Press Releases
ReverbNation Lets Musicians Add Press Clippings to Any Website (August 5, 2008)
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ReverbNation Registers 200,000th Band in First Twenty Months (July 8, 2008)
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ReverbNation Integrates Twitter to Help Musicians Engage Fans (June 16, 2008)
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ReverbNation Launches Gig Finder to Help Musicians Target Opportunities (May 29, 2008)
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Judas Priest Single "Nostradamus" Blows Up with ReverbNation Widget (May 2, 2008)
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Band Equity™: A Better Measurement Than Song Charts (March 17, 2008)
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ReverbNation: Artists Can Now Tag Songs as 'Exclusives' for Fans Only (February 19, 2008)
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ReverbNation Launches Profile Pages designed for Record Labels & Managers, Plus a Full-Service Music Marketing Division (October 23, 2007)
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Now Bands Can Cross-Promote Each Other Anywhere on the Web (October 3, 2007)
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REHAB to Headline the ReverbNation.com Tour (August 2, 2007)
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ReverbNation Opens up Facebook to Independent Bands (July 17, 2007)
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Music Community ReverbNation.com to Begin Paying Musicians (May 8, 2007)
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ReverbNation.com presents "Tap into the College Circuit" (March 6, 2007)
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SNOCAP and ReverbNation.com Strike Distribution Partnership (January 17, 2007)
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ReverbNation.com "It's Not Too Late to Play SXSW" Contest (January 10, 2007)
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ReverbNation.com "Best Music Social Network, 2006" (January 2, 2007)
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FanReach™ from ReverbNation.com Captures Fan Information Anywhere on the Web (December 12, 2006)
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ReverbNation.com Sets the Stage for a Music Revolution (October 16, 2006)
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eMinor Secures $2 Million in Series A Financing (August 17, 2006)
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'Press Widget' Makes Posting Album Reviews and Web Buzz a Snap for Any Artist
(New York, NY — August 8, 2008) ReverbNation, the leading Marketing and Promotion Platform technology for Musicians, Labels, Managers, and Venues, today introduced the 'Press Widget' to over 215,000 Musicians and Bands that use ReverbNation applications to enhance their social network pages (MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, etc), homepages, and blogs.
The 'Press Widget' allows Artists to aggregate accolades from the media or fans into one place, and then deploy them to all of their other sites. Artists can add an unlimited number of clippings, with each one containing a link back to the original source for fans to read more. The deployed widget can be customized to match the color of any webpage, and will update in real time when the Artist adds, edits, or removes old clippings. The widget has smart word detection, which rotates clippings at a slower speed for long quotes and a quicker speed for short quotes, timed with the fan's ability to read them. Typical of all ReverbNation widgets, the 'Press Widget' can easily be shared by fans or made the object of 'Street Team' missions that incentivize the most rabid fans to spread it virally.
"Reviews and peer opinions are incredibly important for musicians. Often times, a well-placed quote from a credible source can be the difference between a potential fan actually engaging with the music, or just passing by," said Jed Carlson, Co-Founder and COO of ReverbNation.com. "But all the super reviews won't mean anything if they aren't actually seen by fans or potential fans. The Press Widget can't get you good reviews, but it can help you showcase the ones you do get."
The Press Widget is FREE for any Artist, Label, or Manager to set up, and only takes seconds to deploy it to other sites. ReverbNation tracks the Press Widget, reporting back to the Artist how many times it has been viewed, clicked, and shared.
For more info on the Press Widget, and all ReverbNation widgets: ReverbNation Widgets
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(New York, NY — July 8, 2008) ReverbNation, the leading Marketing and Promotion Platform technology for Musicians, Labels, Managers, and Venues, signed up its 200,000th Artist last week, adding 100,000 in the last six months alone. In addition, over 6,000 Labels and Managers have created profiles to promote themselves and their rosters, and more than 2,500 Venues and Clubs are using the 'venue tools' to help pack their shows, grow their fan bases, and integrate promotional efforts with musicians. To date, Artists and Labels have posted nearly 700,000 full-length songs to the site.
The success can be primarily attributed to the free suite of Fan Relationship Management (FRM) technologies the company provides for Artists, Labels, Managers, and Venues. The suite includes a content repository, promotional widgets and applications for viral distribution across social networks and blogs, integrated Street Team tools for motivating, tracking, and rewarding rabid fans, a communication platform to keep Artists connected with fans, and a comprehensive stats package to provide the insight they need to make marketing and promotion decisions.
"It's like Salesforce.com for Bands and Labels," said Josh Baron, Editor-in-Chief of Relix Magazine, 'The Magazine for Music.'
Since inception, the company has focused on helping "Independent" Artists and Labels by providing marketing tools, for free, that are usually reserved for major labels with large budgets.
"In all my years as a musician's coach and mentor, I have never seen the likes of ReverbNation for Indie musicians. They get it," says Madalyn Sklar, owner of GoGirls Music and operator of the 'Indiemusiccoach.com' website. "They absolutely understand the needs of the independent musician and build software that makes a difference for them everyday."
"Are you an Artist that needs to generate a newsletter and send it out to 10,000 fans?" asks indie Artist Jeff Nelson of the Syracuse, N.Y. Rock band 'Merit'. "Need a music player for your homepage or your Facebook page? Want to build a Street Team and have their actions tracked automatically? Want to know how long people listen to your songs before they turn them off, or if they passed them on to friends? Do you need help finding venues for your tour? I need all of that. ReverbNation delivers this and more. These guys offer the sickest platform of tools I've ever seen, and I can actually afford it, because it's free."
Use of the ReverbNation technology has recently spilled over from the indie ranks to some of the more recognized names in music as well, like 50 Cent, Kenny Chesney, Madonna, O.A.R., Natasha Bedingfield, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Sara Bareilles, and Sean Kingston, to name a few. Over 60 of the Billboard Top 100 now have a presence at ReverbNation.com.
Said Chris "Broadway" Romero, Creative Director, G-Unit Records (50 Cent), "ReverbNation's TuneWidget and tracking tools have been great for us here at G-Unit Records and Thisis50.com. Their tools and applications let our fans easily become involved in the marketing and promotion of our music across the web. There are a lot of 'all in one' solutions out there, but the ReverbNation platform is the only one that allows us to develop a marketing strategy first, then use the technology to execute it."
"We build technology that can help virtually any musician, label, manager, or venue," says Lou Plaia, Co-Founder and V.P. of Artist Relations at ReverbNation.com. "We help Artists take the music to the people, wherever those fans are spending their time online, and then empower Artists with tools for leveraging their content to drive real business objectives at those touch points. Artist objectives might include selling music, merch, or tickets, extracting valuable fan relationships from the social networks, or keeping content up to date across all of their sites. We give them real insight into what's happening with their content and how their marketing efforts are affecting their overall Band Equity™. At the end of the day, the most important asset an Artist has is their portfolio of fan relationships, and it's our mission to help them grow that asset."
Over the coming months, ReverbNation will expand the offerings to Artists even further, giving them more tools to succeed at the 'business' part of the music business, including: Low-cost digital distribution to iTunes and other retailers, a dynamic 'Reverb Press Kit' for media outreach and gig submissions, a ringtone generator and sales tool, and several enhancements to the FanReach communication tool. In addition, the company plans to introduce an "Artist Sponsorship Platform' where Brands can link up with thousands of interested Artists at a time, creating a new revenue stream for Artists in these challenging times of declining music sales.
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(New York, NY — June 16, 2008) ReverbNation, a leading 'Online Marketing and Promotions Platform' for Musicians, has integrated the popular communication service Twitter into all Artist Profile Pages. The integration allows Artists to import and display their Twitter 'posts', keeping their fans informed about the Band's daily activities. Artists can also create new Twitter posts directly from their ReverbNation account, saving them from having to login at both sites.
"Artists don't always have a new album or tour to talk about," said Lou Plaia, V.P. of Artist Services at ReverbNation.com. "Twitter gives them a way to keep the fans engaged in between the big stuff - maintaining the share of mind that they have painstakingly acquired, and keeping the fans warmed up for when the album finally drops."
Ulf Oesterle, owner of Indie Label Aux Records, concurs, "ReverbNation is progressive in how they approach the tools that they provide for Artists and Labels. Integrating Twitter is a huge boost for engaging bands with their fans."
A similar integration with the popular 'Status' feature at Facebook is coming soon, which will provide the 350,000+ Artists that have installed ReverbNation's 'My Band' application at Facebook with a similar function.
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Tool Designed to Give Artists an Easy Way to Locate Venues/Clubs That "Fit"
(New York, NY — May 29, 2008) ReverbNation, a leading online marketing and promotions platform for musicians, announces Gig Finder, an innovative search application that makes it easier for Artists to locate clubs and venues that fit their style and capacity requirements, making the chances of finding a match and landing a gig much higher. Gig Finder is the latest in a series of six powerful tools available for free in the ReverbNation "Artist Toolbox", a super-suite of solutions that help Artists from all walks of life grow their fan base and their business.
Gig Finder can do all of the basic searches an Artist would expect, including finding venues by name or by geographic location. But the real power of Gig Finder comes from the two advanced searches:
• Similar Venues Search — Finds venues in other locations that are similar to one that the Artist has already played, or knows.
• Similar Artists Search — Finds venues where other Artists with similar characteristics have played.
All of Gig Finder's search filters are "stackable" on top of each other, allowing the Artist to narrow down the results to a very specific list of venues that match with their tour criteria.
"Gig Finder is an easy way for Artists to fill in the gaps on a tour, build a new tour from scratch, or just figure out how to branch out of the local area," said Jed Carlson, Co-Founder and COO of ReverbNation.com. "Hundreds of thousands of Artists, Venue Operators, and Promoters have added shows to our wiki-style database. We want to leverage all of that data for the benefit of our users, and Gig Finder is the first step."
Mike Borgia, Indie Artist from New York City adds, "To have access to such a comprehensive gig finding tool is hands down the best and most useful feature any artist could ever ask for. Gig Finder is just brilliant!"
The Reverb Press Kit (RPK), a digital package that Artists use to represent themselves to Venues, will be available soon to augment the Gig Finder offering. The RPK will contain traditional items like songs, videos, photos, and bios, but will also allow the Artist to include their statistics, like the number of listeners or fans they have in the local area, and the aggregate demographics of those fans. The purpose of these new tools is to make better and more efficient matches between Artists and Venues, leading to more sold out shows.
For more info on Gig Finder, Click Here.
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Pre-Release from New Album Streamed Every Two Seconds on First Day
(New York, NY — May 2, 2008) Judas Priest, on the verge of releasing their first new album in 3 years, pre-released the title track to "Nostradamus" via the ReverbNation TuneWidget on April 21st to a throng of hungry fans. The TuneWidget was initially placed on only four websites but allowed fans to grab it and embed it on their MySpace pages and blogs, leading to over 200,000 impressions on launch day alone. The results of this strategy were overwhelming. The track was streamed once every two seconds during the first 24-hour period. Fans who listened or received the download were directed to the Judas Priest website where they could pre-order the album, scheduled for release on June 17th.
"The Tunewidget allowed us to get an enormous viral spread that has helped us kickstart our new campaign," said Jason Lekberg, Manager of Digital Marketing at Epic Records. "The first day numbers are impressive and the growth has continued, culminating in nearly 700k impressions, and well over 100k streams in the first week. The TuneWidget gives us an ongoing marketing channel, allowing us to continue to promote the Artist on the 500+ URLs that Priest fans have placed it on. In addition, the TuneWidget integrates a mailing list collection tool that has drawn nearly 700 new signups without any prompts from us. We even get real-time demographic data like age, gender, and location on the fans that signup, giving us insight into the segments that are reacting to the music. The Tunewidget is a must have tool for any artists viral campaign."
"We are ecstatic at the results that Judas Priest has realized," said Jed Carlson, Co-Founder and COO of ReverbNation.com. "TuneWidget was designed to deliver viral promotional impact in conjunction with additional ongoing value like email collection and demographic data. Artists only get one chance to release a new single to the public, and they should capitalize on it in as many ways as possible."
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ReverbNation Introduces Proprietary Metric That Scores Influence, Reach of Artists
(Austin, TX — SXSW Music Festival, 2008) ReverbNation, a leading provider of Fan Relationship Management strategies and applications, has introduced a new method for measuring the ability of a musician or band to engage and influence fans. The proprietary metric, dubbed Band Equity™, is designed to prepare Artists, and those that support them, for new revenue models that rely less directly on music sales and more on their ability to develop meaningful and lasting relationships with consumers.
"We have always believed that the most important asset an Artist has is their portfolio of relationships with fans. As the sale of music declines as a component of the revenue mix for Artists, new opportunities are going to pop up that revolve around their ability to engage their fans for other purposes," said Jed Carlson, Chief Operating Officer of ReverbNation.com. "Band Equity is the embodiment of our belief, and a necessary first step in realizing those opportunities for them."
Band Equity was developed in response to the inadequacy of currently available metrics, like song plays, MySpace "friends," and retail sales, to serve as viable proxies for fan engagement. Specifically, song plays and MySpace "friends" are relatively easy to falsify and one-dimensional, while retail sales reports do not provide visibility into the behaviors of younger consumers who, as a block, do not buy music. Band Equity, on the other hand, takes a more holistic view of an Artist and synthesizes four factors that contribute to the value of an Artist's portfolio of fan relationships:
Reach: The number of unique people touched by the Artist's content, which typically lives within social networks, blogs, home pages, etc. This factor includes unique listeners, watchers of video, registered fans, size of their mailing list, etc. It could be described as the total potential fan base, and captures an element of effort on the part of the Artist and their Fans to spread their content and reach more people.
Influence: The reaction of those people exposed to the content. This factor includes number of songs or videos played per listener, play-through percentage on songs, total engagement time, email open rates, etc. It could be described as the "merit" of the Artist's contents.
Access: The ability of the Artist to access those fans directly, and message to them. This factor includes the rate at which listeners/friends convert to registered fans of the Artist or joining their mailing list, giving the Artist the ability to speak to them directly. It could be described as the "familiarity" the Artist has with their fan base.
Recency: All of the above factors are weighted by how recently the activities have taken place. Because of this, Band Equity can be used as a way to identify how promotional strategies affect fan relationships in the aggregate, closing the loop on understanding the cause and effect of an Artist's popularity.
Artists from all genres are encouraged to sign up and get a Band Equity score for free. In addition, every Artist is provided a chart that tracks their score over time, a ranking for where they stand within their genre, and educational material for how to increase their value.
Band Equity scoring is currently in a state of beta testing, with results only visible to the Artists themselves. Once the algorithm is fine tuned, Band Equity will become the standard way by which the Top Artists chart is calculated at ReverbNation, and a core metric used in delivering new revenue opportunities to them.
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Helps Artists, Labels, and Managers Convert Casual Listeners into Known Contacts
(New York, NY — February 19, 2008) ReverbNation announces Fan Exclusives, an innovative feature that empowers Artists to use their content as a way to gather contact information and demographics from their listeners in exchange for access to full streams or downloads.
The new feature is free to Artists, and allows them to designate any song as a Fan Exclusive, limiting its play to a 30 second preview if the listener is not a registered Fan of the Artist. During playback, the listener is notified that the song is a Fan Exclusive and prompted to register as an official Fan of the Artist by providing an email address and some basic demographic information. This information is protected under the ReverbNation privacy policy, and can only be used by the Artist to which it was submitted.
"Many Artists have indicated to us that they would like some middle ground between selling a song and just giving it away for free. Information about their Fans and the ability to contact them are critical to an Artist's ongoing business and have real value for them in terms of landing more gigs and possibly record deals. We see this feature as an opportunity to bridge the gap and provide an alternative to the existing options. It's also a great way to reward fans for their loyalty," said Mike Doernberg, CEO of ReverbNation.
Fan Exclusives are enabled on the ReverbNation web site and also in the TuneWidget, ReverbNation's leading Artist Widget that works on MySpace, home pages, blogs, and virtually any other site. As a result, Artists can use the feature to harvest Fan data all across the web and collect it into one convenient location. In a world where Artists are typically at the mercy of social networks to gain access to their fans, ReverbNation continues to build tools like Fan Exclusives that put Artists in control of their own destiny.
For more information about Fan Exclusives at ReverbNation, click here.
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(New York, NY — October 23, 2007) After months of anticipation, ReverbNation.com has launched the beta version of Record Label and Manager profile pages, complete with a suite of powerful free tools designed to meet the needs of Labels and Band Managers of all sizes. The offering includes many of the same features that have helped connect more than 60,000 Artists with over 1,350,000 music fans worldwide.
Profiles include sections for latest releases, news, songs, info about the label, and an interactive artist roster. Labels and Managers can add artist profile pages to ReverbNation directly from their Profile page and maintain administrative control over those artist pages, or turn them over to the artists to manage themselves.
Labels/Managers also get a special version of the TuneWidget to promote (and cross-promote) their entire roster all over the web. Widgets can be coupled with the free street team function to automatically track the fans that help spread the widgets and banners. FanReach, the highly acclaimed free fan communication system, is also available for Labels to use to manage their fan lists as well as the lists of each of their artists.
"We're so excited to unleash the power of ReverbNation for our label. We've been using the site for promoting our artists, and now we can use it to promote the Label as well. ReverbNation is changing the landscape of the music business," said Jason Bieler of Bieler Bros Records (Skindred, other artists here).
"Record Labels will always play a critical role in finding talent and popularizing music, no matter how much the business changes. What they do and how they do it may change dramatically over time, but they will always be around. We've listened carefully to our label friends and their needs," said Mike Doernberg, CEO of ReverbNation.com.
For an overview of Record Label Profile pages, go here: http://www.reverbnation.com/main/overview_label
Amplified Music Marketing is the newest division of Reverbnation that offers Full Service Music Marketing.
This unique service is here to help artists, labels and managers harness the power of the internet to expand the size and quality of their fanbase and to convert those fans into customers.
Amplified Music Marketing will provide the artist/label/manager with comprehensive weekly reports and updates.
Each Artist gets:
• Management/Enhancement of existing web pages and profiles
• Update all relevant information and answer all comments/messages
• Post widgets and enlist fans for a street team.
• Insert retail links or widgets to generate more revenue
• Promote Artist's music on message boards, blogs and genre related forums
• Manage and track the street team
• Leverage Reverbnation's promotional tools at highly discounted rates
• Develop event/tour promotion and branded marketing.
The Artist also receives:
• A weekly report—the most comprehensive in the business
• Tracking of impressions and viral syndication
• Directory of artist profile pages under management
• Roster of Top Fans/Promoters
• Trend analysis of plays
• Clickthroughs and widget placements
Reverbnation's Amplified Music Marketing is a turnkey solution for artists, labels, and mangers that need one company to manage their artists' presence across the entire digital realm. For more info: mailto:amplified@reverbnation.com
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ReverbNation launches TuneWidget for Artists, Labels, Managers, and Promoters
(New York, NY — October 23, 2007) ReverbNation.com has announced the launch of TuneWidget; a better way to promote your band, and a cool way to introduce new music to your fans.
What is TuneWidget exactly? For starters, imagine a miniature band website that packs pictures, music, video, band info, tour schedules (w/map), a storefront, and even a "join the mailing list" function into a space about the size of the MySpace music player. Mike Borgia, Indie musician from New York, says "It's like carrying a website in your (virtual) pocket." Tunewidget can be posted to social networks like MySpace, on homepages, and to almost any blog. Fans can copy and share TuneWidget with friends, spreading it virally for the musicians they love. Like all of the widgets from ReverbNation, Tunewidget is tracked so that artists know how it is spreading.
Check out a sample of TuneWidget here: http://www.reverbnation.com/controller/main/overview_tunewidget
But what makes TuneWidget really unique is the integrated cross-promotion function it performs wherever it is placed. At the bottom of every TuneWidget is a preview of a recommended artist. Clicking on the recommended artist toggles the Tunewidget to display their virtual website, presenting the fan with a music discovery experience, a warm introduction to a new artist, and an opportunity to buy new music. Tunewidget can be set to recommend any number of other artists and will rotate them accordingly.
"Tune Widget adds a whole new dimension to cross-promotion as we know it. Instead of simply posting cross promotional material up on a static site where it can only be seen by a finite number of viewers, fans can now post tune widgets anywhere on the web, making its value exponential," explains Gigi Greco, CEO, ArtAttack Promotions (Los Lonely Boys, Jackson Taylor, Canibus, John Lee Hooker, deSoL)
Early results indicate that the TuneWidget is extremely effective:
• Fans played the music at double the rate of other music widgets
• Fans stayed engaged longer with the Tunewidget than other widgets
• Fans switched the view to the recommended artist over 40% of the time if they had played music from the main artist
• Fans tended to listen to a significant portion of the song from the recommended artist when they switched to them
"As competition for fans heats up, cross-promotion just becomes more and more important. Artists, labels, and managers rely on it to introduce new music to the established fan bases they have painstakingly built over time," says Mike Doernberg, CEO of ReverbNation. "TuneWidget gives them a whole new way to help their friends, label-mates, or touring partners by driving fans to each other from anywhere on the web. It's kind of like the Top 8 at MySpace, but for the entire Web."
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Tour kicks off August 9, ReverbNation artists to join
(New York, NY — August 2, 2007) ReverbNation, a leading online music marketing company, announced today that REHAB will headline the upcoming ReverbNation music tour. In addition, ReverbNation is giving five artists a chance to earn a slot on the five different legs of the tour. Selected bands will join the tour beginning in September, and the tour will run through November 2007. ReverbNation has emerged as one of the premier independent music resources on the web and REHAB is one of the leading independent artists in the music industry today. By joining forces they are spreading the independent spirit to all true music fans across the nation.
"We're excited about this tour. REHAB is a well known and well respected band that will draw thousands of fans. By allowing the tour to be broken into five legs, REHAB is allowing the selected bands to participate on a national stage without the time constraints of a long tour. There are plenty of worthy artists out there that never get the chance to shine and this is another playing opportunity for them to do just that." said Lou Plaia, V.P Artist Development, ReverbNation.com.Your browser may not support display of this image.
Details on artist submissions are available at www.reverbnation.com. The submission period varies for each leg of tour depending on its start date. Specific tour dates and locations will be announced on the ReverbNation website as they become available.
ABOUT REHAB
Formed in the late '90s, pioneering mash-ups of scorching rock and searing rap, Rehab released its debut album, Southern Discomfort in 2000, filled with an array of guest stars including Cee-Lo, Goodie Mob and Cody Chestnutt. The album spun off the Top 15 modern rock hit "It Don't Matter" and sold over 200,000 albums. This success enabled the band to kick off a two year national tour supporting Linkin Park, Kottonmouth Kings and the Vans Warped Tour. Rehab left Epic Records in 2002, reformed in 2004 and debuted their independent album Graffiti the World on Atlanta based hip-hop label Attica Sound in June 2005. The album has sold over 50,000 making this one of the more successful independent projects in a failing music environment. Rehab has been touring the nation for the past two years selling out shows and spreading their music and independent spirit to all true music fans.
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Announces "Fair Share", an Advertising Revenue Sharing Program For Artists on the Website
(New York, NY — July 17, 2007) ReverbNation today announced the launch of "My Band", an innovative application designed to help artists promote their music on Facebook. With "My Band" artists can post unlimited songs, band info, show schedules, and even a "join the mailing list" function directly to their Facebook profile page. Their friends can play and share full-length tracks, add them to their own pages, and even buy the music and tickets. "My Band" even provides artists with stats about how their music is spreading.
"Ever since Facebook opened up to users from outside the educational institutions, musicians at every level have been eager to find a way to promote themselves to the millions of music fans that live there," said Jed Carlson, CMO of ReverbNation. "Now any musician, whether signed to a label, independent, or just starting off in college or high school, can promote themselves inside of Facebook's highly personal, highly viral environment."
Any artist with a personal Facebook profile can sign up for "My Band" for free here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2405167945 Artists that already have a profile page at ReverbNation.com can have all of their information automatically pulled onto their Facebook page in seconds.
"As a label, we're always looking for the best options to promote our artists," said Jason Bieler of Bieler Bros. Records (Skindred, Nonpoint, Fiction Plane). "ReverbNation offers by far the best set of tools to really get a feel for how your online promotion is working. Our bands love it, their fans love it and our label feels like we're just scratching the surface as to what we can accomplish!"
"Thousands of musicians use Facebook on a daily basis in their personal or academic lives. Now those same artists can actually showcase their music to their friends inside of Facebook," noted Mike Doernberg, CEO of ReverbNation. "We wanted to build a music application that would deliver what Facebook users are looking for, and give all artists the ability to offer their music to their fans on the site."
The ReverbNation catalog is growing exponentially, and currently consists of over 70,000 full-length tracks from well-known artists as well as emerging artists, including: AFI, All American Rejects, Avril Levigne, Between the Trees, Ciara, Cold War Kids, Dengue Fever, Dresden Dolls, Eldar, Elemeno P, Fergie, Ferraby Lionheart, The Format, The Fratellis, The Game, The Glad Rags, Gnarls Barkley, Gob, Gwen Stefani, James Morrison, Kennedy, Lil Wayne, Live, Maroon 5, Merit, My American Heart, The Never, Nine Inch Nails, Portastatic, Pussycat Dolls, Rehab, Robin Thicke, The Rosebuds, Roman Candle, Saliva, Schooner, Seven Mary Three, Shiny Toy Guns, Silverchair, Smile Empty Soul, Snow Patrol, Sum Majere, Tift Merritt, 2Pac, TV on the Radio, Vanessa Williams, and Wolfmother, to name a few.
For more information about ReverbNation music applications for Facebook, visit:
http://www.reverbnation.com/main/overview_facebook
To add the application to your Facebook profile, visit:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2405167945
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Announces "Fair Share", an Advertising Revenue Sharing Program For Artists on the Website
(New York, NY — May 8, 2007) ReverbNation.com has announced that artists will receive 50% of the revenues generated by the advertising displayed on artist profile pages. The new program, dubbed "Fair Share", is scheduled to launch July of 2007. Fair Share is the latest feature from ReverbNation.com, the innovative online music community that provides free marketing solutions for musicians.
"Artists are searching for new ways to earn money in this rapidly changing business," said Jed Carlson, Chief Marketing Officer. "The relationships artists have with their fans are valuable beyond simply selling songs or tickets. They just need ways to tap into the Band Equitytm they have built up with those fans. Sharing in ad revenue with sites like ours is one of those ways."
The program works like this: At the end of each month, half of the advertising revenue from ads across all artist profile pages will be put into a pool. That pool of money is divided among the artists participating in the Fair Share program based upon the proportion of site activity each artist generated for the month. Site activity includes things such as page view activity, song play activity, and fan activity. To qualify, artists must hold the copyrights (or permission from the rightful copyright owners) to all the content displayed on their profile pages. For complete details, visit:
http://www.reverbnation.com/controller/main/overview_fairshare
"With advertisers shifting budgets away from traditional terrestrial radio to online outlets, the timing couldn't be better. As the advertising and traffic on the site grow, so grows the opportunity for artists," adds Carlson.
ReverbNation provides the innovative marketing solutions that musicians need to compete, cooperate, and differentiate in an increasingly noisy online environment. Unlike typical "closed" communities, artists use ReverbNation as their home base for approaching marketing and promotion across the Internet as a whole - be it via social networks, blogs, or the artist's homepage. Tools like TunePaks, FanReach, and Widgets give the artist the power to spread their music and information virtually anywhere. Realtime stats then provide a 360-degree view of how the music is spreading, who is listening, and which fans are actually passing it on to their friends and posting it on their pages.
"We are trying to create a new music ecosystem, and we see artists as our business partners," said Mike Doernberg, CEO. "We know that we will only be as successful as the artists that use our site. This drives everything we do at ReverbNation, and is behind our 'Artist First' philosophy. If it doesn't help the artists, we don't do it."
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Four more artists can earn a chance to play in front of college talent buyers who will be offering booking contracts on the spot at The Verge College Music Conference. No entry fee.
New York, NY (March 6, 2007) — On the heels of a highly successful SXSW contest, REVERBNATION.COM has teamed up with Campus Entertainment (owned by NACA & TRP Sports and Entertainment Marketing, the parent company of The NEMO Music Festival) to offer the final four slots at The Verge College Music Festival to ReverbNation artists. The Verge takes place April 19th Ð 21st in Boston, MA.
This is a tremendous opportunity for bands to showcase their music before thousands of college student trendsetters and talent buyers that are attending specifically to discover new talent. One hundred artists have already been chosen; four slots are left, and Reverbnation.com is the only place you can get one.
Entry is FREE, and all genres are welcome. Just follow this link for more info: http://www.reverbnation.com/main/verge2007?ref=PR
Six stages will run simultaneously and showcases will be presented in festival format. Bands will perform in traditional music venues on Boston's famed Lansdowne Street and at the Park Plaza Hotel. "We are constantly on the look out for events that can have a real impact for our artists. A lot of great bands establish themselves first with the college audience. We are excited about The Verge Festival's ability to help artists grow their popularity." said Mike Doernberg, Chief Executive Officer.
This is a booking event. Verge acts will perform for a talent-buying audience who will issue offers onsite as well as after the event. This isn't just a gig in Boston; artists should only participate if they are ready to work with Verge Student Delegates to sign contracts to play shows on college campuses across the country.
"Creating an opportunity for a band to get on the college circuit is huge. Bands have the chance to leave this conference with tours in place that can keep them on the road for a year or more, be paid 'scale' with lodging and meals included, and to play in front of thousands of college students. It 's a fantastic way to build buzz," said Lou Plaia VP of Artist Development. The Verge will select the four winners from a group of fifty finalists. Finalists will be determined based on ReverbNation site activity. For more information, go to http://www.reverbnation.com/main/verge2007?ref=PR.
ReverbNation is an artist-centric community that has rapidly grown in popularity since its launch at CMJ in October of 2006. ReverbNation provides marketing tools that empower musicians to leverage the web to grow their fan-base. Thousands of independent artists have already joined ReverbNation. Larger mainstream acts have also taken notice. Recent additions to ReverbNation include:
2Pac
AFI
All American Rejects
Cold War Kids
Fergie
The Fratellis
The Game
Gnarls Barkley
James Morrison
Live
Nine Inch Nails
Portastatic
Pussycat Dolls
Robin Thicke
Saliva
Seven Mary Three
Shiny Toy Guns
Smile Empty Soul
Snow Patrol
Timbaland
TV on the Radio
Wolfmother
Known or unknown, big or small, it's hard for any artist to deny that ReverbNation is the leader in online networking and marketing for musicians.
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Innovative New Online Music Community Partners with Digital Music Distribution Powerhouse to Fuel Sales
SAN FRANCISCO, CA and NEW YORK, NY (January 17, 2007) — SNOCAP, the premier music technology company for direct artist-to-fan online distribution, and ReverbNation.com, the "People's Choice" Best Music Social Network serving fans, artists, labels, and venues, today announced a partnership enabling ReverbNation users to sell digital downloads through the site's innovative DistroNow ™ module. Under the arrangement, SNOCAP will handle the transaction with the consumer and the royalty payments back to the digital rights holders.
"Our partnership with SNOCAP will allow ReverbNation artists to harness the viral nature of the online music network and present the opportunity for fans to purchase music at the very moment their interest is piqued Ð when they are on the artist's profile page or when they receive a ReverbNation TunePak from a friend, " said Jed Carlson, Chief Marketing Officer of ReverbNation.com. "Our mission is to help artists take advantage of the Internet to promote their music, grow their fan base, and grow their business. It's the very nature of the Internet and social networks that music "travels" from friend to friend(s) in a distributed way. Combining SNOCAP with our TunePak product means that purchase transactions can travel with the music through emails, IM's and blogs."
"We are very pleased to partner with ReverbNation.com for their digital sales offering," said Rusty Rueff, CEO of SNOCAP. "We like ReverbNation.com's innovative products and creative approach to helping artists grow their online business through direct contact with their fans. It's very much in sync with our own approach to maximizing the Web's potential for developing and independent artists. Both parties expect great things from this arrangement, and we look forward to a long-term partnership."
SNOCAP has relationships with major music distributors, record labels, and publishing companies and provides a path for unsigned artists to make their music available for sale across the Web. SNOCAP's easy-to-use Web-based interface simplifies the process for artists to create digital storefronts on their personal Web sites, social networking sites, or music focused sites like ReverbNation.com. One-stop registration allows musicians, labels and distributors to clear and manage their licensing rights across multiple retail destinations. Using sophisticated music fingerprinting technology to identify and catalog the music, SNOCAP ensures that the proper rights-holder is paid when a sale is made. "SNOCAP is an ideal fit for us because they have the infrastructure and relationships that make it possible for our users to easily sell their music, regardless of whether they have a digital distribution arrangement already in place or not," said Mike Doernberg, CEO of ReverbNation.com.
Artists who have profiles on ReverbNation.com can simply copy and paste their SNOCAP MyStore™ code into the designated box in the DistroNow™ module. "It couldn't be any easier," said David Pohl of Le Firm, a popular independent Rock band from NYC. Once DistroNow™ is activated, a "buy songs" button will automatically appear on the artists profile page and on any TunePaks that contain the artist's songs. The complete transaction from login to checkout will be handled by SNOCAP's efficient and simple-to-use e-commerce engine. Digital rights holders are able to access sales reports from SNOCAP, and SNOCAP handles royalties payment.
ABOUT REVERBNATION.COM
ReverbNation.com is the flagship project of eMinor, Inc., a company focused on delivering independent musicians the tools they need to compete, cooperate, and differentiate in an increasingly noisy marketplace. The Web site, which was launched Halloween 2006, is an artist-centric, online music community committed to empowering musicians, fans, venues, and labels with technology that is tailored to their specific needs. For more information on ReverbNation.com, please visit www.ReverbNation.com or call 212-367-0826.
DistroNow™ is ReverbNation.com's tool for artists to generate income from the digital sale of music made available through the site. Artist registration and site use are free and DistroNow™ will give musicians a direct channel to real online distribution. About SNOCAP:
SNOCAP's pioneering service for registering digital content and managing online distribution makes it easy for artists and labels to sell music directly to their fans over the Internet, creating a more vibrant digital music marketplace. Using SNOCAP's MyStores, independent artists can sell their music on any website and via online retailers anywhere, anytime, while remaining fully in control of the licensing and rights. SNOCAP's exclusive partnership with MySpace powers the digital storefronts for thousands of artists on the popular social networking site.
In addition to MySpace, SNOCAP provides digital music and technology services to the Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, EMI, The Orchard, CD Baby, TVT Records, Artemis Records/Sheridan Square Entertainment, Beggars Group, Koch Records, Nettwerk Records, Matador Records, One Little Indian Records, Ryko Group and an extensive roster of other leading independent labels. Founded by Shawn Fanning, Jordan Mendelson and Ron Conway in 2002, SNOCAP aims to be the trusted solution powering the global marketplace for digital media. The company is based in San Francisco, Calif.
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Open to All Musicians, Free to Enter, $1,000 prize, Starts Feb 1st
Judged by Site Users and Panel of Experts
NEW YORK (January 10, 2007) — ReverbNation.com, recently voted the "People's Choice" Top Music Social Network of 2006 on Mashable.com, has announced a contest that gives all musicians the opportunity to play at an officially sanctioned SXSW event on March 16th in Austin, TX.
The contest, dubbed "It's Not Too Late to Play SXSW", is open to all musicians (signed or unsigned) from any genre, and is based on site activity generated by the artist between Feb 1st and Feb 20th. Artists will be "scored" based upon the number of fans they have on the site, the number of song plays, and the number of page views on their profile page. The top 50 artists, as determined by their final score on Feb 20th, will have their music heard and judged by a panel of music industry experts who will pick two winners to play at the official ReverbNation.com SXSW Party.
The expert panel of judges includes industry heavyweight Sal Villanueva, Producer (Taking Back Sunday, Thursday), plus representatives from RoadRunner Records (Nickelback, Madina Lake), Merge Records (The Arcade Fire, Spoon, Superchunk), Yep Roc Records (Bob Mould, Apples in Stereo), artist Caitlin Cary (Whiskeytown), and more.
"It's a career opportunity," said Gregg DeMammos, of DeMammos Management. "ReverbNation.com has leveled the playing field and given power to the people to decide who deserves to go. With no entry fee and enough prize money to get there, it's a no-brainer for most bands Ð especially bands that will already be down there. One of my artists, Kennedy, played at ReverbNation's last showcase at CMJ. The place was packed all night with lines down the block - it was off the hook. Kennedy generated a lot of label interest that night and I expect him to be signed shortly as a direct result."
"Our mission is to give all artists the tools and opportunities they need to advance their careers. SXSW is the most important music festival in the United States for artists to get noticed and start a buzz," said Lou Plaia, V.P. Artist Development, ReverbNation.com. "We are very committed to providing ongoing playing opportunities for ReverbNation artists. Stay tuned for announcements about more showcases for ReverbNation artists in the very near future."
ReverbNation.com is a music community focused on helping artists succeed in the ever-changing music business. The site delivers powerful tools that any artist can utilize to gather more fans and spread music virally across the web Ð keys to winning the contest and to an ongoing career in the music business today. Interested artists should signup immediately at http://www.reverbnation.com/main/sxsw2007. Creating a profile now and encouraging their fans to join in advance of the contest will put artists in position to score points right out of the gate.
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New Music Community Storms to Critical Acclaim in First 60 Days Winning People's Choice Award from Mashable.com
NEW YORK (January 2, 2007) — In less than two months since the Oct 31 launch, ReverbNation.com has risen to the top of the heap with rabid fans and musicians alike, winning the "People's Choice" award for best music social network of 2006. Reverbnation.com is changing the music community paradigm by empowering musicians and fans with tools to help spread music virally across the internet to "get more music heard by more people", says Mike Doernberg, CEO. "Getting the music heard is the first step in ramping up word of mouth, which leads to more downloads, ticket sales, merch sales, and buzz. We are flattered to have rabid users that voted for us on Mashable.com Ð the leading blog on social networking sites."
For artists, ReverbNation.com is more like a high-octane marketing platform than just another music community. For fans, ReverbNation.com is a way to discover new music while actively helping the musicians they love. ReverbNation.com empowers users to leverage all of the functions of the Internet to virally spread music (email, IM, blogs, other social networks), rather than building a moat around the community and keeping the music locked inside.
Much of the success in 2006 can be attributed to the original set of artist tools that debuted when the site launched:
Widgets — Keep your information up to date in one place, deploy it everywhere else
ReverbNation.com's comprehensive widget strategy is a testament to this credo. Information on an artist page like a show schedule, interactive tour map, and new music player can be "packaged up" into a widget and deployed to other sites like MySpace, Tagworld or an artist's home page. As an artist changes the information on ReverbNation.com, the changes are reflected in real time wherever the widgets are deployed. This saves the artists valuable time, as they only have to enter the information in one place. It also means that information is kept consistent across all web pages. The player widget is the latest addition and means that as an artist changes the songs available on ReverbNation.com, the songs available in the player widget change in real time. This is critical for getting new releases to market quickly and consistently. Widget colors are customizable to fit into any web page style.
FanReach — Artists need to own their most valuable asset; their relationship with their fans
In today's fast paced Internet environment, it is critical that artists collect and maintain email lists of their fans. Currently the most popular feature on ReverbnNation.com, FanReach is a comprehensive email management and communication tool that empowers artists to tap into their traffic on other sites. With FanReach, artists can gather fan emails from their other pages, manage and organize those emails, and send out targeted mailings. FanReach even allows fans to volunteer to be street team members, and let's the artist tag and sort their list by contact type, like "Media", "A&R", "Radio", "Promoter", or any other tag. FanReach is quickly approaching 100,000 emails sent.
ReverbNation.com is kicking off 2007 with a bang, introducing several new features that help artists spread the music in more ways, involve their most rabid fans to do it, and track the results:
TunePaks — Start a music virus
A single click "packages" up songs from the site into a hyperlink that can be delivered via email, IM, or posted into blogs or a web page. Clicking link evokes a flash player that securely streams the songs. This is an easy way to activate your fans to spread your music. For fans, it's a great way to compile a "mix" of songs from the site and easily share them with friends or put them on a web page or blog. Here is an example:
Click to play songs from Jed Carlson, Chief Marketing Office or ReverbNation.com:
http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/458
Tracking — After you've started the virus, find out who gets infected
ReverbNation.com can now deliver back to the artist or record label data about which fans are spreading the music and getting them plays (via tunepaks). Tracking also tells the user where the plays are coming from, giving artists insight into where their music is becoming popular and which fans represent their best viral distribution channel.
Music Player Widget — Put your music anywhere on the web
It's important for musicians to create a compelling listening experience for the fans, wherever their music is experienced. The Music Player Widget offers a compelling listening experience that is consistent wherever it is encountered on the web. Songs are streamed securely at bit rates up to 160, providing better quality than competing players, and when an artist changes the song lineup on ReverbNation.com, it automatically updates all of the player widgets in real-time. Fans can generate music player widgets from custom playlists compiled on ReverbNation.com to enhance their web pages with the music they love. The player color is even customizable to fit into any environment.. Here is an example:
http://myspace.com/scottyandthereverbs
Venue Pages — It's about time someone included the venues where we all go to see music
Venues (clubs, bars, auditoriums, etc) represent the tangible, active experience of enjoying music and are a vital piece of the revenue puzzle for artists. ReverbNation.com has introduced profile pages specifically designed for venues to promote their shows, interact with artists, and communicate with local fans.
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Tools Let Artists Build Databases, Communicate with Fans and Publish Tour Information
NEW YORK (December 12, 2006) — "The most important thing any band or artist can do in the next five minutes is start collecting information about the fans that visit their online Web pages," said Kevin Wise, drummer for Century Media recording artist Brand New Sin. "If you're not capturing email addresses from your homepage and your MySpace page with the FanReachtm Fan Collector, you have holes in your bucket and your fans are leaking away."
As viral networking becomes the primary medium for bands and musicians to build a fan base, artists can no longer afford to let fans slip away in the high-traffic, online social communities they both inhabit. ReverbNation.com, a new Web site serving bands and independent artists, has developed a tool that enables artists to capture fan information anywhere on the Web. FanReach, part of the Artist Toolbox, features a Fan Collector widget that can be deployed to other Web sites to capture emails. This simple yet sophisticated tool enables artists to efficiently build and maintain their most important asset Ð their database of fans. FanReach is an example of how ReverbNation.com takes a different approach to fan/artist contact than other Web sites. "We fundamentally believe that our job is to facilitate the communication between artists and their fans," says Jed Carlson, chief marketing officer of ReverbNation.com. "The artist should own their fan relationships, and rest assured that we will not exploit or contact them. Most social networks act as a firewall between artists and fans, preventing communication except through the social network. By controlling access, they control the relationship. Today, artists need to control their relationship with their fans - it's their biggest asset. To that end, we always give the artists the option of exporting their fan emails out of FanReach at any time."
ReverbNation.com's FanReach is a complete fan collection, management, targeting, and communication system that is being effectively used by independent artists, band managers, and even larger Indie labels. FanReach is a turnkey solution that artists can begin using almost immediately after signing up for the site. "I was up and running with FanReach, using the Fan Collector, within seconds," said Matt Rauch, the lead singer of Tourmaline, a rock band from Verona, N.J. "The first night we used it on MySpace, we had 20 fans give us their email addresses. Growing our fan base while we slept Ð that blew my mind." The Fan Collector is a simple piece of HTML code that places an attractive "Join the mailing list" function on any Web page.
Emails collected (or imported by the artist from an existing list) are organized into one central FanReach contact management dashboard. FanReach helps artists gently ask for demographic information from their fans for the exclusive use of the artist, and allows artists to "tag" email addresses with labels like "Street Team", "Media" and "A&R" so that they can tailor messages for each specific audience. Using the demographic and tag data, artists can send targeted emails to specific fan segments to promote their music, merchandise or upcoming shows - eliminating the need for random email blasts. Why bother your fans in Melbourne, Florida about your 2-for-1 ticket promo on your show in Melbourne, Australia?
"Keeping and maintaining an email list is key - it's your lifeline," says David Berkeley, an Internet-savvy artist from the U.K. who is no stranger to the U.S. touring circuit. The FanReach Fan Collector is the first step in collecting valuable information about your existing fans and gaining new ones. You may know how many "friends" you have on the other Web sites, but with this tool, I can capture who and where they are and communicate directly via email. It helps foster the artist/fan relationship, without which you may as well be singing in the shower."
Artists using the various FanReach components are not only able to communicate effectively with the audiences most important to them, they are able to identify where their fans are concentrated, and plan their live shows and tours accordingly. They are also able to recruit street teams in each show market and create advance buzz and publicity for the gig.
"This tool is like a vacuum cleaner for fan information," says Michelle Oakes, an A&R representative with TVT Records who works with The Blue Van (ReverbNation.com registered artist), offering some choice advice for aspiring artists. "Before you approach a label, lock up your most valuable asset - your fans."
FanReach (including the Fan Collector), is just one of several powerful tools in the Artist Toolbox. Other tools give you the power to deploy pieces of your ReverbNation.com profile page, like show schedules and animated tour maps, to any other Web site in real time, simply by cutting and pasting a snippet of code (Widgets). The Artist Toolbox even provides an option for selling your music on the Reverbnation.com site (DistroNow).
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Online Music Community for Artists, Fans and Venues to Launch at CMJ Music Marathon in New York City
NEW YORK (Oct. 16, 2006) — Music's "working class" is about to see the value of its creative equity grow exponentially, empowered by groundbreaking networking and music-discovery tools for performers, fans, venues Ð and yes, even record labels and the entertainment industry — all available free on www.ReverbNation.com.
The artist-centric, online music community, which went live in September, will celebrate its official launch at the CMJ (College Music Journal) Music Marathon in New York City, Oct. 31 Ð Nov. 4. In addition to exhibiting at the festival's trade show at Lincoln Center, ReverbNation.com will host its inaugural artist showcase party at the downtown rock venue Crash Mansion on Thursday, Nov. 2. The Web site is currently inviting artists in all music categories to register as members.
Combining the power of viral networking with next-generation marketing tools, ReverbNation.com is a true music community designed solely to help musicians succeed. With faster, more intelligent ways to connect artists with fans, venues, labels and other artists, ReverbNation.com offers the richest experience available on the Internet for musicians seeking new markets and new paths to popular success. "We serve the artist's needs first, unlike other sites that are more focused on the social aspect of viral networking," said Jed Carlson, chief marketing officer and co-founder of ReverbNation.com. "By giving them ways to immediately expand the marketplace for their music, we're opening doors that used to take years to get through."
ReverbNation.com features unique tools and interface capabilities that enable artists to strengthen their relationships with existing fans, reach new fans and generate revenue from the sale of music and merchandise, song licensing, and touring. Artists and fans can share playlists, monitor listening trends and track the viral growth of a song or a band's popularity. The site also gives those in the recording and entertainment industries an instant resource for discovering songs and talent.
The tools available to artists on ReverbNation.com include sophisticated capabilities in the areas of fan communication and web presence management. Fan Reach is a free fan management and email component that allows musicians to send targeted emails directly to fans, letting the artists collect, organize, and maintain email addresses in one location, eliminating random email blasts. For example, a Fan Reach search might identify male fans of punk rock, 21 to 29 years old, who live within 25 miles of a popular Denver-based venue.
Another breakthrough tool set is Widgets, allowing users to deploy information from a ReverbNation.com page to other locations on the Web. For example, data and functions from ReverbNation.com can be published at MySpace.com, PureVolume.com or a personal Web site, driving more users to ReverbNation.com. In addition, users can queue up songs from the site using a variety of criteria, and listen to music from the ReverbNation.com player while visiting other Web pages.
"The goal is to serve the entire music community, from record labels to venues to musicians and fans of all flavors," said co-founder Lou Plaia, New York-based VP of artist development for ReverbNation.com and former marketing executive for Atlantic Records. "The site serves as a true home base for conducting the daily tasks in a musician's life."
Founded by a team of venture-tested internet entrepreneurs and music industry veterans, ReverbNation.com is committed to uniting the music community to benefit equally from the site's unique functionalities, as well as to share in the success of the site, which relies on user-generated content. ReverbNation.com backs up this principle by sharing a percentage of its advertising revenue with its member artists. Other potential revenue generators for artists include song sales, merchandise sales, fan list sharing and fan referrals co-opted with permission by other artists.
"In our space, music comes first," said ReverbNation.com CEO and co-founder Michael Doernberg. "Our member artists are going to discover some powerful new methods for managing their careers and their creative product, and have a lot of fun doing it."
Artists, industry pros and media are invited to learn more about ReverbNation.com at the CMJ Music Marathon, where more than 100,000 music professionals, musicians and fans will converge for four days and nights of live showcases, trade show exhibits and panels. The ReverbNation.com team will hold Web site demonstrations during the trade show at Lincoln Center and will host a VIP artist showcase on Nov. 2 at Crash Mansion. The showcase lineup includes the red-hot buzz bands Le Meu Le Purr, Stars of Track and Field, Kennedy, Goodfinger, Ultra High Frequency and Jonny Lives!.
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Company Launches Online Music Community to Support Independent Musicians
DURHAM, NC (August 17, 2006) — eMinor, a provider of innovative software tools and services to independent musicians, today announced that the company has closed a $2 million round of venture financing. The Series A round was led by Novak Biddle Venture Partners and Southern Capitol Ventures. Scheduled for public release in the fall, eMinor's flagship project, ReverbNation.com, is an online music community that features groundbreaking networking and music-discovery tools for artists, fans, venues, and record labels.
"There are profound changes occurring within the music industry," said Mike Doernberg, CEO of eMinor. "ReverbNation.com was created to empower musicians and independent bands so they can more closely interact with their fans and, as a result, be in better control of their financial destiny. Our suite of easy-to-use online tools allow musicians, labels, and venues to convert connections with fans into cleaner, more stable revenue streams."
The company will use the investment to support its hiring plans, expand eMinor's marketing efforts and to fund new product development initiatives at ReverbNation.com. Jack Biddle, co-founder and general partner with Novak Biddle Venture Partners and Jason Caplain, co-founder and general partner of Southern Capitol Ventures, will join the company's Board of Directors.
eMinor Founders and Management Team
eMinor was formed when former music industry executives Lou Plaia and Scott Egbert met with successful entrepreneur Michael Doernberg and his team (Jed Carlson, Steve Jernigan and Robert Hubbard). Plaia worked for fifteen years at Atlantic and Lava Records where he most recently was Vice President of Marketing and Artist Development. Egbert founded one of the early dot-com Artist Services companies, GigAmerica, and most recently GigUrban Showcases.
Their experience and understanding of the music and entertainment communities have enabled them to continually work with artists, managers, record labels, booking agents, music retailers, third party sponsors and advertisers. Doernberg previously founded two highly successful marketing software firms (Smartpath Inc. and Marathon Innovations) before coming to eMinor where he is now the CEO.
About eMinor
eMinor is a provider of innovative software tools and services that independent musicians need to compete, cooperate and differentiate in a competitive environment. The company's products synthesize the social networking aspects of the Internet with powerful, yet simple, marketing tools — all framed in a context with which the musicians are familiar. eMinor is headquartered in Durham, NC with another office in New York. For more information, visit www.eminorinc.com and www.reverbnation.com.
About Novak Biddle Venture Partners
Novak Biddle Venture Partners is a leading early stage venture firm focused on investments in the mid- Atlantic and Eastern United States. Novak Biddle provides equity financing and assistance to the management of young information technology companies, and seeks business situations where the combination of ideas, dollars, experience, and relationships can create long term, sustainable value. A sampling of companies funded by Novak Biddle include: Matrics, Blackboard, Paratek Microwave, NEW Customer Service Companies, and Object Video. For more information, visit www.novakbiddle.com.
About Southern Capitol Ventures
SCV is a Raleigh, North Carolina-based venture capital firm dedicated to helping outstanding entrepreneurs build market-leading companies. The firm is focused on providing capital and guidance to early-stage technology companies across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. Previous investments have included Art.com, Motricity, Batanga, ChannelAdvisor and Synthematix (acquired by Symyx NASDAQ:SMMX). For more information, please visit www.southerncapitolventures.com.
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