Free Music Distribution + Revenue From Downloads & Streams (Feedback Please)

[Jason@GetItOut]

I would like to discuss a new music store and distribution service that I have been involved with (without sounding like an advert lol). I'm generally interested in your opinions and always take feedback on board.


Our team launched a new service, HotRhythms.com, two days ago. It is a beta version of the website targeting first at independent music artists & labels. The official public launch is to be announced later in the year. We also plan to payout revenue from streams to the artists & labels once the website has a substantial following.


The service is free and offers quite a few options. I won't go into detail about the features but if you do visit the website and have any opinions I'd be happy to hear them.


Below are a few things that I would be interested to hear your thoughts on:


Hot Rhythms gives a lot of control to the users e.g. price tags & fast meta data changes. Are features such as these welcomed or do you believe they are unnecessary?


The audience and exposure on Hot Rhythms is obviously un-comparable to large music stores such as iTunes & Amazon but the average independent music release on stores like iTunes can only be found when searched for. In most cases, independent music makers have to tell their fanbase where to get their music from, usually via their website or myspace page. We believe that if your telling people where to get your music from anyway, Hot Rhythms has no disadvantage other than brand awareness. With so much more on offer to the artists & labels such as more revenue (all of it actually) and faster release times, would the music artists and labels consider using the Hot Rhythms service in addition to the other stores?


The development of the service started because we wanted a solution that gets music online quickly, securely, gives full control over the meta data and pays out instantly as the music is bought. I don't believe there is another service that can do all these things without taking a fee. Especially the instant payment feature. This allows music makers to withdraw their money straight away. Do you think this improves the cash flow of an individual that makes his or her living form the sales of their music?


All the best,


Jason

[rack gear]

I'm checking this out - looks pretty cool. So in a nutshell.

I'm an artist or copyright content holder.

I upload my songs to your site, for free.

Consumers download my songs, and the per download money goes right into MY PayPal account.

HotRhythms.com doesn't take a penny?

Pretty cool - but I have to ask - how can you sustain that? Ad Rev?

Am I getting this right?

[Jason@GetItOut]

Originally Posted by redvelvetstudios

I'm checking this out - looks pretty cool. So in a nutshell.

I'm an artist or copyright content holder.

I upload my songs to your site, for free.

Consumers download my songs, and the per download money goes right into MY PayPal account.

HotRhythms.com doesn't take a penny?

Pretty cool - but I have to ask - how can you sustain that? Ad Rev?

Am I getting this right?

Hi. Thanks for checking it out.


Yes that's it basically. There's not much to it.


Hot Rhythms don't take a penny and the payments go directly into the paypal account of the artist / label.


The service is sustainable simply because it is an automated environment controlled by the artists and labels themselves. All we do is check that every release is listed legally and fairly e.g. there is actually a song file that can be downloaded and do some copyright checks.


The system was built and is run by a team that are already working in the music distribution industry so all the resources were already available.


At present there is no revenue coming in from the Hot Rhythms service for the company itself but there are a few deals on the table that are being considered. Although a business model will be adopted at some point, Hot Rhythms will not change it's concept towards its members meaning that the service will always remain the same to the artists and labels that use it. Free!


Last week saw the beta launch of the service and the feedback so far has been extremely good. The general perception is that people like the service and there has been good numbers of artist and labels signing-up each day.


Thanks again for taking the time to check it out.

[rack gear]

that's awesome news Jason - great job.

one quick suggestion is to build in genre sorting and searching - I went to the site, and without knowing anything about these artists I search a few genres - like, alternative, rock, hip-hop, electronic and there is no genre sort... that would be nice.

way to go man, good luck - it's a great model.

[DCW]

Hi Jason

Your HotRhythms seems like a great idea. On the subject of directing potential buyers to the site, do today's radio presenters normally mention where people can buy & download the tracks they play?

I mean, would it go like this?-- I send my track to Radio 1 and (naturally:-) they decide to put it on the playlist. I tell them it's for sale at HotRhythms.com, and each time it's played, the presenter anounces that it's available for purchase/download at HotRhythms.com

[DCW]

Hi

A follow-up to my last post.

The idea of musicians being able to sell their music and get to have the whole purchase price is great. And it's something that I think the general public would like the idea of too -- that the proverbial "big record company" or big distribution comapany (e.g., iTunes) would not be taking a slice of the money -- instead, all the money they would be paying for the download would be going to the musicians.

But I guess the problem here is one of publicity for the site (HotRhythyms). For high-volume sales, thousands of people hearing a song (available at HotRythyms) played on the radio, would would need to have heard of HotRythms (as they have heard of iTunes etc).

On the plus side, I think the very nature of the site (all the money going to the musicians) is quite newsworthy.

So, overall, I think this idea has great potential -- but a potential that can only be fully realized by getting the name "HotRhythms" up there with the other big download site names.

[Jason@GetItOut]

Originally Posted by redvelvetstudios

that's awesome news Jason - great job.

one quick suggestion is to build in genre sorting and searching - I went to the site, and without knowing anything about these artists I search a few genres - like, alternative, rock, hip-hop, electronic and there is no genre sort... that would be nice.

way to go man, good luck - it's a great model.

Thank you.

I agree. That would make a good addition. It's something we will definably have in the next few months. We're thinking of having a top ten for each genre too.

[Jason@GetItOut]

Originally Posted by DCW

Hi

A follow-up to my last post.

The idea of musicians being able to sell their music and get to have the whole purchase price is great. And it's something that I think the general public would like the idea of too -- that the proverbial "big record company" or big distribution comapany (e.g., iTunes) would not be taking a slice of the money -- instead, all the money they would be paying for the download would be going to the musicians.

But I guess the problem here is one of publicity for the site (HotRhythyms). For high-volume sales, thousands of people hearing a song (available at HotRythyms) played on the radio, would would need to have heard of HotRythms (as they have heard of iTunes etc).

On the plus side, I think the very nature of the site (all the money going to the musicians) is quite newsworthy.

So, overall, I think this idea has great potential -- but a potential that can only be fully realized by getting the name "HotRhythms" up there with the other big download site names.

Yes you are spot on. In December we plan to launch a marketing campaign to get the name of the service out there.

At the moment we are concentrating on getting the music artists and labels on the website.

[Jason@GetItOut]

Originally Posted by DCW

Hi Jason

Your HotRhythms seems like a great idea. On the subject of directing potential buyers to the site, do today's radio presenters normally mention where people can buy & download the tracks they play?

I mean, would it go like this?-- I send my track to Radio 1 and (naturally:-) they decide to put it on the playlist. I tell them it's for sale at HotRhythms.com, and each time it's played, the presenter anounces that it's available for purchase/download at HotRhythms.com

As much as we would love them to, I don't think we could get the radio stations to tell people where to buy the music after they play the tracks. Would be great if they did though!

[DCW]

Originally Posted by Jason@GetItOut

Yes you are spot on. In December we plan to launch a marketing campaign to get the name of the service out there.

At the moment we are concentrating on getting the music artists and labels on the website.

This is something that I'm sure the UK's "Musicians Union" would be willing to do an article on in their magazine -- this sort of thing is a hot topic for their readers.

[DCW]

Originally Posted by Jason@GetItOut

The development of the service started because we wanted a solution that gets music online quickly, securely, gives full control over the meta data and pays out instantly as the music is bought. I don't believe there is another service that can do all these things without taking a fee. Especially the instant payment feature. This allows music makers to withdraw their money straight away. Do you think this improves the cash flow of an individual that makes his or her living form the sales of their music?

Speaking for myself, the instant payment feature is a great selling point. I believe that on the other sites it takes several months for the money from sales to come through -- that's a long time to get hold of your own money, which is meantime earning interest for someone else.

[author]

Wow!

[Darwin James]

You need to invest some money in getting a professional web design. The site looks very outdated and amateur.

The look alone is turning me off from joining.

[author]

Originally Posted by Darwin James

You need to invest some money in getting a professional web design. The site looks very outdated and amateur.

The look alone is turning me off from joining.

Yeah, it's a mess -- and why GREY? But you've got to start somewhere. And this could be very, very big.

IMHO, the name is the worst part. It doesn't sing.

[DCW]

Originally Posted by author

Yeah, it's a mess -- and why GREY? But you've got to start somewhere. And this could be very, very big.

IMHO, the name is the worst part. It doesn't sing.

The name -- that's exactly what I wanted to question too. I don't think it's "big" or "universal" enough. Ideally it should represent the unique selling point of the site -- that all the download money is going to the musicians -- the people who actually make/create the music. So names like:

MusicMakers.com

MusicCreators.com

Right-on-the-Music.com

etc, etc

So, given your official launch-date is not till December, and the name could be very important, why not consider a name-change for the site?

[polf]

sounds like a great idea!

but my first thought was that i didn't like the name - have something as suggested above, or something that is unrelated to music... maybe about the bigger picture of the site?

[DCW]

Originally Posted by polf

sounds like a great idea!

but my first thought was that i didn't like the name - have something as suggested above, or something that is unrelated to music... maybe about the bigger picture of the site?

Yes, there is a bigger picture here I think -- the idea of musicians hoping to get paid at all for their work (cheeky buggers) is an extemely hot/contentious subject right now in the growing climate of "free".

[DCW]

Another personal preference:

On an ideal site of this sort, it would be great if the song for sale could link to an on-site profile page -- something like a myspace profile page -- where the musicians could say something about themselves and also something about the songs themselves -- the stories behind them, and so on. This, I think, would add value to the "product" and make a trip to the site more interesting/attractive to music fans and potential buyers.

[author]

Originally Posted by polf

but my first thought was that i didn't like the name - have something as suggested above, or something that is unrelated to music...

Yes...

1) It has to sing. Find a cool SOUND. It doesn't hurt if it's kinda funny -- and new.
2) It has to be easy to remember. You don't forget iTunes, Google, and Pirate Bay. But you forget this one.
3) It has to be easy for a kid to pronounce after five beers at a party.

Find a new angle, maybe with an edge. Spell something in a weird way. Hire a writer, it could pay off.

[Jason@GetItOut]

Thank you all for your feedback.


The link to the myspace profiles would make a great addition.


We also agree about the name and do plan on launching with a better name later on. The reason we went with Hot Rhythms to start with is that our budget did not include the purchase of a premium domain name so we had to go with what was available ( an un-registered domain name).


We are keeping our eyes peeled for good names and will definitely spend some money on a good name for the service. (Preferably starting with 'Hot' so that that it is recognisable as an upgrade.)


By the time of the official launch we will have a new layout which will be more structured around the experience for the music buyers and the home page will look more like a music store than it currently does.


Thanks again for your comments, they all help towards making this service better for all of us.


Jason

[author]

Originally Posted by Jason@GetItOut

Thank you all for your feedback.

Thank you, sir.

And don't judge your idea by the length of this thread. When people understand what you're saying, it will indeed be hot.

And you'll get rich.

But then again, so will we.

[DCW]

Originally Posted by author

Thank you, sir.

And don't judge your idea by the length of this thread. When people understand what you're saying, it will indeed be hot.

And you'll get rich.

But then again, so will we.

I'll drink to that!

[DCW]

This is such an attractive prospect for musicians that I'm sure some big-name musicians would want to support this idea. Getting some big names on board would obviously help to raise the profile of the launch.

Also, why not get in touch with someone at the BBC and let them know about it. There are some obvious "angles" here for a radio feature: empowerment of musicians and the contoversial "culture of free" that many musicians (including me)
are opposed to.

[theblue1]

This is certainly interesting.

I sort of wish there was a forum there so we could get a sense of how current users are feeling about it.

I was also wondering about bar codes and some other practical considerations but I don't see a FAQ, per se.

Also... it seems churlish to mention it but, well... there is a bit of almost-too-good-to-be-true about this venture...

Still, it seems worth exploring.

[author]

Originally Posted by theblue1

T there is a bit of almost-too-good-to-be-true about this venture...

Yeah, my first thought, too...

But something in this setup reminds me of Google. Maybe it's the innocent simplicity of it all (I'm NOT referring to the current visual design ).

And why would any label/band/artist pay Apple, if they can get a much better service -- for free?

[DCW]

Originally Posted by theblue1

I sort of wish there was a forum there so we could get a sense of how current users are feeling about it.

Yes, I agree -- I think the addition of an on-site forum would be very helpful and very much in-keeping with what I see (hopefully) as the collective/cooperative the spirit of the idea.

[author]

Originally Posted by DCW

Yes, I agree -- I think the addition of an on-site forum would be very helpful and very much in-keeping with what I see (hopefully) as the collective/cooperative the spirit of the idea.

I think we should remember that this is a site for people who BUY music. Discussions like this belong in forums for musicians and labels, IMO.

[DCW]

Originally Posted by author

I think we should remember that this is a site for people who BUY music. Discussions like this belong in forums for musicians and labels, IMO.

Well, it's a site for people who buy music and a site for people who sell it (us musicians). And that seems to me jusitification for it being in the music business section (although the subject obviously does "cross over" to other forums).

Anyway, one way or another, it's good that the subject is being discussed.

[DCW]

Originally Posted by Jason@GetItOut

The audience and exposure on Hot Rhythms is obviously un-comparable to large music stores such as iTunes & Amazon but the average independent music release on stores like iTunes can only be found when searched for. In most cases, independent music makers have to tell their fanbase where to get their music from, usually via their website or myspace page. We believe that if your telling people where to get your music from anyway, Hot Rhythms has no disadvantage other than brand awareness.

Jason

But brand awareness is a big advantage. Suppose you are telling people (on your website) where to get your music from -- the fact remains that if you are lucky enough to get your song played on the radio, and thousands of people want to get a copy, they are (I think) likely to assume that they will be able to download the song from iTunes etc -- and that's where they look first (having never even heard of HotRhythms). Some of them might then assume that it isn't available as a download (at least not as a legal download). Others might try to search/google under your artist-name and thence get to your website and thence get to HotRhythms. I might be wrong, but that strikes me as a situation where lots of potential sales could be lost.

[DCW]

Originally Posted by author

And why would any label/band/artist pay Apple, if they can get a much better service -- for free?

But that's the thing, without the market profile (that Apple has and HotRhythms lacks) Apple offers a *much* better chance of actually selling your music. However "free" it is, without the market profile, HotRhytms offers little more advantage over selling your music direct from your own website, which many musicians are already doing.