Find Out About: Artists First e-commerce application

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) September 1, 2005 --
By Anne Freeman

The Artists First e-commerce application provides indie artists and labels an alternative income stream to selling CDs. By simply pasting the Artists First HTML code on an artist's website, fans can now buy downloads directly from the site through their mobile phone bill or credit/debit card. Artists First also includes reporting capabilities for download sales, site traffic, fan registration figures and a monthly revenue statement.

In my interview with Artists First (http://www.artists-first.net) co-founder Thomas Reemer, we'll learn about a new service that could well change how independent artists and record labels do the business of digital downloads - and better serve their fans in the process.

Excerpt of interview with Thomas Reemer...

- When was Artists First created and where are you based?

[Thomas Reemer] Mark Bjornsgaard and I have been working on this for the past 18 months; it grew into a business six months ago. We are based in London. Artists First permits artists and labels to sell music from their own site, rather than send them to a third party such as iTUNES, Napster, MSN, Rhapsody.

- What prompted the founders of Artists First to take this step rather than set up another iTUNES-like service?

[Thomas Reemer] Because we believe that the power online is with your own URL. Make sure that your URL is the point for people to connect, where they go to first to get your newest release and generally hang out. Concentrate the promotion of your music around your URL; don't make other URLs more popular and other people richer.

- Explain the "drip feeding" concept with regard to CD sales and file sharing.

[Thomas Reemer] The Artists First model moves away from "old world" online sales of single tunes such as iTUNES and promotes "bundles" instead. Don't compete with "FREE" by putting more content into one sale. Instead, offer NEW content regularly. If your bundle appears on P2P, you should have the new one up already.

- What is different about bundles and why is this important?

[Thomas Reemer] Bundles are more than a single track download. Fans want to engage in the artists' world, and artists have a lot to offer like demos, different mixes, live tracks, videos, etc. Sell everything that is usually sitting on a shelf, waiting to be dusted. Our ratios prove a 4 percent uptake if an artist sells directly from their site. For a small band with 5,000 regular visitors a month, that works out at around 200 bundle sales a month, or 2400 sales a year from the system.

- Tell us about the incubator program that will be launched for artists - will it be up soon and who can participate?

[Thomas Reemer] This program will give artists an advance (in cash) of 20 times their earnings once they have used the system for three months and have sold monthly bundles. It is a simple way of supporting up and coming musicians. No strings attached. You repay with your future earnings through Artists First. How are we able to do that? Well, because we know how good you are at selling.

For the complete interview, visit

http://www.musicdish.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=132