As we have found out lately, the music industry tracks musicians not just by the radio spins of their songs or their album sales, but also the internet activity of their fans. There are so many different places out there now that people discover and listen to music more than their old fashioned radios, like Pandora, Last.fm, YouTube, Vevo, SoundCloud. The industry also measures how many hits and comments the artists get on places like Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter. It is a new era. Visit the pages linked below to learn more about some of the music-oriented services and applications that are available for our use.
This page is just a beginning. If you have any suggestions for other digital music or new media avenues that we could talk about or utilize, please leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Scrobble to Win
Scrobble from Spotify, then enter to win one of three $25 iTunes or Amazon gift cards to be awarded on December 22, 2012. International fans with no access to Spotify, see below.
Many of you are already very knowledgeable in last.fm and Spotify and use them regularly, but for those of you who don’t, you’ll find more information after you read about the contest.
Contest details:
Prize: Three $25 gift cards to your choice of iTunes or Amazon
When: Now through January 5, 2013
How: Start at the step that fits you.
1.Sign up and create a profile on last.fm Link for PC/Mac (FREE)
[Links for last.fm Apps for mobile devices: iPhone or Android ]
[Links to scrobbling Apps : CloudScrob , IScrob ScrobbleDroid ]
2. Sign up on Spotify Link for PC/Mac (FREE)
[Links for mobile devices. free Spotify app or the App for Android ]
Once you have downloaded it, open up your Spotify preferences by going to Edit > Preferences. Check the box in Activity Sharing that says “Scrobble to last.fm,” and enter your last.fm username and password. Now you’re ready to scrobble from Spotify.
3. Make a playlist (Click +New Playlist, under Library on the left bar of your page) on Spotify) consisting of your favorite David Cook songs mixed with favorites from other artists you love, preferably not American Idol singers. This mix of artists will eventually make last.fm recognize David as similar to the others you’ve chosen for your playlist.
*For David’s songs in your playlist, use only those that are on Spotify right now, tracks from his two major label albums. (Not idol tracks, not exclusive bonus tracks, not live tracks, not demos- these don’t help him)
*Scrobbling only David’s music doesn’t help either. It doesn’t reach others artists’ fans or associate him with musicians similar to him. So make it a mix please, maybe 25% DC songs and 75% of other musicians.
Playlists can be short or very long. The advantage of a long playlist is that one can leave it playing longer while away from computer.
4.Tag David’s songs on last.fm (and wherever you scrobble from if available) as rock, alternative rock, pop rock, singer-songwriter, alternative. Also, click “love” on DC songs, since last.fm tracks those too.
5. Play your playlist(s) as much as you can. Share links to your playlists through the “share” button on Spotify, either here or on Twitter (@streetteam_dc), or email to davidcookstreetteam@gmail.com. This will give the rest of us music ideas, and enter your name in the drawing of three iTunes or Amazon gift card on Dec 22nd.
For international fans who don’t have access to Spotify,
Prize: Three $10 gift cards to your choice of iTunes or Amazon
1. sign up on last.fm as above. please check links there.
2. Download the last.fm scrobbler for Mac or for PC.
Links to scrobbling Apps : CloudScrob , IScrob ScrobbleDroid
Now you’re ready to scrobble from your listening device to last.fm
3. Make a playlist as above on last.fm or iTunes (playlists are under library on your profile page)
4. Tag David’s songs as above
5. Share your playlists from last.fm with us by clicking the “share” button on your last.fm playlist and emailing to davidcookstreetteam@gmail.com This will get your name in the drawing of three $10 iTunes or Amazon gift cards.
Why Scrobble from Spotify
You may have seen Lisa’s reminders to stream and scrobble but may not have been sure why or how. The bottom line is that David will be paid when his music is streamed through certain websites and the more he is streamed, the more visibility he will be given online. That translates to more exposure for his music among people who may not yet have discovered his songs.
This contest can help David in two ways:
1. Streaming on Spotify will pay him money. It’s not much but it’s something and if we all do it consistently, it can add up. After we have already bought the music and gifted it, we can add streaming on Spotify as a way to support it.
Here’s an article that Brian Mansfield linked on Twitter that explains Spotify, what artists make, and how it adds up. It’s long, a paragraph from it:
- Let’s take that half a cent per stream and compare that to buying a download. Owners of masters receive 70 cents from iTunes for a download. Once that sale takes place, the transaction between artist and consumer is complete. But if you are a fan of an artist or a song, and you choose to listen on Spotify, then EVERY LISTEN earns an additional half a cent. Just as a point of information, I sorted my iTunes playlist by plays, and the artist that I had listened to the most (Anais Mitchell, in case you were wondering) was over 1400 plays each on a handful of songs. Had I listened to her on Spotify, she would have actually earned 10 times the money for those particular songs. It’s the difference between buying a car and renting one. After a purchase, the transactional relationship is over. But if I’m renting (streaming), then the transactional relationship begins anew with every listen.
2. Scrobbling from Spotify or anywhere else to last.fm, adds another benefit. The playlists you make help determine who last.fm considers to be “similar to” David. By including other artists on our playlists, we help last.fm introduce him to the fans of those other artists. When last.fm makes customized recommendations to their users, this “similar to” function becomes important.
- From Last.fm: You can read about artists you like, check out their most popular tracks, browse their album and find out what other artists are similar to them….. The list of artists which you see on an artist page as being “similar” is automatically created by the Last.fm Audioscrobbler, based on our user’s listening habits: If a lot of users listen to Artist X, but also Artist Y and Z – Y and Z artists will become similar to X.
Tags are like keywords or labels that you can use to classify music – artists, albums or tracks. They are simply short descriptions. Tagging David’s songs properly will also help other users see what category most people have put him in. We’re trying to move him away from American Idol and more into rock, pop/rock.
Great resource for last.fm, Spotify, and scrobbling on DCO: Minstrel’s blog
Here are some of your playlists! Thank you!
Comment by jaylglee1: Terrific posting. Let me add that by Scrobbling, we also add to David’s Next Big Sound statistics. Increased listening, watching vids, tweeting add to his numbers, which may be looked at by him, his own management and professionals in the biz as they make decisions. Also helps create buzz.
