Sincerely,

Michael M.

As an artist (influences include Radiohead, Dylan, Queen, Tool, Nina Simone) I have tried Musicane and 7digital so far and am seeking advice.

Musicane: seems to only accept US credit cards - I thought they claimed to be international widgets. Any idea how to do this? Plus the forementioned paypal doesn’t come up as an option at all on my widget.

7Digital: Anyone know how (on the free subscription) we can set MUCH lower prices.

On the plus side these two widgets are easy to embed seem pretty intuitive to use, and update themselves quickly. Musicane’s one incorporates the idea of automatically allowing re-selling of an artist’s music by anyone. Brilliant.

I saw something similar to Hooka, and I thought you might be interested.

http://www.fandoodle.com

Cheers,

Jeremy, from the Opus Team
http://www.projectopus.com

Thanks so much for the response! It's being passed around the office as we speak, and we really appreciate your thoughts on the topic.

Online music is and interesting one. Have you ever heard of the saying, "You're not buying a drill, you're buying a hole?" I think you're right on target about having a widget that fans want to use.

You're so, so right!

Maybe we shouldn't be pushing for artists with higher payout rates, or more features to move products. Yes, we'll probably have to make that move to help adoption, but the end goal is to help people promote and sell their music.

This is a whole new can of worms to tackle. It should be obvious, but it quite profound. You're a much better marketer than I, sir.

In terms of recommendations, recognition, and rewards, we actually have something in play. But, it won't be on Project Opus - not right away, anyways!

Looking forward to the follow up article,

Jeremy, from the Opus Team
http://www.projectopus.com

> do you think that communication and branding features are important too?

In the short term, definitely. Though not for any of the reasons I hinted at above. (I have another article planned to expand on what I'm about to say.)

I think ultimately, a discussion of the artist-facing features in your widget is moot, because it's a safe bet that the feature sets of all these widgets will converge. Project Opus currently lacks flexible pricing and merch sales, but you've got plans to add both those features. As do, I'm sure, all your competitors. Basically, you'll have to add those features to stay relevant.

So long term, it won't be the features in your widget, per se, that differentiate you. Rather, it'll be the value you add behind the scenes…

Most indie artists don't have a clue how to market themselves. This is partly because of the bull we've been fed all our lives by the industry (i.e. "write good songs, get a record deal, and you'll succeed,") and partly because the industry now finds itself in such flux (i.e. no one has a clue how to market any more.)

Yet half the widgets I reviewed, most notably SNOCAP, exist because of the perception that indie artists are leaving money on the table. That is, we can draw people to our web sites just fine, but we fail to convert them into customers because we lack a store front. In essence, SNOCAP seems to believe not only that indie artists can take care of their own marketing, but that people can be enticed to buy music simply by making it easy for them to do so.

Well, we already know that's not true. People buy music, and indeed any product, only when they feel it has value. And then, they'll buy it whether it's easy or not. Artists will only succeed, then, by convincing listeners of their music's value, which in essence means getting their music heard. So contrary to the SNOCAP approach: The best widget is one that offers me a chance to get my music heard by people who AREN'T on my site.

Consequently, as trite as it sounds, the successful sales widget of the future will simply be the one with the most listeners. The features, from the artists' perspective at least, will be irrelevant.

OK, so to address your point directly:

> I’d love to hear your thoughts on what could make us better - be it revenue
> share or little things that can help independent artists promote themselves better.

Focus on the fans, not the artists.

When all the widgets offer the same basic features to the artists but yours is the one that FANS want to use, you've got a winner.

I can expand on this if you want. But in brief, I think fans want three things: Suggestions about music they might enjoy, a community to share their discoveries with, and incentive for participating in the first place. Call it the 3 R's of the perfect sales widget: recommendations, recognition, and rewards.

Pandora meets Fark meet Matthew Lesko.

As far as I can tell Project Opus is in good shape here: A lot of your users are passionate about the service, and the possibilities they see for it. And you guys do community REALLY well. I love how your site feels like a destination, and I immediately get the sense that you care about the artists rather than the sales. Basically, you're the opposite of SNOCAP.