ReverbNation Gets $3M To Expand Music Services

From Hypebot:

ReverbNation, a marketing platform for indie music, has secured $3 million in Series B funding led by new investor ETF and follow-on investments from Novak Biddle and Southern Capitol.

Hypebot named recently dubbed ReverbNation one of our Top 10 Indie Music Marketing Tools. The site serves as home base for artists tapping into multiple social networks simultaneoulsy, including MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and Hi5. Artists get free tools and interactive functionality for these networks, their homepage and blog stimulating viral spread and tracking it across the web.

What will they do with all this money? Believe it or not, the goal is to expand an already pretty robust platform of d.i.y artist services. Helping the 250.000 bands that use the service earn money via sponsorships is part of the expanded offering, as well as, part of RN's monetization strategy. "We have observed that Indie Artists are actually more influential, pound for pound, than their established counterparts.

They know their fans personally, and have stronger relationships with them,” said Mike Doernberg, ReverbNation co-founder and chief executive officer. ”Alone, these individual Artists cannot deliver the reach that Brands need, but bundled together they can. We configure entire ‘portfolios’ of participating Artists based on the fan demographics the brand is targeting, and allow the Artists to opt-in to the program. These types of paid partnerships have traditionally eluded Indie Artists."

“It is increasingly difficult to connect with consumers in a meaningful way via mainstream media,” said Jason Caplain, general partner, Southern Capitol Ventures. “ReverbNation’s Artist Influencer Network, comprised of millions of loyal fans, represents a focused evolution of permission-based marketing that works.”