Fizzkicks: Another download-card solution for bands and fans

FizzKicks is yet another solution for bands to sell and promote their music via download cards. A couple of key elements differentiate it from other services like DiscRevolt and DropCards.

They are an online music store much like DiscRevolt but they take the idea a bit further. First off their player and profile are very well thought-out (not to say that DiscRevolt’s isn’t but FizzKick’s interface is more complete and ergonomic). Second their card builder (image below) is an excellent tool to customize your graphics. And last but certainly not least is their widget that can be placed anywhere enabling your fans to redeem their credits, buy some songs and check out your profile. The widget comes at a price through. Either you upgrade to a monthly ($9.99) or yearly ($99.9) “ProPlan” subscription to enable it, or you can opt for a “Pay-as-you-Go” subscription where FizzKicks takes a 10% commission off every online sale you make. Click here to see how it works.

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Why bands should consider Wikipedia

Here is something I wasn’t expecting. Yahoo just provided some data on users who look up band information, and apparently fans are favoring the Wikipedia link to the MySpace link by a factor of than 2 to 1! Come to think of it, why not? A Wikipedia page is so clean and practical it almost makes Google’s homepage look dirty. So talk about Myspace…When what we look for is condensed and ‘to the point’ information on about anything, Wikipedia comes to mind. Well music lovers are reacting in the same way for info on the bands they listen to according to the Yahoo report.

“(Wikipedia is) so clear, so concise, and it’s standardized. That’s something I think is a draw over MySpace, where you never quite know the experience you’re going to get. Is it going to be a horrible jumble of images and video and text that’s difficult to read? Also, (Wikipedia is) rooted in fact. It’s not promotional. Especially these days when the Internet is full of artists trying to essentially ram their message down your throat, I think a fan is a lot more receptive to a simple, no-hype approach.“

Ok, Myspace has 3 million bands vs 10 thousand for Wikipedia, but that’s not what’s important. In the near future more and more bands will start creating a page on Wikipedia (If the fans haven’t done it already) so its best to get on track now. Your fans will appreciate a fresh squeaky clean landing page for your bio and your band description. They can even edit it and take care of some of the content for you. For sure some will even be happy to do it. Keep your MySpace profile for what it is: a bar with a juke box (as opposed to Wikipedia being a museum? Hmm nifty analogy…I’ll treat myself to some scoobie snacks:)

Mruff to all!

Link to the Yahoo article

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