1. The document discusses how artists can leverage data to improve their marketing strategies directly to fans online. It emphasizes setting goals, testing different offers, and analyzing metrics to engage fans and drive revenue. 2. Various channels for acquiring fans and driving traffic are analyzed, including emails, websites, social media, and search. Conversion rates across different channels are provided to help project demand and ROI. 3. An iterative process is recommended where artists continuously test, measure performance, and optimize their approaches based on data insights to better engage and monetize their fanbase over time.

1. Marketing with Data January 27, 2010 Shamal Ranasinghe Cofounder, Topspin MIDEM Academy

2. Focus on Data More revenue, more fans Right offers in front of the right audience Measurement frameworks Specific steps Hypothesize and collect data Test and measure Analyzing and Optimizing

4. Opportunity is real Internet levels the playing field Particularly true when it comes to both granularity and accessibility of data Direct to fan response can be quantitatively tracked and improved online Historical ways of releasing music for the “industry” meant getting measured by Soundscan, Billboard, BDS radio spins, but now artists can make music for their fans and measure that response accordingly Empowered artists need to pay attention to different key metrics

5. Better Business Let the data determine how to invest in new artist products Fans pay more: >$20 average revenue / transaction, $50 with branded artists More Margin: 85% vs. 70% -20% in your direct channel vs. others Own your fan and super-serve them Use fanbase data to segment and target for higher conversion Save on remarketing costs Success stories abound Michael Masnick’s presentations at MIDEM and NARM discuss Trent Reznor’s approach and offer several great artist examples Case studies: Fanfarlo, Jonathan Coulton, Metric, David Byrne

6. Think in terms of a Funnel

7. Steps to take Establish goals Craft offers to meet goals Collect data Test and Measure Optimize Repeat, iterate, experiment

8. 1. Set Direct to Fan Data Goals REACH My widget on 100+ sites this year 50,000 unique visitors this month ENGAGEMENT Single played 10,000 times on the web Fans to share my video 2,500 times ACQUISITION 5,000 email addresses by January Sell out the Mercury Lounge in NYC (capacity 250) MONETIZATION Make $60,000 from a series of DTF offers Average fan revenue is $50 per year across all offers

9. 2. Craft Your Offer Authentically connect with your fans Do not focus on topline revenue of one product Artist as a brand with many products Variety of offers to serve a wide spectrum of fans Emerging artists prioritize on fan acquisition through low friction, low cost offers Established artists benefit from fans wanting collectibles and higher-value experiences All should include tiered premium offers vs. leaving major revenue and margin on the table

10. Impact of Physical Goods in Offers *Source: Topspin direct to fan campaigns

11. Consider Premium Offers 50% of transactions occur at under $10, but account for less than 18% of Revenue Greater than 50% of revenue is earned at price points over $25 *Source: Topspin direct to fan campaigns

12. Plot and Serve Your Demand Curve

13. 3. Collect Data Once you’ve crafted your offers, project demand Calculate weighted average transaction value based on product mix and expected distribution Multiply average revenue & margin by conversion rates from channel Get a handle on accessible channels Number of emails in your list (ensure freshness for optimal conversion) Traffic to primary and secondary sites measured in visits Search volume ( Google’s search term tool ) Social network reach in friends or followers: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Last.FM, YouTube, iLike, etc.

14. Google Analytics – Required

15. Topspin Conversion Averages Source: Topspin Direct to Fan Averages CHANNEL CONSERVATIVE NORMAL AGGRESSIVE Email Visits (clicks) Sales from visits 10% 4% 15% 8% 20% 12% Traffic to Primary Site Visits Sales Email acquisition 100% 2.4% 7% 100% 4.8% 15% 100% 8% 20% Traffic to Secondary Sites Visits Sales Emails 8% 2% 3.2% 16% 3.2% 6.4% 24% 5.6% 8% Search Visits Sales Emails 2.4% 1.6% 3.2% 4% 3.2% 7.2% 5.6% 4.8% 11.2%

16. Topspin Conversion Averages Source: Topspin Direct to Fan Averages CHANNEL CONSERVATIVE NORMAL AGGRESSIVE Facebook Visits Sales Emails 0.8% 1.6% 2.8% 2.4% 2.8% 3.6% 4% 4.4% 7.2% MySpace Visits Sales Emails 0.8% 1.2% 2.4% 2.4% 2.4% 3.2% 4% 4% 6.4% Twitter Visits Sales Emails 2.4% 1.6% 2.4% 4.8% 2.8% 3.2% 7.2% 4.4% 6.4% YouTube Visits Sales Emails 2% 1.2% 2.4% 3.2% 2% 3.6% 4.8% 3.2% 4.8%

17. Compare Funnel Conversions Source: Topspin Live Artist Example

18. Essential Lessons Learn and master Google Analytics Simple to put into footer of website, blog, CMS It’s free and a universal standard Third party integration, i.e., Topspin purchase flow Premium offers = more revenue Include physical goods to generate demand Service fans who want more and are willing to pay Understand conversion rates  project demand

19. 4. Test + Measure = ROI What was the before and after of your marketing? Compare and contrast how different channels drive traffic, fan acquisition, and revenue Benchmark and improve each fan touch-point sales conversion Web page views and click-throughs Email open-rates, click-throughs, unsubscribes Widget loads, plays, shares Purchase points: impressions, acquired fans

20. Revenue by Channel

21. Website Traffic Identify major sources of traffic to your site Topspin Knowledge Base instructions Assess ecommerce and conversion by source to reinforce and reward high-performing channels For each source, uniquely track traffic and commerce by tagging the URLs: Google URL Builder Topspin Knowledge Base instructions Advanced users can develop unique landing pages for each source of traffic Bit.ly and Awe.sm URL shortners provide tracking and metrics

22. Social Network Data Platforms Analyze social network metrics and engage fans periodically with new media and posts

23. Third Party Metrics Providers

24. 5. Optimize Initial direct marketing is an investment in data and benchmarking SEO Landing pages Email New metrics for the new business

25. SEO Imperative that primary site is ranked highest SEO Advice and Tips : Search Engine Traffic #2-#3 source of artist’s traffic and revenue during releases Ensure release and artist specific key words are resulting in top placement for your site Rank Checker :

26. SEO Can you tell below when this artist’s primary site fell out of top placement in search rankings? Drop in traffic = drop in revenue Requires continual monitoring or setting up data alerts

27. Landing Pages

28. Landing Page Data Lessons Your offer should never be more than one click away Why? only 15-30% of visitors follow the link to the offer page Compare: Offer page is one click away: 30% click and 10% buy = 3% total conversion Offer page is two clicks away: 30% click once, 30% click again, 10% buy = 0.9% Assume 10,000 visitors and $20 avg sale: this is $6,000 vs. $1,800 Emails should drive fans direct to offer page Integrate offer page into homepage Advanced users A/B landing pages for high conversions Google Webpage Optimizer

29. David Byrne Email Marketing Strongest revenue channel 3,000 to 30,000 in two weeks 28% CTR 13% purchased Tip: Streaming players or widget images in emails have highest CTR

30. Metrics for the New Music Business MEASURE EXAMPLES Play to Purchase Ratio Byrne and Eno: 20% Fans Acquired per 1000 Viral impressions Fanfarlo: 49/1000 Fans Acquired per 1000 Paid impressions Average: 0.7/1000 Dispersion David Byrne: 160 sites Fanfarlo: 248 sites Shares to Sales Ratio Fanfarlo: 1.1

31. 6. Repeat, Iterate, Experiment Promotional effectiveness has short half-life so emulate successful methods quickly and measure constantly Investing in data intelligence enables better remarketing Experiment with limited fan sets Plot your own demand curves and determine price elasticities A/B test for incremental gains on all fan touchpoints Future of artist marketing is based on your creative ideas Tools will allow easier implementation and more immediate measurement Actively engage with audience to sustain and grow fanbase KPIs

32. Some (More) Creative Campaigns Fanfarlo case study The Elk Get Busy Committee Joe Pug Golden Filter Ambling Alp

33. Further Resources [email_address] Twitter: @shamalman Skype: shamal_topspin Topspin Green Room Topspin Knowledge Base Google Analytics: Conversion University Berklee College of Music Course: Online Music Marketing with Topspin Certificate program: Topspin-Certified Marketer Specialist Copyblogger

34. Thank you.