Topspin™

The future of the music industry is hard. No one does it for you. No limos, no fancy dinners, and (almost) no million dollar marketing budgets after a bidding war over your 3-song demo tape. So what next? Will Topspin ride into LA, London, Nashville, and New York to save this industry? No – we won’t, but some of you will. Topspin’s direct-to-fan marketing, management, and distribution technology just sits there until someone uses it. For the last year or so, the Topspin Artist Service team have been the expert pilots. As of Wednesday, June 3rd 2009, that begins to change after our first class of Topspin Certified marketers and web designers left the building after an intense residency with expert Topspin trainer Adam Bates (Thanks, Adam!).

So yes – the future is hard – but fortunately we are lucky enough to have some amazing (and hearty) managers, marketers, and web designers helping us all grind our way forward. Our goal is to find and train as many of you as we can both via our residency programs and through the Berklee.com certification course “Marketing your Music with Topspin” starting 9/28/2009. As the first crew of Topspin certified users trained last week will tell you, 75% of our training had nothing to do with using the app. It’s marketing in this new world that is hard. Topspin’s app simply makes executing easy and efficient. So many thanks to all of you early believers. We will keep writing code, testing new ways to create demand for your music, and educating in every way we can. You need to do the rest or, if you need help with marketing or web development, hire one of the Topspin’s certified marketers and developers.

The Topspin Class of June 2009 is
(Top Row Left to Right)
Justin Travis, Topspin Intern from Berklee College of Music, Marketer
Patrick Woodward, Topspin Intern from Pepperdine MBA Program, Marketer
Bob Cahill, Partner, Bigger Picture Group Nashville, Management
Parker Todd Brooks, Principal, We Are Everywhere LA, Web Developer
Jay Coyle, Principal, Music Geek Management Nashville, Marketer
Kami Knake, Topspin Artist Relations Nashville, Marketer
“La Professora” Adam Bates phD2F, Director, Topspin Artist Services NY
(Bottom Row Left to Right)
James Lamberti, Vice President, Topspin Artist Services San Francisco
Nicole Fields,Topspin Artist Relations Boston/NYC, Marketer
Jason Feinberg, President, On Target Media Group LA, Marketer
Mike Nelson, Two Minutes for Music Toronto, Management

It’s hard to believe I am only 100 days into my gig at Topspin. When I mentioned that anniversary to Ian Rogers recently and told him it felt more like 3 years, he replied “Good, that means we’re getting our money’s worth.” We’re both getting our money’s worth actually. I have the best job on the planet (or to borrow some legalese from entertainment lawyers circa 1991, the best job “in the universe”). After gathering data from 100,000+ transactions across 50 artists big and small, brilliant marketers, analysts, and web designers like Gary Brotman, Adam Bates, and Peter Brambl (in marketing, analyst and web designer order) on the Topspin Artist Service team have actually applied that learning in real time to bands like Beck, Jimmy Eat World, Metric and Beastie Boys. In just 100 days, the Topspin Artist service team has learned and applied an incredible amount of knowledge about marketing music in the 21^st century for artists of all sizes. To estimate the difference between best practices execution on the Topspin platform and simply slapping buy buttons on your web site, enter your data below. We can’t name names, but we’ve seen artists either totally ignore or totally embrace best practices. The difference in revenue is ridiculous and we have hard data to back it up. Check it out and share it with your music industry friends.

Here’s the embed code!

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I realize this bold opening paragraph begs many questions. Two that come to mind are “who are these Artist Service people?” and “what exactly did they learn?” Fair enough. We owe you more than the hollow hyperbole that often fills the blogosphere. So before you call bullshit - an oath. I hereby solemnly swear to add a second loud Topspin voice to the music community to answer and expand on these questions (and others) over time. My voice will be different mind you. (Not to mention any names, but the world of music doesn’t need another irreverent, punk rock loving, skate boarding, CEO of a much hyped music start-up adding to the chorus.) My voice will be filled with data. Lots and lots of data. It’s flowing in people and we need somewhere to put it. Why not in the hands of artists and their managers, labels, marketers, and web designers?

So who are these Topspin Artist Services folks anyway? Many theories are out there, most are incorrect. Allow me to clarify. We’re here to discover new ways to create demand for our artists, immortalize this knowledge in the Topspin app, then educate and train our partners on how to apply it. One theory I want to dismiss quickly. We are not a marketing services company. In fact, the word “partners” in the previous sentence encompasses marketers of all flavors – independents and in-house teams with managers and labels. We want to train you on our software and ideate with you on how to kill it in the direct-to-fan space. Said another way, we are not your competition. ‘Nuff said.

I will end my virgin Topspin blog with one challenge and one promise. The challenge - we all need to help our artists execute with excellence in the direct-to-fan space. The business of music is much better for fans and artists when we are thoughtful and focused in this channel. The promise – we will share more data on best practices over the coming months and years via this blog and the Topspin Green Room. Join us there please and join the conversation.