Copyright Law

Grooveshark ?Artists!? Gives Bands the Power of Promotion

By soulxtc

Let’s you start a pay-per-click promotional campaign that serves up desired tracks to fans with similar music taste.

We all know how much the Internet has changed the music industry landscape by enabling digital distribution, and how it has empowered artists to take back power once reserved for record labels, but a precise mechanism for artists to promote their music is often illusory.

Enter Grooveshark’s new “Artists!” service that allows bands to create campaigns that insert preselected tracks into a average Grooveshark user’s autoplay session after a similar sounding artist, which you also predetermine, is played.

For example, if a user listened to “The Food” by Common and then started an autoplay session, if you, as an artist, added Common as one of the artists your sound is similar too, then one of your uploaded tracks would then follow his in a users playlist listening to Common.

“This enables your music to not only be heard, but to be heard by people already predisposed to enjoying your genre of music,” reads the site. “You’ll be able to tell which songs users liked the most, which they didn’t like, and how many people added the songs to playlists.”

Grooveshark “Artists!” also notes that it’s crucial to select a truly similar sounding artists or otherwise your track will be “frowned” out of circulation.

“It is absolutely necessary to pick similar sounding artists to ensure that you’re marketing your songs to fans who enjoy your brand of music,” it adds.

So don’t try passing yourself off as the next Rolling Stones if you sound more like the Kidney Stones.

Now the price isn’t entirely cost prohibitive, ranging from $20 bucks for 125 plays to $2,500 for 50,000. The price is even more palatable if you consider the fact that you have complete control over your music and you can reach fans without greedy record execs to keep an eye on.

It also has a detailed analytics page for artists to track their campaigns on, with count meters for daily plays and listeners.

All in all, Grooveshark “Artists!” is a great tool for artists to promote their music and gain exposure. Sure there’s plenty of free methods of doing the same, but none seem as straightforward as this, nor do they let your work follow the likes of similar artists like Mos Def or whomever the case may be.

CHECK OUT GROOVESHARK ARTISTS

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on March 30, 2009 (boomark / email).