Music Business Blog by Jason Feinberg

My newest post is now live on the PBS Mediashift Blog. It discusses the future of Direct-To-Fan marketing, citing examples as well as some companies that enabling it.

I am a firm believer in the D2F space, and my company is working with many artists and labels to leverage the power of the channel. As I have discussed before, OTMG is also a certified Topspin marketing partner, of which we are very excited and proud.

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/06/the-time-is-right-for-direct-to-fan-marketing-of-music175.html

If you haven’t read the Nielsen presentation for NARM, download it now. Some interesting insights and stats (summarized from winkscollectibles.blogspot.com), such as:

- Digital music is now 40% of the total music purchases compared to just 8% in 2005. It is projected that it will hit 50% by the end of 2010.

- Purchases are being made less at mass and chain/electronic stores and more at value oriented outlets (dollar, mass merchandisers, clubs) and on-line. Between 2001 and 2009, chains like Best Buy’s share of the market has gone from 54% to 32%, independent music stores from 14% to 7%, mass merchandisers like Wal-Mart from 28% to 33% and non-traditional sources such as iTunes, Amazon and Starbucks from 3% to 29%.

- Digital music buying was done most by fans of rock music, with 41% of all purchases coming from an on-line source. That’s compared to only 6% of sales for country albums.

I am so excited that I can finally tell the world about a big part of what I have been up to lately. For a while now I have been a big believer in the company Topspin. Their software platform and methodology is very forward-thinking and I am confident it can be a big part of the overall marketing strategy bands needs to incorporate moving ahead.

It does not (necessarily) replace a label, iTunes, Amazon, management, or marketing team. What it does is gives artists and online marketers new tools that open up massive opportunities in the direct-to-fan space. This is a core part of almost any artist’s career, and I am excited to be a part of helping write the blueprint for what this will mean in the future.

Having said that, I am proud to announce I am one of a small group of people who are now officially Topspin certified! See the article below…

http://topspinmedia.com/2009/06/congratulations-topspin-class-of-june-2009/

Check out this insanely useful tool: http://amusiciansjourney.blogspot.com/2009/05/your-diy-activity-document.html

It is a doc whose “purpose is to keep track of all your actionable DIY activities: the “business” items you need to keep up in order to build a self-sustaining career.”