From June ‘til mid-August, I had the extreme fortune of working at one of the music industry’s hottest startups, Topspin Media in Santa Monica. While it was obvious from the beginning that the company is filled with smart—no, brilliant—people, I couldn’t have foreseen how much I’d actually learn from those smart individuals. From day one, when Ty made me scan dozens of contracts to include in the Salesforce database, to the last weeks when I created and supervised marketing plans and campaigns for artists from Counting Crows to The Harters, I was constantly pushed to my creative limits. And, along the way, I learned a ton about the Topspin tools and general marketing tactics in the music business. I thought I’d take a moment to talk about some of the key learnings from being surrounded by the awesome Topspin family for three months.

It’s About The Music, Stupid

We can talk until we’re blue in the face about how artists should be using facebook, myspace, last.fm, immem or what-have-you to connect with fans (which is all true), but if the music sucks, none of that is going to matter. I won’t mention the artists we weren’t crazy about (and therefore had dismal sales), but we can look at Fanfarlo, who is on the opposite end of that spectrum (and whom I also blogged about previously). They came up with the great idea of selling their latest full-length LP for $1 for 1 month. They sold well over 10,000 copies by the end of the campaign and generated tons of buzz on twitter and music blogs for their stunt. But what do you think was the common thread running throughout all the buzz, aside from the face that it was 14 tracks for $1? The music was good! Simon’s voice is an instant classic and the instrumentation and arrangements are nothing short of solid. If the music sucked, a few hundred people would drop the $1, tell their friends how much they hated the album and nobody else would bother. It’s easy to generate buzz around a good story and great music, but it’s impossible to generate buzz around crappy music and a bad (or nonexistent) story. Which leads me to my next point…

Story is Key

I feel like I shouldn’t have to mention this, but way too many bands don’t realize the importance of a good story in selling music. They’re not going to be able to just put up an album (even if it’s great) for $8-10 and expect it to sell. Fanfarlo’s story was that they just want people to hear their music so they’re selling it for $1 for 1 month. The Harters want you to join their “family” to get access to some free goodies (it’s a country music thing). Big Kenny is a hippie and wants to do good deeds to improve mankind. (His upcoming release is going to be awesome, by the way!) No matter how good the music is, there has to be a compelling story to set your music apart. Whether it be a great deal, a sense of community, the concept of using music to impact people’s lives or even just an endorsement from a friend of the band, fans need a compelling reason to drop their hard earned dough on your new album. Amanda Palmer has shown us the power of community and designing “stunts” to generate buzz around concerts or lazy Friday nights on twitter; and she knows how to turn those stunts and stories into dollars.

The Power of Marketing Lies in Analytics

I’m not exactly a seasoned marketer, so excuse me if this seems obvious. I realize that metrics and analytics in the marketing setting have been around for quite a while, even on the internet, but we now have the ability to track clicks and views easier than ever. First of all, your website must have Google analytics these days, and you should also use their Google Analytics URL Builder when including URL’s in emails or Topspin widgets. These simple additions will unlock an entirely new world of analytics and data tracking you probably never knew existed. (For free!) You can even track the value of your average visitor based on how much business has been transacted on your website. I believe that Topspin’s analytics tools will get even better in the coming years and will be a crucial differential advantage in their favor. And once a real developer community is built around their platform via API’s, the true strength of their platform will really shine.

These may seem like three simple concepts, but implementation is key. Don’t let anyone tell you how you should be using twitter, facebook, myspace or anything else. There are numerous ways all of those networks can be used. Use them as tools in your arsenal to connect with your fans, tell your story, and if the music is good, success will be yours.

On a personal note, I must thank the great folks at Topspin for providing me with such great experience this summer. The internship far exceeded any prior expectations I had.