Shortly after I started brainstorming for this Music App idea I found ReverbNation which seems to do a great job doing a very similar thing. I am still considering getting into the business, but reevaluating my approach. -ThinkSketchDesign

2. Prototypical Players in the Music Industry
Ashley:
The Boffos:
Diva
Garage Band
g
Musician Musician
1:
Orion:
Kate:
Hipster
iPod Professional
Fan Fan
2:
DJ-Dan
Mike:
Career DJ
Mp3 Blogger
B l o g g e r- D J B l o g g e r- D J
3:
EMI:
Jimbo:
Major Label
Indie Label
Promoter Promoter
4:
PBR Staduim:
The Mule:
Staduim Venue
Dive Bar Venue
Ve n u e Ve n u e
5:
Grasshopper:
Trish:
Consumer Retailer
Local Activist
Pa r n t e r Pa r n t e r
6:
AndriodFund:
Boffo Fans:
Organized Investor
Fan Micro-investors
Investor Investor
7:
C a Cau a l
s S e rCao u s
i
ThinksketchMediaProductions

3. Prototypical Players in the Music Industry
1: The Musician
“The Boffos” played their first gig three years
ago at a local bar. Today, they have lots of
local fans and play a weekly gig that pays for
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their equipment and bar tab. They all have
other day jobs. They sometimes joke about
trying to “make it” one day, but mostly just
do it for fun. Last summer they went on tour
through Oregon and Washington where they
met some great musicians and new fans who
The Boffos visit their myspace band page to see their tour
schedule and hear their new home recordings.
Buying: Fan Exposure, Equipment
Selling: Fan Attention (Ads), Venue Revenue, Tickets
Ashley is getting pretty famous, but it has been
a long road. Until she started touring across
the country, she never made enough money to
Serious
pay rent. Her label recently appointed her a
new manager who keeps her on a demanding
schedule. She loves her fans and wouldn’t
trade her new lifestyle for anything. But she’s
exhausted, her contracted album is overdue,
and she misses the old days when she just
Ashley sang what she felt without seeking the approval
of her label.
Buying: Fan Exposure, Managment, Studio Production
Selling: Fan Attention (Ads), Tickets, Merchandise
ThinksketchMediaProductions

4. Prototypical Players in the Music Industry
2: The Fan
Kate listens to her iPod while running and
driving to work. She likes music that makes
her want to dance. She doesn’t “discover” new
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music because she “doesn’t know what to look
for,” but she loves it when her friend emails
her a great song that she’s never heard. She
says she’s too old to give friends CDs for their
birthday like she used to, but she sometimes
will “gift” them music on iTunes. Her “guilty
Kate pleasure” is to Gchat with friends about the
latest pop-stars gossip on celebrity blogs.
Buying: Online Music, Concert Tickets, Merchandise, Pop News
Selling: Attention (Ads), Friend Influence, Network Node Data
Orion is proud of his “vast knowledge” of
music. He and his friends discuss the artistic
triumphs and failures of every new album.
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They see a lot of shows together, but avoid the
acts that have “totally sold out.” Orion follows
many music blogs and online radio shows. He
buys some music, but pirates some of it too
because the corporations take all the money
from album sales anyway. He plays guitar and
Orion blogs his home recordings, but for sheer irony,
he explains, to make fun of annoying hipsters.
Buying: Online Music, Show Tickets, Merchandise, Music News
Selling: Attention (Ads), Friend Influence, Network Node Data
ThinksketchMediaProductions

5. Prototypical Players in the Music Industry
3: The Blogger-DJ
Mike keeps a music blog and is an avid reader
himself. His friends visit his blog daily to seek
recommendations. Mike is nostalgic for mix
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tapes, and isn’t satisfied with how music is
shared today. He says it’s too expensive to buy
all of the songs yourself and it’s too hard to
compile links from so many different websites.
He is proud of his 50 daily page views and
loves to email with his fellow bloggers. Mike is
Mike also a DJs for a local club called “The Mule,”
and helps them find new artists to play there.
Buying: Online Music, Web Services
Selling: Endorsement (click-through), Reader Attention (ads)
DJ-Dan has been working in the radio business
for 20 years. He has an affinity for new
technology and quit his FM radio show to work
Serious
for Pandora where he curates the jazz genre.
He also writes for a major music blog. He
eagerly reads music and tech blogs to find new
web innovations for discovering and sharing
music. He believes that musicians need to
be paid more, but that restricting file sharing
DJ-Dan isn’t the answer. He says he’s skeptical about
advertising, but that it’s probably the future.
Buying: Online Music, Web Services
Selling: Endorsement (click-through), Reader Attention (ads)
ThinksketchMediaProductions

6. Prototypical Players in the Music Industry
4: The Promoter
Jimbo was 19 when his friend’s band, “The
Boffos” wanted a fake manager to impress
big venues and book a show. Jimbo never
Casual
missed a show anyway, so he started helping
out under the pseudonym “lost cat records.” It
turned out Jimbo was a great manager and a
few months later he was booking big shows.
Years later when “The Boffos” signed with a
big label, Jimbo decided to quit his day job
Jimbo and take on 5 new local bands. He makes just
enough to pay the bills, but he loves it.
Buying: Profit share of content owned by musicians.
Selling: Management Service
EMI, one of the “big four” record companies,
faces a new era in music. Just as the 20th
century saw a market shift from sheet music
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and piano rolls to recorded music, the 21st
century is shifting from recorded music to other
market sources like concerts, branding, and ad
revenue. Facing the recession, EMI must cut
a third of the 5000-plus worldwide workforce.
They are desperate to keep their control of the
EMI Group industry and are scrambling to predict new
ways they can adapt to the changing market.
Buying: Musicians’ content rights
Selling: Musician’s recordings, tickets, Branding, Ad Revenue
ThinksketchMediaProductions

7. Prototypical Players in the Music Industry
5: The Venue
“The mule” used to be the town’s only saloon.
Then, 40 years ago, an influx of new bars and
nightclubs nearly drove them out of business.
Casual
They saved themselves however, by hosting
nightly live music; A year later they transformed
themselves into a very successful neighborhood
bar. They now have a reliable “built in crowd”
of regulars who come for the cheap drinks and
great music. The bar often pushes capacity
The Mule when the night’s band brings in additional
crowds of their loyal fans.
Buying: Exposure (Ads/word of mouth), bar equipment
Selling: Drinks, Tickets, Endorsements, Exposure
PBR Stadium hosts everything from religious
conventions to sports games. But nothing
packs the house more full than a big musician
Serious
like THE BOSS. While there are some risks
attached to pop concerts, and record labels
take a huge cut of ticket sales, a concert can
still pay the monthly bills all in one night.
PBR Stadium
Buying: Equipment, Civic Utilities, Exposure
Selling: Tickets, Food and Drinks, Merchandise, Endorsements
ThinksketchMediaProductions

8. Prototypical Players in the Music Industry
5: The Endorsement Partner
Activism needs leaders. Trish discovered that
musicians play an invaluable role in raising
awareness for important causes. Trish has
Casual
earned great public respect for her dedicated
fight against AIDS, but nevertheless, in
tackling local poverty she struggled to gain the
same attention from all her neighbors. Her
breakthrough was hiring local musicians for
her rallies. While supporting local art, she was
Trish able to powerfully bridge social disconnects
and speak out to all demographics.
Buying: Supporter Time, Attention, & Donations, Exposure
Selling: Cause Support, Community Aid, Cause Exposure
Grasshopper design sells thousands of
Electric Folding Bicycles world wide. While
their revolutionary design sells very well after
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establishing a seed market, it struggles to
take hold in a new region. In Amsterdam
they launched an effective viral marketing
campaign that gave bikes to young rock bands
to show off and promote at shows. The bands
were proud to give their “cool” blessing to a
Grasshopper funky green company, and happy to pay studio
rent with their small promotion commissions.
Buying: Endorsement
Selling: Free product, Sponsorship Funds
ThinksketchMediaProductions

9. Prototypical Players in the Music Industry
7: The Investor
Fans of “The Boffos” fall in love at first listen;
they just know the band will make it big. These
fans are not just album buyers, they are a
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veritable grass roots network that goes to every
local show and evangelizes the band to their
friends. So when “The Boffos” were pressured
to sell music rights to pay for their tour,
their fans started a facebook micro-investor
account. “The Boffos” bought a manager,
Boffo Fans held onto their profits, and shared their success
with their friends and fans.
Buying: Artist Profit Share, “Fantasy League” Entertainment
Selling: Financial Support, Evangelism, Global Fan Base (tickets)
The Music for Androids blog offers thoughtful
music recommendations to their listeners.
And with thousands of daily visits, they have
Serious
given exposure to their favorite musicians. But
sadly they’ve seen many local bands make it
big without seeing much profit because they
couldn’t afford to own their content rights. So
MFA started a listener supported investment
fund that loans production money to promising
AndroidFund artists. Now, listeners are even more active,
eager to share in the artists’ success stories.
Buying: Artist Profit Share, Audience Loyalty
Selling: Artist Profit Share, Recommendation (Ad)
ThinksketchMediaProductions

10. Prototypical Players in the Music Industry
The 2 minute Pitch
Falling music sales has pushed the music
industry into a crisis. Major corporations are
tightening their market grip and drafting ever
Casual
more suffocating contracts that musicians can’t
afford to leave.
Meanwhile, around the world un-contracted
musicians make up a huge long-tail market
for whom the Internet could easily provide
Name resources. So why is myspace – a tool for
teenage gossip – still the standard tool for
independent musicians? We’ve ignored local
Buying: because our preconceptions about music monetization have blinded
musicians
us from seeing their needs as a new market. We have neglected music’s most
Selling:long tail - the enormous traffic that it generates in social networks both
lucrative
online and in concert venues.
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BrandName is a complete management tool for vel diam zzriusci eugue enim
enibh erostie independent musicians. It will
quickly fill the market void to become the andrerosto duis nostrud ex elit augait
iuscill industry standard for two reasons:
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1: It will revolutionize the way local praestrud esenis adio ent lorperos global
musicians are discovered by their erat, veriure
micro-niche audience. con utatie do odolortionse faciduis num zzrilis
2: It will empower musicians to monetize feuismodit content using diverse tools
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from custom merchandise to genre-unionized ea facin henim ing et aut landrem
prat acilisl advertising.
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BrandName does not duplicate existing services like facebook, or last.fm,
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Name
but rather builds databases under them eum widgets dolorper sum dolor alissi
alisi and irit prat on top of them. Behind
the scenes we run Social Network Analysis ercipit, conullut alit autpat iusci enisim
erilit in Mapping, At-will Ad-Sponsorship
Auctioning, and a revolutionary non-keyword based “preference search engine,”
Buying:
Selling:
ThinksketchMediaProductions

11. Prototypical Players in the Music Industry
The 2 minute Pitch
but to the user, our interface is so simple it is practically transparent. Are you a
musician who wants to reach your potential audience all around the world? Do
you want to connect with venues and map out your tour across the country? With
BrandName it’s as easy as signing onto facebook and searching on a Google
map.
At BrandName we have studied the music industry’s changing history from Tin
Pan Alley, to offshore pirate radio, to Napster, to cloud-sourced data streaming.
We see past our era’s legal battles over social networks and digital storefronts.
We understand that one constant in the industry will always be the army of hard
working, social networking, grassroots local musicians. We are empowering them
to take music back into their own hands.
ThinksketchMediaProductions