Uncategorized

Revealing evidence: Independent musicians have few fans and can’t mobilize them.

Posted by Mike McCready | August 23rd, 2012 | No responses

I know. That’s not a hugely shocking headline. But, we thought you’d like some insight into what we’ve observed in the past few days.

 

Shortly after the launch of Music Xray’s new tip jar feature, over one thousand online tip jars were created and a flurry of tweets and Facebook posts were sent by musicians in efforts to drive fans to hear new tracks and consider leaving a tip. Exactly our intention!

 

The result?; pretty much what we already knew. Traffic driven by musicians to their tip jars was paltry by anyone’s measure. In the ensuing 24 hours, the tip jar that received the most traffic received fewer than 200 visits and the next most visited tip jar received fewer than 20.

We know this will improve dramatically in the coming days as musicians begin including a link to their tip jar in their newsletter and really begin engaging their fans in the most effective ways. But, in terms of social media and flash efforts, this speaks to two issues musicians face.

 

  1. A lack of fans.
  2. The inability to mobilize the fans they do have.

 

Fortunately, we’ll soon be launching Fan Match, a service to help musicians identify and acquire new fans.  In the meantime, keep pushing those tip jars. We love to see you compensated for your efforts and we are seeing tips occur and that’s very encouraging!

Mike McCready is an entrepreneur at the crossroads of music and technology. He pioneered the introduction of Hit Song Science into the music industry and followed up with Music Xray, the company he co-founded and serves as CEO. His companies have been the subject of case studies at Harvard Business School, IESE and he frequently guest speaks at many of the top business schools around the world. He helps the music industry identify high potential songs and talent and helps musicians get deals, get fans, & get better: http://musicxray.com