Vine just passed two big milestones. The app now has 13 million users and is available on Android.
Not familiar with Vine? It’s the six-second social video app that takes the visual feed of Instagram and applies it to easily shot videos. How easy? Tap your finger to record, lift to pause, and repeat until you’ve filled your time. Done.
If you think six seconds and a smartphone camera is limiting, you should see some of the amazing creativity happening on Vine. Filmmakers, animators, and comedians are making some remarkable (and hilarious) videos.
It isn’t just those used to camera work who are Vining. Musicians are creating content and using Vine to engage with and entertain their fans. Here are some ideas to get started with, along with some of our favorite Orchardites on Vine.
1. Create a teaser
You have six seconds, so playing an entire new song is out of the question. Instead, create a teaser for something new. Film the first spin of a test pressing, take quick shots of different pieces of album art, or record a clip of an upcoming video.
2. Go behind-the-scenes
Instagram opened up the world to backstage and behind-the-scenes photos from musicians, but Vine brings them to life with video. Have some friends hanging around? Check out Har Mar Superstar‘s Karen O 360 Vine.
Between updating their subscription plans and experimenting with more visual profiles (still in early beta), SoundCloud has been on fire lately. ComScore even recently reported that their traffic increased by 26% in one month, making SoundCloud the 8th fastest growing site in the U.S. Though it’s certainly evolved since its launch in Berlin in 2008, SoundCloud has retained an attractive simplicity that makes for a winning platform all-around.
In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, SoundCloud is an online platform that allows you to listen to, share and create sounds — from music, to commentary, to podcasts… essentially anything that can be recorded and heard. Unsurprisingly, it’s taken on an increased importance in the music world and has become a space to premiere new tracks — press outlets often embed SoundCloud players on their sites — share works in progress — safely, thanks to the secret link feature — and generate buzz around a new or upcoming release, be it through sets (SoundCloud playlists), free downloads, or other engaging content.
Being such an influential audio service, SoundCloud obviously takes its copyright policy seriously. New uploads are put through a rigorous screen to make sure that all content adheres to copyright regulations. In order to help ensure that everybody’s rights are respected, SoundCloud uses a well-established and market-leading third party content ID system to help identify and block known copyright works from appearing on their platform. As a result, you may have gotten a copyright notification email while trying to upload one of your very own songs… This could happen if someone else has uploaded the song before you, for instance if you’re uploading a track to your artist profile that your label has already put up. In these cases, where you’re obviously not violating any copyrights, you could benefit from getting your profile whitelisted, so your tracks don’t get blocked while uploading.
If you’re an Orchard client, you’re in luck. In partnership with SoundCloud, we’ve updated our Marketplace app so that any track you upload using the app automatically gets whitelisted. If you don’t have access to Marketplace, you can still get your account whitelisted by shooting an email over to your client rep. We’ll take care of you.
In addition, we worked with the folks at SoundCloud to secure an exclusive 20% discount on upgrades to SoundCloud Pro Unlimited accounts for all our clients, giving you access to advanced features like more detailed analytics and further audio storage. For instructions on how to get your individual discount code, check your inbox for our Client Newsletter dated May 28.
And if you’re not ready to upgrade just yet, as a special bonus for using SoundCloud through Marketplace, you’ll still gain access to exclusive Partner Tools: geo-blocking, which will automatically be added when your profile is whitelisted, domain locking, which you can access via this link, and scheduling (coming soon!). These features give you increased control on your sounds and help to better target your impact, so take advantage!
To find out about these tools and more, take in this amazing SoundCloud/The Orchard Label Guide our teams have put together for you. In it, you’ll find everything you need to know about SoundCloud, how to install our SoundCloud Connect Marketplace app, and the amazing features you’ll find on the platform, plus tips on how to use them. I recommend checking out how to optimize your tracks (page 5), which widget to use on your website depending on your needs (page 9) and how to make the most of your analytics (page 15). Other useful resources are the SoundCheck Blog and Newsletter, to which you can sign up here.
On the heels of some major site-wide overhauls, YouTube is now introducing Google+ and YouTube integration. The feature is currently in beta, but open to all YouTube partners. As Google strives to make its multi-product experience more cohesive, YouTube can now be linked directly to Google+ brand pages. This association allows brands and businesses to take advantage of some key feature enhancements across both platforms.
Visibility
The most immediate advantage to integrating with Google+ is the potential boost in SEO. It’s important to remember that YouTube is a Google product (and the second largest search engine). Connecting a YouTube channel to a Google+ page gives Google’s search algorithm some key information about your brand. They’ll know that the channel and its associated Google+ page are the official representations of that brand and can populate search results accordingly. This also lets YouTubers know that your channel is the official destination for your content. Google+ page verification will transfer over to YouTube, making your channel verified as well.
Management
For companies that manage a number of YouTube channels, the necessity to store separate login information for each can become burdensome. Google+ integration quickly solves this, making channel management easier. Once a YouTube channel is connected with a Google+ page, other team members within your organization can be invited to manage the channel. Invite a new manager to your Google+ page, and they’ll automatically be able to manage the YouTube channel. This also means that other users can manage the channel without having to give up sensitive login credentials. For clients opted into The Orchard’s Multi-Channel Network, this means you are now able to grant access to our team to enhance channel performance and make programming optimizations directly within the channel.
Sharing
Google+ makes it easier to spread your YouTube presence to a larger group of potential subscribers. Once a channel is connected to a Google+ page, videos and playlists can be shared directly through Google+. This helps spread the word about video uploads to fans that might not be engaged with your brand on YouTube. You can also take advantage of Hangouts On Air. Have live video broadcasts with your fans and stream it straight to your channel. Hangouts can then be saved and managed directly like any other video. Your channel will also be able to gauge the impact of videos through Google+ tools like Ripples.
Google+ is still a relatively new social media platform. Many businesses are still trying to gage the value of dedicating time to building a strategy. Although it may take some getting used to, the potential benefits could be well worth it. You should first decide if YouTube is a place your business depends on. Adding another platform to your social media strategy could create more work, so you should be sure you have an effective strategy in place. For brands that rely heavily on YouTube and video promotion, integrating with Google+ is a must. To get started, refer to our Quick Start Guide for instructions on how to set this up.
A couple of months ago, I wrote a post called What Digital Can Learn From Physical where I mentioned the importance of remembering to use tour dates as a way to highlight catalogue titles. While this is just one example of a good way to campaign your catalogue, I am frequently asked by labels what else can be done, so I wanted to expand upon this point and offer some further ideas.
As I mentioned in that post, tour dates are an excellent time to highlight the catalogue titles of your artist. In the physical world, you often give a discount to retailers on an artist’s catalogue titles to encourage them to take extra stock and sell at a lower price, so fans in the tour towns may be tempted to buy an older title along with the new album being promoted. The same concept applies on the digital side. Think about a temporarily reduced price on catalogue titles around tour dates. Fans searching for the band on a store around those dates will then see the catalogue titles at tempting prices. The same idea can be applied when your artist has a new album or even an artist who has a new release that is not on your label but for which you have catalogue titles. In the physical world, it is again common practice to give a discount on catalogue titles around the release of a new album so that they are racked next to the new one at attractive pricing. It’s an easy way to push older titles along with the new or capitalize on the visibility around a new release.
Of course, you may have titles you want to highlight that perhaps don’t fit into the above scenarios. There are any number of events to which you can tie a campaign. London has an annual Ska festival, so a prominent label put together a campaign on their stronger Ska and Reggae titles to coincide. “Django Unchained” was nominated for several Oscars; what a good opportunity to highlight your Spaghetti Western catalogue. We are most successful at getting placements for campaigned titles when they can be tied to a prominent event. Maybe your label is celebrating it’s 15-year anniversary — think about special pricing on your catalogue titles to coincide with your anniversary events and promo. Some services may be interested in a free sampler to feature alongside.
Not all campaigned titles will be featured prominently by stores, but that is not to say that your campaign can’t be successful. When putting together a campaign, think about what you and/or the artist can do to drive traffic to your pricing activity. Social media posts and email blasts are an excellent way to get the word out, whether your titles have received special placements or not.
Also, don’t forget — we receive many campaign opportunities originating from the services themselves of which your client manager will send details. Think hard about the theme of the campaign and what catalogue titles you have that may fit.
Today we announce the re-birth of the Maestro Classical Podcast which features new releases, old classics and deep tracks from the depths of some of the best independent labels around. Each month, it brings you 3-6 songs that will keep you continuously in tune with the best independent classical music available. The focus is more on the music vs. the commentary but these podcasts are not only for the classically-inclined listener. The short monthly podcasts allow for a curated selection that is the sure to be the cream of the crop.
The relaunch after a brief hiatus begins with the first installment: Maestro 035: New in 2013 (thus far)
Don’t forget to follow Maestro Classical on Facebook, keep up with the podcasts on iTunes and visit the website to search old podcasts and stay on top of current releases.
