Nimbit: Commerce & Data Capture
This is Part 2 in our series looking at the leading companies offering indie and d.i.y artists the services that help them capture, communicate with and monetize their relationship with fans. You can read PART 1: INSIDE SONICBIDS: EPKs & OPPORTUNITES. Next week: OurStage, ReverbNation, Topspin.
Nimbit was among the first to create a platform for monetizing the band to fan relationship. According to CEO Patrick Faucher, the company’s mission is "to enable the artist team (band, manager, label, agent, fan) to collaborate and sell virtually any product from anywhere online".
Unlike many services that offer a single solution, Nimbit users can sell CDs, DVDs, downloads, merchandise and electronic tickets directly from their own storefront; and with the use of provided widgets spread their storefront across their own or fans’ social profiles, blogs and web sites. Nimbit also offers fulfillment for physical good orders.
Bundling and information capture is also part of the Nimbit offering…
"A fan could, for example, purchase an MP3 single with a t-shirt and a ticket to a show in one transaction. Soon you will be able to bundle other things like ringtones and fanclub memberships," say Faucher. "All the purchasing info and customer data goes directly to the artists and catalog owners to use however they wish in future marketing. This is a major shift from the traditional retail distribution model which takes more money out of the artist pocket and leaves them with no ownership over the customer/fan."
The artists services space is getting competitive and Nimbit is responding with new services. In June they launched an official MySpace version of their
flagship widget, the nimbitOMT, enabling direct sales from the popular social networking site. They are now also working with major labels as well as indie and d.i.y. artists. Select SonyBMG artists will be first up August starting with Kings of Leon. Also in August comes a beta download card program. The cards have unique codes and can be sold or given away to drive fans to the artist’s web site to be redeemed for digital products and bundles.
"This is only the beginning of a massive revolution in how artist brands are marketed and distributed to the consumer through all the discovery points now happening online," says an enthusiastic Faucher. Even as competition increases, this focus on artist empowerment from Faucher and co-founder Phil Antoniades, as well as, there early to the sector status should help keep Nimbit among the leaders.
Nimbit makes a lot of sense to me, seems like a good idea, and is priced in a fair/reasonable manner. The initial setup costs are totally fair, the cut they take is reasonable and their widget is designed well. Compare this to the Noisetrade thing that was posted previously, and you can see why I thought their $250/album plus 10% is completely unreasonable. Nimbit will handle physical goods, digital distribution, sales, etc. I’m signing up now, interested to see if it will be a useful tool.
One of the great things about Nimbit is that as a company, they only do as well as their artists. For that reason alone, they work harder to make sure that the artist needs are met. As a company, they are an musician’s best advocate. Their products are smart, effective, and exactly what an indie artist needs on multiple levels from sales to marketing and promotion.
Admittedly, I used to work for ’em, but that aside, I’ve repeatedly seen these guys go the distance to meet the demands of their users.
Both while I was there, and long after, I’ve turned a number of people on to Nimbit and never once had any regrets. That says something …
I use Nimbit with several of my client’s. The sales widget is great. I just wish they had a larger digital distribution base like Tunecore.
On “paper” it sounds like an interesting bundle of features, but then I see that they sell MP3 format tracks. If that means lower-quality tracks, then I wouldn’t want to sell them to my listeners. I’d rather sell higher quality tracks and offer my own banner link that sends clicks directly to iTunes…
I recently tried out Nimbit and a bunch of their competitors and Nimbit seems like the way to go right now for small independent artists like me, though Musicane has some style. I wrote up my initial thoughts on my blog here:
Sell Music Directly from Your Website