1,000,000th Band Joins ReverbNation – Company attributes success to its ‘Artist First’ approach to business

(Durham, NC – December 15th, 2010) ReverbNation, the leading Marketing and Promotion Platform for Musicians, Labels, Managers and Venues, and creator of ‘My Band’ the leading Facebook application for Bands and Musicians, registered the 1 millionth Artist to the platform yesterday.  The lucky Artist, PANA! a latin band from Stamford, CT will receive a package of free services and merchandise from the company to commemorate the event.

ReverbNation was launched in 2006 with a mission to provide Bands and solo Artists from any walk of life with the powerful business tools they need to be competitive in the social media age.  Many of the tools are free, with premium tools offered under a software-as-a-service model.  In recent years, the company has expanded its offering to include securing high quality opportunities for the Artists in the form of coveted licensing deals, lucrative brand sponsorship programs, and high-profile gigs.


PANA! from Stamford, CT. ReverbNation's 1,000,000th Band

Co-founder and chief executive officer Mike Doernberg explains the key to the company’s success, “We have always focused on serving the needs of the Artist, sometimes to a fault.  We align our success with theirs, both philosophically and literally within our products.  Our software products are built from scratch for the Artists, not modified from some other purpose.  And the opportunities we provide are carefully selected because of the real value they can deliver for the Artist.”

Jed Carlson, co-founder and chief operating officer, adds “Much of our success can be attributed to our products and processes.  We get to observe hundreds of thousands of Artists running marketing and promotion ‘experiments’ on the web, measure what works and what doesn’t, and bake the best practices into our solutions for all Artists.  This process has enabled us to continually evolve our products as new opportunities for marketing and promoting music arise.  As a result, Artists think of us more as their long-term marketing partner than a website with static tools.”

About ReverbNation:
ReverbNation is the leading online music marketing platform used by more than 1,000,000 Artists, Managers, Record Labels, and Venues to grow their reach, influence, and business across the internet.  ReverbNation provides free and affordable solutions to individual Artists and the music industry professionals that support them in the areas of web promotion, fan relationship management, digital distribution, social media marketing, direct-to-fan e-commerce, fan behavior measurement, sentiment tracking, Web site hosting, and concert booking and promotion.

ReverbNation’s innovation is in developing technologies that integrate the wide array of distribution, marketing, and promotional functions used by the music industry into one comprehensive and easy-to-use business application – helping virtually any artist grow their revenues, and providing insight into how each marketing input contributes to overall outcomes.  For more information, please visit ReverbNation.com and follow ReverbNation on Twitter:  www.twitter.com/reverbnation.

ReverbNation Media Contact:
Jed Carlson
919.682.9593
press@reverbnation.com

ReverbNation1,000,000th Band Joins ReverbNation – Company attributes success to its ‘Artist First’ approach to business
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ReverbNation Scores Licensing Placements for Independent Artists on “So You Think You Can Dance Canada,” “Mean Girls 2,” Major League Baseball, and More

Some of the most influential music supervisors in the world have been listening to music from ReverbNation Artists, and they love what they are hearing.

Since the recent launch of the Premium Song Licensing program in partnership with APM Music, music supervisors have been eating up the fresh and relevant indie music in the APM ReverbNation Music library, scoring Reverb Artists dozens of placements, including the following:

ReverbNation and APM Music expect to invite more artists into the program soon.  Invites are sent out to ReverbNation artists who are active users of the site, have complete profiles, and whose music fits what APM’s clients are seeking.   To learn more about the program, visit http://www.reverbnation.com/main/apm.

ReverbNationReverbNation Scores Licensing Placements for Independent Artists on “So You Think You Can Dance Canada,” “Mean Girls 2,” Major League Baseball, and More
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And that excites me…

I was lucky enough to attend the NARM Convention last week. While I was thrilled to hear so many artists, labels and managers giving ReverbNation props for helping to advance their music careers or their artist’s careers, what excited me most was who I saw when I went to the Universal Music Group party.

As soon as I arrived, I saw this big poster board with a face I recognized. Kyler England from The Rescues.


Now signed to Universal/Republic, The Rescues were performing at the Convention in front of music industry insiders and big wigs. This was a great place for them to showcase their talent. I personally met Kyler two years ago at a Conference in Nashville, and it was awesome to see the growth of their career since then. The Rescues, and Kyler herself for her solo venture, have been using ReverbNation’s marketing tools ever since. Did our platform help with their career?

ReverbNationAnd that excites me…
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Bands Helping Bands — Your Best Touring Advice

After much anticipation and competition, we’ve finally gotten our Bands Helping Bands finalists. There were a lot of great submissions, with a lot of great advice! We’ve placed some of our favorites below. Watch the videos and let us know your favorite one in the comments. The best one will get a Featured Artist spot on the ReverbNation homepage!

Zenith Da Goddess’ Tip — Keep Your Voice Healthy


Visit Zenith Da Goddess’ ReverbNation page

1000 Generations’ Tip — Offer Comment Cards At Gigs For Feedback

Visit 1000 Generations’ ReverbNation page

Jillian Riscoe’s Tip — Explore Unconventional Venues

Visit Jillian Riscoe’s ReverbNation page

Mike Borgia’s Tip — Show A Venue What Your Worth Is

Visit Mike Borgia’s ReverbNation page

Some Tips From A Venue Owner

Visit The Local 506’s ReverbNation page

ReverbNationBands Helping Bands — Your Best Touring Advice
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Guest Post: Do You Need A Record Label?

About The Author: Ben Jacklin is one of the founding members of Method Promotion, offering articles on ways to self-promote online, as well as the Method team’s services in representing artists in the world of music promotion. Achievements to date include getting artists’ music played in Ministry of Sound clubs, on BBC radio, and videos played on MTV channels.

Qualified in Music Technology, Ben also keeps his finger on the pulse of the music business, and his passion for music means that he is equally happy striving to promote artists with ten fans or ten million.

Do I Need A Record Label?

You don’t need me to tell you that the internet has changed the way the Music Industry, and the way us music types think about our business. One of the things thrown into disrepute is the way music is released. We can now reach almost anyone via the internet, and we can network and promote online before releasing in virtual formats online.

Of course this is a major contrast to the industry from, say, fifteen years ago, which has led to changes in the role of the record label. Does your average artist even need a record deal nowadays? And should it still be something to aspire to?

Something that our generation’s new found wealth of technology has undoubtedly changed is the equipment available to us. Music can now be made to a professional standard from the comfort of our smelly bedrooms, and the role of a full-blown studio is becoming less important all the time. Where does this come into recording contracts?

There was a time when you’d need studios, and you’d need money to pay for them, and the only way to get this money was to find a Label to take a punt on your tunes. Nowadays, a reasonably priced microphone and a computer can be the mainstay of your studio, and used correctly, can record music to a standard acceptable in the industry. Labels no longer even have to be involved in the creative process of making and recording your music.

The aforementioned isn’t the only change concerning existing labels. I wont go into excruciating detail, but it’s generally agreed that major labels are on their proverbial last legs. On the one hand, they aren’t putting money into discovering new talent, and on the other hand, smaller establishments are cropping up all over the place.

Small Labels and self-releasing artists are becoming the norm, and more and more resources are becoming available to aid musicians from a grassroots level. Help is available with regards to everything from licensing to releasing music, and available to absolutely everybody. The power is shifting from the big labels to the average Joes.

However, is it power you’re looking for? There are many reasons that labels are even still around and providing a great service. If releasing your own music was easy, everybody would be doing it. If you decide that self-releasing is the path you wish to take, it’s important that you realize that you wont be bypassing having a record label, you will BE your record label.

We’ll cover the more glamorous aspects of this shortly, but one must first consider the administrative aspects of releasing music, from licensing to royalty collection to sales figures and beyond. If you can be bothered to do your research and do all of this yourself, then great, but in my experience, creative types are happy to stick to what they do best and take a back seat when it comes to pencil-pushing.

The time and focus needed to release music goes far beyond crossing ‘T’s and dotting ‘I’s, though — a label needs contacts, and a reputation. By releasing on a label you hand this responsibility to them. Any label worth their salt will have built links to the media, and will be working hard to build alliances at all times. If you don’t work with a label you’re going to need to do all of this yourself, and a reputation is not an easy thing to attain.

My view on self-releasing is — how shall I put this? — realistic. So should yours be too. Don’t expect any favors, and be ready for hard work, but hard work is inevitable in making a name for yourself, and if running a label is your chosen method of working hard then the best of luck to you.

A bit of realism isn’t meant as a deterrent; the fact that we even have the option of doing this kind of thing is completely liberating, and I predict that the industry will start to thrive once again as more and more small establishments crop up. Some people are going to have to rise to the challenge.

We don’t have to be afraid of the industry anymore, and if you’re ready to put the hours in, and you’re confident in your ability, then why not? Do your research, rope in all the help you can, and get releasing!

ReverbNationGuest Post: Do You Need A Record Label?
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Give Us Your Best Advice — Bands Helping Bands

The best ideas for ReverbNation.com come from the Artists, Labels, Managers, Venues/Promoters, and Fans that use our site.  So does the best advice about how to be a successful Artist today.

As a result, we’re starting a new feature, which we’re going to call “Bands Helping Bands”.  We’ll ask our members (that’s you) to submit short video clips of advice on a particular topics, and we’ll filter out the best of the best and publish it for all to see on this blog (no guarantee this will make you famous, but its free publicity at least).

This month’s topic: Touring tips.

Do you have a trick to booking a great tour? Have great ideas about how to tour on the cheap? How do you stay on the venue owner’s good side when you play a show? Have any tour horror stories that others could learn from?  Are you a venue owner with some advice for Artists?  A booking agent with some advice?

Tell us all about it with a 1 to 3-minute video.  Simply upload to Youtube or Vimeo and send a link to blog@reverbnation.com with “Bands Helping Bands” in the subject line.  Or Tweet @ReverbNation (using the hashtag #BHB) with links to your videos on YouTube or Vimeo.

At the end of the month, we’ll choose the best videos and post them up right here on the blog. Each entry will be tagged, so all you have to do is find the category you want more information about and see how other Artists have done it!

The very best video on each topic (as determined by a non-scientific poll of the RN staff) will get a Featured Artist spot on the ReverbNation homepage for a week.  So what are you waiting for?  Fire up that webcam or FlipHD and help your fellow Artist.

-Rachael

We prefer videos with:

  • No nudity, gore, violence, sexual references, or drug or alcohol references. Keep it PG, people.
  • No gratuitous cursing (if we hear the F-word, it’s out)
  • It has to actually contain a tip or some sort of nugget of advice that is vaguely relevant to the topic at hand (we will not accept videos of your band messing around in the tour van with a Flip cam — unless it’s really, really funny)
  • No flagrant-to-the-point-that-it’s-annoying self-promotion (this is about bestowing your knowledge upon other artists, not promoting your new album). If you mention your upcoming album or single, or your MySpace page, it’s out. Don’t worry! If you’re chosen, we’ll provide a link to your ReverbNation page.
  • Make sure the title of the video includes “Bands Helping Bands” so we can organize the videos.

ReverbNationGive Us Your Best Advice — Bands Helping Bands
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New Feature: Free, Printable Artist Reports

So your ReverbNation stats are great for onscreen viewing.  And the Reverb Press Kit (RPK) is a great way to digitally present your stats, content,  and info to promoters, talent buyers, and media.  But what do you do when you want to print off a ‘1-sheet’ to take on the road or into a meeting?

Try the new ‘Artist Report’, available for free in the ‘home’ screen of your control room.  Here’s how you find it:

The Artist Report organizes all of your key stats, including recent visits and impressions, Band Equity, fans by geo-location,  fans by social network, as well as your fan demographic data.  It’s laid out in a clear, easy-to-read format that you can print out and bring anywhere.

Perfect for:

•  Sponsorship meetings
•  Record Label meetings
•  Band meetings

Here’s what one of the stats reports looks like (thank you for allowing us to show yours, Color Theory):

Give the free Artist Report a spin, and let us know how it can be improved via the feedback tab on the right side of any ReverbNation page.

Cheers,

ReverbNation

ReverbNationNew Feature: Free, Printable Artist Reports
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ReverbNation Adds Spotify, Last.fm, Zune, MySpace Music, Wal-Mart, and Dozens More Retailers to Its Flat-Fee Digital Distribution Product for Bands

ReverbNation, the leading marketing platform used by more than 650,000 artists/bands, labels, managers and venues, has announced the launch of the world’s most comprehensive digital distribution product for Artists and Record Labels who seek to place their music into online retailers without giving up any ownership rights or any percentage of the sales royalties from their music.

Artists and record labels can now choose from two pre-packaged offerings from ReverbNation:

The “Essentials” Package – $34.95 per release, 29 sites
Submits a release to iTunes (worldwide), Amazon Mp3, eMusic, Rhapsody, Napster, MySpace Music, Last.fm, Spotify, Zune, iLike, MOG, Tesco, La Curacao, Synacor, GetPlaylists, Secure Media, Intertech Media, InMotion Entertainment, WaTunes, Get Green Music, Immergent, and Moozone. See all retailers >>

The “Pro” Package – $59.95 per release, 39 sites
Includes submission to all of the stores in the Essentials package, plus submission to Nokia, Lala, Wal-Mart (Liquid), Amie Street, We7, Myxer, Puretracks, ThinkIndie, and Shockhound, and digital delivery to Pandora (for their convenience only, no guarantee that they will consider or review the music).

Learn more about ReverbNation’s Digital Distribution Products.

Artists who have released music under ReverbNation’s previous Basic package can upgrade to the Essentials package at no additional charge.  Annual renewal fees apply to either package.

“Artists and independent record labels need an on-ramp into the most important retailers and music streaming services of our day, without having to give up their rights or a percentage of royalties,” said Lou Plaia, co-founder and vice president of music industry relations at ReverbNation.com. “Our new service gives them the access and reach that has been historically limited to the major record labels.”

ReverbNationReverbNation Adds Spotify, Last.fm, Zune, MySpace Music, Wal-Mart, and Dozens More Retailers to Its Flat-Fee Digital Distribution Product for Bands
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