Topspin Media Inc., the musicians' services company that former Yahoo! Music chief Ian Rogers
joined in April while it was still in stealth mode, has announced itself with a lengthy
blog post detailing its goals. The year-old company aims to provide technology services to artists that will help them better connect with, and market to, their fans.
To date, Topspin hasn't announced any funding, although it has built a team of about two dozen employees in Santa Monica, Calif., and San Francisco. Its co-founders include
Peter Gotcher, formerly the CEO of DigiDesign Inc. and more recently a private equity investor and venture capitalist with Redpoint Ventures and Institutional Venture Partners, and
Shamal Ranasinghe, a former product designer with RealNetworks Inc. Rogers serves as its CEO.
In its post, Topspin presents three test case studies describing what the company can offer artists. Although the artists and cases are different, all three share a key trait: They offer flexibility in providing fans a chance to acquire subscriptions to the artists themselves, often in exchange for the band's entire recorded output over the course of a year. Two of the three also offer a la carte song or full-album downloads, but all offer bonus plans for true fans who subscribe: early releases, silkscreened posters, b-sides, colored vinyl and the like.
To be clear, Topspin isn't a subscription service itself, but based on its case studies, it stands to reason that many artists using Topspin's services figure to offer subscription plans among other pricing models. The company plans to remain relatively transparent and won't market to consumers. It will handle content delivery and back-office platform services in serving artists (and potentially labels, although Topspin may replace many duties previously handled by labels as well).
As I've written before, "true" music fans don't mind compensating artists, but many feel
hostility toward the music business as a whole. While casual listeners might subscribe to a universe of content via Napster or Rhapsody, Topspin offers an opportunity for fans to engage more directly and more completely with artists -- sort of the completist's version of a subscription service, albeit with the flexibility to cater to listeners who don't want the full package as well.
Some other artists have made noise about releasing music directly through subscriptions; the
CASH Music organization serves a handful of artists including Throwing Muses'
Kristin Hersh and L7's
Donita Sparks, while Baltimore-based The Oranges Band is set to
unveil a $1-per-month service that will deliver two songs every 30 days. [Full disclosure: you can hear me on one Oranges Band
record.] All point to the collapsing role of labels as intermediaries between artist and listener, and collectively augur increased direct engagement, flexible pricing and consumer choice.
-- Paul BonanosSee blog post announcing Topspin Media's emergence from stealth modeSee April 2 post from Tech Confidential regarding Ian Rogers and Topspin
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