Music Distribution on the Web: Create Buzz, Sell CDs!
Introduction to Online Music Distribution
MP3.com
Review
Review
by David Nevue, The
Music Biz Academy
Author
of How
to Promote Your Music on the
Internet.
For
many years, MP3.com
was my #1 choice for online
music distribution. However,
CD Baby's
digital distribution efforts
truly leaped them past MP3.com
which is, in my view, starting
to get a bit stale. Also, it
was announced in July of 2003
that Vivendi
Universal, who owns MP3.com,
has put the site up for sale.
So the future of MP3.com as
a service remains highly speculative.
Even
so, for independent musicians
seeking pure exposure for
their music, MP3.com is still
the place to be. Perform a search
at Google
for “music” and MP3.com is the
#2 site listed. Search for “mp3”
and it's the #1 site listed.
Add to this that MP3.com boasts
over 4.3 million unique visitors
a month (as of July 2003),
and you will be hard pressed
to find a better place to put
your music directly in the path
of cyber-traffic.
The History of MP3.com
In
its early days, MP3.com was
the king of online independent
music communities. The site
was completely devoted to unsigned
artists and bands. However,
in May of 2001, MP3.com was
acquired by Vivendi Universal
and things began to change.
MP3.com became an interesting,
but not altogether successful,
marriage between independent
musicians struggling to protect
their online turf and the corporate
music industry.
Even
after the acquisition, however,
MP3.com offered one of the best
opportunities for independent
musicians promoting their music
online. So much so that in previous
editions of my book
I dedicated an entire chapter
to showing artists how to create
enormous exposure for their
music on MP3.com for virtually
no cost. This was done through
MP3.com's pay-for-play (P4P)
program, which paid artists
a ‘royalty' for song listens
and downloads. Many musicians,
including myself, benefited
while participating in this
program. I was able to generate
thousands of dollars from my
music on MP3.com in just under
two years.
Unfortunately,
the P4P program wasn't as good
for MP3.com as it was for independent
artists. On January 15th, 2003,
MP3.com terminated the royalties
program due to “accounting,
engineering, research and fulfillment”
difficulties. In other words,
the program was losing money.
Today, just over two years after
the initial acquisition by Vivendi,
financial troubles have put
MP3.com on the brink of closure.
You
Can't Argue With the Numbers
Despite
all these negative trends, I
still make MP3.com my #2 choice
for online music promotion.
Why? Traffic, pure and simple.
A constant flow of traffic runs
through MP3.com like a steady
pulse, a continuous surge of
visitors looking for, and listening
to, new music. Best of all,
using the promotional tools
MP3.com offers, you can easily
get your music on the same playlists
(explained below) as major label
artists. Think of it this way:
what if you could stock your
CDs in one of the world's largest
record stores, but rather than
having your music regulated
to a bin in the back of the
store, it was strategically
placed on the shelf right next
to popular artists from your
same genre? With a click of
a button, any passer-by sampling
music from the popular artists
they love could automatically
sample your music as well. Sound
good? That's exactly the kind
of exposure MP3.com offers independent
artists. That, combined with
the high volume of traffic MP3.com
still enjoys, makes it #2 on
my list.
So,
how do you get your music on
the same playlists as popular
artists? Well, first you have
to sign up, upload your songs
and design your mini-store.
Once that is complete, you can
promote your music on MP3.com
by accumulating song plays (generated
by fans and visitors), creating
and selling digital CDs, and
making use of MP3.com's promo
auctions (more details on auctions
below). Using these means you
can, by increasing your total
number of song plays, compete
on the same charts (which also
serve as general playlists)
as major label artists. Doing
this very thing, I have garnered
over 1.5
million plays of my songs,
ranked as high as #11 on all
of MP3.com, and had the #1 Classical
and Easy Listening songs on
more than one occasion. MP3.com,
you see, is all about getting
visibility for your music. The
site has a vast network of users,
including music industry insiders
and people looking for music
to include in their projects.
My time on MP3.com has led directly
to some great opportunities,
including a CD distribution
deal overseas, getting my music
onto independent film and video
projects as well as CD sampler
projects. Most importantly,
I have used MP3.com to direct
thousands of visitors to my
official web site, many of whom
have purchased CDs and subscribed
to my e-mail list.
About
MP3.com Promo Auctions...
One
of the interesting features
MP3.com offers independent artists
are the promo
auctions. Essentially, as
a participating artist, you
can bid against other artists
for the right to have your music
displayed in a variety of hot
spots throughout the web site.
Winners may be featured in one
of the many MP3.com newsletters,
get a highlighted spot on page
one of their genre chart listing,
or even get placement on the
MP3.com search results page.
The MP3.com promo auctions are
a tool, that when used correctly,
can help you create a ‘brand'
for yourself on MP3.com. I have
used them regularly, as has
most everyone that has any sustained
level of success on MP3.com.
The
problem with the promo auctions,
however, is that bidding on
them can, at times, cost you
a whole lot of money. You have
to be very careful about how
(and against whom) you bid.
You also need to be wise about
which auctions you actually
take part in. The most effective
promo auction available, as
far as I have been able to determine,
is the Genre Page Position
auction. In this auction,
you bid against other artists
for one of three positions on
the genre chart playlists. This
would be the equivalent to having
the #4, #8, or #12 song on the
charts for your chosen genre.
To put it simply, you are bidding
for chart position. If your
bid is one of the top three
bids, your song gets placed
in one of the three positions
for a one week period. When
visitors to MP3.com listen to
the playlists, they automatically
hear your songs. The highest
bid gets the top position on
the playlist, the second-highest,
the middle position, and the
third-highest is the low man
(or woman) on the totem pole.
That's the point where bidding
in this auction gets risky.
In order to win the top position
in your genre, you may have
to bid a good chunk of cash
(actual bid levels vary from
week to week). If you manage
to win the top position, you'll
benefit by seeing a significant
spike in your song play stats,
and your song will zoom up the
charts rather quickly giving
you a great deal of exposure
to MP3.com's visitors. However,
if you bid high for the top
position, but lose, you could
end up in positions two or three
(equivalent to the #8 or #12
song on the charts), which generate
significantly less traffic.
Your song will still go up the
charts, but more slowly, and
you won't see near the effect
on your stats.
In
summary, the Genre Page Promotion
auction is excellent if you
can win the top position, but
if you don't, you may end up
paying too much for the lesser
spots. It's a little like playing
Russian Roulette. You definitely
take your chances.
The
remaining MP3.com auctions are
a mixed bag. As of this writing,
these include the MP3.com
Messenger Promotion, the
RollingStone.com Promotion,
the Station Pages Promotions,
the Payola Promotions,
the Search Results Promotion
and the Page Topper Promotion.
In my experience, all of these
promotions are highly questionable
and in some cases a flat-out
waste of money. If you decide
to experiment with any of these,
be wary.
Of
course, my opinions regarding
the MP3.com promo auctions are
based my own, personal experience
when promoting my
own music. Your song title,
song quality, genre, luck of
the draw and many other factors
may impact your results, even
from one week to the next. You
may have more, or less, success
than I have. Take the time to
do your own research into what
promotion options will work
best for you and your music!
Watch and observe other bidders
for several weeks before you
begin to participate yourself.
The
Lingering Question
The
lingering question you may have
is, why bother to spend money
on the promo auctions just to
increase your chart position?
Won't you lose money doing that?
Yes, you might. Much depends
on the quality of your music,
the instant appeal of your image
to visitors and whether or not
enough visitors will buy your
retail CDs to help you break
even. I know from exchanging
e-mails with my own visitors
that many of my buyers first
heard my music on MP3.com.
All
in all, you'll need to spend
money on MP3.com to establish
a presence there. I remind you
again that participating on
MP3.com is about exposure.
In terms of creating opportunities
for yourself, making contacts,
and gathering e-mail addresses
of new fans at a very visible
web site, MP3.com is one of
the best.
More tips
on promoting via MP3.com can
be found in How
to Promote Your Music on the
Internet by David Nevue.
Sign
up for MP3.com |
More
Reviews
|
