#cmw

Live coverage from Canadian Music Week in Toronto.

Reaching Fans Directly: There's an App for That

• Gary Greenstein, Esq., Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Washington, DC. (Moderator)
  
• Scott Geller, President & CEO, Zooz Mobile, Atlanta.
• Will Mills, Music & Content Director, Shazam Entertainment Ltd., London
• Pete Watson, Sr. Business Development Mgr., Research In Motion (RIM), Waterloo, Canada
• Mike Carter, President & CEO, My Thum Interactive Inc., Toronto.
• Neeraj Roy, MD & CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, Mumbai

Life after the app, how did business change?

• Mills: apps allowed Shazam to build its own brand, much greater flexibility.
• Carter: there was no money working directly with carriers, and a lot more control with apps.
• Roy: App economy allows a direct-to-consumer connection, and the ability to build a community.  "Interesting times," estimated that $4 billion in app sales happened in 2009.
  

What makes an app successful?

• Watson: The 'Blackberry guy' talks about 'super-apps,' a next-generation solution.  That includes the ability to run multiple apps simultaneously, always-on apps, interaction with other apps, etc.  This is beyond the linear experience.  
• Geller: Engagement must happen "for more than 15 minutes," the app must draw engagement "over and over again," "there are a lot of ways to get there," something a lot of "uninspired" artists apps are not delivering.  "Here's my app, here's my picture," etc., there needs to be more.
  
• Carter: marketing of the app is critical.  Sometimes Blackberry or Apple promote an app, but building a model around that possibility is a "big mistake".  Oftentimes, a major puts some marketing muscle behind their apps.
• Cooper: Apps are still very early, like the web was pre-boom.  Must look as an app as a 'tool' instead of a 'brochure'.

What does an artist absolutely need in an app?

• Mills: there has to be something uniquely tied to the artist, like the auto-tuning I Am T-Pain app.  There are very few examples that are really groundbreaking, innovative apps.
• Watson: an ecosystem around the app is nice.
• Roy: what is the objective?  Promotion and marketing, or actual revenue?  Important to clarify.  Also, apps that tie into features of the phone (note: like Bump) are also more potent. "Try to get the music out in a more interactive manner."

Is the music industry late on anything here?

• Cooper: Music industry has "embraced the space," though there are a lot of "cookie cutter apps".  
• Carter: Witnessing a huge shift in flexibility from labels, far more willing to move with app technologies.
  

And costs?  What are the economics?

• Roy: price could be "as little as a couple hundred dollars," and budget options include crowdsourcing on a skeleton app. Time is also an important consideration in the development process.
• Geller: a template is one place to start, then bring on experts to customize and "bring on a higher product".  And, tie in other platforms like MySpace, Facebook, etc.  Low-budget starts are possible.

• Mills: recommends freemium, just to get out there and get traction.  Recommends more of a "branding piece," and also notes that first movers on concepts can work. 
• Geller: questions freemium, noting that "free" is usually more than "mium", and "very few people are making money on the App Store."
• Cooper: $250mm made on the App Store last month, of which App Store takes 30 percent.
• Carter: Tiny percent drive those revenues, it's a "misleading figure".

• Roy: 34 app stores in the pipeline, so eventually decisions will have to be made as to which are the most important.

• Greenstein: Difficult and tricky issue related to cloud computing, and if you are not "dotting your i's and crossing your t's", you could find yourself "getting shut down quickly".  Slacker is one that has obtained caching rights in North America; Spotify in Europe.

• Geller: "legal complexities of licensing are holding back companies like mine," simply because the complexities overwhelm the process.  That means that indie licensing can be much easier than major licensing.  Also, "great opportunity" for indies and unsigned artists that own and control their rights, to avoid these sorts of nightmares down the line.

• Carter: not always, and often the answer is 'no' depending on the broader objective.  Instead a mobile web solution often makes sense.