Record companies turn to email and blogs to promote digital music

 

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By Simon Aughton

Posted on 2 Apr 2007 at 11:19

Record companies have turned to email and blogs to promote digital music and video sales, employing technology developed by eListeningPost to circulate previews of new releases alongside advertising.

Warner Music's Korova label is among the first to try the new system, sending a video preview of 'Fit Song' by Japanese artist Cornelius to his fan base - tying in with his new album 'Sensuous', released on Monday, while Independiente's forthcoming Travis single 'Eyes Wide Open' will be seeded on a variety of specialist music blogs including Last.fm, PlayLouder and Drowned in Sound, giving fans five exclusive previews of the new single before its official release on 9 April. Travis fans will be able to securely spread the previews to friends.

Likewise, V2 Records will soon email video previews of The Rakes' 'We Danced Together', Duke Special's 'Freewheel' and Grammy nominated Bebel Gilberto to their fans.

Participating artists and labels receive an ePreview, a secure version of each track or video that can be sent directly to fans via their own email lists or placed as a link on a website. The ePreview offers fans up to five free plays of the video or track and can also be forwarded on to friends. Recipients can themselves play the track five times as well as forward it on once more to a new set of friends.

A click at any point during the previews enables the track to be purchased, and allows musicians to keep all the money generated directly from download sales, providing them a return of as much as 94 per cent of the sale price. Email recipients or site visitors can also be directed to alternative download stores such as iTunes.

'Cornelius has created an incredible set of videos for his new album and this is a great way for us to get the fan base buzzing,' said Olly Walsh, digital manager, Rhino & Korova UK. 'eListeningPost enables us to deliver video content straight to fans' inboxes, presenting them with direct-to-buy links and artist information.'

eListeningPost has also agreed to a non-exclusive deal with online advertising firm 24/7 Real Media. Labels and artists have the option to include specified advertising with their music previews and will receive at least 60 per cent of the ad-revenue generated directly from their content.

The company has also developed a series of 'Try' and 'Buy' buttons that can be embedded in websites and email. These let unsigned artists offer previews of songs and videos and sell downloads direct from any website they wish, including social networking sites such as MySpace. Artists and labels will receive 100 per cent of sales generated.

eListeningPost said that the technology is an important and cost-effective means of marketing online music.

'It's great that the record labels are seeing the potential of our services, not only in promoting their artists in a viral way but also to create a new revenue stream from advertising,' said Greg Holloway. 'It is also great to see unsigned artists benefiting, which is a major goal of our business.'

The first major record company to sign up, EMI, is currently showcasing the service amongst its product managers to find the most suitable artist with which to begin using eListeningPost.