Today we’re excited to announce the first of several releases of an exciting new suite of features we’re calling Topspin “Sharealytics.” We’ve been working with our pals at the social analytics company Awe.sm on giving artists the ability track the spread of their marketing widgets across Facebook and Twitter, revealing the amount of traffic, signups and sales driven by fans who share your content online.

“Sharealytics” was created as a research and development project inside the Topspin Creative Services team. Parker, Nicole and Chris have been running prototype version of the feature for awhile, and have seen sharing from Topspin widgets into Facebook and Twitter drive an additional 10 percent of the total traffic to artist campaigns. So now that we’ve put the chocolate into the peanut butter (incorporating the awe.sm analytics platform with Topspin’s direct marketing and commerce tools) we’re happy to start delivering real, actionable data to artists on the effectiveness of social campaigns and the power of fan evangelism.

Here is Ian’s quote from the official press release:

“We’re excited that Topspin now shows artists just how powerful fan sharing on Facebook and Twitter can be,” said Ian Rogers, CEO of Topspin. “Before now, users had no way to quantify a share on Twitter or Facebook. Now, Topspin allows users to see the number of shares, the amount of traffic created by those shares and the number of new fans acquired from the shares. You can see if Facebook is more effective for you, or if your time is better spent on Twitter. Over the coming weeks, we’ll add the ability to track the direct sales driven by a Tweet, an e-mail or a Facebook post. No more guessing about the effectiveness of social sharing and direct marketing — it is time to measure social campaigns in dollars and fans.”

Here’s how it works, starting today:

First, make sure you have a Topspin account. Then email artistsupport@topspinmedia.com and let them know you’d like Sharealytics enabled in your account. Next, publish streaming players, email-for-media widgets (give your email, get a free download) and purchase offers, and encourage your fans to share them into Facebook and Twitter. On the details page for each widget, you’ll notice the Sharealytics graph, which shows the following metrics (displayed on separate lines for Facebook & Twitter):

Shares: The total number of times fans shared the widget, per day
Clicks: The total number of clicks to your offer (streaming player widgets and purchase buttons) or email submissions (email-for-media widget), per day
Clicks-Per-Share: Daily clicks divided by daily shares. Stated plainly, this metric show you how many additional clicks you get on your offer when fans share it out to their friends online. We’ve already seen clicks-per-share numbers as high as 5.99 on E4M campaigns in Facebook, so it’s clear social sharing works, and results in more fans on your mailing list and more eyeballs on your offers.

By the end of February, we’ll be showing you the total number of email signups driven by sharing, the number of plays of your songs and videos that happen after shares, and most importantly, we’ll be showing you the real dollar figures driven by sharing… and the real sales dollars created when you send an email to your fans… even the sales created from a single Tweet or Facebook post.

It’s about time artists had real data about the effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter with regard to their online businesses. And it’s time we all as marketers start measuring social campaigns in dollars and fans. No more guessing, no more vanity metrics. Introducing “Sharealytics” — let’s get started!

Thumbs up for rock-’n'-roll,
-bob
@bobmoz

MIDEM asked me to host “Visionary Monday” this year, a day of talks and panels focused on engaging artists in the new music business. It’s an incredible day kicking of with Saatchi & Saatchi’s CEO Kevin Roberts, continuing with artists Paul Van Dyk, Zoe Keating, and Mark Ronson, Dan Rose of Facebook, and some brand new research being released by both the Future of Music Coalition and TechDirt’s Mike Masnick.

If you’re here at MIDEM in Cannes, France, join us in Auditorium Debussy at the Palais. Kevin Roberts from Saatchi & Saatchi starts at 10am local time.

If you’re not in Cannes, please tune in live online here at LiveStream. It all starts at 10am here in Cannes which is 1am PT or 4am ET (adjust accordingly for where you are).

Follow @midem on Twitter for more info and updates.

And don’t forget about our meetup tonight at 6:30pm at Au Bureau, 49 Rue Félix Fauré!

Thanks and see you there!

ian c rogers
Topspin

Thanks to all who showed their support for an open and innovative Internet last week.  Topspin is happy Congress has decided to pause SOPA/PIPA legislation and we’re hoping to be a part of helping to craft a solution which proactively combats piracy while preserving what makes the Internet the incredible invention it is.

For posterity, the letter we posted on our Web site last Wednesday is included here.

As you’ve seen via site blackouts across the Internet including sites such as Wikipedia and Google, your actions today can help shape the future of the Internet. Bills in front of the US House of Representatives (SOPA) and Senate (PIPA) aim to shut down overseas piracy sites. Unfortunately the original versions of these bills go far beyond that, opening the door to abuse of a different kind, from censorship to Internet security concerns to plain ‘ol axe-grinding and stifling of genuine innovation (imagine a world where big media companies could shut down the “threats” of Tumblr and WordPress in their early days and you’ll understand the fear). Thankfully groups ranging from The Future of Music Coalition to The White House have shined big bright lights on the bills’ faults and, with thoughtful and intelligent opposition by people like you, it looks like our elected officials will need to go back to the drawing board to find a solution which fights piracy while still allowing for an open and innovative Internet.

Topspin’s raison d’être is helping artists earn a living. 50% of what Topspin sells is easily-priated digital audio and video. We are as opposed to piracy as anyone at the RIAA. But as technologists we cannot support SOPA and PIPA. They do not achieve their stated purpose and create many other unintended problems. These bills are not the solution to our piracy concerns.

Topspin proudly stands among those opposing SOPA and PIPA and humbly asks you to take a few seconds to sign this petition, hosted by Google. Additionally, we encourage you to contact your representatives on the phone. It’s very easy and only takes a few minutes.

Thanks,
Ian C Rogers
CEO, Topspin

Hello from snowy Utah! Sundance 2012 is in full swing (the photo above is from the totally incredible Sixto Rodriguez doc “Searching For Sugar Man“) and Greg, Paul, Parker and I are in Park City, bringing Topspin Direct-To-Fan power to festival filmmakers. I really believe this is the year the indie film community embraces direct-to-fan as a core component of a modern film career. By way of example, check out On The Ice, who have a great-looking Topspin-powered preorder up now, with some killer products. There’s a lot more margin in these offers than there is in a Netflix stream!

In addition to meeting with lots of filmmakers, we’re also going to bring a little piece of the festival to you online today. At 11a Pacific we’re going to include a full stream of a great festival short film inside the Topspin Weekly Webcast. We’ll also be joined by Chris Horton from Sundance, who will talk about Sundance Artist Services.

If you’re in Park City, come see me in person on the The New Social Pollinators Panel at the Filmmaker’s Lodge at 4p today. Or head to the High West Distillery at 8:30a on Monday for the Sundance Artist Services forum. If neither of those events work in your busy schedule, hit me up on Twitter and we’ll chat over a hot chocolate or adult-type beverage. See you in the snow!

Thumbs up for rock-’n'-roll,
-bob
@bobmoz