freshbreakfast

Hey all. I'm a former YC founder who has been working in the creator economy before that term existed.

Anyways, I wrote a piece in the Beacons.ai blog (S19) about the importance of real-time welcome emails, and how to create one. From our own data, we find that close to 90% of creators who collect subscribers don't have a real-time welcome email set up, which is a damn shame.

I would love some feedback on this, as this post is a working document we use in our user outreach. Thanks!

I used to work at PR Newswire, THE corporate press release distribution service. Ricky demo'ed this product to me a month ago, and in the course of discussion he exposed even more of the marketing bullshit of PR Newsire than even I knew to be true. Never again will I pay for a PR Newswire or Businesswire blast. That budget goes straight to Upbeat.

what's up G! Long time no see. I love Patreon, it turns crowdfunding on it's head. They're more about a subscription model and delivering on an on-going, digitally delivered relationship, as opposed to the big blowout, whale-heavy model of traditional crowdfunding. Flip side of the same coin, I think artists need to basically do both in the future. I'm not sure what format is next for artists. Honestly I care less about the format as much as I do about the underlying principles, which is finding a way to inject humanity and genuine intimacy into the "sales" process. That's always going to be important in a patronage model. I suppose some sort of CRM element would help with that?

Well, as you know, I had relationships in the music industry from my previous gigs at music startups. One in particular, the manager of The Grouch & Eligh, was someone I could truly geek out with regarding these geeky matters. I had just finished doing a bunch of research on successful campaigns at the same time The Grouch & Eligh were looking to put out an album. Took a little convincing (as often is the case with crowdfundig virgins), but the reasons were too compelling.

I can say with authority that the hesitancy I felt from artists just 1-2 years ago regarding crowdfunding has rapidly been deteriorating. Like exponentially. So much so that I don't mind giving away some of my tricks. There's just so much more demand than there are actual "experts" in this space.

Hey all, I wrote this thing. And since Svbtle doesn't have a commenting feature, I'll probably be hanging here all day if you have any questions, feedback, or violent disagreements about the post. I could talk about this topic all day, so shoot!

Awesome Post Aston. You know, you can most year-to-year sales data directly from RIAA. You're supposed to pay for the data but usually you can find someone posting them.

Regarding that, I'm not quite as optimistic as your projections on digital sales. I don't think it trends up forever. I don't have a crystal ball, but I have a feeling that downloads sales will actually peak in the next 1-3 years. At which point, the record industry will REALLY start freaking out (again).

Thanks for the comment! So I agree that the feedback cycle can be quick, but even the best players go on extended net losing streaks, months at a time. When you're putting in tons of hours and in theory making sound decisions and you add up the bankroll, and those thousands of hours are all for naught... well, that can be devastating.

Hey guys, i wrote this piece. Would love feedback, especially critical :-)

I know you're probably dealing with 2 different systems, but I'd love it if Crowdhoster campaigns could also be hosted on Crowdtilt.com. I get that Crowdhoster is supposed to enable all types of cool group transactions way beyond the controlled scope of Crowdtilt, but even just generating a secondary Crowdtilt.com landing page for a Crowdhoster campaign would be cool.

I also get how this isn't a big issue for now. But as Crowdtilt grows, I would think it becomes a "brand" that people trust to handle transactions, and would tip a certain % of the market to then give up the CC digits. So for example, as a consumer, I might be more inclined to purchase something on crowdtilt.com, as opposed to xanga.com.

Just like how right now, your average consumer might be more inclined to support a Kickstarter project over a Crowdtilt project, due to inherent trust he feels in Kickstarter as a curator/brand. But since I'm bullish on Crowtilt, I think Crowdtilt eventually develops and trusted brand name.

As an campaign director/organizer, in and ideal world, I want both the flexibility of Crowdhoster and that brand stamp of "Crowdtilt". Just a suggest... otherwise, these updates are actually really cool, love where it's going!

"Is this the cultural equivalent of cleaning out the memetic closet to make room for new stuff?" To tell you the truth, yes. I make a few rhetorical leaps to get an argument across. I realize Araabmuzik is hardly the first midi controllist ever, he's but a bump in a continuum.

I disagree though with the 2 vectors thing. There's a whole lot of things you can do with tonality with machines. And as for "Glissando, spicatto.." etc, well, I personally think the human voice will be the one instrument that will always be "in".

Point being, I'm most excited to see all the different vectors these machines invent.

And sure, technically we've been able to do this for decades, but it's usually been a hidden process in the studio. It's the crossover to mainstream cultural acceptance and respectibility as a performance instrument. When hardware instrumenalists move tickets, that's what's interesting to me.

^^ this summarizes what I;m trying to say probably better than anything I actually wrote.

gotcha. yeah this vid is pretty crazy, down to the "Playing it by ear" bit.

I'm not saying the earlier gen synths, controllers and laptops are any less legit than newer gen stuff. I'm thinking strictly from the fan's perspective, the non-musician's perspective, the concert-goer's perspective. That is, how visually obvious is your live performance gifts from the floor? To a digital musician, it might sound reductive. But live performance is it's own beast.

I mostly agree with you here, I think we're just starting from different starting points. The "electronic music is future" thing is sort of a counter statement to the idea that EDM is a trend. My only argument is that electronic music will only dig it's claws into popular music. I'm not suggesting that analog instruments die completely. At least I hope not.

I know the synths are a good example of a legit hardware instrument. From the fan's perspective though, it largely mimics the skill of a pianist (even if you upload crazy other sounds into the keys). I'm more interested when we start respecting performers who play instruments conceived entirely in the digital era, with very little vestigial leftover from the analog instruments. Just the concept of that is cool to me.

As for RJD2, that's a big omission on my part, I was such a huge fan in the early 2000s. And also PL, more recently.

you know, i remember being obsessed with this vid when it came out. i'm embarrassed i didn't work this into the essay. i might need to...

LOL, well didn't I say ignore the music itself?

Well that's encouraging. I might need to pick me up an Abelton.

true, it's definitely a different kind of experience. I don't necessarily think the dance culture will diminish. But I do think there is space for the virtuosic in EDM... or maybe I should say EM ;-)

Hey guys, I wrote this thing. And I know there must be disagreements with the arguments here. Bring it on!

alex, I've been working in music-tech now for a few years now, and I've been wanting this exact service for as long as I can remember. You really nailed it on the MVP. I've thought about this idea now for a while, would love to see where you're going with this. Also, with the right angle, I just know artists can get on board with this (especially since Youtube is the one of the only revenue sources that's actually growing for artists, across the board). Maybe that's thinking a few steps too far ahead, but this is really cool stuff and I can't help but to think of the possibilities for you :-)

The problem this project attempts to fix is based on a whole lot of correct assumptions, IMO. 2013 is going to be the year crowd-funding really takes off and creep up on a lot of consumer facing industries. And so it follows a lot of the creators are going to be surprised themselves about the very real problem of fulfillment. Basically, fulfillment and inexperience is always a bad combo. Looking forward to see how Backer Kit attacks this problem.

Haha, I should have known... consider me educated 0_o

I actually agree with you, I'm an internet champion myself, so I didn't mean to pigeonhole anyone. My main point was to say that increased revenue in the concert and merch sector will not come close to replacing the gaping hole of content revenue. We have to go one step further.

As for Hoodie Allen, I've actually talked to him before on the phone about his Facebooking strategy! I like him, he's smart! He's definitely the type to succeed in the new music industry. Check out the song "No Sleep till Brooklyn"... my buddy Jhameel sings the hook on it!

Good catch! Thanks, and fixed!

You could market packaged dog poop, doesn't mean lots of people are going to buy it. There's a fundamental value there for Juggalos, and I personally think it's beyond ICP's music.

I think when a service is so obviously beneficial to the artist, like Rap Genius, the industry will find a way to work with them as opposed to suing them. This only helps theor bottom line.

Yeah I, would agree they're modern versions of crowd patronage. I do think though that in the future, musicians will have a more fleshed out platform catered to their needs. With their music, community, CRM admin, etc.

I agree with nancyhua. I sort of use "patronage" as short hand, don't let it confuse you. I think to the fan, they must not feel like it's pure patronage... they should get some sort of concrete interaction or recognition back from artist. There should be real value there for fan for this to sustain as a model.

This is just my opinion, but I feel copyright will be less enforceable in the future when it doesn't actually generate revenue. I have to think over time, artists will not want to gate their content, and provide distributors free access to their music to businesses and public spaces in exchange for them, well, playing it and getting exposure. Just like they're doing now with their fans. And all this will be accelerated when people stop buying music altogether. This is sort of a stretch hypothesis, I'm actually not super familiar with how ASCAP and BMI works.

awesome, i've never heard of Mike Masnick (fail!), but he sounds like a smart man ;-). Thanks for the heads up, I'll probably be digging into his stuff pretty soon.