New DIY Services: Rabbl For Concert Crowdfunding, Loudr For Cover Song Licensing and Distribution
Two emerging services for DIY and indie artists get some attention this week. Concert crowdfunding service Rabbl launched 6 months ago but they're hitting the news via a NY Times feature. Loudr has been in the works for quite some time, combining tools and lessons from previous projects to provide such services as cover song licensing, distribution and D2F sales. Both are worth a look for DIY and indie artists.
Rabbl: Concert Crowdfunding
Rabbl is a concert crowdfunding site that launched in late 2012 and is getting a wave of attention due to a NY Times article.
Introduction by RABBL Founders
The basic idea is fairly standard for emerging concert crowdfunding sites such as WeDemand! and Songkick Detour:
A band and town are announced.
Fans respond and reserve tickets.
If enough commit, the concert is confirmed and fans are charged. If not, then nobody is charged.
Initially bands would then look for the venue and book the show but according to the NYT profile, "only 3 to 5 percent of Rabbl campaigns culminated in live shows" and new locations represented marketing challenges.
Now they're working with established venues much as every other concert crowdfunding site that's seen success has done. In fact, most are pretty hands on suggesting how difficult it will be to scale concert crowdfunding.
But whoever cracks this nut is going to do well.
More:
- WeDemand! Tackles The Uphill Battle To Establish Concert Crowdfunding In The States
- Zoë Keating Crowdfunds London Concert Using Songkick Detour
- Bandtastic Joins Concert Crowdfunding Miniboom
Loudr: Cover Song Licensing & Distribution
I wrote about Loudr and parent company Re:Discover back in the summer when I stumbled upon its mini-network of sites and services. Such project ultimately led to the creation of Loudr and its full launch this week.
Loudr's most unique proposition is their licensing and distribution service for cover songs developed initially for YouTube stars. The official announcement describes it well:
"Loudr is the first music distribution platform to offers artists a way to distribute and sell cover songs for no upfront fee, along with one-stop access to digital distribution and direct-to-fan sales on a pay-what-you-want basis through the Loudr storefront…"
"Anyone who distributes cover songs must pay a mechanical royalty to the original songwriters or the companies that own the songs. To sell a cover song, artists must either track down the music publishers and pay an upfront fee, or pay an upfront fee to a third-party service to do handle the administration. Once the license is purchased, artists need to find a company that will distribute the music to digital music stores, which do not directly deal with artists."
"Through Loudr, artists eliminate the administrative and financial burdens of mechanical licensing and tap into a full suite of tools to facilitate digital fulfillment, marketings and distribution to both the Loudr platform and digital music stores like iTunes."
Unfortunately, if you want to make a video of your cover song, you're still on your own for that licensing process. But Loudr's DIY platform has some powerful potential for musicians going D2F beyond just cover song licensing though that in itself is a great service.
More:
- Loudr's Cover Song Licensing and Sales Platform Opens To New Signups For VidCon Relaunch
- Re:Discover: A Digital Label For Cover Song Artists Emerges From A Stealthy Network
- Jack Conte Of Pomplamoose Tries Bundle Dragon For DIY Digital Bundles
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch/@crowdfundingm) also blogs at Flux Research and Crowdfunding For Musicians. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
