Promoting your music with barcodes and cellphones

A band called ‘A cursive Memory’ has found a rather original approach to promote music. It is placing specific code-bars on posters that can retrieve information for anyone who has a camera phone and the free ScanLife application installed. Basically the Scanlife technology allows you to take a picture of a code and extract a URL. So instead of typing one on your phone’s keypad which is a hassle, you are instantly taken to a web page. ‘A Cursive Memory’ uses this to distribute content like cellphone wallpaper, ring-tones and tour dates.

Check out this video to get a clear idea of how this works:

Wired’s Listening Post has more.

roar.

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YouLicense provides new licensing opportunities by partnering with TheCellFreak and SellaBand

Here’s an update on Youlicense (the music licensing marketplace) – the startup has been fairly active in the past months, sealing deals here and there to consolidate its position in the online-licensing market.

• TheCellFreak, a free mobile content site, wants to license up to 1000 songs from YouLicense users. Although they’re only willing to pay about 25$ per each song license (which isn’t all that much money), it’s still a step in the right direction, as your tunes will most likely be downloaded as ringtones, making for great exposure. In addition, the deal is non-exclusive, meaning you still have full control over your songs. All in all it seems like a pretty quick and painless way to get your music distributed through an exciting new channel.

• YouLicense has also developed partnerships with a couple of independent labels, the last one to date being SellaBand. The online fan-funding site is seeking licensing deals for 11 of it’s 24 artist roster. The earning will be split in 3: 30% to the composer, 30% to YouLicense and 30% to the Believers (Believers is a term SellaBand uses to call those funding the albums). Wired’s Listening Post has more.

• Also, YouLicense just received an extra $1 million in funding to further develop it’s global advertising strategy and content acquisitions. Yea I know, who cares:) But this also means that early-adopters of this platform might have a chance of being the first to be discovered as it becomes more established.

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How bands can perceive ad royalties from social networks for their songs

Ok so I know my title is misleading because only one music social network has taken the leap so far, but for sure this is a path  the music industry’s model is going to take. Announced today is the launch of Last.fm‘s Artist Royalty Program. The behemoth social music site is compensating unsigned artists giving them a percentage of its ad revenue! So artists can now perceive revenue when their songs get streamed, but not downloaded (to see how it works check out the FAQ). Last.fm had already established royalty plans with big acts signed to major labels and collective societies but now it’s opening that door to everyone who owns the copyrights of their uploaded songs, and who subscribe to the program.

A site like Last.fm is a multi-million dollar platform that offers a great free service, but it has also become a reference for music industry executives, bands and music fans alike. Giving back to a community that made it all possible is normal, it’s like offering your mom a decent gift on her birthday, plus its a great way to earn more respect. So kudos to Last.fm both on a business and on a human level. Myspace for instance is far behind on such matters as they still don’t want to offer equity deals to indie bands unaffiliated to a major label or a music aggregator.

Independent artists need new income streams and Last.fm is offering a logical alternative. As of now a band can’t expect to become rich off the program but it’s a start. Wired’s Listening Post blog has more on the subject.

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