Direct-to-Fan
Encyclopedia
Direct-to-Fan is a business model used by independent musicians, independent music labels
, music marketing
professionals, promoters, and others in the music industry. Direct-to-Fan is also becoming a model used by the broad definition of artists, including comedian
s, visual artists, and other entertainers looking to build and leverage
a fan community throughout their career.
The Direct-to-Fan model bypasses the major record label model that historically controlled radio
, venue
, and distribution
channels, and lets the artist (or the team that supports that musician) create interest in their music directly with their fans
, identify those fans, market directly to and develop relationships with those fans, sell directly to and monetize those relationships, and use those relationships to expand their fan base.
Foundation components of this model include music discovery
sites, and Direct-to-Fan music sales
, marketing
, and business
solutions.
Direct-to-Fan models encourage engaging directly between the artist and their fans, keeping the fans engaged, knowing who they are (who, what, when, where, why), building the artist's brand
, and developing the artist-to-fan relationship
over time.
or MySpace
, Widget tools to embed sales, gig or event calendar
, profile
info anywhere including blogs, Marketing tools such as email marketing and messaging, Event
tools, Central Content Management
tools, and Central Catalog Management tools for both digital and physical products.
management, brand management
, sales, marketing, distribution, manufacturing, event management
, merchandizing, warehousing, fulfillment, and more, all from one dashboard
.
http://www.nimbit.com/mystore, MySpace
, blogs, etc.; Marketing solutions for email marketing, fan
capture, fan messaging, and fan management; Label
services including digital distribution
to iTunes
, Amazon
, and other retail sites, CD and DVD
manufacturing
, custom merch, print services, graphic design
and web services, warehousing and fulfilment, backend ecommerce and payment processing, and more.
Core applications that assist musicians in implementing a Direct-to-Fan approach include:
Companies that are delivering portions of the above Direct-to-Fan solution include:
Nimbit, Tunecore, FanBridge, CD Baby, Constant Contact, DiscRevolt, Reverb Nation, Topspin, Audiolife, Cafe Press, Bandzoogle, Sonicbids, D2Mondo, Pledgemusic
, Zazzle, get-ctrl, ticketscript
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
, music marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
professionals, promoters, and others in the music industry. Direct-to-Fan is also becoming a model used by the broad definition of artists, including comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
s, visual artists, and other entertainers looking to build and leverage
Leverage (negotiation)
In negotiation, leverage is the ability to influence the other side to move closer to one's negotiating position.Types of leverage include positive leverage, negative leverage, and normative leverage.-Normative Leverage:...
a fan community throughout their career.
The Direct-to-Fan model bypasses the major record label model that historically controlled radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, venue
Music venue
A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Typically, different types of venues host different genres of music...
, and distribution
Distribution (business)
Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing,...
channels, and lets the artist (or the team that supports that musician) create interest in their music directly with their fans
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
, identify those fans, market directly to and develop relationships with those fans, sell directly to and monetize those relationships, and use those relationships to expand their fan base.
Foundation components of this model include music discovery
Discovery (observation)
Discovery is the act of detecting something new, or something "old" that had been unknown. With reference to science and academic disciplines, discovery is the observation of new phenomena, new actions, or new events and providing new reasoning to explain the knowledge gathered through such...
sites, and Direct-to-Fan music sales
Sales
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....
, marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
, and business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
solutions.
Direct-to-Fan models encourage engaging directly between the artist and their fans, keeping the fans engaged, knowing who they are (who, what, when, where, why), building the artist's brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
, and developing the artist-to-fan relationship
Interpersonal relationship
An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...
over time.
Direct-to-fan tools
Some tools supporting Direct-to-Fan include: Storefronts to sell direct-to-fan on Band Websites and on social networking sites such as FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
or MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, Widget tools to embed sales, gig or event calendar
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
, profile
Profile
- Computing and technology :* Profile , a concept in Unified Modeling Language* Apple ProFile, a hard drive* User profile refers to the computer representation of user information...
info anywhere including blogs, Marketing tools such as email marketing and messaging, Event
Event planning
Event planning is the process of planning a festival, ceremony, competition, party, or convention. Event planning includes budgeting, establishing dates and alternate dates, selecting and reserving the event site, acquiring permits, and coordinating transportation and parking...
tools, Central Content Management
Content management
Content management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content...
tools, and Central Catalog Management tools for both digital and physical products.
Direct-to-fan sales, marketing, and business solutions
More complete, one-place-to-manage-everything Direct-to-Fan solutions are beginning to emerge. They help the artist's team with fanFan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
management, brand management
Brand management
Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand.The discipline of brand management was started at Procter & Gamble as a result of a famous memo by Neil H...
, sales, marketing, distribution, manufacturing, event management
Event management
Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of festivals, events and conferences.Event management involves studying the intricacies of the brand, identifying the target audience, devising the event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the...
, merchandizing, warehousing, fulfillment, and more, all from one dashboard
Dashboard
A dashboard is a control panel placed in front of the driver of an automobile, housing instrumentation and controls for operation of the vehicle....
.
Direct-to-fan solution example
An example of a Direct-to-Fan solution would have online storefronts for their official band websites, FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
http://www.nimbit.com/mystore, MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, blogs, etc.; Marketing solutions for email marketing, fan
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
capture, fan messaging, and fan management; Label
Label
A label is a piece of paper, polymer, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or article, on which is printed a legend, information concerning the product, addresses, etc. A label may also be printed directly on the container or article....
services including digital distribution
Digital distribution
Online distribution, digital distribution, or electronic software distribution is the practice of delivering content without the use of physical media, typically by downloading via the internet directly to a consumer's device. Online distribution bypasses conventional physical distribution media,...
to iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, Amazon
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
, and other retail sites, CD and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
, custom merch, print services, graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
and web services, warehousing and fulfilment, backend ecommerce and payment processing, and more.
Core applications that assist musicians in implementing a Direct-to-Fan approach include:
- Band website and storefronts
- CD/DVD manufacturing
- Digital music distribution
- Download cards
- E-Tickets & Mobile-Tickets
- Fan emailEmailElectronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
marketing and messaging - Fan marketing solutions
- MerchandiseMerchandisingMerchandising is the methods, practices, and operations used to promote and sustain certain categories of commercial activity. In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer...
- Music discovery
- Music festivalMusic festivalA music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
submissions - Payment processing
- Physical warehousing and fulfillment
- PosterPosterA poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be...
and print services - Storefronts
- Pre-sale ticket and album options
- Integration of social sites, such as Facebook and Twitter
- Fan-funding capabilities
Companies that are delivering portions of the above Direct-to-Fan solution include:
Nimbit, Tunecore, FanBridge, CD Baby, Constant Contact, DiscRevolt, Reverb Nation, Topspin, Audiolife, Cafe Press, Bandzoogle, Sonicbids, D2Mondo, Pledgemusic
Pledgemusic
PledgeMusic is an online Direct-to-Fan / Fan-funded music platform utilising a Threshold Pledge System / Provision Point Mechanism, launched in August 2009, that facilitates musicians reaching out to their fan-base to financially contribute to upcoming recordings or other musical projects...
, Zazzle, get-ctrl, ticketscript