Direct-to-Fan: Adding my stuff
Preface: Before I start today’s post, I want to acknowledge some key, critical facts. The folks ’round the Nimbit, Topspin, and Hollow Vixen camps have expressed their concern about the very nature of doing something like this. They’re smart people, and while they may be right to express their concern, I also greatly admire the fact that they trust me and allow me to do this. The entire experiment succeeds (or fails!) based upon my ability to use both products and report out results in a way that only serves to educate and advise. The only winner in this whole process is any band/artist/manager who is trying to create a direct-to-fan model for their career. Focusing on their success and struggle is the whole point here. Everything else is commentary. It also deserves to be mentioned that I am really grateful for everyone’s comments -positive and negative- thus far. More than anyone else, I’ve learned a lot, and that’s awesome.
And now, the rest of the story ….
Having gotten the tracks back from mastering, I needed to get ‘em up onto the Hollow Vixen website. Since we’ve got various Topspin and Nimbit players/widgets on the site, I had to upload the product via both platforms, and I wanted to get the stuff submitted to the various digital distributors since not everyone (yet/alas…) shops direct-to-fan via the artist. I started uploading the tracks via Topspin. Here’s what happened…
The process is fairly simple and straight forward: log in, select “catalog,” and create a new package in which I’d upload the tracks. This doesn’t require much previous knowledge, just a bit of common sense. I was particularly impressed that I could upload various formats (WAV, AIF, etc … ). Then I hit a rather odd roadblock. Having chosen my file format (WAV), I couldn’t figure out how to actually upload the product. There was no button to click. I tried dragging and dropping from the file folder on my desktop, but that didn’t work either. Here’s what that screen looks like:
The problem, I realized, is that I was using Google Chrome (on my black MacBook running Mac OSX 10.6.3), and the Topspin stuff utilizes Flash. Flash is super cool, and it provides (for me at least) a really consistent, smooth user experience. But, take a look at this screenshot (using Safari) and notice the extra (and very significant) button that appears. I was totally confused, and tried doing the upload a bunch of times in Chrome before I went “oh, wait a minute …” and switched to Safari. Once I did that, some cool things happened. For starters, I could simply grab the group of files and
upload them right away. And the uploading (considering the pretty massive file sizes) was fairly swift. I also had a lovely status bar telling me my progress.
From there, I needed to do a lot of data entry: titles, track order, publishing info, etc. You can do that across all tracks for the repetitive info, and then track-by-track for the unique stuff. Cool. All things considered, once I got the right browser/track upload happening, it was a pretty easy process.
Using the Nimbit platform (in Google Chrome) was equally straight forward. From the home screen (dashboard…) of the Nimbit account, I have some activity directors. I chose “Add a Product” and a step-by-step path asks the appropriate questions (what kind of product are you adding, etc.). Unlike Topspin, you’re uploading MP3s only. This is where I could insert commentary about the quality of MP3s, or that folks prefer to listen to Lossless audio, but that’s a debate I’d rather leave to other people. The guys in Hollow Vixen are interested in offering the “deluxe” hi-quality audio as a special option down the road. Not a bad idea, but that’s for another time (too).
Uploading the MP3s into the Nimbit platform is about as straight-forward as it could be. The process is slightly reversed from Topspin in that you enter a lot of the “background” info first (see image). 
Then you click ahead, and add the track titles, times, and other info. Once that’s all in there, you’re then prompted for some more stuff. (see second image). A unique thing (for Nimbit) is that it automatically rips your samples, generates ISRC codes, and a UPC code if necessary. It’s included in the monthly/annual cost of an account. If your stuff is going to iTunes and other digital distributors they’ll require the ISRC code to track and report sales.
After that’s done, you then get to go in track by track and upload your music. Unlike Topspin, it can’t be done as a “group” of files, but since you’re uploading MP3s, it didn’t take me all that long to upload each track individually. And at that point you can also add lyrics, choose pricing, and indicate other stuff. Mostly the same with Topspin, I just didn’t mention it up above. Now you know.
At this point, assuming you’ve uploaded your music successfully, it’s time to consider a few other options: where to sell your stuff, and what versions of your music. The guys in Hollow Vixen wanted their tracks available on their website, Facebook, and MySpace — but also on iTunes, eMusic, AmazonMP3, and other places. From Nimbit, it’s a prompt that asks you if you want to do this, and a few distributor specific questions (agreeing to distributors TOS, pricing options, etc) and off goes your music – but you need to send a physical copy to Nimbit. That’s a bit of a downer ‘cuz it delays the process a bit, but considering you’re doing everything from inside the Nimbit platform, how picky can you be? The other option would be to use Topspin plus some other distributor, and since you never got the ISRC codes from Topspin, they’ve got to come from somewhere. Maybe that other distributor can provide ‘em — no idea and not part of this discussion.
So the verdict on all of this: I’m honestly not sure. Once I got past the Flash/Chrome conflict, I liked using the Topspin interface. It’s pretty cool. But the Nimbit platform seems more complete to me — with the exclusion of adding additional audio formats. And that’s something I could see some value in.
Oh yeah… someone commented on the fact that I didn’t mention pricing. So here’s how it works:
Hollow Vixen members took BerkleeMusic’s “Online Marketing w/ Topspin” class. It cost around $1000 and includes a Topspin account which takes commissions on sales (sliding scale, averaging around 20%). So technically they’re not paying for a Topspin account, but they did pay to take the class which (they told me) taught them some cool stuff.
On the Nimbit side, they’re using a nimbitPro account. That costs $24.95/month or $249 per year plus a 20% commission on direct sales (i.e. non-iTunes, etc.)
That’s it for now. Hope it helps…
Hi Scott,
More comments from Topspin’s CEO:
– I’m not sure why you had a problem uploading in Chrome. Chrome is my browser of choice and I don’t have a problem with it. Note the button is just fine in my Chrome browser at this screen shot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iancrogers/4647794036/ I’m using OS X as well. I actually don’t think that button is Flash, either. If you can reproduce that bug can you please report it at http://getsatisfaction.com/topspin so we can fix? Thanks.
– Also note you can bulk upload to Topspin via FTP and it will build your album bundles automatically. It’s a great power user feature. If you would like help or tips on Topspin features you can visit our Knowledge Base. Instructions on uploading are here: https://docs.topspin.net/tiki-index.php?page=Uploading+Media&structure=Product+Usage It’s interesting you can’t batch upload to Nimbit in any form. Our customers would lose their minds if that was the case. They wanted to be able to upload gigs and gigs of files at once, which is why we added the FTP uploader in addition to the Web-based one. When you’re uploading EVERY FELA KUTI RECORD, for example, one track at a time would be cumbersome, and a lack of lossless audio would be unacceptable. http://www.fela.net/
– WAV files do not contain metadata. So if you upload WAV then you have some data entry tasks ahead of you. Instructions on batch metadata editing is here: https://docs.topspin.net/tiki-index.php?page=Editing+media+metadata&structure=Product+Usage
– We usually don’t recommend uploading WAV, though, for this reason. The simplest way to upload your media is as Apple Lossless. Then you can get your media looking exactly the way you want to in iTunes, upload, and all your metadata will be pre-filled and you won’t have any data entry. Again, if you were the Director of Marketing at Topspin you would know this already.
– Like Bandcamp, Topspin does not encourage the upload of MP3 files, we expect you to upload lossless audio. You can upload MP3s and sell them as-is if you must (just as you can sell any digital file with Topspin, from screen savers to Word documents) but it’s discouraged and they are not treated in the same way as lossless files, which have Apple Lossless, FLAC, and MP3 derivations for both streaming and selling created automatically. This is done so you have the highest quality product available for sale. It’s handy you’re leaving discussion of hi-fi audio to others!
We see our artists have great success with hi-fidelity audio. As we mentioned on our blog about a year ago, in many of our campaigns we see fans selecting lossless at checkout at a rate of more than 50%. Direct to fan serves true fans and true fans care about quality, as it turns out.
– Question: Nimbit takes in MP3s and then distributes those to iTunes for sale? Personally I would not want to take already compressed MP3s and have those sent to Apple for sale in iTunes, I would only want lossless source to be sent out for digital distribution.
– It’s misleading to include the cost of the Berklee course in what Topspin costs. Topspin makes exactly $0 from the Berklee course. The Berklee course was a great way for us to get some highly qualified people in our beta, but it’s not a barrier to using Topspin. For every band using Topspin as a result of the Berklee course there are 10 bands who paid nothing but the 15% commission to use the platform. I hope Hollow Vixen got their value from the course, the feedback I’ve heard thus far has been stellar. Feedback on the course from Hollow Vixen and/or others is welcome. I know Mike King is always trying to make that course the best it can be.
ian
No idea why it didn’t work in Chrome, but it did in Safari. All I know is that it happened. Just tried it again – same issue. Could be Topspin, could be Chrome, could be Flash (?). No idea. I was gonna go FTP, but only if the switch to Safari didn’t solve the problem. I’ve been having all kinds of Flash/Chrome issues lately — on a variety of sites.
The lack of batch uploading on the Nimbit side wasn’t really an issue during this experiment. Because the individual files weren’t that big, it didn’t slow down the process at all. You can do batch entry for meta data as applicable which worked great — both on Topspin and Nimbit.
The option to use different data for iTunes is available — i.e. not the MP3s. In this case though, and in the interest of expediency, I just clicked through for the MP3s to go out. These days, since most people are listening to music on headphones/earbuds via iPods or crappy computer speakers, providing an MP3 for a product that ends up as MP3 doesn’t seem to be a huge concern.
I had the same discussion with Jeff Worrell who produced the album. Cool guy, worked with folks like Pat Benetar, Fleetwood Mac, and other fairly well-known types.
If I had my super-fancy Bang & Olufson home system with Bose 901 speakers connected with disgustingly expensive wires and cables handmade by monks in the hills of Nepal, then yeah, better source material would be worthwhile. Alas, folks aren’t buying the hi-fi systems that I remember drooling over as a kid. For their movies, sure. But music still seems confined to the MP3. Though I hear vinyl is making a comeback
As for costing and including the Topspin/Berklee course, I wasn’t sure about that. But since that’s how these guys got the Topspin account, I thought it should be there. And yeah, the guys in Hollow Vixen did enjoy the class. In particular, they created a marketing plan I got to review. Pretty impressive and learned via Mike.
——————-
*If anyone from Bose is reading this and thinks I should have a set of 901s for my personal use, who am I to disagree?
Thanks again for pointing out the bug. I can’t reproduce it in Chrome on my Mac the QA team has been able to reproduce it and we have a potential fix. You’re right, it’s a Flash issue. If you zoom out in your browser the button will appear but that’s not a good fix. The fix has to do with the alignment of the button and they’re applying now. Thanks one more time for the heads up.
I agree lots of bands/producers and even more fans don’t care about lossless audio quality but we certainly find many in both camps who do.
Glad the Hollow Vixen guys enjoyed the class. Mike King is the absolute best, as is Dave Kusek who runs Berklee’s online school.
ian
Mike King is indeed a good guy, and I’m always happy to give Dave Kusek a shout-out.
Hello to both of you,
i really in enjoy this little experiment and the comments of you guys. Although you Scott can’t be 100% impartial in this case. I mean if I would work at Nimbit I would know the software of all competitors in detail. Anyway I think it’s a great idea and the fact that Ian is into the conversation enhance the lowdown for all followers.
But come on Scott your comment about the quality of audio formats is a bit strange.
“These days, since “most people” are listening to music on “headphones/earbuds via iPods or crappy computer speakers,” providing an MP3 for a product that ends up as MP3 doesn’t seem to be a huge concern.”
I guess you are a music lover too. So what would you like to have, trashy mp3 or wave quality even though you’re listening over your kitchen radio? Ok I know the costs and distribution problems of huge data volumes. But isn’t it a goal to serve the best quality as it can be?
cheers and and good luck for Hollow Vixen…
Jens -
If I send the greatest, highest, most super quality audio through my iPod it’s still gonna end up hitting my ears as a compressed and “compromised” MP3. So to serve the masses, MP3 does the job.
Another example: I’ve got a friend who prefers to buy FLAC files. But all he does is import them to iTunes and listening on his iPod. So I wonder – does it matter when the MP3 is created, and shouldn’t the band/artist create that MP3 to their own standard before sending it onto the world?
The guys in Hollow Vixen (at my instruction) had their music mastered for disc but ALSO mastered for MP3. Knowing the audio/compression limitations, we asked the mastering guy to create something that would be as close to the intended sound as possible. If you listen to the audio of Fortune Tide (dead center on the homepage of http://www.hollowvixen.com ) that’s what you’ll hear.
High quality audio is only useful if you have equally quality equipment to play it on. Were it my choice, I’d listen exclusively to vinyl.
But that’s just me …
–Scott
This right here is priceless. The Director of Marketing at one company comparing his product to another’s with the CEO of the other fighting back in the comments. These are great reads for many reasons. The only regrettable part is that ReverbNation isn’t in here for an all out battle royale
Michael –
We’re just here for the entertainment value
But honestly, I wanted to try and do something that no one else had. And while I trust my own ability to be impartial, it’s really up to the readers to decide. At least I’m honest with it all.
If I added ReverbNation to the mix, I’d be doing everything in triplicate — which would take even longer! And besides, if he’s reading this, Lou Plaia isn’t as witty as me ‘n’ Ian
–Scott