WaTunes Wants To Become The New MySpace
"WaTunes to Become the New MySpace?" is the headline of the press release, but we'll all have to wait until after Sept 28th to learn more more. That's when the free online music distributor launches WaTunes New Experience.
The company does say that the upgrade includes Skype integration which enables artists and fans to communicate directly and engage in social activities like listening to music, buying ringtones, and watching videos. "By integrating their technology into our social platform, we've opened a new approach for fans to make instant calls to their favorite artist, artists can make instant calls to their fans or labels." says Tony Pytleski, VP of WaTunes.
I'm not sure labels want their phones ringing with fan questions, but I've often thought that the new free and cheap phone and video conferencing technologies offer unexplored opportunities for artists and music marketers, though I doubt its enough to vault a startup into MySpace's league. But with or without WaTunes, it's worthwhile taking a creative look at the online audio and video products available. For example, wh y not use voicemail to leave fans a message and gather comments or schedule a video conference Q & A ?
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Yeesh – the website is riddled with misspellings…
Looks a bit Mickey Mouse.
Pass.
These guys have been all badly written talk for many moons now. I’d like to present my company’s hype as actual news, too, but these cats in particular have a very poor ratio of talk / action.
We’ve used their free and paid distribution for ages and its been great. I’ve seen previews of some of the new features (not just skype)that are being released on 28th of September and they do seem very good. To be honest, anything that reduces the cost of distribution and connects indie music to more fans has got to be good.
The new 2.0 world of music is all about interaction with fans, labels and artists who want dont want to interact with fans will fall by the wayside, putting up your music to webshops and hoping someone will just ‘come by and buy’ is not going to happen. You have to build your following, engage them and make an attractive proposition regularly. Thats what I believe Watunes are trying to do with their new platform.
Using skype whether its for chat or calling is just one great way to engage with fans, and I believe its optional anyway so you dont have to use it.
Hi Bruce,
Thank you for covering this story. There is a lot involved with WaTunes New Experience that will put the artist in a position where they can easily reach out to fans that are looking for their music. With Skype integration, this is a very huge achievement. Now every artist can instant call their fans (or leave a voice mail, chat, etc.) through Skype. Fans can also do the same. This eliminates the “friend-adding” routine that shows little to no promises.
I mean as a musician, you have to ask yourself:
Would I rather have 100,000 friends (most of who would consider you as spam and probably would not even check out your profile)?
OR
Would I have my phone ring constantly of fans who WANTS to reach me and learn more about my music?
Personally, I’d rather get the phones ringing. Why? Because I can leverage my fans. I can personally speak with them, coordinate with them, and even give them opportunities to help support my music (i.e. being a groupie, part of a street team, site marketing, etc.).
Of course Skype is an optional tool of WaTunes New Experience. Because of that, this enables users to find other means to engage and discover new music (via ringtones, WaTV, etc.). I advise everyone to keep up with our blog ( http://watunes2.blogspot.com )as I will be revealing 4 teaser photos before the launch of the site. I look forward to this launch and looking forward to hearing more of your feedback.
Kevin Rivers
CEO, WaTunes.com
Kevin, negotiating fan interest into sales is a specialized skill set that most artists are totally unprepared for. Is there a “boot camp” sales training that comes with the New Experience package?
Also, did you seriously just suggest using your service to pick up groupies?
Hi Justin,
Its a figure of speech to show you what you can do with direct communication with a fan via Skype through WaTunes. Of course I do not personally suggest groupies. However, other artists may not agree with my viewpoints.
In regards to your question, we will provide tips and getting started essentials that will show everyone how to effectively utilize the tools at WaTunes New Experience.
The current website is in alpha (which is why it looks bland). However, WaTunes New Experience will put WaTunes back in Beta. Of course, WaTunes may not work for everyone. That said, I believe that what we’re doing is a step in the right direction in offering a direct approach to enable you reach out to fans and enabling the fans to reach out to you.
And because WaTunes will still offer digital distribution, we’re giving more options to the artists and providing them more avenues to attract and build a following.
I hope I answered your questions appropriately. 🙂
Kevin Rivers
CEO, WaTunes.com
This looks interesting have been hearing quite a few positive things about Watunes. Look forward to seeing the “new experience” in action. In the current climate, anything that helps gauge fan interaction with an artist and increase it has to be something to at least try before becoming a naysayer.
“WaTunes Wants To Become The New MySpace”… so it’s a site thats all hype can easily be jacked and does absolutely nothing for artists. Nice to know what to avoid when there’s already so much junk on the web.
Hi Corey,
Thank you for your response. It is always great to try new things and see how it may benefit your success. I recently just read the post about Nimbit here in Hypebot and came across a response made by “Old Record Guy”. He said:
“Engagement commerce – whether it is between artist and fan, or fan to fan, is the future of the music business.”
This is exactly what WaTunes New Experience will offer! Engagement commerce, a system where fans has control to direct communicate with any artist and artist will have control to directly reach out to new fans and other media On-Demand.
This will take time to muster and sink in as an independent artist and label. I believe that this new approach will play very well for independent artists and even majors as well.
Kevin Rivers
CEO, WaTunes.com
WaTunes is an interesting concept but I just cant take the service they are offering seriously. This addition does seem to be news, plus I dont really think this is going to help artists in any way.
Kevin, it’s all good.
I wasn’t disturbed or offended by your, uh…groundbreaking suggestion that perhaps, musicians could be using information technology to get laid. I would certainly never do that. Ever.
As a point of feedback, the main reason I talk shit about your company is your language patterns. You talk like a politician or a (new, upscale) car salesman. Those aren’t inherently bad things but they do communicate a certain NLP flavor that I just choose to avoid, personally and professionally.
Myspace is a hugely successful social network that, despite having “fallen” in the eyes of white bloggers, remains one of the most-visited sites in the world by anyone’s count, Nielsen, Forrester, Compete, etc. There’s over 5 million artist pages just for rappers. Adding new features to your service has nothing to do with MySpace, but you reference them because it makes a good headline. These days, that’s bad business. Just focus on your product and talk to us like we’re just humans, which we is.
Hi Justin,
I chuckled when you said “politician”. Though I’m no politician and I try not to speak like one. The truth is when you do go through the WaTunes process and be able to chat with me on a personal level, you’ll see just how laid back and “human” I really am.
I have no problem of your opinion or talking trash about WaTunes. In fact, I welcome it. It shows that there are other views out there and gives us an edge to see how we can improve.
Feedback and criticism is why WaTunes is becoming the world’s fasting growing social music service in the world. I hope that when we launch WaTunes New Experience that you give it a try. Of course that is also based on your own subjective opinions.
There is a lot that is going to happen to WaTunes that is absolutely game-changing. I extend my invitation to you Justin and let me know if you have any other questions personally regarding WaTunes.
Kevin Rivers
CEO, WaTunes.com