So what are we going to do? Well, like the telephone and upc codes, the internet finally matured and needs more numbers. The plan is to go from a numbers system that only  has the capacity of 32 bits of data ( a seriers of four numbers with periods between them) to a system named IPv6 that could hold up to 128 bits of data.

So, don’t worry your innovative and tech savvy head. Get out your iPad and contact FanMail Marketing to find out more about the premier eMarketing company for the music vertical. We will be supplying dedicated and private IPs, among other great solutions until they run out…. if they ever really do.

When I speak of the devaluation of music, I am referring to recorded music. For a long time the music industry and the recorded music industry were mostly the same thing. Everything an artist did was a compliment to their current or upcoming release. Generating revenue by touring is nothing new, but back then, if you were a major label artist, touring was as much about selling records as it was selling tickets. You had to keep the record label happy.

Now, the recorded music industry is suffering, but the music industry lives on. Recorded music isn’t going away, but the amount of direct revenue that it generated is on indefinite hiatus.

Some artists defy the trends and still do well with their record sales. They are few and far between, and they usually either have massive appeal over a wide audience, or they have name recognition from the good old days when their major label still spent the equivalent of a small nation’s annual budget marketing their releases. Most artists these days don’t fall into that category.

People just don’t buy music like they used to. I’m not going to get into why. It’s not going to change anytime soon. The why doesn’t matter now. So I’m done having long painful discussions about the “why”. I want to talk about what’s next.

First, make peace with the new music consumer. Don’t waste your time cursing their existence or filing lawsuit after lawsuit. That is the old music business, and you don’t work there anymore. You work in the new music business.

Instead, figure out what you possess that does have value in the form of revenue. The live show. The live show still has great value. Even with the advent of live video streaming, the experience of seeing an artist live cannot presently be replaced. Publishing is another example. Performance rights and synchronization licensing are still very profitable areas, and in some cases, they expose an artist to an otherwise untouched audience.

Some artists give their music away in exchange for an email address. Some still charge $15 for a CD. It really is a case-by-case situation. For an adult contemporary artist who appeals to a middle age crowd, charging a standard amount probably makes sense. Their target audience is far more likely to attach value to recorded music and, therefore, far more likely to buy the album.

A younger, indie artist will probably find more value in making a connection with a fan than they would in charging for their music. They’re going to want to collect more information than money. The money comes later for them. It might come in the form of increased ticket sales. An email address collected in exchange for a free download can be used to directly communicate to their fans, informing them of upcoming tour dates and a link to buy tickets. Now the free music has potential, tangible, monetary value. The indie artist understands this. They’re part of the new music business.

Let me be clear. I despise illegal downloading of any intellectual property. But no matter how wrong it is no one has been able to stop it. So dwelling on the morality issue is of no use to me.

It is time to get past thinking of recorded music only as a product to be sold. What else can it do to generate revenue? That, I’m afraid, is up to you to figure out. And you will, because you’re creative and savvy. That’s why you are part of the new music business.

Egypt: مصر (Egypt) .eg and .masr

Saudi Arabia: السعودية (AlSaudiah)

United Arab Emirates: امارات (Emarat)

For more information and closing the language barrier vie email, go here.

Chadwick Martin Bailey - iModerate Research Technologies Study

Twitter followers are far more likely to buy or recommend a brand to others.  They’re 19% more likely to recommend a brand than a Facebook follower.  So, obviously Twitter is the superior marketing tool.  Or is it?

Facebook has far more users (over 400 million compared to Twitter’s 75 million), and is much more user-friendly.  It even looks non-threatening, like a little, social networking puppy.  Twitter’s #hash tags, on the other hand, are ugly little monsters.

But when you think about it, hash tags and retweets are part of what makes Twitter cool and different.  Twitter has always been the beautiful-on-the-inside social networking site.

Having an online presence on both sites can be beneficial in different ways.  Twitter is all about the simple text and/or link post.  Short, sweet, to the point.  Facebook has become a great place for many types of media, links and information to be posted.

Think about the strengths of each site to determine which one might be better for whatever content or message you’re posting.  If you want to share a new video, Facebook is going to allow you to post it straight to your profile, whereas with Twitter, you’ll have to provide a link to it.  If you want to let people know that you just posted dates for the new tour, then post it on both sites.  There are even applications out there that will allow you to post to both Twitter and Facebook in one post, like Twitter on Facebook.

No one approach is going to work for everyone.  Depending on your brand, your target market, and the content you’re posting, one site may be more effective than the other.  But the most important thing to understand is they’re both pieces of a holistic marketing approach.

Lala.com will be shutting down on May 31st, 2010 and are not accepting any new users.  Lala.com was a FanMail favorite place to buy, browse and stream music. Lala was acquired by Apple in December of 2009 and all lala accounts will be moved over to iTunes accounts. Along with lala’s clients, we hope that iTunes will aquire some of Lala’s music and streaming sensibilities.

R.I.P. Lala.com. You will be missed.,

your fans at FanMail Marketing

Facebook pulled an interesting marketing strategy  this week by replacing its “fan” buttons with “like” buttons. On the surface it seems like just a minor grammatical change, but the ramifications of this small action can be huge. According to Facebook, the reason for this change was a “part of [their] ongoing efforts to improve the user experience, increase engagement and promote consistency across Facebook, [they] are changing the language [they] use when people connect to [their] Brand Pages. People will soon connect with [their] Brand Pages by clicking “Like” rather than “Become a Fan.” People already “Like” their friends’ status updates, photos and links everyday. In fact, people click “Like” almost two times more than they click “Become a Fan” everyday”.

Will this plan actually work?

I am not convinced. One of the reasons social networking has become so popular is because it opens up brands to the consumer, allowing them to access ‘their’  brands on-demand. This can inspire more than just a “like” feeling, it creates a fan. This is what marketers have been trying to get their consumers to be: brand-loyal fans!  I can guarantee a “fan” will buy a band t-shirt, someone who just likes a band probably will not. While this new “liking” strategy may get more people to “like” a brand, I would like to point out that quality is way more important than quantity when it comes to social and email marketing campaigns. It is the fan, the super-loyal user, that will always click on your email and will always engage with your brand on social sites and will bring you the most return on your marketing investments.

And how do fans feel about this?! I think some of them feel a demotion in status from a FAN who attended every single one of band x’s tour dates last year and has band x’s tattoo, to someone who has been to just one show. Fans love being fans, they love the status and they are your most brand-loyal consumer. Engage them instead of losing them in the crowd.

Check out these great new additions to the FanMail Family:

We recently added Booka Shade a german electro-house duo. Watch out for their new website to launch soon.

San Francisco’s histsoric Bimbos 365 club. These guys always have great acts at their club.

Century Media Records has some amazing metal bands. Which I can’t help but love. Definitely sign up for their email list and check out their artists for your daily dose of metal.

The FanMail family is growing exponentially in both clients and followers. Keep your ear to the ground for the innovative tactics we come up with next.

Lollapolooza: Aug 6th-8th
Lolla just announced their line-up and it looks killer, as always. They even have a nifty “create your own line-up” feature on the site. Office Favorite, MGMT will be there and Erykah Badu (clothed). Sign up for their list for more neato details.

Lollapolooza

Austin City Limits: Oct 8th-10th
We all love Austin! From SXSW to Austin City Limits, we know that Austin can keep it weird and they know how to party! Like Outside Lands, they haven’t released their line-up yet but we know you won’t be disappointed. Last year included some great bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Them Crooked Vultures. Sign up for their email list to stay in the know!

Austin City Limits

High Sierra Music Festival: July 1st-4th
High Sierra Music Festival is always a great time. In addition to their amazing line-up, the Plumas-Sierra County Fairgrounds in Quincy, CA has opportunities to swim, bike, fish, golf and hike. Make sure to check out this video and sign up for their email list!

High Sierra Music Festival

Wanderlust Yoga and Music Festival: July 29th- Aug 1st
How awesome is this?! Listen to some great music and get your Yoga on in CA. Some great bands like our client, Pretty Lights. See their full music line-up here and their Yoga schedule here. Don’t forget to sign up for their awesome email list as well!

Wanderlust Yoga and Music Festival

Outside Lands: Aug 28th- 30th
Outside Lands has not released their line-up yet, but we included them on this list because we always enjoy ourselves at this festival! Golden Gate park where the festival is located is beautiful. Last year they featured big bands such as Pearl Jam and Modest Mouse. Sign up for their email list to receive the line-up first!

Outside Lands

So, get out there and enjoy some music!

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.