PIECE OF THE PIE
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Dalton Caldwell
Learn how an ad-revenue share model, such as imeem’s, can help your band cash in
I've always been interested in music, media and the Internet and founded imeem (imeem.com) after graduating from college. Looking back, many of the best ideas started by young people in the music business have also been the most controversial but have ultimately driven the industry forward. I wanted to figure out how I could offer an entirely new type of service to the user while also working with artists and labels so they could profit, too.
Since its original incarnation, imeem has evolved into one of the largest social media networks today. All music and media is streamed free to the user so people can search around the site to easily discover new music. We have also worked hard to produce an ad-sharing model where the artists get paid when their music and media is streamed on imeem.
Over the past few years, I've worked closely with different people in the music industry, from up-and-coming indie artists to publishers and senior management at major labels, and I've been able to get a good understanding of their business needs and wants. Most recently, imeem became the first social network to partner with Warner Music Group to stream all of its audio and video content on the site and explore some pretty cool new marketing tactics to tap into imeem's online community.
Regarding bands getting a share of imeem's ad revenue, the more a band's songs get played, the more of a share it receives. How does that work?
We now have a program where musicians get paid for having their music on imeem, plus the added value of connecting and marketing to our online community. It's a pretty simple model: Artists make more money as their music uploads and streams increase. That means they are fairly compensated for creating great music and promoting it themselves on the site. At the end of the day, you will get out of it what you put in.
Most importantly, our interests are aligned with the artists and labels on our site, which provides our community with a powerful incentive structure. We are literally in business together because we both get value from creating the best and most popular music site we can. To get started, artists should register their music with SNOCAP and indicate that they would like their music streamed on imeem. Our registry tracks the amount of plays, and the artist will start receiving a cut of imeem's advertising revenue at the end of each month.
Today, we have more than 3 million tracks made available by rightsholders for streaming from 5,000 labels and aggregators already opted into the program, including The Orchard, IODA, Nettwerk, Beggars Banquet and more.
There's a lot of money to be had from online initiatives. What are bands missing out on?
The bottom line is that there is no easy money. Artists should continue to put in the time and effort to try out as many things as they can to see what works, including experimenting with music and different types of promotion, presence on different Websites and most importantly, direct interaction with fans.
Piracy makes it tough for bands to make money. Are there new ways to help bands avoid giving away music for free when it's leaked online?
The good news is that music is more popular than ever. The bad news is that piracy continues to be a part of the environment we live in today. We can either give up and go home or find ways to monetize everyone's hard work in new and interesting ways. There are many opportunities out there for artists to make money from advertising, merchandise, concert tickets, download sales and ad-supported models. By diversifying revenue streams and embracing Internet promotion, artists will see more compensation for their work.
What are some success stories of bands that blew up because of their presence on imeem?
The most successful artists on imeem have the most active profiles. The Cool Kids (http://coolkidsmusic.imeem.com) have exploded on imeem over the past two months. They've used imeem to build up a huge fan base by constantly uploading photos and videos and blogging about their latest concert. The Cool Kids are an unsigned band, but so far their music has been featured on the HBO series, Entourage, and will be in an upcoming EA Sports videogame.
Also, Mike Relm (http://mikerelm.imeem.com) is a great example of a DJ who massively increased his exposure on imeem. He experimented by uploading his song “Body Rock” and thought it would just be a cool little song for a couple people who knew who he was. Two weeks later, it had over a million and a half plays. Mike was forced to increase his Website's bandwidth because he had so many visits in a short period of time — imeem is one of the few sites that can expose someone like Mike to such a large amount of fans without losing the true spirit of being an artist.
What are some common mistakes bands make?
Artists need to take control of their own destiny and realize that having a good business mind is just as important as playing good music in the world we live in. Popular music is a commercial art, and artists need to be savvy if they want to make a living off it. All musicians should be fairly compensated monetarily, but they can't take for granted the amount of time and effort needed on the business side.
What is going to happen to the future of digital media?
The music industry needs big ideas because small incremental improvements won't change anything. For example, nobody has tried some of the crazy revenue shares we are trying on imeem. The Internet has opened up music consumption to the masses, making music more alive and important than ever. In order to keep fairly compensating artists and bands, the music industry needs to quickly learn to adapt and benefit from new emerging models of digital distribution.
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