Tag: start-up

5 Boston Music Tech Start-Ups You Should Know About

Posted on by Blaise Lucey in For Bands

Boston Music Tech Meet UpWe might already be entering the era of music business 3.0.

That’s at least what the CEO of music technology start-up Gideen told me in my recent interview with him.

I like the term. It acknowledges that streaming and downloadable songs (music business 2.0) existed before this new wave of music tech start-ups.

And also acknowledges that streaming and downloads are, slowly but surely, failing musicians.

To be a musician has always been a very poor career move, but you could at least count on album sales to stay (kinda) afloat. That option’s gone, because most people aren’t willing to spend money on music. Digital downloads are dropping. Streaming pays tiny shards of pennies to artists.

So what kind of technology can actually help bands make music, distribute music and get paid? I went to a Boston Music Tech Meetup last week to find out.

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Forget iTunes & Pandora: Gideen Offers Bands A New Way to Make Money Online

Posted on by Blaise Lucey in For Bands

Online marketing for music has been one of the most hyped up things in the past few years. It seems simple, right? You release a song online. Promote it through some savvy Facebook marketing or YouTube videos.

Then, suddenly, you’re Viral.

As most bands know, the reality is different. You can drop $50 “boosting” a Facebook post for $0 in return. YouTube channels become haunted houses of cobwebs and shakily filmed videos of you playing in an empty bar. And streaming stations have destroyed a mid-market brand of listener and both Spotify and Pandora pay musicians terribly.

In the pursuit of precious exposure, musicians are leaving revenue far, far behind.

I haven’t yet come across a reliable way for bands to make (decent) money online… but I think I might have found one on the horizon. Gideen is a start-up, an online music platform that taps the best of every world to create what CEO Heiko Schmidt calls “a 3.0 music business model,” which casts aside the $1 song completely.

Fueled by fans, musicians, advertisers, artists of all stripes and a lot of songs, Gideen is hoping to revolutionize traditional licensing and revenue models in the music industry. Right now, the company is hosting an IndieGoGo campaign to fund it all.

Here’s what Schmidt had to say about Gideen, music marketing and the music industry in general:

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Art-Shelf: A Platform that Lets Artists Do Art, Not Marketing

Posted on by Blaise Lucey in For Visual Artists

artshelfhomeWhether you’re a painter, a sketch artist or a sculptor, the Internet can be an alluring place to market your art.

But a lot of the time, artists get bogged down by the amount of work it takes to maintain a website, promote their work on social media, and constantly offer new pieces to stay relevant in the noise of the online world.

One of the platforms that’s trying to help change that is Art-Shelf, an online retail start-up that offers artists a place to sell their art, without having to spend the rest of the day marketing and advertising.

I recently spoke with founder Josh King about how the business started and what it’s like to market art online today.

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