Online Music Marketing: 43 Metrics & 7 Tools To Measure ROI

by Dexter Bryant Jr.

Using the Internet to market and promote your music is one of the most affordable ways to establish and build a following. The abundance of free tools and music-based social networks has made music marketing more accessible than ever for musicians around the globe. Rather than investing boatloads of cash into advertising, PR, and radio promotion, instead musicians invest their time. Through social networking and direct-to-fan engagement musicians can achieve remarkable results with online marketing.

The question that often comes up is how do you know if your online marketing is working? Also, how do you know where your marketing is the most effective?

ROI (“return on investment”) is a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. In the case of music marketing online, your time is your main investment. Tracking the results of your music marketing efforts online is crucial to figuring out where your time is being wasted and where it is best spent so that you can amend your actions accordingly.

Below I have listed 43 metrics for measuring ROI and 7 tools to measure with.

Metrics:

1. Number of subscribers on your mailing list
2. Twitter followers
3. Friends/fans on TheSixtyOne.com
4. YouTube channel subscribers
5. YouTube plays
6. YouTube uploads of your songs by other users
7. We Are Hunted chart positions of your songs
8. Blog mentions or reviews of your music
9. Backlinks (blogs and websites linking to your website or blog)
10. Mixtape/album downloads
11. Individual track downloads
12. P2P downloads and sharing of your music
13. BitTorrent downloads, seeds, and sharing of your music
14. Last.fm plays
15. Last.fm friends
16. PureVolume friends
17. PureVolume plays
18. Facebook fans
19. Twitter plays through twiturm.com or twt.fm
20. Plays and listeners on blip.fm
21. Plays on podcasts
22. Plays on Internet radio stations
23. Use of your music by DJs in podcasts, online radio, & in night clubs
24. Your songs featured on digital mixtapes by well-known DJs
25. Online plays streamed longer than 30 seconds (on various music social networks)
26. International audience: number of countries where people are engaging with your content (plays, downloads, reads, shares, subscriptions, etc)
27. ReTweets of your content (songs, mixtapes, articles)
28. 100+ concentration of fans in a specific region (touring becomes viable in that region)
29. Eventful.com Demand stats
30. Digital singles sales
31. Album sales
32. Remixes of your music
33. Attendance figures for live concerts broadcast on ustream.TV or similar networks
34. Attendance figures for concerts offline
35. Number of credible professionals in entertainment, journalism, marketing, and other related industries who support your music (maintain a collection of quotes from these individuals)
36. Customer and client testimonials
37. Comments about your music on multiple social networks (positive or negative)
38. Myspace plays, profile views, and friends
39. Plays, reviews, and fans on http://www.jamendo.com
40. Fans, plays, and chart positions on Soundclick.com
via Brian Hazard:
41. Your website’s Alexa ranking
42. Monthly unique visitors to your website
43. Number of subscribers to your site’s RSS feed

Use these web 2.0 tools to measure social engagement, identify fans, find hot markets, and gauge your band’s online presence and popularity:

1. Music Xray - http://www.musicxray.com/
2. Band Metrics - http://bandmetrics.com/
3. Next Big Sound – http://nextbigsound.com/
4. RockDex – http://rockdex.com/
5. Topsy – http://topsy.com/
6. Backtype – http://www.backtype.com/
7. Trendrr – http://www.trendrr.com/

About the author:

Dexter Bryant Jr [d.BRYJ] is the hippie tribe's favorite producer+songwriter of dance rock and electro crunk music. As a digital branding consultant Dexter helps brands and bands strategically plan and manage their online presence. Dexter is the Digital Marketing Director of Dynasty Music Entertainment and d.BRYJ Music. Dexter blogs about music and business @ http://hitmusicacademy.wordpress.com/

http://www.artistshousemusic.org/articles/online+music+marketing+38+metrics+and+7+tools+to+measure+roi

http://www.knowthemusicbiz.com/index.php/D.I.Y.-Tips/Digital-Solutions/Online-Music-Marketing-38-Metrics-and-7-Tools-To-Measure-ROI.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/25347523/Online-Music-Marketing-38-Metrics-and-7-Tools-To-Measure-ROI

http://hitmusicacademy.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/online-music-marketing-measure-roi/

http://www.musicthinktank.com/mtt-open/online-music-marketing-38-metrics-and-7-tools-to-measure-roi.html

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
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Digital Branding With Music & Mobile Apps

by Dexter Bryant Jr.

Music-based mobile apps are one of the most powerful tools in a musician’s digital marketing arsenal. Apps are a hot commodity with customers, especially the gen-Y market. Beyond that, apps provide an avenue for deeper engagement with your audience.

In order to maximize your potential for connecting with audiences, your app must be user-friendly and addictive. You do that by providing value to users. Make it simple to use and allow opt-in subscriptions for your podcast(s). Subscribers get new podcast episodes forwarded directly to their phone.

Your mobile app should also include additional features that are engaging and addictive for users. These features will add entertainment value to your app if executed properly. Make some app features default and others opt-in so users can customize their experience and dictate their level of engagement with your app.

Ideas for app features:

• Music biz news feed (RSS)
• Twitter feed
• Blog/website feed (RSS)
• A rhythm game like Tap Tap Revenge that showcases your music
• A search engine for streaming your music
• Video feeds for web concerts (on ustream.TV and other digital networks), video blog updates, behind-the-scenes footage, music videos, and anime mini-series
• MP3 feed of your latest songs and mixtapes

Allow users to comment on your app content from their phone via Twitter. Facilitate sharing (and comments) to your social media pages (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc). Invite users to live chats with your band members through Skype and other networks.

Don’t stop there though. Give users access to your entire multimedia library of original content. Let them search and download your mp3s, e-books, and other content directly to their phone. But please DO NOT skip over optimizing all content for mobile phone use, otherwise your files will be too large and the user experience will be poor. Get the user experience wrong and people will use your app once and never return.

Free vs Premium
Marketing through mobile apps takes you direct-to-fan and connects you with your audience. It’s your choice whether to sell your app but keep in mind that more users with your app means more people with access to your music. I personally recommend offering a free app in addition to a premium version with value-added features and content.

Even when downloaded there’s no guarantee that your app will be used or your music listened to. But if your app provides value and is engaging for your users, there’s a good chance that your music will get heard.

Links with more information on how to create a great mobile app for your music:
5 Ways To Create An Engaging Artist/Musician iPhone App
Ten Most Popular Artist/Musician iPhone App Strategies Reviewed

About the author:

Dexter Bryant Jr [d.BRYJ] is the hippie tribe's favorite producer+songwriter of dance rock and electro crunk music. As a digital branding consultant Dexter helps brands and bands strategically plan and manage their online presence. Dexter is the Digital Marketing Director of Dynasty Music Entertainment and d.BRYJ Music. Dexter blogs about music and business @ http://hitmusicacademy.wordpress.com/

http://blog.discmakers.com/2010/03/digital-branding-with-music-mobile-apps/

http://www.artistshousemusic.org/articles/digital+branding+with+music+mobile+apps

http://www.knowthemusicbiz.com/index.php/D.I.Y.-Tips/Digital-Solutions/Digital-Branding-With-Music-&-Mobile-Apps.html

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group