Web Sites Help Educate Unsigned Acts About The Industry

Although concrete evidence of the Internet's sovereign power to break a music act to the masses remains elusive, the unique attributes of the online universe have been the inspiration for a number of companies that are aiming to open new avenues for unsigned artists.

Rather than attempting to be all things to all artists, this new school of Internet companies is focusing on such aspects as bringing together and developing unsigned artists, distributing their material, and educating them about the music industry. And while each is using technology to achieve its specific goals, all share a renewed reverence for the offline universe.

"You're fooling yourself if you think you can break a band on the Internet alone," says Vivek Tiwary, president/CEO of starpolish.com, a site that imparts business news and knowledge on aspiring artists from label executives, managers, and lawyers. Starpolish.com, which has been hosting industry message board the Velvet Rope since January, also draws an active chat crowd. "There are so many factors in the mix—radio, retail, campus marketing, video play. The Internet is a very powerful promotional tool, but it is just one element."

To cushion its interests, Tiwary's general starpolish.com blueprint has from inception included such offline components as a marketing consultation arm, a booking division, and an artist management company, which launched this spring (Billboard, May 4) and currently has two clients.

"If all we were doing were the dotcom, I would be pretty scared," Tiwary says. "It would not warrant the amount of time and money we are spending on it."

MAJOR ATTENTION

Which is not to say that starpolish.com and many other online entities serving unsigned artists aren't getting the attention—and in some cases, the financial support—of the big boys. Witness Vivendi Universal's insidesessions.com, which for $49 provides an organic music-industry tutorial—select components also are available on video and DVD—straight from the mouths of an A-list of Universal company personalities. An additional $50 buys members the chance to submit their works and get written feedback from a Universal executive.

"For all that it does not do, the really terrific thing about the Internet is that it breaks down a lot of barriers," insidesessions.com president Lori Weintraub says. "It allows a kid who lives in Omaha the kind of access to people in the music business that would otherwise be just about impossible. In the physical world you could never have a course taught by Sheryl Crow in one room, then down the hall one taught by Barry Gibb and another by Russell Simmons."

Like many kindred online services, insidesessions.com has a significant offline presence. For example, a different one of the service's "member" acts will perform at each of the 15 stops along the upcoming Loco Bazooka tour.

While the company currently is running an online contest that will award three winners with Universal publishing contracts, its main aim is enlightening people about the music industry. Aside from its heavy artist following, Weintraub says 30% of members are looking to land a job in the field. "We would really love to find a band this way—that would be fantastic—but we are not an A&R division," she says. "We are about education first."

GETTING SIGNED

Conversely, enabling acts to tap major and independent labels with the goal of getting signed is the priority at tonos.com, a melting pot for artistic collaboration and industry attention founded by Carole Bayer Sager, David Foste, and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. Beyond the free information available on the site, artists pay $11.95 per month to join Tonos Pro and gain access to a wealth of information and services.

"We see ourselves very much as an A&R service," tonos.com president Justin Herz says. "We are a filter between the aspiring artist—who in every other circumstance would be sending unsolicited material—and the music industry, who we help discover and develop new artists."

The company has recently inked artist devleopment deals with Atlantic Records, Columbia Records, J Records, DreamWorks Records, Jive Records and Interscope Geffen A&M Records. In addition, Chrysalis Music Group, Dreamworks SKG Publishing, EMI Music Publishing, Famous Music, and Warner/Chappell Music have agreed to sign two or more up-and-coming songwriters who are members of Tonos' global musicians network.

Herz says having a record company-agnostic online A&R service makes sense today. "As label resources get tighter, anything that can be a competitive advantage to them that they don't have to pay for provides an additional advantage."

Given its songwriter roots, tonos.com works heavily with publishers and music supervisors for programs like MTV's The Real World. It also fields numerous label requests, such as a recent one from Jive Records to help uncover a new hard-rock act.

The company's growing offline role includes showcasing artists at such industry events as CMJ, where Steve Lillywhite caught the tonos.com-affiliated Rear View Mirror and signed it as his label Gobstopper's first act. According to Herz, tonos.com sends a monthly best-of CD compilation to a short-list of industry decision-makers including Sylvia Rhone, Jimmy Iovine, and Lenny Waronker and will arrange label showcases for select artists.

Sticking to its A&R roots, tonos.com found a promotional partner in AOL Music. AOL provides distribution for the Tonos site, and tonos.com provides AOL subscribers with exclusive opportunities. Yet the promotional power of even a highly trafficked Internet destination still has limitations. "Today it is not a business unto itself. It is a piece of a business," mp3.com president Derrick Oien says of the Internet as a one-stop promotional machine for unsigned artists. As proof, he notes that although 98% of the acts with sites on mp3.com are unsigned, the top consumer requests are for "those bands that happen to be in highest rotation on MTV and radio."

Nevertheless, the company plans to remain true to its role as a distributor/promotional site for all music. Oien says early perceptions that mp3.com was out to change the business of record companies were wrong. "The reality is we are not changing their business; we are not in the same business. If you want to know how to get a great click-through from a Web site, I can absolutely help you. If you want to find a band that can sell 3 million units out of the box, neither I nor anyone else in the building can help you do that."

The potential for getting click-through will grow for unsigned acts who pay the $20 monthly fee to get "premium" status on mp3.com. During the coming months, Oien says, mp3.com will begin working more closely with sister Vivendi Universal online interests rollingstone.com, emusic.com, getmusic.com, and mp4.com to showcase acts' downloadable tracks and information.