Justin Bieber has a net worth of $80 million and counting, according to Forbes; and he and manager Scooter Braun have invested a substantial portion of it in technology. Bieber's dozen or so tech investments include Tinychat, social ­curation app Stamped, gamer Sojo Studios and... Spot­i­fy.

These deals aren?t the usual equity endorsement deals, according to Forbes. Bieber put $250,000 or more in cash into each of the dozen or so startups in his portfolio. And unilke most celebirty investments, few of the companies he's involved in have ever promoted their ties to the singer.

In fact,Spotify, "wouldn?t even discuss" Bieber?s involvement with Forbes.

Is Spotify missing an opportunity to reach his millions of fans? Or did EK & Co calculate that there are many millions more that are far less likely to follow the young entertainer's lead?

FanCulture: The Evolution of Influence is a nearly 30-minute documentary focused on the relationship of brands with their fans. Created by Amplify, an agency specializing in "brand strategy, experiences and amplification," the documentary is somewhat of a meditation on the nature of fans and their interest in brands from a group of marketers and superfans. In some cases the brands are bands and in all cases the discussion is relevant to marketing music.

Amplify's FanCulture: The Evolution of Influence won't be making the rounds of movie theaters for general audiences but is a useful tool for chilling out and considering one's own position on building a fanbase. The key takeaway is that developing a fanbase should be approached as a long term process intended to build a lifetime relationship.

FanCulture Trailer [Full Length Doc]

Amplify is based in London so the FanCulture documentary has an added cool accent bonus for those of us who are Stateside. Their site includes info on a number of campaigns relevant to music including a European festival strategy for Converse and a curious but related sideshow for Red Bull at the Big Chill and Camp Bestival festivals.

I took notes and made connections as I watched the FanCulture doc and they include a mix of things we should all know by now and things we should be figuring out by now. I'll let you decide which is which.

True fandom is about a deeply organic relationship with a band that can't be manufactured. The difference between a consumer and a fan is the difference between a one night stand and a relationship. This relationship can extend throughout one's lifetime as we see with older bands who make a solid living touring independently after leaving major labels and chart topping hits behind.

True fans give more to bands but also expect more. Often this expectation can be fulfilled through honest dialogue as well as rewards for superfans in the form of interaction and recognition from featuring fans in one's marketing campaigns to making fans the stars on one's blog or social media account.

Serious fans want to be part of the process. That might mean giving them opportunities to choose their own album tracklist, as did Kaiser Chiefs, or have input into a concert playlist, as does Umphrey McGee.

One of the superfans included in the doc is a bit obsessive about Marmite. Superfans can seem a bit weird at times. Respect that. Artists are kind of weird too.

Just because somebody Likes your Facebook page doesn't mean they're a fan. As one marketer put it, clicking like is more like a "grunt of acknowledgement" in a conversation. Take it as an invitation to engage but recognize that focusing on one's Like count is the opposite of building a deep affinity with one's fans.

As FanCulture: The Evolution of Influence reminds us, today one can be a fan of anything, even a brand. But, as in any relationship, if you take your fanbase for granted the relationshipuhk may be over before you realize you've lost it.

Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith blogs about business at Flux Research: Business Changes and about dance at All World Dance: News. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

Guest post by Langston Collin Wilkins (@LangstonVillain), a Ph.D. Candidate in ethnomusicology, who blogs all things music, tech, and culture at Soul 4 Sale.

Whenever I read about the state of Black music on the internet, one of the main complaints I hear is that it no longer has meaning or that it's not "saying something." These "critics" recall a yesterday where all black music consisted of impactful lyrics that fell deeply on the ears of listeners, stimulating their brain muscles while penetrating into the deepest regions of their soul. I'm not certain that this magical period ever existed, but I won't quarrel with that here.

I will say that music consumers of today are no different those of any other period in terms of the motivations behind their listening choices. Most people seek aesthetically pleasing music that provides various functions. While I recognize that robotic-like radio stations and the ever-consolidating recording industry must be taken into account, I feel that part of the reason for the lack of mainstream politically-oriented music is that a lot of it isn't good and the content no longer resonates with audiences.

I go to music primarily for entertainment, not for intellectual stimulation. This is not to say that I don't like or even sometimes desire a more scholastic mode, but it comes secondary to the need to bob my head, or in the most rare occasions, execute a two-step. For me, my music choice is mostly motivated by emotion. If I'm feeling moody or angry, I'll listen to Z-Ro or Atmosphere. When in a more amorous state, maybe its Anita Baker or Beyoncé. If I want to break something, its Flockaveli. These musics, like all, all vehicles for emotional release. For me, music is the process of internalizing others creativity in order to expel my own emotions, whatever they may be.

I am by no means suggesting that I do not enjoy more politically-oriented music. I definitely have and do. It's just that such musics\ must be aesthetically rich or I won't pay attention to the messages. Public Enemy is one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time not because of their nationalist messages, but because the Bomb Squad were incredible beatsmiths and Chuck D was a great lyricist with a dope voice. The reason why Curtis Mayfield's message-music was so impactful is because he was an immensely talented singer/songwriter/producer. Over the last few years I've witnessed some mediocre artists get props solely because of their political content and I couldn't help but wonder why? Why would I listen to this artist's underwhelming music just because of his/her content? I could go read an article about the same topic and get more insight. I'm all for "intellectually enriching" content, but if they musical package is not tight, you gets no play in my ride (iPod).

In short, all music has meaning. Out most popular artists make aesthetically relevant music that provides particular functions for a large amount of people. Before you get up in arms about why MC Politics isn't on WorldStar, really think about whether his/her music is actually quality. This may shock some, but most people want to be entertained by music, not lectured to.

Recently both Hypebot and Music Think Tank posted a number of interviews with music supervisors and related industry figures on getting your music placed in movies, tv, video games and commercials. Here are the top tips and insights from those posts organized into five categories. The names of the supervisors are featured with a link back to each post which will have additional information of interest.

The key concepts are to understand how the process works, to present your work in a manner that music supervisors prefer and to make sure you have a visible audience and a strong web presence.

Do Your Research

Sarah Gavigan

"You need to do some well thought out research. Find a show or brand that you like and work backwards. Look up the Music Supervisor online, and learn a little bit about them before reaching out. Are you thinking of a certain brand you think your music might be good for? With good research, you can find the name of the ad agency, and then the name of the music producer or creative director at that agency that works on that brand."

Gary Calamar

"To get onto one of my TV shows, do music that's appropriate for one of my shows...do your homework to see what kind of music I use on these projects and to pitch music to me that is appropriate."

Josh Kessler

"Read trade magazines and blogs, as well as developer and distributor websites. Production timelines for games are very long, so keep in mind music decisions are usually made about 8 or 9 months before the game is released."

Find Intermediaries

Thomas Golubic

"The smartest way in general is for people to reach out to licensing representatives, because licensing representatives will do specific searches based on specific criteria we will send out to them, and they themselves become filters."

Sarah Gavigan

"Join music libraries that can help distribute your music to buyers in the licensing market."

James Alvich

"Start making relationships with the different music houses, libraries, and sync pitching agencies out there. Let them represent your music, but you still retain ownership of all of your stuff. This way they can send your music to agencies, editors, and producers for consideration."

Josh Kessler

"You can also link up with a pitching company with a proven track record of pitching songs to game companies."

Go Where They Like To Be Found

Andrea von Foerster

"I go to a lot of music conferences and festivals...Every time I get invited to an event, I go because I want to meet people who pitch music on the label side, development side, agency side, management side, the artists themselves."

Chris Mollere

"Hit me up, definitely. They can go through my website and just hit submissions. I check those all out."

Be Organized & Give Them What They Want

Chris Mollere

"Make sure to put in a link that doesn't expire. Sometimes it'll take me a month to get back and download from a link I've been sent."

Andrea von Foerster

"Never never never never never send an mp3 to somebody's inbox without asking them first. We all get a lot of emails and that many people sending you mp3s will just clog up your inbox. I like things that don't expire: ftp sites, box.net, Dropbox, Yousendit."

Chris Mollere

"One thing all artists should do is to include metadata in their MP3 files, so that when I press Apple-I to check it out, I can see your phone number or email address. Gracenote your CDs, it makes it a lot easier to track artists down, especially because the track names don't always transfer."

Andrea von Foerster

"I don't need an entire press kit. I don't need a bunch of pictures. What if I think you look kind of silly but I love your music? I really just want to know who has the publishing, who has the master, where are you from, and are there any samples."

Build an Audience and a Strong Web Presence

Sarah Gavigan

"You need to create an audience and create buzz if you want major music supervisors to notice your music. You want to use Facebook and Twitter to help you to establish your brand."

Liza Richardson

"The best way to get on my radar is to be a great band and to get somebody excited about you. I try to pay attention to what people are digging."

Gary Calamar

"Sometimes I'll hear of a band three different places in one week. I start to think, 'Oh, I'm starting to hear more about this band. It sounds like they'd be worth checking out.' I'll go ahead and check it out."

Thomas Golubic

"Hype Machine is great. Music blogs in general are great. In many ways, I find more music that way than I do through some of the resources I reach out to."

Sarah Gavigan

"We usually head to social media channels once we know about an artist to see what the buzz factor is. If I have heard a song of an artist and I want to know more I will Google their name and visit their Facebook & Twitter profiles to see how large their audience is."

Josh Kessler

"Build an audience and demand for your music commercially is the best way to get noticed."

Sources:

• Music Supervisors Explain How They Find Indie Music For Movies And TV [Part 1]
• Music Supervisors On How They Find Indie Music For Movies & TV
  [Part 2]
• Music Supervisors On Finding Indie Music For Movies & TV Shows
  [Part 3]
• Q&A: Getting Music Placed in Advertising
• Q&A: Getting Music Placed in Video Games
• Ariel Hyatt: 7 Questions For A Real Live Music Supervisor Sarah Gavigan of Get Your Music Licensed

Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith blogs about business at Flux Research: Business & Revenue Models and about dance at All World Dance: News. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

Music industry veteran Jay Boberg has been named Chairman of the Board of Isolation Network, the parent company of INgrooves Fontana and the music distriubutor's marketing arm INscribe Digital. Boberg replaces Vincent Freda who served as Chairman of the Board since 2008. Freda becomes the company's COO and founder Robb McDaniel remains CEO.

Additional changes to the Isolation Network Board of Directors include the departure of Peter Morrissey and the addition of Christine H. Park, a Vice President at Shamrock Capital Advisors.

A common problem that Chris Hacker of Cyber PR encounters is a band contacting the company to promote their new album that is coming out the following week. Before promoting a new album, bands need to have a marketing plan in place. In part 1 of a 3 part series, Chris outlines areas that need to be addressed before announcing a new album release.

?Make sure your online presence is complete, effective and contains all the necessary promotional tools.?

(Read On)

Guest post by Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

In the early days of Web 1.0 beta (i.e. the ?90s), most of us who were paying attention thought music middlemen were on their way out.

Technology on the near horizon allow bands to sell tickets, merchandise, and recordings directly to fans, while promoting their music through early internet radio, where payola and corporate sway over the FM dial weren?t factors. Everything looked like it would operate outside the usual confines of labels, publishers, distributors, marketers, retailers, ticket sellers, promoters, and the rest of the middlemen that had built up over the past hundred years or so between artists and fans.

It didn?t happen, in part because music doesn?t take place in a vacuum. Musicians, like anyone else, need a support system in order to create a market. And so Ticketmaster still dominates ticketing, and in just about every other area (sales, radio, promotion, social networking), bands still go through intermediaries to reach fans ? often at the expense of considerable friction, even if they run their own label. There?s that 30 cents they have to pay music retailers from every sale on Amazon or iTunes, not to mention hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and equity paid out by Spotify and other start-ups as artists complain of sub-penny royalty checks.

Maybe it?s the social media bubble, which recalls those heady days in ?90s San Francisco when your pet turtle could have secured funding for a catfood-to-dogs startup, but we?re sniffing a return of the ?direct to fan? ecosystem. This time, some of it could stick:

Ticketing: Crowdsurge

Let?s start here, because people love to hate on Ticketmaster. The kneejerk haters are somewhat justified in their revulsion by a company that appears to charge music fans for doing extra work by replacing cashiers. But the haters are at least partially wrong because they tend not to acknowledge that ?convenience fees? are typically shared between Ticketmaster, the promoter, the venue, management, the bands themselves, and possibly other parties. Yes, many of the bands you love as you hate Ticketmaster are snatching up some of those fees.

That?s one reason Ticketmaster isn?t going anywhere - especially now that it has merged with Live Nation. It?s just too entrenched, and pretty much everyone except music fans loves those fees. However, there?s a crack in Ticketmaster?s armor: the allotment of tickets given to bands themselves. As noted by the New York Times? account of the jam band String Cheese Incident?s Ticketmaster fee circumvention, Ticketmaster?s standard practice is to give bands 8 percent of the tickets to a show, with which they can do whatever they want ? sell them, give them to friends, family, and super-fans, sprinkle them on homeless people, or whatever.

Bands are monopolies. There?s only one of them. That gives them some negotiating power to ask for more than that 8 percent of the door. They can sell that, or 10 percent, 20, or even 30 percent of tickets, assuming they can pressure Ticketmaster and venues for more tickets, as one industry insider who wishes to remain nameless told Evolver.fm they will. Among the contenders for helping them offload that inventory, Crowdsurge holds particular promise. It?s a white-label service that charges nothing at a basic level ? a thin middleman that lets bands (and venues and promoters) essentially run their own mini-Ticketmaster.

Music and Merchandise Store: Bandcamp

Most fans don?t go directly to Bandcamp when they want to buy a download, because it doesn?t have everything, the way iTunes and Amazon do. However, if they visit a place on the web that the band controls at least part of (the band?s website, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, etc.), they might find themselves directed to Bandcamp to buy stuff or even download it for free.

Unlike the standard 30 percent charged by Amazon MP3 and iTunes, Bandcamp takes half that ? 15 percent. In addition, it includes all sorts of options, such as free music giveaways and variable pricing, and other goodies missing from the bigger players, like the ability to sell T-shirts.

Funding: Kickstarter

As with Bandcamp, you?ve almost certainly heard of Kickstarter, which funds everything from post-urban cowboy movies to light-up guitar fretboards. Kickstarter has recently grabbed the spotlight as a source of funding for bands, following Amanda Palmer?s ridiculously successful campaign, which looks like it?s going to top $700K with 15 days still to go. As noted by Techdirt, Jordis Unga is also seeing some money flow in via Kickstarter.

In a traditional sense, record labels are banks. They loan bands money to make an album, and then get them to pay it back. Of course, bands can record most of an album themselves these days, and often just need to pay for mastering and maybe some studio time/production expertise. Kickstarter is perfectly positioned to hook them up with the money to do so, as these latest campaigns proved beyond any doubt.

Perhaps because it grabs headlines outside the music world, The generally-themed Kickstarter appears to be succeeding where music-focused fan-funding efforts foundered. Slicethepie, Sellaband, and other services that let fans fund bands enjoyed a brief heyday, in the press if not in the market, but Kickstarter seems to have cracked the code. Bands that can put together a compelling video and have a decent-sized fan base on the internet can use Kickstarter to rack up serious funding in weeks, all without answering to any sort of overlord. (See also: Indiegogo.)

Tour Funding: GigFunder

For funding tours specifically, GigFunder has a unique appeal in the crowdfunding space. It counts on fans who really, really want a band to show up in their city (or, more likely, their town or village) to help make it happen. To do that, fans pledge to pay money to see the band if they make it to that location ? and if the band doesn?t raise enough to do that, nobody has to pay anything to anyone.

GigFunder charges 7 percent if the tour happens, which covers the 3 percent PayPal fee for the transactions. In addition to show tickets, fans who pledge money to a successful campaign can be rewarded with just about anything, just like on Kickstarter: T-shirts, signed merchandise, Playbuttons, and so on.

Subscription: Distro.fm

Hey people in bands: Do you think you could operate your own music subscription, like a little version of Spotify Premium that only includes your music ? not only the stuff you release on albums, just after you?ve recorded it, but your live shows, rehearsal tapes, tour van observations, remixes, and everyone?s various side projects? Sounds complicated, right? Not anymore.

The recently-launched Distro.fm can handle all the technology stuff for you, so you can charge your fans 10 bucks a year (or so) for everything you want to send them. When that year is up, you can ask them to resubscribe. Your fans can stream all of that stuff, download it, or play it within Distro?s upcoming app, which will be able to cache the songs so they can play them without eating up their precious little data plans.

What?s not to like? Not much, from what we could tell. Bands from Atlas Sound to Phish are already using Distro.fm, even in these early days. If people are fans of more than one band on the service, they can subscribe to them all in that one place. All the bands have to do is upload the music and send people there.

We just have one request: Can Distro.fm please add a way to remove bands? We really didn?t mean to subscribe to Phish (see screenshot).

Radio: My App Idea That Nobody Has Built Yet (Honorable Mention)

When people listen to online radio, most of them choose stations based around a specific artist, and most of them do it on Pandora. My idea, which nobody has built yet so far as I can tell, is to make those ?artist? stations into actual artist stations, delivered as standalone apps.

These would include music handpicked by the artist; played by those artists on their devices; and rated by the artist. If so many people listen to artist radio anyway, my thinking goes, why not do artist radio for real? The reason we include this idea here, aside from the fact that we really like it, is that an artist radio app could embed everything else listed on this page. That would offer artists a simple, sticky platform on which to promote their tours, Kickstarter campaigns, subscription options, ticket sales, and so on.

Did we miss anything? Let us know.

Google Music is upsetting users with device-deauthorization rule. (CNet) A forum posting on XDA-Developers says Google now only allowing users to de-authorize just 4 devices per year for its Google Music platform.

• Harvey Geller, Universal Music Group?s Top Lawyer, Is Out. Geller was often at the center of UMG's digital music/music tech negotiations and lawsuits. (MediaMemo)
• iHeartRadio Hits 10 Million Users Faster Than Facebook or Twitter (Mashable)

MORE:

• The Merger Music Fans and the Government Should Fear: Universal + EMI. (Atlantic)
• Pinterest has raised $100 million in funding in a round led by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, pushing the valuation of the hot social site towards $1.5 billion.
• Myspace to Broadcast Hangout Music Fest Performances from Jack White, String Cheese Incident and others on 5/18-20.
• Bandsintown, the concert recommendation and notification app, has added new features that take advantage of Facebook Timeline by adding tour histories. Fans can click on a new ?I Was There? button to add the event to a personal concert history displayed on their own timeline.
• Veteran agent Joe Brauner has joined WME from CAA bringing with him longtime clients Norah Jones and Amos Lee.
• Nominations are open of Billboard's 40 under 40. (here)
• Drip.fm remixes music industry models with its new members-only platform (TNW)
• R.I. P. - D.C. musician Chuck Brown, the Godfather of Go-Go.

Don't stop updating your Facebook page yet, but almost half of the 1,000 people polled by the AP and CNBC believe that Facebook is just a passing fad. 51% have a favorable impression of the company, while 23% have an unfavorable opinion. And not that the average American is a financial analyst, but half of those polled also believe the initial stock asking price (which has gone up since the poll) is is too high. THE CHARTS:

Continuing their ongoing battle with Ticketmaster, jam rockers String Cheese Incident sent 50 fans to the box office of LA's Greek theater armed with $20,000 in cash from the band. Each was on a mission to buy eight tickets for $49.95 plus any services charges for the group?s show there in July. Then the 400 tickets were sent back to String Cheese's Boulder HQ and put back on sale on the band's web site for the very same $49.95, sans most charges.

This small protest is part of what endears the band to their fans. The group is even eating the credit card processing fees for orders on their own site. ?It costs us money to sell the tickets,? Keith Moseley, the band?s bassist, said. ?But we are going to eat that cost this summer in order to make a better deal for our fans and let them know how much we appreciate them.?

Purchasing a ticket directly from the band does come with a $12 to mail tickets by United Parcel Service - still cheaper than buying through Ticketmaster. So far, Ticketmaster has refused to comment.

Both Evinar and Gyroskope are services that musicians can use to monetize streaming video. Evinar focuses on livestreaming via Facebook while Gyroskope features videos for which customers pay to stream as often as they like. Neither service is exclusive to musicians but both seem potentially useful to musicians attempting to diversity their revenue streams.

Please let us know what you think about these options in the comments. And please consider answering this question, what are you looking for as a musician seeking to monetize video on the web?

Evinar - Monetize Live Concerts on Facebook

Evinar offers the ability to sell tickets and livestream concerts via Facebook. Evinar takes a 40% cut of ticket sales but you can also offer concerts for free.

The process seems pretty simple from setting a date and ticket prices to using their dashboard to invite your friends and fans via social media. Viewers can buy tickets ahead of time via the Evinar Facebook tab which will display a stage image with a live countdown.

In addition to broadcasting live via your webcam, you can also upload images and videos as part of the show and text chat with viewers during the event. The chat feature includes moderation so, if fans get out of hand, you can moderate what gets posted. You can also appoint additional moderators to help with the event.

Charging people for livestreaming events comes down to whether or not your audience wants that. My only concern would be with how comfortable your fans would be making a purchase on Facebook given a recent AP-CNBC poll finding that 54% of respondents "wouldn?t feel safe using the platform for financial transactions such as purchasing goods or services."

Gyroskope - Monetizing Video Streaming

Gyroskope is an ad-free service designed to monetize video. It's not exclusive to music but that is one of the areas on which they're focusing.

The basic concept is that artists pay a monthly fee, set their own prices and upload videos and previews. Gyroskope handles the rest including payments. It appears you can also offer video viewing for free though that's not emphasized.

Pricing starts at $19 a month for hosting 5 videos. In addition, there's a 2.08% plus .35 charge for payment processing. It's unclear how much bandwidth you get but, at a certain point, you either upgrade your account or start paying $30 per 100 GB.

Viewers pay per video and can watch them at anytime via the Web including free use of Gyroskope iPhone and Android apps. However, they aren't initially purchasing the videos but rather the right for relatively unlimited streaming. Once they hit 500 views of an individual video, viewers are then asked to download the video.

There's clearly some math to be done here to figure out what you should charge based on bandwidth usage and account costs but the bigger question will be whether or not you're able to entice fans to pay for a viewing experience of media that they can't initially download. Given that videos have such a long history of being used as promotional tools, Gyroskope may require the creation of special content to entice music lovers.

Janet Morrissey, writing for Fortune, shares a bit more about the company including some comments from founder Todd Smith. She also rounds up some questions raised by livestreaming video company reps who are future competitors since Gyroskope is planning on adding such capabilities in the future.

To see who's using the service, you can browse or search Gyroskope's current inventory.

Note: Opening thumbnail is from the Gyroskope account for Bonnie "Prince" Billy.

Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith blogs about business at Flux Research: Business Changes and about dance at All World Dance: News. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

When booking a tour, there are various challenges that can come up. On Music Think Tank, Simon Tam posts about potential pitfalls in booking. What problems have you faced when booking a tour or shows?

?It?s always a good idea to know what kind of situation you?re booking into: Will they have an adequate stage? Will they have a sound system and engineer??

(Read On)

U.S. approval of Universal's EMI purchase is a toss-up, according to a Reuters survey of anti-trust experts: "Eight antitrust experts interviewed about the issue were divided about the chances for approval, largely because the music landscape has changed so much in recent years that it is not clear that a deal that would concentrate 40% of the recorded music industry in one company would harm competition."

"Ten years ago, the labels had power. Today they don't have any power. If they (the U.S. Federal Trade Commission) block it, it's just because they don't understand the market," Daniel Sokol, a professor of antitrust law at the University of Florida told Reuters.

But two antitrust experts who spoke off the record said that Universal faces a tough fight, especially because Warner Music Group is activley opposing the deal. "My sense is that the FTC could take a hard line depending on how good a job Warner does in generating complaints," one said. "It wouldn't surprise me if it didn't go through."

Guest post by Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

While techie hipsters (techsters?) complain that Turntable.fm is so over, most people and even music fans only recently began to grasp the concept of downloading MP3s from the internet and transferring them to a portable MP3 player, in the grand scheme of things. When you obsess about technology all day, it can be easy to forget how advanced the concept of listening to the same music with friends or strangers in other locations is ? unless you remember (or still experience) FM radio.

We kid ? real-time group listening apps go way beyond FM radio in part by by allowing the listeners to pick what pays, and letting them text-chat to each other as they listen.

Myxer, long known for its sales of ringtones, wallpaper, and other relics of the pre-smartphone era, impressed us with its plan to evolve into a smartphone-friendly app company on the strength of its group-listening app, Myxer Social Radio. In the early days, during our testing, we barely noticed anyone else using it. However, Myxer founder Myk Willis told Evolver.fm in a meeting in Manhattan last night that Myxer will see its millionth install this week, which is nothing to sneeze at.

?I don?t think anyone has really cracked the mainstream code at this point,? said Willis about the real-time group listening phenomenon, which allows people to gather in rooms online to hear the same music and talk about it, sort of like the way we do in real life. ?We saw the ?high-profile? Turntable.fm launch, but that?s really only high profile if you?re in the space ? it really didn?t have a lot that connected with a mainstream audience.?

According to him, Myxer?s long (in internet time) run as a purveyor of mainstream digital goods like those wallpapers and ringtones will serve it well, as the company attempts to build on that success and become a smartphone app company.

?Myxer has a seven year operating history, so we have a long view of the whole thing,? said Willis, ?and we have a very mainstream audience with out existing site, so we?ve been trying to build something that takes advantage of the fact that we know people want to interact with entertainment together in real time ? but something that?s also natural and makes sense for a mainstream audience. We?re still working on it to, on dialing the right knobs so you get that mix of simplicity, which is key, because the mainstream just wants to press play, for the most part ? but you want to mix that simplicity with that kind of rich overtone that comes from real-time interaction.?

As part of his strategy to bring the group-listening trend we spotted last May to the mainstream, Willis plans to embrace Facebook much more closely than Myxer did originally.

?In the coming weeks, you?ll see all of the song-level play information synched back to Facebook, whereas before we were doing it at a very coarse level,? he said. ?We weren?t sure whether a mainstream audience would want to have all of that noise coming into their Facebook profile from it, so we went slowly into that. But as far as listening hours and active users, those numbers are all trending up.?

Indeed, as we observed last week, as much as people bristle at the notion of every dumb article they read showing up on Facebook, the same does not appear to hold true for music.

Myxer Social Radio currently has 90,000 monthly users on Facebook; mobile apps are also available for Android and iOS.

(UPDATED) Greg Scholl, the former CEO of digital music powerhouse The Orchard, is returning to the music industry as the Executive Director of Jazz At Lincoln Center. Working alongside Founder and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, Scholl will take the helm of the not-for-profit arts organization next month.

After leaving The Orchard in September 2009, Scholl became President, Local Integrated Media at NBC Universal. But his first love has always been music. "I worked with some great people at NBC and I'm proud of what we accomplished," Scholl told Hypebot. "Increasingly I found that I really missed working in the music business, because that's where my passion lies. I love jazz, blues and American roots music and Wynton Marsalis is a fantastically interesting, talented and creative person - not to mention, a pretty decent trumpet player"

"So when this opportunity came along," Scholl continued, "the choice about whether or not to leave NBC wasn't particularly difficult: most of my tweets are about music, my sporadic blog posts are generally music-related, I spend most of my free time somehow pursuing music ... looking for records, forcing my kids to listen to them, playing music with friends ... so, I thought maybe it's time I stopped swimming upstream."

"Plus, this opportunity really is unique: Lincoln Center is of the world's greatest cultural institutions, JALC's mission ("Dedicated to inspiring and growing audiences for jazz worldwide.") is something I really can put my shoulder behind, and Wynton is leading one of the greatest big bands ever assembled - filled with talented players who also are arrangers and composers in their own right. Wynton has incredibly high standards and artistic integrity that permeate the organization. To be a part of all this gives me a charge. And, it is a fantastically interesting time to work in music - the industry is transforming. So, yea, I'm beyond excited," Scholl concluded.

Top Songs
1,"Payphone (feat. Wiz Khalifa)",Maroon 5
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3,"Call Me Maybe",Carly Rae Jepsen
4,"Boyfriend",Justin Bieber
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London's Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has a history of featuring orchestra members in promo campaigns to emphasize that "not all orchestras are the same." This year they decided to feature members of their audience with "strong looks" to point out that not all audiences are the same either. The resulting digital brochure and related videos are available online with more publicity to follow for this innovative orchestra.

While writing recent posts on classical musicians developing new audiences and exploring new repertoire I was often reminded of earlier innovations by the Kronos Quartet. Another group that has been exploring alternative approaches to classical music for over 20 years is the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) whose current marketing campaign reveals that they are just a bit different from the usual orchestra.

The OAE and Me - Call for Participants

The OAE began its 2012-13 season campaign with a call to audience members that have a "distinctive look" and stated:

"With this campaign we not only want to celebrate something very important to us, our loyal audience, for without you there would be no orchestra, but also to question who classical music is for. You?ll often hear people say ?oh that?s not for me?, ?that?s for posh people? or likewise?so we want to make people take notice of us, and perhaps challenge their assumptions. As you and we know, the music we play is for everyone."

Judging from the online brochure and the video below, they succeeded in both the "distinctive" and "strong" categories.

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment 2012-2013 Brochure

Based on material currently posted on their homepage, the campaign will include a variety of additional elements:

"Over the coming weeks we?ll be profiling everyone featured in the brochure on our blog and showing off the full set of pictures, as we couldn?t quite fit them all into the brochure! Plus, look out for further pictures on banners, programmes and adverts, especially once the concert season starts in September...We?ll soon be releasing a video featuring behind-the-scenes footage and an interview with the designer and photographer."

Check out The Guardian for more on the 2012-13 campaign from the OAE communications director and the creative director of design company Harrison & Co.

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Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith blogs about business at Flux Research: Business Changes and about dance at All World Dance: News. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

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DISTRO.fm is an emerging nonprofit organization based in Brooklyn that is building a digital music subscription service. They are currently seeking funding via Kickstarter for software development and are also moving from reliance on a fiscal sponsor towards full nonprofit status. DISTRO.fm is taking an open-source approach to software development and a community-based approach to decision making.

[Updates: After exchanging emails with founder Kyle Marler I've added a number of updates throughout this post.]

However, DISTRO.fm's Kickstarter campaign is far from reaching its goal of $23,000 and it is unclear what will happen if they don't raise funds via this campaign. Since this service could be of great value to musicians, please consider supporting the campaign or offering your help.

[Update: Between volunteers who are stepping up and separate tax deductible contributions, DISTRO.fm will continue to move to the next stage but a successful Kickstarter campaign would definitely improve the situation.]

DISTRO Kickstarter Pitch Video

DISTRO.fm is an interesting concept driven by strong ideals. Their music distribution platform is designed as a subscription service. Musicians set their fees or allow pay-what-you-want and customers subscribe on an annual basis to receive all music uploaded to the system. You'll be able to stream or download music and it can be automatically sent to your iTunes or Spotify accounts. It's unclear if DISTRO.fm will be taking a percentage or raising operating funds separately.

[Update: DISTRO.fm will be raising funds via foundations, donations and related means to support the service. If fees are needed, they expect to keep it in the 3 to 5% range at a maximum.]

DISTRO.fm emphasizes their plans to become fully nonprofit as a commitment to keeping fees lower than commercial services. They present it as a mandate for nonprofits to only cover operating costs but, in reality, it will be their decision to keep costs low. If you're familiar with the world of high-end nonprofits you know that there's a lot of money in the nonprofit game including high salaries for execs and cushy facilities.

[Update: Marler has observed this himself but reiterated DISTRO.fm's commitment to service rather than profit.]

They also emphasize nonprofit status as a choice based on their desire for community-based decision making. Again that's a choice they don't have to make as a nonprofit. I'm not attacking their claims and they appear sincere but the claim that their approach is mandated by nonprofit status is simply untrue. That just seems to be their perception of the nonprofit world.

[Update: Again, Marler conceded the point but stressed that DISTRO.fm is inspired by such examples as The VERA Project and intends to go beyond nonprofit requirements with such forward thinking moves as livestreamed board meetings to ensure transparency.]

DISTRO.fm launched in 2010 and is currently in alpha. The Kickstarter campaign will allow them to move to beta and develop basic functionality needed to operate publicly.

It sounds like a great project and there are some really interesting people involved as you can see from their Board of Directors listed on the Kickstarter page.

But I'm a little concerned about their marketing. The video has a 50 second intro that really should be cut. Wally the puppet works well and that's where I think the video should start. It would also be nice if there was something on the homepage of DISTRO.fm's site that was a bit more inviting than the current display. For example, something featuring artists who plan to use the service would help create an environment conducive to fundraising.

At this point the only similar platform with which I'm familiar is Drip.fm that is currently focusing on building relationships with indie labels. If you're interested in this kind of thing, I'd suggest keeping an eye on both projects. If DISTRO.fm can successfully launch in a timely manner then they'll probably be available to individual musicians sooner than Drip.fm.

That said, I think it's great to see multiple approaches to figuring out how to address the needs of musicians and fans and I'm glad to see projects like DISTRO.fm basing their work on deeply held values.

Interview: Distro.fm Could Revolutionize Music with Artist Subscriptions

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Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith blogs about business at Flux Research: Business & Revenue Models and about dance at All World Dance: News. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.