PayPal Storefront

by Laurence Trifon

What do they say it is?
PayPal Storefront is an online store widget that anyone can use to sell products from their website or blog. Simply go to the Storefront website, customize the design of your storefront, and upload your product information and store policies (shipping information, contacts, etc.). When you’re done, PayPal provides you a bit of HTML code that you can use to publish your storefront.

All you need to start using Storefront is a PayPal account. The Storefront widget doesn’t cost anything to use, aside from the standard PayPal transaction fees for sellers.

What do we say it is?
A convenient way to sell products if you don’t mind handling inventory and shipping yourself.

What’s great about it?
PayPal makes it very easy to customize the appearance of and information on your Storefront. Among other things, you can upload a store logo as well as individual images for each product, set the price and write a description for each product, and provide detailed information about your store policies regarding shipping, tracking, insurance, etc.

Each Storefront includes a “Help sell these products” link that lets other people put your store on their own website. You still get all the proceeds from sales - there’s no affiliate fee for those who choose to help sell your products.

What could be better?
At the moment it seems that Storefront (which is currently in beta) only accept payments in U.S. Dollars. The PayPal Labs site indicates that Storefront will be available for MySpace in the future, which will be a nice addition. Hopefully Storefront widgets for other social networks are on their way as well.

How can I use this?
Storefront provides a great opportunity to sell merchandise directly to your fans. Simply embed the widget on your website — and get your fans to put it on their websites too! — and let the orders roll in. Bear in mind, however, that Storefront is simply a tool for displaying your products and processing payments. You are responsible for actually fulfilling the orders. If you have no desire to manage inventory or you detest trips to the post office, Storefront isn’t for you.

Should I pay it any attention?
Many independent artists will find it more efficient to sell products through sites like Amazon and Zazzle, where order fulfillment and inventory management are provided. But when you’re ready to cut out the middle-man, give Storefront a try. It’s a fantastic widget.

Social networking widgets could reshape music biz

By Antony Bruno

DENVER (Billboard) - This year saw the emergence of a new buzzword in the digital music space -- widgets. Next year, we'll see if they do any good.

An offshoot of the global social networking trend, widgets are small applications that users can place into their blogs, profiles and Web sites, and thereby extend the functionality of an otherwise separate Web site or service. What's more, users can simply copy widgets found on friends' profiles and insert them onto their own, thus enabling a tremendously viral distribution opportunity.

The concept gained prominence in 2007, picking up momentum once Facebook opened its platform so that any developer could write an application using its user data and connections. Then Google upped the ante with its OpenSocial initiative, a standardized widget-development tool that would allow developers to write one application that can work with any social networking site adopting the technology -- which include MySpace and Bebo. ComScore, a leading Web traffic monitoring firm, even began a metrics service tracking the most popular widgets and their usage.

These widgets have opened the door to a whole new style of selling content and services online, called "distributed commerce." Simply put, rather than making customers navigate to a specific site to buy a concert ticket or a music download, widgets allow bands and their fans to sell the same from their own Web sites. If iTunes is the Wal-Mart of music, widgets are more like vending machines.

As a result, several styles of widgets related to the music industry have popped up. Some attempt to sell digital downloads, others concert tickets, still others merchandise. Some serve as fan club applications, while others are music discovery and playlist-sharing tools.

What follows is a collection of the top widget categories to keep an eye on in 2008, and the leading companies in each. Their success or failure will determine whether widgets will become a significant new revenue stream or just another Internet fad that never delivered on its potential.

SALES WIDGETS

By far the toughest sell in terms of attracting a mass market, the idea of selling digital downloads directly to fans via widgets on MySpace or other social networks is a compelling one for labels and artists alike. Issues like digital rights management (DRM) compatibility, tracking sales and revenue splits with the labels and artists remain a major concern.

SnoCap MyStores
Although it never made a real impact in 2007, don't completely count out the MyStores sales widget just yet. Snocap's attempt to let artists and participating labels sell digital downloads at their own price via their MySpace profiles was held back primarily by a focus on indie acts that agreed to sell their music sans DRM. Few major label acts took advantage. But two things could happen in 2008 to turn things around. First, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group may agree to sell music without DRM, making music sold via the MyStores widget available to all in an iPod-friendly way. Second, Snocap may get bought. Depending on who acquires it, MyStores may find more success as part of a broader, integrated service than a stand-alone product lost in an already busy MySpace environment.

Indie911 Hoooka
While it likely will remain a niche player due to its focus on relatively unknown artists, Indie911's Hoooka widget gets a lot of things right that deserve attention. First, it lets users create their widgets based on multiple artists, not just one. Second, it compensates fans hosting Hoooka widgets with 10% of each sale. Finally, it allows fans to not only buy songs, but also stream music, chat and watch videos. Don't be surprised if this one gets acquired, or if it gets copied by either a competing service or a mainstream act looking for a strong online presence.

Lala
While the company has a history of overstating the impact of its initiatives, Lala's widget sales strategy -- which focuses on selling full albums, not individual tracks -- has potential. If it grows more widespread, it could put an interesting twist on the model. The tracks are downloaded directly to users' connected iPods, not stored on a hard drive, while Lala sends a physical CD in the mail. So far Lala has licensing deals with only Warner Music Group, and has used the widget to sell only the latest James Blunt album. Expect wider use as the year progresses.

TICKETING/TOURING WIDGETS
Close to 80 percent of all ticket sales are now conducted online, according to Ticketmaster. Meanwhile, the company says the No. 1 reason fans don't attend concerts by bands they like is because they simply didn't know a show was in town. Recruiting fans to become sales agents may increase the first stat while lowering the second.

iLike
When Facebook opened its social networking platform to outside developers last summer, iLike was the first music application created for the service, and more than 3 million people signed up for it in less than a month. The application lets users list which of their favourite artists are coming to town soon and which other Facebook members are attending that show, and enables streaming of music samples from those artists. It also creates artist-specific iLike pages for such partner labels as Eleven Seven Music. With funding from Ticketmaster, look for iLike to capitalize on its momentum with interesting new features in the new year.

Ticketmaster Event-Engine
The ticketing juggernaut launched an online affiliate network late last year that allows individuals and organizations alike to earn commissions for online ticket sales that originate from links on their Web sites. The Event-Engine widget, as it is called, lets users create a customized event list that keeps track of what they sell. The company says it will add additional tools and functions throughout the year.

PassAlong OnTour
One of the first tour-specific widgets available, PassAlong's OnTour software searches users' music libraries and alerts them when any of the acts are coming to town. As of late November, the company lets artists create their own OnTour widget, from which fans can search for local tour dates, and gives the opportunity to offer MP3 files and an RSS news feed. Alicia Keys and Cassidy are just two of the first artists to take advantage.

MERCH WIDGETS
Rampant piracy may be complicating the sale of music online, but merchandise is much harder to duplicate. Artists looking to convert their Web traffic into cash are increasingly looking at selling physical goods instead of digital ones as a result.

Zazzle
While other widgets let acts sell merchandise online, Zazzle is the only one that lets participating artists sell merch that fans can customize. The company also handles all inventory, shipping and billing needs. Participating artists simply upload their images to the Zazzle servers, select which products they wish to sell (such as T-shirts, posters and caps) and then set their price. Fans can then pick the size and colour of T-shirt they want, select a design and then pay for it. Zazzle's automated production facility then applies the image to the product and ships it out, all for a flat fee. The company has deals signed with Warner Music Group and Signatures Network for content -- with such acts as Kiss, the Who and Maroon 5 -- and with MySpace for distribution.

Nimbit Online Merch Table
Nimbit's OMT is designed for artists looking for a way to make more money online. The widget allows bands to sell not only their merchandise, but also CDs and tickets to upcoming shows. It also lets fans sign up for e-mail alerts. Fans can post the widget on their own profiles, and the bands can update the information listed on those fan-posted widgets without the need to post a new version. The site charges various flat-rate hosting fees, depending on the functionality desired. Users include Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Letters to Cleo and the Blind Boys of Alabama.

Cartfly
More for the DIY artist set, Cartfly is a simple application that lets users display their wares and take orders. Payment is handled via PayPal, and participating artists need to handle their own inventory and shipping. CartFly charges a flat 3 percent commission on all sales.

iLike: Online Music's Next Big Thing?

Radiohead started this earlier this year: end-running traditional music labels and releasing its album directly to fans via the Internet, letting them determine how much to pay. Nine Inch Nails followed suit. Madonna signed with LiveNation. Jay-Z will leave Def-Jam and likely join LiveNation as well.

Not to be outdone, former Motley Crue member Nikki Sixx, with his new band Sixx A.M., are also trying their hands at new media. They're exchanging heavy metal for something a little lighter -- in the form of a notebook computer and their new relationship with one of the hottest things going on the Web right now: iLike.com.

If you haven't heard of iLike yet, you will. The site is combining two of the hottest things going right now: social networking and digital entertainment. It's an online community offering a new marketing and distribution tool for artists; an easy, one-stop shop for their fans to share and talk about music.

And iLike is already partnering with e-powerhouses Facebook and Apple's iTunes.

Sixx and his band are now card-carrying members of the social networking craze, combining all that it has to offer with the power of digital music online. Sixx A.M. is now relying on the Web to reach its fans directly, using technology to do what had always been done by traditional labels: letting musicians turn their bands into brands.

"Record companies are becoming not so important. It's about the artist and the community," Sixx told me from the studio he owns in West Hills, Calif.

"When you try to live by the same model in 2007 as you did in 1967, it's obviously not going to work," says Sixx.

It's no wonder Nikki Sixx and his band have chosen iLike despite a contentious relationship between the recording labels and the technology community. iLike's growth has been explosive: zero users a year ago -- and 18 million of them today.

Co-founder Hadi Partovi, a serial entrepeneur who co-founded TellMe Networks (which was later acquired by Microsoft for an estimated $900 million), tells me: "If you want to know, oh, what was that song I heard when I was over at your house...I can visit your page and see what are the playlists you have on your iTunes account are and I'll figure it out."

Hadi, and his twin brother Ali (chief executive at iLike), are blown away by the enormously fast rise to fame the site has enjoyed. Hadi says, "The best part about it is we trust each other a lot and very often we're on the same page."

iLike is now the top digital destination for all things entertainment, including some of the biggest acts around, who are now choosing the site to release music and videos first. Already, acts like Keith Urban, 50 Cent, Beyonce, John Mayer, Evenescence, One Republic and hundreds of others have signed on.

Sixx A.M. is merely the latest. And make no mistake: behind the heavy eye-liner and tatoos are some extremely savvy businessmen. I was stunned at how much these guys recognize the power of this technology and what it can do for them as artists and business people. Maybe the reason why Nikki Sixx is still around, making millions more, while others, like Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose have faded.

Says Sixx A.M. guitarist James Michaels, "I love the fact that a lot of very small bands can get their music to a lot of people" on a site like iLike.

Hey, they're talking about a music revolution here. Sixx tells me, "It seems like a hundred years ago when people didn't use this stuff, and people are just discovering it now."

Why 360-Degree Deals Won’t Turn The Music Industry Around

The ‘music industry’ has at last awoken to acknowledge the existence of ‘new’ music distribution networks such as the World Wide Web and P2P. It has also begun to realise that quashing these technologies by imposing crippling Digital Rights Management on digital recordings may not be terribly effective, and so a new business model has been proposed - the 360-Degree record deal…
Take More, Give Less

This new form of record deal is in many respects very similar to the classic deals of the 20th century (where the label gets the vast majority of the music sales profits), but this time around the labels want to also take a sizeable cut of the artist’s live performance, publishing and merchandising earnings.

So, what’s the benefit from the artist’s point of view? Well, to put it bluntly, none. In fact, the deal for the artist under this new regime is far worse than anything that had previously been available. For the majority of bands, even very well known ones, their main source of income is usually touring and merchandise - and the industry now wants a slice of this pie. To justify their cut, they say that their PR and promotional engine can help to break new bands, but this is what they had always been doing anyway. Rather than give up so much potential income, new bands would be far better off producing (and distributing) their own music and hiring a dedicated promotional agency to handle the marketing and business side of things.

Here’s a typical breakdown of the 360-Degree Record Deal for new bands:

* Label gets approx. 90-95% of record sales
* Label gets approx. 10% of touring income
* Label gets approx. 10% of merchandise income
* Label gets 9c publishing cut per song (or more, depending on media distribution)

Of these elements, the first one is the only clause consistent with previous practise in the industry. The labels have brought this model in as a response to the changing face of music distribution and consumption technologies, but the very prevalence and affordability of these technologies is the reason why no artist should commit to a 360 deal in the first place. If you have enough on the radar to attract the attention of a major, then you really don’t need them.

Are Audio Engineers Making Artists Lazy?

According to Unsprung Artists, the 360 model requires that new artists become “durable, enduring and timeless”. However, as the market becomes increasingly filled with amateur productions, it is the glossy, overcompressed and overproduced shiny sound that stands out - but this ‘professional’ sound is often as deep as the single goes, with the music itself lacking in any real depth, musicianship or integrity.

I certainly agree with Bruce’s view that, for music to have any real longevity, there must be more than production expertise involved - however, I wouldn’t cite the increasing prevalence of home DAW systems as the culprit in any perceived decrease in the quality of music being created worldwide. Technology has made it easier to make music, but it hasn’t made anyone a better or worse musician - what it does is enable musicians to create things in ways that were not possible before, and it certainly allows us to do many things much faster than before.

Musicians will always be judged in relation to the quality of the best music out there, and the best music requires talent, expertise, dedication and hard work. There are times when the hard work is in learning a new instrument, and once that is mastered then one can just let the music flow naturally - such natural ability can never be superseded by software. One of the great challenges of being a musician is in finding your strengths and, quite literally, playing to them. If your strengths are simply dropping sample loops into Ableton Live and tweaking a few filters, that’s fine - but it’s not going to set you apart from the thousands of others who do the same thing, even if you get Bob Katz to master your CD.

How to Market Like a Rockstar

By Mack Collier
from http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/


The above photo, at first glance, looks like a photo from your average concert. But if you look closer, there's some powerful marketing happening here. Every person, the singer on stage, and every member of the audience, has their arm up and is excited about the music they are hearing.

This is why I love writing about music marketing, because musicians do such an amazing job of exciting the people that buy their music, and turning them into fans. Does it happen by accident? Is it just easier to create fans for music than it is for umbrellas or paper clips? Possibly. But that doesn't mean that companies can't create fans just like musicians do. Here's how to get started:

1 - View your customers as a community, and join them.
If there is a 'big secret' to how musicians create fans, this is it. Let's go back to the above photo. It was taken at a recent concert by The Donnas. But if you look closer, you'll notice that the singer on stage is just as excited and a fan of the music she is singing, as the people that are hearing it. Everyone, the audience, and the singer on stage, has their arms up, and they are cheering. Everyone belongs to the same community of fans.

But it's just as easy to join your community of customers in other industries. Willie Davidson explains that 'market research' to Harley-Davidson means spending a weekend on the open road with other Harley owners. Davidson is a fellow Harley owner, and as a result, is part of the same culture as his company's customers. The line between Harley-Davidson's customers, and the company itself, is very hazy. Since the company is participating in the customer's community, they better understand their customers, and as a result market to them more effectively. All of this makes it easier for Harley owners to be excited about the brand and proud to be a member of a very loyal and unique culture.

2 - Make sure you view your company and its products as your customers do.
Hugh MacLeod had a great point once about making sure that your company is having the same conversation that your customers are. Apple thinks its products are cool, and so do its customers. Remember when the iPhone was introduced? Remember seeing customers proudly camping out for days outside Apple retail stores prior to the iPhone going on sale? Did you realize that in almost every case, there was a Cingular store close by selling the same iPhone, with no one waiting in line? But it was 'cool' to stand in line to wait for an iPhone, at the Apple store. Apple thinks the iPhone is cool, and Apple's customers agree, AND think that THEY are by extension cool because they have an iPhone!

3 - Empower your existing fans to market for you.
Another secret to marketing like a rockstar is this: Evangelist=Fan. If you have evangelists, then you have fans. So obviously, you want to find your existing evangelists, and make it as easy as possible for them to tell others about you. Remember this post from last year about how Maker's Mark created their Brand Ambassador program? All the distillery did was organize its existing evangelists and empower them to better market for Maker's Mark. IOW, they made it easier for their evangelists to engage in pre-existing activities. These customers were passionate for the Maker's Mark brand, so the distillery empowered them to market for them. And remember, customers are far more likely to listen to other customers who endorse a product, than they are the company selling the product!

4 - Give customers input into your marketing.
Dell's Ideastorm is a great example of this. The company has created a place for customers to not only submit their ideas on how Dell's products can be improved, but they then let other customers vote on which ideas are their favorites. Dell can look and see which ideas are the most popular, and then have a great idea of which improvements/changes customers want to see happen. And when the company acts on the changes that are suggested, it lets Dell's customers know that their input is valued and appreciated. It lets them know that they have some ownership over Dell's marketing. So naturally that leads to more customers giving more input and suggestions on what they want to see, which results in even MORE efficient marketing from Dell!

5 - Have FUN with your marketing!
So how is Warner Bros. promoting next summer's hopeful blockbuster movie The Dark Knight? With posters and trailers online, right? Yes they are doing that, but they are also creating websites that must be decoded. If the lucky visitor can do so, they will receive an address of a nearby bakery, where a real cake is awaiting them, with a phone number to call written in icing, and containing a cell phone that receives both calls and text messages from 'Rent a Clown'. This is supposedly a company set up by one of the movie's main characters, The Joker! This is marketing, but it's also a great way to get people talking about, and excited about a movie that won't come out for seven months.


And yes, you could argue that it's much easier to create 'fun' marketing for entertainment vehicles like movies and music. But look at this post from Daily Fix about how CD Baby has spiced up the traditionally boring as hell 'thank you for your order' email. They take a mundane marketing activity, and add a sense of flair and show their sense of humor in the process. As you can see from the comments, most people seem to prefer CD Baby's approach! Notice that Ginny even says that she now looks forward to getting emails from them!

6 - Follow the Threadless example.
Threadless does a fan-damn-tastic job of marketing like rockstars. With Threadless, their business is their community, and their community is their business. The customers design the t-shirts that are sold, and vote on their favorites. The winning designs are given prizes. The more t-shirts sold, the more money Threadless makes and the more prizes they give away. Threadless' customers are literally marketing partners from the get-go. And the company is thriving because there is no line between the company and its customers. Everyone belongs to the same community, in fact Threadless calls it 'business by accident'.


This is something else that musicians understand that many marketers don't. Marketing doesn't have to be a chore and boring for everyone involved. It can be fun, in fact it can be a blast. And the fun factor comes into play when you involve your customers in the process! That excites them and in turn excites you! Passion grows and everyone feeds off that passion.

But companies in many industries do great jobs of marketing like rockstars. Think of how many flyers are Nuts About Southwest. What about The Cult of Mac or the fandom that surrounds Harley-Davidson? Hell the Fiskateers are so popular that they get autograph requests at scrapbooking events!

Which goes to show that marketing doesn't have to be viewed as just a necessary business function, but instead could be seen as a way to excite your customers into becoming fans.

Besides, don't we all really want to be rockstars?

If The Old Music Business Is Dead, What's Next?

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

If The Old Music Business Is Dead, What's Next?
By Gil Kaufman, with additional reporting by James Montgomery

Letting fans choose how much to pay for your album. ... Leaving the label you've called home for your entire career to hook up with a concert-promotions giant for a $100 million-plus deal. ... Recording iTunes-only one-off singles not slated for inclusion on an album. ... Offering "artist subscriptions" to fans, who pay a flat annual fee for more intimate access to their favorite acts. ... Serving up the millions of songs in your label's catalog to MP3 players and cell phones for one all-you-can-listen-to price per month. ...

These are just a few of the game-shifting changes the music industry toyed with in 2007, a year when the old model of signing with a major label and releasing an album every few years finally began to look like a relic of the distant past. As artists stretched their minds to imagine new and innovative ways to get their music into the hands of fans faster, cheaper and on the fly, what some have called the death of the music business is being viewed by others as the opportunity of a lifetime.

"The meteor's hit, the dinosaurs have all died and now it's time for whoever's next to take over," said Fall Out Boy bassist/lyricist Pete Wentz of the wide open future he sees for the industry. "And I think that it's a good time for new ideas to be out there." Wentz is at the vanguard of the new model of music-industry success where record sales are great (if you can get them), but delivering in concert, merchandising your "brand" and branching out into fashion, vanity labels and celebrity endorsements are almost as vital as writing "Umbrella"-like hooks.

This was the year of the so-called "360 deal," what some are calling the wave of the future in which companies like concert promoter Live Nation cut $100-million plus deals with longtime major-label superstars like Madonna in exchange for a piece of her merchandising, touring and recording monies. According to reports, one of the motivations for Live Nation to partner with Madonna is an expectation that, over the next decade, they might be able to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars in tour revenue from one of the most recognizable, and profitable, live performers on the planet. And while it was a shock that Madonna left her career label home, Warner Bros. Records, to sign with a company that has never released an album before, 360 deals were being cut across the board, even by fresh faces like Paramore, and some think they could be the thing that helps kick start a hit-starved industry.

"I don't think we really realized how big an opportunity it is, and how big of a change it is for the music industry," said Paramore singer Hayley Williams of her band's deal with Fueled by Ramen, in partnership with Atlantic Records. "But it's cool because I feel like we have a new kind of partnership with our label, and I do think that it's going to change the music industry completely. And it's forcing bands ... [and] people working in the industry, forcing them to be more creative about how they approach marketing or promotion or picking the single."

Williams said her band's deal makes it feel like the staff at their label are more invested in Paramore's future — and had the group not cut this kind of deal, the label may not have been as patient with their slow-blossoming success.

"A lot of bands on indie labels, they're working their way up, but it's slow," she said. "And so they don't get the chances we got. We spent two years playing to, like, anywhere from nine to 20 kids, and it grew gradually over those two years, and it got to where it is today because of that. But I don't feel like a lot of bands get that leniency, that patience, to just wait around for that big single to happen."

Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists

On Wired magazine site, David Byrne has written a small textbook on the recorded-music industry that summarizes the major approaches that are available today. The included audio clips of his interviews with innovators of different business models are well worth the time.

He sets out six models of recorded-music distribution, which he calls The Six Possibilities:

Where there was one, now there are six: Six possible music distribution models, ranging from one in which the artist is pretty much hands-off to one where the artist does nearly everything. Not surprisingly, the more involved the artist is, the more he or she can often make per unit sold. The totally DIY model is certainly not for everyone — but that’s the point. Now there’s choice.


1. The 360° or equity deal; the creator is a brand that’s owned entirely by the publisher lock, stock, barrel, and they manage the entire thing for you (or without you).

2. The standard deal; ownership of the creation goes to a publisher, and the creator gets paid by them (after costs).

3. The license deal; the creator retains ownership, and a publisher has the rights to market/exploit the material for a period of time, after which they revert to the creator who can then exploit or shop them around

4. The profit-sharing deal; minimal upfront cash to the creator (who retains ownership), publisher performs marketing and distribution, and they split the proceeds.

5. The manufacturing and distribution deal; the creator does everything except make and ship the final product, and the publisher is pretty much reduced to fee-for-service.

6. Not a deal, but self-distribution — the creator does it all, but just as importantly, keeps all the money; with digital distribution costs of music approaching zero, look for this to be much more popular in the future.

I have two immediate thoughts about this. One is that everyone is making this up as they go along. Musicians need to think about what they want to accomplish and invent/ tweak/ hack business procedures that move them toward that goal — and this is how it always has been.

Read the rest here