What role does the Internet play in the entertainment industry? In short it has revolutionized the way we obtain our music, learn about artists and their appearances, watch movies and videos and much more.
Exposure Exposure Exposure
Case: Bemol Telfort (bemoltelfort.com), receives email originating from his base in Miami, all over the US and from fans in Italy, Sweden and elsewhere who were introduced to his music via the Internet.
Point: Your music and information is available to anyone anywhere connected to the World Wide Web 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.
Income
Case: Black Shadow Records (the producers/label behind Sean Paul’s “Gimmie The Light”) website, (blackshadowrecords.com), features an e-commerce shopping cart that allows them to bypass music distributors, stores and sell directly to consumers. Mini Records (minirecords.com), the premier Haitian music label for over 30 years minirecords.com sells hundreds of CD’s from their catalog through a distribution program with Amazon.com.
Point: There are several options available to generate sales on a website; E-Commerce enables the artist to sell products directly from the site increasing profit-margins and geographic coverage exponentially. There are also 3rd party programs with online retailers such as Amazon.com available. Mp3.com allows an artist, a producer or a small label to upload their music, which is then pressed on CD on demand as it is sold.
What else?
Bookings: Business Cards? Demos? In the past! It is no longer necessary to FedEx demo packages to potential clients, simply direct them to your website where they can experience a wide range of multimedia including music, bios, photos, schedule, song lists etc. immediately.
Clients such as Gerard Gibbs (gerardgibbs.com) and Jomo Faulks (jomovibes.com) are both professional musicians who send potential clients to their website to check for availability, samples of their music and for more information on bookings.
Increase and retain your Fan Base: Build on fan loyalty by keeping them informed and involved with your latest projects and appearances and providing them with forums to enable fans to interact with the artist and with each other.
International recording and performing artist Red Rat’s guestbook (redrat.com) receives hundreds of messages monthly from fans wishing to thank him for his music and performances…and of course with all sorts of indecent proposals. He uses the site and the guestbook to correspond with the fans letting them know the latest in recordings, shows, etc.
In conclusion; while the Internet certainly poses its fair share of challenges to industry, (Piracy, etc.) it is utlimately a powerful tool for promotion and commerce if used correctly.