Well, spring is creeping around the bend and that can only mean one thing: SXSW IS HERE!

That’s right, once again the FanMail team has made the long, arduous journey to the center of the Lone-Star State for that one of kind event that brings the best brightest minds in interactive marketing, film, and (of course) music together for ten days of learning, drinking, and fun in the gorgeous city of Austin.

Throughout the event, David, Josh, and I will be keeping you up-to-date on all the new technologies and ideas we find intriguing (not to mention all the trouble we will inevitably get ourselves into–I’m looking at you Josh–I swear, we really can’t ourselves anywhere without having a good time).

Also, if you are in Austin and have a party you’d like to invite us to or know of a show/film/panel that cannot be missed, simply tweet the details and include the #fancentric hash-tag. Oh, and speaking of Twitter, be sure to follow us, @fancentric, to get the dirty on what we are getting into as it happens.

Yes, I went and yes it was bad ass.

Granted we grew up on these movies and as a 9 year old, the Millennium Falcon was one of my most prized possessions, but the thrill these days is in the experience. The full orchestra, massive HD screens and a well coordinated narration through the saga is a must see event.

Needless to say, FanMail is really excited to be supporting this through our clients Another Planet Entertainment as it travels the world. Check out the tour dates, take the family and be ready to experience a really one of a kind concert event.

Just a heads up that today is the last day to use the SXSW panel picker to choose which panels you might want to see. Take 2 seconds and give the FanCentric Future panel a vote: http://tinyurl.com/lec5mh

For those who missed it last year... check out the overview and the slide deck.

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On October 14th we will be joined by our client Road Runner Records in the Media & Entertainment Solutions Showcase at ExactTarget Connections 09 in Indianapolis. This is the largest direct marketing conference in the world and is a super valuable and insightful event for any direct or interactive marketer. If you are going be there, hit us up so that we can hang out.

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On October 19th, The A2IM will be presenting a Tech Day for their members prior to CMJ. We have been asked to participate on the panel discussing direct and email marketing. If you are an A2IM member and going to be in NYC for CMJ, check out this event and hit me up to hang out.

In their words:

Hosted by the A2IM New Media Committee, this Tech Day will feature presentations and question & answer sessions on the topics of Email Marketing and Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) Marketing.  It will be our 3rd such event and the two previous have been very informative and no doubt benefited the members who attended.

Following Tech Day, A2IM will host a Cocktail Party starting at 6pm and open to all members.  Last February’s pre-Digital Music Forum: East and last October’s pre-CMJ Tech Day and Cocktail Party were both great successes with over 70 attendees at each Tech Day and over 130 attendees at each Cocktail Party.

FanMail client, C3 Presents produces Lollapalooza and many other festivals and events and is considered among the best in the concert promotion business. Check out the line-up for this year’s Lollapalooza! FanMail client, STS9 is playing along with some of the biggest names in live music.  The venue is terrific and the line-up this year is top-notch.
Last year saw new ideas in audience engagement and I can’t wait to see what happens this go around. Guaranteed to be a great event.
See you in Chicago!

We are thrilled to see our client’s Another Planet Entertainment and Superfly Presents announce their line-up for the 2nd Annual Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco. Last year was such a blast, we just can’t wait to go again.

Thanks so much for those who attended our Fan-Centric Future presentation during SXSW and to Jeff Rohrs, Josh York, Josiah Kaiser, SuzAnn Brantner, Ian Rogers, Sarah McGoldrick, Jeff Kreinik and Jeremy Rosen who all contributed to helping make it a success. H

Here is the PPT slides from the event. Even without the audio from the presentation these slides tell a great story.

Well we made it.  The FanMail team has officially arrived on the scene in Austin for SXSW.  David has been down here for a couple days already, but Josh and I just got in last night.

We took it easy yesterday evening. We got dinner at Threadgills WHQ, the site of our Fan-Centric Future event Thursday, then dropped by the PureVolume party for a little while just to say “Hi” to the city.

Josh is playing golf right-now in the charity four-ball tournement while David and I are putting the finishing touches on the last little bit of work that we need to attend to before heading out to after noon meetings (events and parties).

Be sure to check back here through-out the week for updates from all three of us. Also, follow our wanderings on our personal Twitter feeds(David, Josiah, and Josh).  After our event, we will be posting video of the presentations here.

In the mean time, here is a calender of some the music that we are tracking this week. I know, I know, our job sucks.
Anyway, I am off to register. Have fun, wish you were here (if you are, contact me and let’s get a drink).

This time next week I will be in sunny Austin, Texas at South by South-West with a couple thousand of my closest friends from independent artists to record company moguls.  I know, my life is hard, but don’t worry about me.  I put myself through such suffering for you.  Fan marketing and FRM (fan relationship management) are not spectator sports. No, sir. In order for me to keep all of you up to date, I must be relentless in my quest to find out what people all over the music industry are up to, and how successful they are. Then, and only then, can I return triumphantly to you with the secrets that I have distilled from my tireless efforts. Besides, I hear there is going to be music there too.

Anyway, while I am away, I wanted to leave you with a little food for thought. The ESPC (Email Sender & Provider Coalition) has a Best Practices Guide available on there website that is a must read for anyone in music media marketing and digital marketing in general.  In addition to the Best Practices Guide, their website is full of interesting articles and documents that are worth a good look.

So, while you are patiently waiting for the last of the cold weather to go on back north and for spring to come, why not snuggle up close to your special someone with a bottle of wine and the latest in Best Practices? Ah, it’s like a scene right out of Shakespeare.

Oh, and before I forget, if you happen to be attending SXSW, check out our lunch symposium on the Fan-Centric Future.

Yup, it is SXSW time and we are thrilled to be returning to Austin for the music industry’s biggest party. Over the past year, I have had the fortune of hanging out in Austin quite a bit. Four trips in all to work with our friends at Front Gate Tickets and C3 Presents. These visits to Austin coupled with support from my friends Jeff Rohrs and Jeff Kreinik inspired me to do something a little bit different this year. On Thursday, March 19th we will be gathering some of the most progressive direct-to-fan marketers we know to talk about the work they are doing. The event will take place at Threadgill’s World Headquarters (which is where Janis Joplin was discovered by Chet Helms, fyi) and will include lunch and drinks. The program will be dished up in three acts from 11am-2pm: Act 1 will present the”fan’s rule” philosophy. Act 2 (this is the juicy stuff) will present case studies and interviews with:

Act 3 is general discussion and questions. We will be digging in and looking at the real challenges and progress music marketers are making in Fan CRM, direct-to-fan marketing, social networking and message channels. For example, our friend Jeremy Rosen will be talking about how Roadrunner Records is driving their new label model with social networking and fan-focused marketing automation. Ian Rogers will talk about Topspin and the enormous success they are seeing by helping artists connect directly with their fans. Jeff from Front Gate Tickets will show off the tools they are building for their clients that help them understand and target live music fans and Sarah from C3 Presents will detail the work she has been doing for Stubb’s, Emo’s and the other venues they work with. To top it all off, our friend SuzAnn Brantner from William Morris Agency will be laying out the future of direct-to-fan marketing for artists and managers. Below is more information and a way to RSVP. People who RSVP will receive a final confirmation email a couple of day before the event. We hope to see you there! If you can’t make it by Threadgills on Thursday but still want to catch up follow me on twitter, send me an email (david@fanmailmarketing.com) or come by the panel “Fan Based Marketing” on Saturday 3:00pm which I will be a part of. Thanks,

David DeVore FMGM

As many of our long-time-clients know, we are a service-focused company who will drop just about anything to take care of our clients. We measure our success by the success of our customers and project our growth based on the quality of our clients over the quantity. By every measurement, 2008 was an outstanding year for us, and 2009 is shaping up to be even better. Here are some of the things we are particularly proud to have been a part of in 2008:

• We were fortunate to have been involved in inaugural festivals Outside Lands and <>Rothbury as they broke on to the American music scene, and we continued to service established events like 10klf, Jam Cruise, >Langerado, High Sierra Music Festival, Wakarusa, Gathering of the Vibes and Reggae Rising.
• FanMail became a preferred vendor for William Morris Agency to help them consult with their clients on digital marketing and Fan Relationship Management (FRM) strategy and software.
• The Dandy Warhols released “Earth to the Dandy >Warhols” on the Topspin platform with FanMail providing the fan communication structure. In addition, we helped The Dandy’s bring their Mis Amigos remix widget to the web. Umphrey’s McGee launched the Mantis pre-order and widget. Sightly Stoopid, Pepper, STS9, Count Bass D and labels like Astonish Records and SCI Fidelity Records continued to push tours, releases and creative marketing techniques.
• In the fall of 2008, FanMail and Headcount helped register more than 15,000 voters. In addition, we have helped our clients the Rex Foundation, The Bill Graham Foundation, Rock the Earth and The Conscious Alliance to make the world a better place with music and community.
• Our web and retail clients continue to grow with the addition of Cartfly.com and Amiestreet.com. Our partner JamBase.com launched their Iphone app this past fall and has syndicating tour dates to Jango, Rhapsody, AOL and others. In October of 2008, we showed off the Google Ad Manager integration which JamBase had been pushing as a beta with >FanMail and ExactTarget.
• Our new partnership with Front Gate Tickets has brought us into working and consulting with C3 Presents and Stubbs in Austin. In addition, we have started helping Front Gate Tickets build out new and improved marketing tools for promoters, venues and festivals.

Whew… that is a lot to cover in a year! 2009 doesn’t show any signs of slowing down as we welcome new clients Amie Street and Road Runner Records to our roster. Both of these organizations are at the top of their game, and we are really looking forward to pushing some outstanding marketing programs and innovations in the next year. In addition, we have begun working on projects for the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Lexington, KY. If you think it is all about horses, you are wrong. The music and entertainment schedule is going to be equally impressive.

We have a ton of new capabilities and tools which we are going to be rolling out with our clients in 2009. Here are our favorites:

• AIM: Automated Interaction Management: Yeah, big stuff! Basically, it provides the tools for automating marketing programs. Birthday clubs here we come.
• AMPscripting, Data Extensions: Integration, integration, integration!
• Measures: flexible tracking features which drill into both subscriber attributes and behavioral attributes/history
• SMS automation and “Text Collect” programs
• Inbox Preview, Enhanced Tracking and 3Sixty
• Landing Pages and Smart Collect

In 2009, we will attend a number of events and conferences and hope to hook up with everyone there. In January, we will be at CIC in LA and a string of meetings in New York City. In March, we are at SXSW. Watch out! With clients C3 Presents and Front Gate Tickets bringing the best that Austin has to offer, we have decided to take it up a notch. On Thursday, March 19, we will be presenting the inaugural Fan-centric Future Forum at Threadgills in Austin. Lunch will be followed by presentations and interviews showing off what some choice organizations are doing to promote a more fan-centric future in their marketing and business. Keep an eye out as we announce the presenters. Invitations will be going out for this in the next few weeks. If you want to make sure you are on the list drop us a line. Thanks so much to all of our great clients, partners, and account management team. I couldn’t be more proud to be involved with such a great group of people. Looking forward to a stellar 2009!

David DeVore FanMail GM