‘Beyond the Pedway’ Interviews Plugola
Posted by Erik Peterson | Filed under interview
I was pretty surprised this morning when I opened a mailing from The Chicago Convergence and saw my mug staring back at me. Of course I remember doing this interview, but I wasn’t sure when it was going up.
Tim Jahn saw a spur-of-the-moment video of me at one of his meet-ups for local creatives in Chicago. He was interested in hearing more about Plugola and how music fans can resell (or “plug”) the music they find on the site, earning a commission. He stopped by my *cough* office one, frigid morning and got the cameras rolling.
Created by Tim Jahn, Beyond The Pedway seeks to discover creative entrepreneurs and explore their unique story of passion, dedication, and what truly excites them.
VIDEO: Getting Started with Plugola
Posted by Erik Peterson | Filed under site news
I’ve been working on some tutorial videos for Plugola and I finally have our “Getting Started” video completed. I’m realizing that this is something I should have done long ago, but better late than never, I guess. It’s my first attempt at this sort of video, so I chose an easy topic to work through the learning curve. This is fairly basic information, such as; creating your profile and using our sharing features to notify current and would-be fans.
Of course, I’m working on more tutorial videos that really get down to the nitty-gritty of our features and how to get the most out of Plugola. If you notice that I didn’t cover a particular area you have questions about, please be sure to leave me/us some feedback. That will also be helpful for any future tutorials.
100 Resources for DIY Musicians
Posted by Erik Peterson | Filed under marketing
The following is an excerpt from the press release for the “100 Resources for DIY Musicians” brought to us by Gen Y Rockstars and Label 2.0.
2009 was a year of change for the music industry. From sliding CD sales to increased digital efforts to the changing face of music distribution and direct to fan sales systems.
Due to these extreme changes in music marketing and discovery, Gen-Y Rock Stars, a leading music marketing and social media blog for musicians and music industry professionals, has updated their premiere resource, “100 Resources For DIY Musicians.”
The original report was called “100 Social Media Resources For Musicians,” and has been downloaded over 5,000 times. It was created after leaving a music conference where Greg Rollett spoke on music marketing and was amazed at how little musicians were doing to take advantage of social media and the power of technology.
This updated resource includes every tool a musician needs to be successful online from blogging platforms to email service providers to essential social networks, industry bloggers, shopping cart solutions, musician tools, video cameras and so much more.
Writer of the resource Greg Rollett says, “Musicians have the power to build not only a career, but a business at an astonishing speed with all the tools that are available to them. The problem, they are only tools. Each musician needs to learn to use them and use them in the right situations in order to be successful.”
Download your free copy of the 100 Resources for DIY Musicians
If you would like to read more about it, our friends over at Creative Deconstruction goes a bit more in-depth and even picks a few of their favorites!
The Low Down
Posted by Erik Peterson | Filed under marketing, musicians, technology
I’ve been noticing for a while that some people are confused, or not sure, about exactly what Plugola is. I have heard some people think we are a blog or band. It’s really my fault. I have failed to make that clear to you. I will be doing some rearranging, and adding some videos and tutorials in order to make Plugola obvious, as well as, helping both musicians and fans get started using our service. In the meantime, here’s the low down on what Plugola is, and why you may want to use us. Please keep in mind that we are still officially in ‘Beta’ mode and the current version of Plugola is not complete, however it is live, 100% functional and open to all.
We are…
First, you should know that we are strictly independent music only. We have no plans, nor desire to eventually bring in major acts or record labels. I know that’s the direction a lot of similar indie music services go, but Plugola was conceived on the idea that indie artists needed a home online. So we will NOT desert you when bigger things begin to happen. Of course, we have nothing against these major artists/labels, but they already have many homes.
A Digital Marketplace
The original concept behind Plugola was to provide a digital music store for indie music only. At the time it was still fairly tough to find good, non-commercial music on the web; especially located all in one place. Downloading that music legally was a whole other story. Plus, there is a whole culture of independent music fans that usually have to really search to find the music they like. Once they find that music, the only real option in sharing it with friends was to do it illegally. We are changing that.
A Social Network
We thought that Plugola needed more of a reason for music fans to visit, other than only music. Although helping artist distribute and sell their music is the main goal, we also wanted fans to be able to communicate with the musicians, discuss the music, vote on it and share it with their friends.
Music Discovery
We took a bit of a different approach for fans to discover new music. First, when music fans register with the site, they choose their favorite genre. So when they login, artists in their chosen genre are presented, rather than having to search through all the other genres. Second, all rankings and featured artists are put there by our members. We’re not suggesting to fans other artists they may like, but the community is. All music and videos can be streamed completely free, as well as the ability to share/embed them on any web site.
Why you may want to use Plugola:
We are fully aware there are a lot of options, for both indie musicians and music fans out there. We are not saying we are better than any of these service, but we ARE different. Here is why…
Sell Music & Videos
Artists can sell their own digital music (mp3) and/or music videos however they see fit. There are no upfront or service fees, but the artist is paid a flat rate of 82% of the sale price. However, this 82% includes all processing and transaction fees. A lot of services claim artists get 100%, but the fine print usually states that it’s 100% AFTER all fees are paid. Plugola handles all the payments and commission distribution, so artists don’t have yet another task they must worry about. We accept payments in credit card or Paypal, and pay-out via ACH or Paypal.
Artist Control
All artists keep ownership of all their music and rights. We want to make clear that, they are not giving up any control of any kind; and they can discontinue using our service at any time without any cancellation fees. In other words, Artists have absolutely nothing to loose. Also, our features allow artists to set their own prices, control their ‘plug’(or affiliate) commissions, approve or disapprove plugging and set their own copyrights or download terms.
Marketing Tools
One major feature we noticed was missing among other DIY music stores was their lack of marketing tools. Yes, everyone has widgets (including us!), for the most part, these days. Where Plugola differs is, we have also included some built-in options for artists to create incentives and/or campaigns in order to sell and distribute more music.
Plugging (affiliates)
This is probably our coolest feature. Not only can fans purchase and download music, but they have the option to ‘plug’ it, as well. Plugging a song allows the fan(s) to resell their favorite tunes to their friends, and even earn a commission! Essentially, fans can get all their music free and the artist still gets paid. We are aiming to keep the tradition of sharing music alive, but in a bit more controlled environment; and with incentives. Our thoughts are, would a fan rather earn a few bucks or just put that music up on a p2p network? Everyone wins using this feature.
One-Click Purchasing
For music fans who choose to use a credit card, we offer one-click purchasing. This will allow members to add their credit card information only once and can freely add or remove songs to their shopping cart at any time, until they are ready for checkout. No extra steps or leaving the web site. Paypal users must checkout for songs from each individual album.
Profiles
Profiles are loosely set-up to include all the info an artist’s press kit would include. Design/theme is completely customizable using our WYSIWYG editor and we even left some open areas where more creative members can include their own HTML. We also have a cool little feature for the events calendar where musicians can upload their concert posters/fliers.
Fan Interaction
Since we are also a social network, artists and fans have a chance to interact on a more personal level. There are not many music store where fans can communicate directly with their favorite artists.
Statistics
We have general stats that include sales, downloads, plays, affiliate sales and arists’ sales rank among their peers. However, I’ll be the first to admit that we do not have robust stats or metrics; such as a service like, Bandmetrics. Though I can tell you that this is a feature that is definitely coming in future.
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Hopefully, this will clear-up any confusion about Plugola temporarily, until I can lay it out in a much more obvious fashion. It’s completely free to sign-up and get started for both artists and fans! Please let us know if you have any questions, feedback or issues with the site. We are also available if you need any help getting started or with your marketing campaign(s). You may contact us HERE.
Latest Press on Plugola
Posted by Erik Peterson | Filed under business, site news
I know it’s been a while since our last blog update, but we’re trying to get back on track. Believe it or not, we actually have a lot going on with Plugola behind the scenes right now; all lending a hand to the growth of our music community. There hasn’t been a lot of visible upgrades lately, but rest assured we are always working on it.
You may, or may not, have noticed that Plugola has been getting some attention lately among music industry bloggers. We do have a press page located on Plugola, where I try to keep you updated, but I wanted to bring some of the chatter into the spotlight so you can see what’s going on with us, in case you have missed it.
About.com: Music Carreers: The ‘Music Carreers’ section of About.com interviews Plugola founder, Erik Peterson, about Plugola and the new music business.
Independent Music StartUp: Part One of Interview with PLUGOLA founder, Erik Peterson about the music community and what indie artists should be doing to market themselves online. Part 2 of Interview
Creative Deconstruction: DIY music-marketing blog, Creative deconstruction, blurbs us in their article on musicians targeting their fans.
Indie Guide: The Indie Band Survival Guide recommends Plugola for their ‘Useful Link of the Day’ section.
GigHive: The Buzz: From ‘The Buzz’ section, a write-up of Plugola by fellow indie music social network, GigHive.
Gen-Y Rock Stars: Rock star chat with Plugola founder/president, Erik Peterson & Greg Rollett, of GenYRockStars blog.
HypeBot: Independent music industry blog, HypeBot, blurbs Plugola.
GigDoggy: Canadian Gig-startup, GigDoggy, likes Plugola’s “plugging”(or affliate) feature.
Killer Startups: A killer nod from the startup review kings.
