will also afford a pair of free tickets to a randomly selected voter in their contest. This ensures that both artists and fans are being rewarded for their submissions and input.

SC: How does spotlight differ from a contest site like Indaba Music or SonicBids?

TW: First off, Spotlight is free to the contest host, the competing artist and the fans. We want everyone to use this and we feel charging fees only inhibits the overall growth of our network. We will make money on the backend of the platform through sponsorships, ticket sales, and content licensing. Additionally, contest hosts will be able to access premium features like detailed analytics and embeddable content widgets.

Spotlight will also become a database of emerging artists, songs (like SoundCloud), and music businesses. All of our content will be indexed and our homepage will showcase the most successful artists and tracks. All of this data is very valuable and will assist talent agencies in gaining a competitive edge by identifying trending artists.

Spotlight will also be hosting it’s own user-generated events across the country to popularize the concept of invigorating local music communities.

SC: What are the criteria for a contest or competition that can be hosted on Spotlight?

TW: The whole idea behind Spotlight is giving artists and fans in each music community a voice in their digital and live music experiences. We want to bridge the gap between talent discovery and the rate at which music is produced in a digital society. So the only criteria for hosting contests is that it needs to offer legitimate opportunities for artists and fans. These competitive opportunities are really only limited to the creativity of the host creating them.

SC: Will Spotlight contests be limited to major label artists? Is there any affiliation an artist needs to hold a remix contest for one of their own songs, for example?

TW: Spotlight is a completely self-service and user-generated platform. This means that anyone can host a contest as long as they’re trying to create positive opportunities. We want to give anyone the tools to become a promoter simply by using our platform.

SC: Are there separate access points and features for fans and artists, or will everyone use the same interface?

TW: Fans can simply login with their Facebook or create a quick Fan account with an email and password. Artists need to create a profile with general info about themselves and their music. Then when they upload their submissions to opportunities, these songs will appear on their profile and include information regarding the submissions, plays, “hearts”, and downloads.

SC: Will Spotlight integrate streaming music platforms (like SoundCloud, Spotify) or have proprietary technology for its artist profiles?

TW: Behind the scenes, Spotlight uses similar technologies as SoundCloud and Spotify but we’ve created our own design and functionality to ensure that we provide the experience we want for our users.

SC: Will Spotlight have iPhone and iPad apps?

TW: We are currently working on a comprehensive app that will maintain most of the functionality of the website. It will also include a Spotlight.fm radio that will shuffle through songs on the site by analyzing your personal taste in music. It will be a great way to discover new music from emerging talent all across the globe.

SC: Do you see Spotlight expanding into other branches of entertainment and the arts, such as film, dance, visual arts, etc.?

TW: Of course, we want to provide opportunity to everyone in the arts. As we build the technology and strengthen our relationships within the industry, we will continue to evolve.