Monetizing virtual face time with fans

How the convergence of 2 trends opens up new business model opportunities for artists.

When I landed in Russia to get involved with music streaming service Zvooq, my goal was to look beyond streaming. The streaming layer would be the layer that brings everything together: fans, artists, and data. We started envisioning a layer on top of that, which we never fully got to roll out, in big part due to the challenges of the streaming business.

It was probably too early.

For the last decade, a lot of people have been envisioning ambitious direct-to-fan business models. The problem was that many of these were only viable for niche artists with early adopter audiences, but as technology develops, this is less so the case today.

Let’s have look at a few breakthrough trends in the last year:

  • Messaging apps are rapidly replacing social networks as the primary way for people to socialize online;
  • Better data plans & faster internet speeds have led to an increase in live streams, further enabled by product choices by Facebook & YouTube.

Messaging apps overtaking social networks is a trend that’s been underway for years now. It’s why Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for a whopping $19 billion. While 2.5 billion people had a messaging app installed earlier this year, that’s expected to rise to 3.6 billion in coming years. In part, this is driven by people coming online and messaging apps being relatively light weight in terms of data use.

In more developed markets, the trend for messaging apps is beyond text. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Slack have all recently enabled video calling. Other apps, like Instagram, Snapchat, Live.ly, and Tribe are finding new ways to give shape to mobile video experiences, from broadcasting short video stories, to live streaming to friends, to video group chats.

For artists that stay on top of trends, the potential for immediacy and intimacy with their fanbase is expanding.

Messaging apps make it easier to ping fans to get them involved in something, right away. And going live is one of the most engaging ways to do so.

Justin Kan, who founded Justin.tv which later became video game streaming platform Twitch (sold to Amazon for just under $1 billion), launched a new app recently which I think deserves the attention of the music business.

Whale is a Q&A app which lets people pose questions to ‘influencers’. To have your question answered, you have to pay a fee which is supposed to help your question “rise above the noise of social media”. And Whale is not the only app with this proposition.

Yam is another Q&A app which places more emphasis on personalities, who can answer fans’ questions through video, but also self-publish answers to questions they think people may be curious about.

Watching a reply to a question on Yam costs 5 cents, which is evenly split between the person who asked and the person who answered. It’s a good scheme to get people to come together to create content and for the person answering the questions to prioritize questions they think will lead to the most engagement.

What both of these apps do is that they monetize one of the truly scarce things in the digital age.

Any type of digital media is easily made abundant, but attention can only be spent once.

These trends enable creating an effective system for fans to compete for artists’ attention. I strongly believe this is where the most interesting business opportunities lie in the music business at the level of the artist, but also for those looking to create innovative new tools.

  1. Make great music.
  2. Grow your fan base.
  3. Monetize your most limited resource.

This can take so many shapes or forms:

  • Simply knowing that your idol saw your drawing or letter;
  • Having your demo reviewed by an artist you look up to;
  • Getting a special video greeting;
  • Learning more about an artist through a Q&A;
  • Being able to tell an artist about a local fan community & “come to our city!”;
  • Having the top rank as a fan & receiving a perk for that.

Each of these can be a product on their own and all of these products will likely look like messaging apps, video apps, or a mix.

A lot of fan engagement platforms failed, because they were looking for money in a niche behaviour that was difficult to exploit. People had to be taught new behaviours and new interfaces, which is hard when everyone’s competing for your attention.

Now this is becoming easier, because on mobile it can be as simple as a tap on the screen. Tuning into a live stream can be as simple as opening a push notification. Asking a question to an artist can be as simple as messaging a friend.

So, the question for the platforms early to the party is whether they’ll be able to adjust to the current (social) media landscape, or whether they let sunk cost fallacy entrench them in a vision based on how things used to be.

There’s tremendous value in big platforms figuring out new ways for artists and fans to exchange value. They already have the data and the fan connections. Imagine if streaming services were to build a new engagement layer on top of what already exists.

Until then, artists will have to stay lean and use specific tools that do one thing really well. Keep Product Hunt bookmarked.

The value of fan remixes as part of artists’ content strategy

Putting fan remixes in the spotlight is a hundred thousand times more valuable than taking them down.

The scarcest good on the internet is attention. Any savvy artist, manager, or label employee knows this and develops strategies to sustain the attention of fans over long periods of time.

This comes in the form of content strategies, where the social media outlets of artists turn into media with frequent updates. It’s a pretty tiring process and can take a lot of focus away from other important activities.

Social media is so exciting…

But it’s necessary.

One way to sustain attention is to connect fans together and have them keep each other’s attention on you. It’s something I wrote about in 2011 and preceding years, and since then, a lot has changed. For the better.

We have powerful connected devices in our pockets at all times. Our web browsers have also grown more powerful, with the Web Audio APIs enabling a lot of new possibilities. And basically everyone is on social media now.

Throughout the last year, I’ve spoken to the founders of apps and platforms like Pacemaker, MetaPop, and 8Stem. All enabling people to take existing music and mix it, or remix it, and then publish it. Legally.

None of these would have been possible 5 years ago, but with current technology and in today’s landscape they make a lot of sense.

Remix culture is going mainstream and ‘listeners’ are increasingly being shifted from passenger to driver’s seat.

Instead of creating all of your own content, why not let fans do some?

As a matter of fact, they’re already doing it. Look at the fanbases of the Monstercat and Lapfox Trax labels. It seems exceptional, but it’s just about the culture you create around yourself as an artist or label.

Instead of taking down unauthorized remixes, give them a spotlight.

So what if there’s no immediate way to get those 5 cents of revenue from the 5,000 streams it’s going to garner? It’s a hundred thousand times more valuable having an inclusive culture in your fanbase, and a following of fans that actually participate in what you’re creating.

And when I say a hundred thousand times, I mean it.

Taking a fan remix down over a tiny bit of revenue can alienate a fan and stop them from spending money on you, but the value of a highly engaged fan that actually helps you seed your content strategy… Could it be $5,000? Sometimes, yes. Sometimes even more.

Gradually, a participative culture will emerge.

It takes time. There are no shortcuts. You are building.

But you’ll create something that ultimately doesn’t just save you time — you’ll create a fan culture with an output that can inspire you.

breaking glass

The gender problem in the music business — and what you ♂ can do about it

There’s no need to feel powerless in the face of such a big issue. Start by creating change where you can.

It’s no secret that the music business has a gender problem. If you read about the business regularly you’ll find articles about the plight of female DJs, music pros having music mansplained to them, or the excellent pieces on the topic by AIM’s Lara Baker about calling out sexism or being a young woman in music.

A few weeks ago, at the Sørveiv conference in Norway, the accomplished music manager and lecturer Sally-Ann Gross led a panel about gender in music, which led to a great audience discussion.

It was suggested by someone, a man if that matters, that perhaps this just needs time to be worked out and that women need more role models.

Bullshit. This has always been an issue — what good is more time?

It’s true that more role models might help, but then you’re placing pushing the responsibility back to women. It’s like saying “it’s your problem, you solve it,” but in fact it’s a problem that we all keep alive. For instance, it’s the status quo which prevents role models from being more visible.

A young woman in the audience bravely spoke up later and gave a very personal account of her experience as a woman in music. She mentioned that she always feels pressure on her, because she’s the only woman in the room. She has to make her contribution count. She felt like she can’t make mistakes, and has to perform way above average to be taken seriously.

I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want people (♂ ♀ ⚲ ⚦ ⚧) around me to ever feel that they can’t make a mistake. Or to feel that constant pressure and not be able to relax.

It may seem hard to understand what you can really do when you’re in a position of privilege. Especially since you don’t want to disempower the people you’re trying to help. But it’s not that hard.

If you’re in a position of privilege, here’s what you can do

Step one: accept that you’re in a position of privilege. Don’t be scared to use that privilege in order to make the world a better place. In fact, consider it your responsibility.

It starts with being part of the majority. In music, that means being a guy. Then there are positions of respect, built up through past achievements or professional seniority, but those don’t matter that much. Just being part of the majority makes it easier for you to stand up for what’s right, than for someone who doesn’t hold a position of privilege.

  • Build space so people can actually perform. Don’t gossip. Be someone people can trust. If you have sway in a group, speak out when people treat others unfairly, such as overly skeptical or patronisingly.
  • Worry people may not be welcoming to someone new? Communicate your belief and trust in them widely. Take extra time to make sure the person gets integrated into the team.
  • Create a culture of listening. Perhaps the problem in music is that it’s very much a business of egos in which many people just run with their assumptions without listening to each other. This causes people to believe that what’s true for them, is true for others.
  • When people are dismissive of someone, find out why. If it’s bullshit, challenge them. Don’t let false beliefs go unchecked.
  • Never take away someone’s chance to stand up for themselves.

I’ve intentionally removed gender from here, because it can happen to anyone. In building a team, I’ve sometimes made non-obvious choices that I had to defend and make sure that people saw what I saw in someone.

There’s so much you can do. Go have this discussion with women you see speaking out about this. They want to solve a problem, so they’re interested in having this conversation. Email them or have a chat with them after their panel discussions at conferences.

But what we don’t need is more time if that means postponing planting seeds for a better future.

If you see a festival line-up with almost no women, share your disappointment with the organiser and consider not getting a ticket. If you see people unwilling to give someone a chance because of what’s between their legs, address it. If the only way to get rid of their bullshit is to stop working with them, then make a plan and cut them out.

Don’t work with people who aren’t willing to listen to others.

And obviously, if you see anything worse, like sexual harassment, call it out.

I didn’t start working in music to join an old boy’s club. Did you?