• Musictoday is a direct-to-fan marketing and e-commerce company operating out of Charlottesville, VA that works with over 500 independent and major-label artists• Evolved from the infrastructure that broke the Dave Matthews Band• Over 3 million direct transactions with passionate music lovers every year• Developed cutting edge and flexible fan integrated technology solutions across ecommerce, ticketing and fan club

Musictoday. That’s where the action is, in the direct link between artist and fan. – Bob Lefsetz – July 7th, 2008

Meanwhile, Warped had its strongest Internet pre-sale ever, up 48%, from 24,000 to over 35,000 this year, Lyman says, attributing the increase to a more coordinated digital marketing effort. – Billboard.com April 30th, 2009

The Importance of Social Networks in Music Marketing

• Social networks are one of many ways for us to communicate and interact with our client’s fans

•2-way communication – fans can take a message and spread it easily to other fans, and even give immediate feedback on an offer

• More personal fan-band interaction

• Each social network represents a different sub-set of fans who may react differently to any given offer

• Many fans may be only connected to a band via a specific social network and by nothing else

•The key to social media success – influence and engagement

The Importance of Social Networks in Music Marketing

• In 2008, 79.5 million people—41% of the US Internet user population—visited social network sites at least once a month, an 11% increase over the previous year

•Nielson Online reveals that member communities (e.g. social networks and blogs) have become more popular than email

• 93% of American consumers want brands on social media sites *

• 85% believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media *

•Source: http://www.coneinc.com/content1182

•During the first week of September, Facebook captured nearly 58% of visits in the social networking custom category

% of Musictoday Sales from Social Outlets

Facebook82%Myspace15%Twitter3%

August 2009

• Musictoday/Bravado artist Lady Gaga is the top female recording artist on Facebook

•Weekly product featured in Facebook stream

• Facebook = top traffic & revenue source for the Lady Gaga store in 2009

Musictoday’s Facebook App

• “Store” application on Facebook displays products

• Allows sharing or direct purchasing of each item

• Updates wall with new products

• Higher conversion rate on transactions within store environment

• Facebook Connect tool allows fan comments on sites and store pages

• Comments post back to each fans’ wall with link and artist branding

•livenation.com shows you who is going to each show

• Assists in gathering friends for an event

•One in five (20%) tweets posted on Twitter contains some type of inquiry or information about a specific product or service that is brand-related

•Businesses use micro-communication for brand awareness, brand knowledge and customer relationship. Individuals are using tweets to connect with the product

•Approximately six million active users daily and predictions of more than 20 million users by year end

•Source: Penn State University research team http://live.psu.edu/story/41446

0102030405060708090

Jan - July August

TwitterFacebookMyspace

Musictoday e-commerce conversion rates by social network -- Twitter grows 12%

Social Networking & Media

• Twitter allows immediate artist-to-fan interaction, and fan reaction

• Creates the opportunity for limited time offers

Fan:CAN MUSICTODAY TICKETING REALLY BE AS SAD AS THEY SEEM!?

Musictoday:@thecapitalC Yes&No :) Anything I can help with?

Fan:@Musictoday Yes! I have a ticketing question and NINTIX @ musictoday dot com never responded. Maybe you could answer it?

Musictoday:@thecapitalC maybe, what's the question?

Fan:@Musictoday Two friends and I bought tix to NIN|JA in Charlotte, NC. However, our seats are in completely different sections.

(various emails and offline interactions)

Fan:@musictoday Okay! Will do. Even though things didn't work out, thank you SO much for your help. I really appreciate it.

Customer Service on Twitter – An Example

Case Study: Vans Warped Tour 2009

• First of its kind Twitter promotion with twt.fm allowed fans to “tweet” songs from Vans Warped Tour bands to their followers

• Custom designed twt.fm/warped tour page helped increase Vans Warped Tour brand awareness

• Results: 11,292 songs tweeted

• 39k new followers

• Top Twitter Trending Topic

FacebookMyspaceTwitter

FacebookMyspaceTwitter

Musictoday store traffic by social network – Jan-July

Musictoday store traffic by social network – August

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Official Client Pages

• Text and/or Banner Links

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Official Client Pages

• Bulletins• Quick easy way to communicate with all fans

•Myspace version of an e-mail blast

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Official Client Pages

• Blog Posts

• Blog titles displayed on main artist page

• Good for timely promotion/individual projects

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Official Client Pages

• Events

• Artists can display ticket links and show info

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Myspace Community Marketing

• Community marketing on myspace can happen a # of different ways:

• Groups

• Discussion Board Topics

• Comments

• Upload banner images

• Fan-Created Pages

• Comments

• Create New Profiles

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Pay-Per-Click on Myspace

• PPC Banner ads on Myspace can be run via the Google Adwords Content Network or via Myspace’s brand new advertiser program• Works the same way as facebook and Google Adwords, target geographically, by artist, age, etc…

Entire Profile Redesign

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Ning is a social platform for the world’s interests and passions

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Founded in October 2005 by Marc Andreessen and Gina BianchiniHQ in Palo Alto, CA

Over 145 Employees

Over $120 Million in funding

Over 32 Million registered users

1 Million new registered users every 13 days

The leader in branded social networks online with over 1.4 Million social networks

4500 new social networks created every day

About Ning

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Ning: Blank Template

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Ning: LeRoiMoore.com

Ning: Pros vs Cons

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PROS:-Quick, easy and affordable way to build interactive multimedia sites-Built in media modules-Highly customizable templates-Built in web and media hosting-Upgrade services to remove adds/ branding-Upgrade domain pointing service-Member generated content-Flexible control of user permissions-Built in sharing and feed features-Integrated Google Analytics-Access to 3rd party plug in Apps-Public/ Private toggling

CONS:-A template is still a template-Shared hosting (we all fall down)-Site needs to be self policed-Limits on multimedia file size-Site must be social-Ning must exist for your site to exist

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Ning: Maintenance Page

-Very straight forward and simple to use with multiple skill level options

-Customizable layouts and site navigation

-Can be as simple as clicking and dragging or as technical as adding HTML and CSS

-HTML knowledge not required but is recommended

-Graphic design experience is needed to get the most customized look

Ning: LeRoiMoore.com – Fan Generated Content

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Photos ForumActivity

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Ning: 3rd party Apps

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Who is Ning for?

GoodCharlotte.com

Great solution for groups, organizations and businesses with small budgets, and/or want a very simple site to build and maintain with the latest web gadgets

For those who need:

- A < $10,000 site- Quick- Flexible- Easy- Highly Interactive

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Who is Ning NOT for?

DaveMatthewsBand.com

May not be the right fit for larger groups, organizations and businesses with the need and funding capabilities for a custom site.

Not for those who need:

-Ultimate site stability and security-Completely custom site design and layout-Site without social elements-More technical site and ecommerce needs