WHILE MANY blame illegal file-sharing for killing music sales, others look to the internet as a remedy for an ailing revenue model in need of rejuvenation and some lateral thinking.
Culann MacCabe, chief executive of online music remixing platform Rocudo, would be of the latter opinion – and no wonder. His company has managed to mix aspects of mobile and social with an element of casual gaming to create a music-sharing platform that draws in the consumer while promoting the artist.
“Sales are a long-tail bonus that you get once you develop a core relationship with the fan. You’re more likely to get money from selling a T-shirt or persuading a fan to go to a gig than through actual music sales,” says Mr MacCabe.
“[Emerging artists’] expectations are entirely different from, say, U2’s expectations,” he explains, but they are acutely aware of the power of direct-to-fan relationships and the role the web, mobile apps and social networking sites play in all of this.
Rocudo weaves it all together by giving the user an online space to listen to different artists and, uniquely, the ability to remix tracks, add new beats and share the results with friends.
Underpinning this are analytical tools the artist can use to see how their music is being shared or if a certain gig has influenced a fresh wave of remixes.
“In observing what kids are doing online, we can learn an awful lot about the potential for an artist’s music,” he adds.
As a young business operating out of NUI Galway, Rocudo’s mix of playful DJ web tools and serious analytics seems to be doing well. Within six months of launch, the Enterprise Ireland-backed firm has gained 10,000 users with an average of 1,000 joining each week.
There are more than one million tracks available thanks to its primary partnership with the Berlin-based Soundcloud.
Part of the roll-out plan is to provide the service free. A casual fan could use the free iPhone app as a music discovery tool, while the professional DJ could potentially mix tracks on the planned premium iPad app.
