Release Notes: Code-Name “Decemberists”

[Standard disclaimer: Every week Topspin releases updates to its software platform. Each week we code-name the release after a band we love, in alphabetical order. This week's release is code-named "Decemberists" and as such this blog post is about a software release code-named the same.  Just hoping to clear up any confusion.  Any musical opinions expressed in this release announcement belong to Topspin's Tim Read and should not be taken as official Topspin opinions. Enjoy. -ian]

If you’re a fan of story-telling, narrative-style music, then you are a fan of the fan of the seven-piece force of nature the Decemberists – whether you know it or not.  The indie rockers from Portland, Oregon tell a story like no other band. Their back catalogue of five studio albums even includes two ‘concept’ albums, one of which (The Hazards of Love) is no less than a complete rock opera.

Last week, The Decemberists announced a new album for January 2011, called the King Is Dead. You can download a free track titled “Down By The Water” from their website www.thedecemberists.com. Check out some of their best songs:
Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect
Grace Cathedral Hill
16 Military Wives
The Legionnaire’s Lament
O Valencia
The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid

THE SOFTWARE

DIGITAL PACKAGES
What’s a digital package?
- It’s like a regular package in that it can contain digital audio, images, video and other files.
- Unlike a regular package, it can not contain packages, tickets, or merch.
- It cannot contain other packages.
- But it CAN be contained in a regular package
- Preliminary results indicate it has only a minor correlation to Sex Packets, but a full peer-reviewed study has not been published yet.

A digital package is also a precursor to the preorders function, which has hit QA. (I’d tease you with a screenshot but I think I might be reported for lascivious conduct, given how much people want that feature.)  Digital packages will be important when you are fulfilling instant grat and street date contents for preorders, but need the accounting to line up (and to prevent other problems from cropping up). They also might be useful should we need to go for an easier packages-with-digital-media-only validation.
Beyond the above list, they’re a full citizen of Catalog. Sell and give away at will! And stay tuned for preorders, coming soon to a computer screen near you…

SUPPORT TEMPLATE V1
We care deeply about customer service, but as the number of Topspin clients grows, the burden can become too heavy for even the sharpest Customer Support rep to handle.  There’s been too many paths into Support and no way to preempt the initial batch of complaints when something goes wrong – even if all that’s needed is to say that Earl at the warehouse spilled his burrito on the box of white t-shirts.  They need a faster, more efficient way to answer people’s questions.
Enter the Support Template.
Now, every Topspin artist account has a page that contains answers to the most commonly asked Support questions, linked to directly from a customer’s receipt.  Hooray!  This page should be the front line of defense against repetitive, redundant Customer Service queries.
And there’s more!  Account-holders can go to the Fan Support FAQs section on their Artist Settings page and add artist-specific FAQs. So for instance, if you’re running a large ticketing onsale, you can have quick answers to questions – “When will I get my tickets? Why do I need a fan club membership to access premium seats? Will the band autograph my baby sister?” – and preempt the first wave of questions.
And if Earl does spill his extra-cheezy quesadilla on the box of t-shirts, you can note that t-shirt shipments will be delayed by a week (and that Earl is barred from eating in the warehouse).

DE-FRAUDED (UNFRAUDED? MISFRAUDED? … NON-FRAUDULENT!) PURCHASE RESTRICTIONS
One of the biggest avenues for fraud was that we allowed purchases to be made in one country and shipped to another. As of this week, if you enter a shipping address, your billing address must be located in that same country. Another step forward.
Yes, this means you can’t send gifts across country lines.  Sorry.  Try giving cash instead…

MORE VIP-RELATED FIXES
- The VIP Access redemption flow now has an option to perform a cross-sell just like a Buy Button does. So when someone redeems their code for VIP Access, they can be directed towards a desired upsell target (a ticket onsale page, a members exclusive preorder, etc). It’s another great way to close the loop and make more sales, which is the point, right?
- Also, a patch went out this afternoon which changed some wording on the VIP flow – “log in” was not messaged clearly enough and has now been updated.
AND MORE…
- Some messaging, some OS updates, and more.