The music has not lost its intrinsic character of the drums since prehistoric time, but recording media becomes more tangible. MP3 CD replaced the record stores are disappearing and it is different websites and search engines can be found at the place of the guy at the record store, they say, be used where, for the record you are looking for and also said that is hot or not. Although it is not the case as soon as iTunes, Napster and Amazoncertainly sell more music than physical memory, and have a great advantage over "real" stores: there is a need for more stock, the stock remains on a server and can be repeated indefinitely.
These developments are the main players in the music industry and their role in the marketing of an album. Until now, once the record was mixed and mastered, the artist hung a label from the financial support of a large number of duplicate copies and postagetheir dealers. Both activities are to disappear on the road thanks to online music sales and service providers as Zimbalam.
Zimbalam.com is the "mass market" version of Believe Digital, a label with their own roster and that a special service to help traditional labels to put on-line catalog. Zimbalam The basic idea is very simple: put your songs in 20 online stores in 240 countries with a fixed interest rate of a non-exclusive licenseDistribution agreement. After your demo to Napster, Amazon and iTunes is now available at a price of € 19.99 (two lanes) or EUR 29.99 possible (three or more titles).
to offer one of the best surprises of Zimbalam is that 90% of the proceeds from the sale price, the real money in the bank means for each sale generated to obtain. If you sell two songs at £ 1.49 each quarter to the end that you are working around £ 2.20 for sale. You can also request the return of moreincreasing percentage of the sale price to the securities of a singer by the PRS, then sales. Excellent royalties, absurdly low prices and a non-exclusive agreement? Sounds too good to be true. So we Believe Digital offices in Paris (France) went to find out more about Zimbalam and test their services. We met Denis Ladegaillerie a qualified lawyer for Universal Music Germany, eMusic, MP3.com, Rollingstone.com worked, and is co-founder and CEO of Digital Believe.
HeIt was very simple when asked about the reasons for the creation Zimbalam:
The music industry is like a pyramid: You have a lot of artists, their careers are on the ground and a few top-selling artist at the top. The pyramid reflects a decrease in the number of artists as a stage of development for recognition next to your name and services necessary to continue to the next level. When we started Believe Digital, our digital distribution servicewas not really at the bottom of the pyramid (ed. Believe Digital helped record companies sell their catalogs available), and we have developed in two directions: on the one hand, we were doing at the top of the pyramid of the same things the traditional record label (advertising , web, radio and TV marketing) and, secondly, we have established with Zimbalam. Last year for example we were given to about 50,000 and we believe Demos signed 200 deals. Out of 200Artists we have signed some of them will do it and some do not. But it's the same with the 49 800 artists, not signed, we can not know if it succeeds, some other reasons. For example, one of them for a big company like Publicis Communication and successful, a melody for a Mercedes-year license or any one else could know the editor of a major television group and get one of their songs are on hand a new TV show. So an artist, it can be neglecteda success for these reasons.
So we decided to mix in Zimbalam ... Even more, the quality of the demo you get 49 800, which is not always the best. Also, I know, Apple refuses to certain applications for the App Store. So my guess is that they were too demanding when it comes to the iTunes music catalog, right?
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that they accept everything when it comes to music. iTunes has received calls from many artists, in the hope of aDistribution agreement for three years and have had some logistical problems, so they forwarded it to us. When we told them they had already signed 200 deals in the 50,000 events, they gave us hell, and even threatened to stop working with us because they wanted everything.
They will be the largest?
You want to have the largest catalog. You have to work on two levels: Take for example a 15 year old girl whose parents have paid for a recording session in a studio for theirBirthday. Telling it could sell to their friends and relatives about it 15 or 20 downloads, but in reality, a benefit, because the logistics costs are so low. Although it is not enough sold to make a profit, they will contribute to the training of people to pay their friends to enter the music instead of downloading illegally.
The content that could be considered "undesirable" is not a problem because not all songs are visible. On the home page of iTunesThere is an editorial choice. Behind you 300 thousand or a million artist dubious quality and will not be any bugs.
The best way to make it through all the marketing strategies is, with good communication e. What does Zimbalam about it?
With Zimbalam, we wanted a clear provision of separate services: we take care of the technical part, but we do not do marketing or communication in general. You get a myspace-compatible player (Editor'sNote: Facebook for short) that are embedded in all the HTML applet, because we know that is one of the most effective tools to bring your efforts on sales, but that's it! However, we have plans to offer a type of micro site single artist, but we are still under development now.
No wonder ... Internet
From what we have seen, digital marketing is very similar to the rule of marketing: an artist who has for the promotionRadio and highlighted on the Daily Motion, YouTube and iTunes home page. And you have the same bottlenecks in the digital world as in the real world can so many artists on iTunes, Yahoo or MySpace page. The choice is not responsible for the promotion of an album, but a certain standard of quality ... At the end is the same story again.
E 'possible to believe Zimbalam to go?
We follow the download statistics - weevery day from iTunes - very closely, so that we happen to discover an artist, as soon as something starts around him. If this happens, you can contact him and to propose a marketing campaign with Believe.
So, if I make a record of 10,000 euro, it makes sense to spend £ 5000 for the production and use the other half of my budget to buy my songs to attract attention?
This is something I fight against it. We have seen that the operations inItaly. But that's totally useless because iTunes has all the information about the buyer (credit card number, login, etc.) The funny part about it is that the people who do that usually buy songs in round amounts...
And what about non-exclusivity? That's something not very common in the record industry, is it?
Yes, but if you already paid Zimbalam to put your song on iTunes it doesn't make any sense to try to upload it again to the same store through one of our Competitors.
Do not have a presence in the services sector as Deezer. Is that intentional?
Yes, right now, each time bringing a song streaming on Deezer between 1 / 10 and 1 / 15 of a dollar a composer. It did not seem financially attractive to the artist, in our opinion. Deezer especially tends to cut out the MP3 market.
Look for the copyright to check, for example, if the songs will be recorded in a survey publishedSociety?
We are not sure if our customers are members of collecting societies, because at the moment to pay our European distribution services company, with no distinction between members and non members. So whenever a piece of EUR 0.99, will purchase the relevant collecting society gets seven cents mechanical royalty, regardless of whether the composer is a member or not. If we ask all online stores, the appropriate amount to usNon-members to give directly to artists who may not belong to a collecting society, would not be able to do so.
You are saying that the collecting societies get money that does not belong to them?
Yes, but they know that money is, so if the member artist, have two years to ask for his royalties. We advise all our British artist with collecting societies, where possible, because the benefits are not limited to additional recordcompany benefit, companies such as PRS member discounts on many of the UK and free additional services to independent musicians, but they are also free to join.
(Editor's Note: called and the collecting of French society SACEM, the subject, ask about this he refused to pay to ask for money. For artists in their repertoire, I do not think the best way to find out what success is going to Apple directly.)
It might be useful for an artistSongs in different online stores must be a member of a collecting society, for example, SACEM become?
I contacted the French (SACEM) requiring recycling companies, in fact, I said they are considering the possibility of artists, members, when sales reach a certain amount. But you can not ... "
Zimbalam and I
After this conversation, I had the quality of service provided to test if really what ZimbalamThey say it is. I took two cover songs and a demo CD made with Photoshop and signed the £ 19.99 pack of two songs. The back office, upload the songs from the management of online content, is very clear and well thought out. You have the ability to track sales in real time (at least on iTunes) and check your statement and your agreement with Zimbalam. Remember that all data assigned to the file can not be changed once the songs areuploaded online stores that somewhere above the door between two and six weeks, depending on the business. So watch that, especially considering that the stores do not always faithfully reproduce the information originally entered. In my case, my name "[Nwar]" has been "Nwar" on iTunes, because Apple to prohibit the use of special characters specific catalog and free use of capitalization. It 'a shame, considering that "Nwar" makes no sense and that the Fnac andAmazon to see the name [Nwar] correctly.
When it comes to strategy, pricing, which varies from store to store (store text in French only). In the online form that I chose the 0.99 price per song and 1.49 for both songs, but iTunes seems only to respect my will. As a result of purchase of both tracks on Amazon EUR1.98 fnac.com costs, while the price per song at EUR0.79. Zimbalam When I contacted told me they will always be given the same amount of all branchesthat Amazon has a sale very difficult and they cut their profit margin. I must get back to you in this matter, because the payment is payable quarterly, and I have not received the first payment.
I should note, however, available on the market in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe, iTunes does business with different price ranges as artists is probably a slight difference between the price of their release for some shops are seeing. This is particularlyRelease in mid-range (mini-album and EP) at a price as they are, where the options of iTunes more than many stores and shops, without the plateau of these prices is the only issue at the next level, which could be about, is a 1 / 1 Euro more or less than the purchase price specified.
Even more annoying: I said that the cover licensed under a Creative Commons license, but it was my song has been classified as Creative Commons - probably because of an error analysis- Even if I made it clear the author and composer (Arnaud Cueff) before loading.
Let's Start selling!
As we said in the interview, you are a player Zimbalam embed in your MySpace, or any other site by copying and pasting a bit 'of HTML. The player is well designed, customizable (especially in terms of size) and not only access to online stores, but also the artist bio or a video clip. On FacebookThe version is due soon and I could not on my blog because Wordpress Wordpress Javascript disabled components for security reasons. They still managed to beat with the installation of the open source Wordpress on a free server.
However, a well-designed player and an old blog due to lack of time are not sufficient to meet the new star chanson. Apart from the excitement of reading your name on iTunes, even if they are looking for, you will understand what is meant when he said DenisZimbalam simply a technical service. Even if I convinced my friends and family, buy my album, my sales would not increase very much and I would no longer interesting than before, when it comes to signing a recording contract with a label.
To be successful, I would have to improve my ranking of the site, attention to my music, where as many listeners as possible and play concerts. Perhaps it would Zimbalam allows me to earn some real money.
But the agreement is fair enough:20 stores to 20 pounds. I can not wait to give my royalties to the end of the quarter. You can be sure that I show you my bank account when I paid. I have no way of knowing whether I deserve to be able to afford a beer with the money you have, but I'm positive that people can promote their songs real benefits from this type of service, and perhaps even more so a bit of luck ...
No comments:
Post a Comment