Pictured (l-r): ASCAP's Erik Philbrook, D.A. Wallach, Ian Rogers, Jared Leto and Kendel Ratley
The Digital Frontier: New Ways to Market Your Music & Engage Your Fans panel included panelists from ground-breaking companies including Spotify, Topspin & Kickstarter.
D.A. Wallach, Spotify's resident artist and the lead vocalist of indie pop band Chester French, was asked about new marketing trends in the music industry. In response, he indicated that there are numerous platforms out there right now to market your music, ranging from Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc., but the biggest marketing challenge in the music industry is to "give people art that they care about or that they care to talk about" in a world where there are so many independent artists and musical options. Chester French's controversial new song and video about interracial love, entitled "Black Girls," received more hits in three hours than any of their previous songs.
Another panelist, Ian Rogers (CEO of Topspin Media), elaborated on the same point. He stated that no matter what marketing platform you use, because there are so many in this new digital music industry, the two keys to being successful are to catch interest and then maximize the amount of money you make off your fans. In terms of maximizing revenue as an artist, you've made a mistake if you only sold a fan a 99 cent download when they would have also bought a $15 t-shirt from you at the same time.
