TheSixtyOne.com: Future of Music Distribution?

TheSixtyOne.com is a website that works 100 times harder than iTunes to sell a song. It has a smaller library of emerging artists and doesn't allow new users experience the site to the max unless an investment in the community is made. I don't know if this is the future of music distribution, but if it is, I'm fine with it.

The site focuses on a series of "Quests" that users are tasked with accomplishing. Think of it as a music-based RPG where you "level up" as you spend more time exploring the music landscape. Quests include listening to certain genres, a certain number of songs per day, and (important for a monetization perspective) buying music. Accomplishing these quests grants you higher levels which then open up new abilities for you to explore the site. Every day means new quests so you'll always have an opportunity to grow your account if you wish.

Social Currency:

As my friend Andy Hunter pointed out to me, TheSixtyOne has created a "Social Currency that motivates people from a variety of perspectives: Status, Return Visits, Sampling/Discovery, and Gaming." The site gets about fifty thousand uniques per month, a fraction of competitors such as iTunes or Pandora, but the users are spending more time here. TheSixtyOne isn't Walmart selling the latest Jessica Simpson CD, it's the local record store that you spent hours in. It's a place a lot of us miss because they have been driven out of business.

This site is trying to be a local music shop of the web, but this time, stay in business. There are two core ways that people listen to music today: they stream it, or they download it onto a device. These forms of music consumption have two respective (legal) forms of monetization.

Streaming sites like Pandora use banner/audio advertising to offset their costs however they struggle because listening to music is often a passive activity. By introducing quests, T61 has created a social site that pushes listeners to be an active DJ while they listen. Keeping the wheel of music spinning doesn't take major commitment but it brings you back to the site at least in between songs to do something interesting. And interest equals more attention towards advertising. 

Downloading music is the other form of music distribution. T61 allows users to either buy a song (usually 99 cents) or tip the artist with nothing in return. Ignoring the tipping aspect (which believe me, many people do to) downloads of songs are rewarded. In iTunes when you download a song you get rewarded by the artist by recieving a copy of their song. In T61, not only are you rewarded by the artist, you're reward by the provider. Buying songs fulfills quests, fulfilled quests mean more music that becomes available to you for free. 

Artists Win:

The currency circulating around T61 is both tangible and intangible. When users complete quests, they are awarded "hearts." Those hearts can be given out to bands, in other words, you hear a song you like, you heart it. Giving bands hearts raises their profile on the site and thus gives them a great opportunity to sell music directly to the consumer. This type of marketplace subsequently encourages artists to participate more in the community so they will receive more accolades from them. Apple is currently working on making some major changes to iTunes (which seem to include social functionality), if they're smart they will explore T61 as I believe this may be the future of online music distribution.

A big thanks to fellow Chicagoan and lead singer of I Fight Dragons Brian M. for putting this site on my radar.

10 signs of the coming Apocalypse

A light-hearted look at some of the things that popped in the news this week that are clear signs that we're all done for...

1. Real House Wives of New Jersey.

2. Pirates are no longer confined to Disney rides.

3. Misinformation/Information are growing at the same rate.

4. Computers continue to become more human.

5. Oprah joins Twitter.

6. Gas is staying cheap?

7. It's easier than ever to commit digital terrorism (accidentally).

8. The web has exaggerated our immaturity.

9. Apple ads start to actually strike back at Windows.

10. Hipsters continue to grow in number.

Image care of http://www.mcaree.org

Being Prepared for Success is the Best Way to Maximize it

If you create passionate enthusiasm for your product, you will also create passionate criticism. There are certain brands that have die-hard fans; the kind of fans who will buy the newer version of a product even if the cost far outweighs the benefit. Whether that fervor is created by spectacular marketing, good service, and/or an innovative design the reality of the situation is that expectations are going to be set incredibly high.

When these kinds of expectations are set, you’re going to end up having three core types of customers.

· Devout Brandvangelists

· Positive Rationalizers

· Disappointed Acceptors

Devout Brandvangelists: These are people that are best found within the crowd of loyal Apple owners. They are the ones who will go out of their way to correct misconceptions and try to convert the neutral folks over to their side. They are the ones that will go onto sites like “Please Fix the iPhone” and defend Apple on Apple’s behalf for free. This is an extremely valuable group of people and arguably the best R of the ROI Apple has earned from its efforts.

Optimistic Rationalizers: Those who know there are some pitfalls initially in version 1.0, but know that with time (or possibly later generations) these issues will be addressed. The people who will provide the “buts” or in other words, “yes....X is the case unfortunately, BUT...” Consider this group to be the Switzerland of your consumers. They cushion your sales but won’t contribute much to hurting or helping your brand’s value.

Disappointed Acceptors: These are the folks who are on the opposite end of being vocal on behalf of a product or brand and the people that companies like Apple hope are drowned out by the devout brandvangelists. For many, purchasing the iPhone was their first foray into the “i” brand and expectations were set very highly. They heard about all the wonders of the brand and when they find flaws that cloud that idealized story they have been told, they are hypercritical of them. Is the fact that you can’t send an MMS file on an iPhone a horrible defect considering you can send an email or upload to facebook directly from your phone? Arguably not, but that happens to be the biggest (37,000 people) complaint being voiced. This group of people has accepted the purchase they made and will stick with it for some time, but the loyalty to the brand/product is flaky at best.

So what does this all mean for brands who seek to cultivate such a range of passionate users? It means they need to understand AHEAD of time that the emotion they are going to inspire in their customers is going to go in both directions. Accommodating the positive feelings is easy. That involves documenting positive press, increasing production, and of course making stock holders happy. Neutralizing the negative requires much more effort but with proper preparation beforehand, it’s possible to make that process less painful:

1.) Test out your product as much as you can with real customers. Try to document as many issues your testers have with your product before the release. Even if you can’t fix them before the launch, you’ll have ample time to formulate the best response to them. Have a strong community manager to funnel feedback to R&D throughout the life cycle of the product so the next generation addresses the biggest concerns.

2.) Build venues for consumer feedback before a 3rd party does it for you. Companies like Dell have created a conversation driven forum for people to give their feedback directly to the brands they are passionate about. If consumers are being listened to, they will be open to giving feedback in your environment. Encourage them to talk there because the more they do, the easier it is to drown out the extremely passionate negative influencers who are talking in venues outside of your control.

3.) Know who your largest competitor is and find out their strengths. Those strengths are the points that disappointed customers are going to use to fuel their fire, or worse, the brand/product they are going to switch to when the current frustrations start to outweigh the benefits.

As a brand, it should be considered fortunate if these kinds of passion groups exists because it means your product does have value. If it was terrible outright, then no one would care, but hopefully the sign of frustration also indicates the greater symbol of success. And being prepared for success is the best way to maximize it.