Inspired by the way local record stores used to bring music lovers and up and coming musicians together, Plugola was designed to recreate that experience for our brave new, digital music world. Here, Erik Peterson, Plugola founder, explains the service, why he started it and how it can help you win fans.
First, can you start out just giving us an overview of Plugola? When did the service launch?
Plugola is both a music social network and a digital music/video store rolled into one, catering to both independent musicians and music fans. Our intentions are to put the artist and the fan back in control of music, while giving the artist the necessary tools to market and distribute their own music in the information age. In essence, we have set out to create a digital version of your local record shop.
In the summer of 2007, some buddies and I were talking about the good ol' days when a local band could bring their demo tapes to the record store and sell them on consignment; and how we would spend hours at the record store thumbing through records of unknown artists hoping to discover that diamond in the rough. At the time, it was still pretty tough to find non-commercial, or relatively unknown music on iTunes. It was no wonder to me why so much music was being "pirated". There was really no place to find and legally download music that wasn't a commercial success. We needed an online music platform strictly for independent music.
I had already been running an indie music video sharing site called, Jamphetamines (now defunct due to the bad economy), so it was not a huge leap for me to take what I had learned from that site and build a new online music community the way it should be done. It was pretty much a no-brainer on what I needed to do. So, I set out to develop a social platform where any musician can market their own music at their own discretion. In October of 2008, Plugola did a soft beta launch open to the public and we have been fine tuning and building to it ever since.
Plugola provides musicians a direct line to their fans for distribution. Why do you think this is important for musicians?
To help ensure an artists success, direct interaction with fans has become so important. It should not be taken lightly. We are all gaining a much shorter attention span with all the new social technology; chatting, texting, social networks, videos. Not to mention the growing number of musicians that all want a piece of the pie. It's very tough to stand out above the rest. Music consumers are much smarter now and they have a number of choices. By being available, true and active with fans, an artist is forming a sort of bond with them. That bond could very well take a fair-weather fan into a super, or true fan. Plus, a lot of the major record labels have created a huge distrust with music consumers and a fan knowing they are dealing directly with the artist is much more attractive. They may even spend money on your music and merchandise.
How have you promoted the service? Have you used different avenues for reaching fans and for reaching musicians? What has been your most effective tool?
It's always been our goal to grow Plugola organically, a grassroots effort, if you will. It can take a bit longer to grow using this method, but in my experiences it develops a much more dedicated user-base. Sure, we could have given away everything for free to grow quickly, but our mission is to help musicians market and sell their music so they are paid for their work. We have attended many live shows where we promote Plugola, as well as being fairly active on many of the popular social networks. Believe it or not, so far our most effective tool has been direct interaction, whether it face-to-face or being available online. Twitter has proved to be very effective and as a result, we have some fun Twitter campaigns in the works.
Can you explain the "Plugging" process?
The Plugging process is very cool and a great way for artists to spread their music via word-of-mouth. Musicians can not get a better free advertisement than when their fans go telling their friends about the cool music or band they just discovered. There are several ways music can be shared freely and easily with Plugola (while remaining in the artist's control), but 'plugging' actually pays. If someone downloads a song(s) they really enjoy, instead of throwing it up on a p2p network or emailing it to all their friends, they can opt to 'plug' the song. Upon the artist approving this 'plug' request, this will allow the fan to re-sell the song to their friends (or anyone, really) through their own digital store (located within their profile) and earn a commission for each sale. The commission to be paid is determined by the artist and can be changed at any time. After they earn a determined amount ($25 in this case) in commissions, Plugola pays them via PayPal or directly into their bank account. This is also how we pay artists.
