Rob Abelow

Building a better music industry for artists & fans at Openstage | Follow to learn about where music's going

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

Today, I launched my newsletter: Where Music's Going.

It's for Artists & Builders working to create music's best future.

Each week, I break down new tools & strategies to grow more connected audiences.

Here's what's inside ↓

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

Moral of the story: Ask for forgiveness, not permission.

Or something.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

Dear music industry:

Stop trying to extract every dollar from superfans.
Start trying to create more of them.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

@austinbarmak Ty and feels good to be back

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

Because the bad part of touring is the travel, not the part where you play shows to 20,000 fans.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

@uvkush_ Presave only does none of those things. A fan comes, takes an action, gets nothing. Give them something.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

Stop asking fans to presave your music.

- It's boring
- They don't care
- They don't even know what it does

It's a terrible fan experience.

Do this instead:

- Offer them a 1st listen
- Use a presave + email signup to unlock it
- Immediately let them listen, comment & share

Boom.

Now you've actually given them something.

And you've built your own platform.
Not just someone else's.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

@DeansyMusic I’m biased towards OpenStage.

Tribly set up well for this.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

Best way to know, reach and value your fans > https://t.co/VznvzPOYco

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

You need to know who your fans are.

Bc when you know your fans, you have a superpower.

- you're not reliant on algorithms
- you're not constantly rediscovering & reselling
- you're not wasting money on inefficient ads

And you actually understand your own demand and make informed decisions to match it.

There is no better marketing plan than having a direct relationship with your fans.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

@rochelleshipman They spent $60k on a bus for 11 dates in 1,000 cap rooms. There is little to learn from this.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

Your monthly listeners don't care.
They're not your fans.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

One year ago I asked 35,245 people "what's the biggest problem in music?"

Here were the most common answers.

What's changed?

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

Artists need to start thinking differently.

The old way:

• Grow someone else's platform
• Rent your audience
• Feed the algorithm

The new way:

• Grow your own platform
• Own your audience
• Feed your fans

It's time to go direct-to-fan
It’s time to build your own world.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

@datanoir_io More comprehensive / slightly different angle

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

Artists: Stop playing the wrong games.

Stop sending your fans back to streaming.

This person chose you out of billions of things vying for their attention, yet you're sending them to an experience alongside every song in the world, devoid of your brand, context & any way to level up with you.

To make matters worse, the app's goal is to suggest other content to them - songs, playlists, podcasts. All to quickly move them off of you to something approximating you.

You're out of your mind.

Don't be fooled by people who say you must kick-start the algorithm by pushing your own fans in first.

It's bullshit.

That's playing the wrong game. The platform's game. Playing it will change how you market, interact, and even create.

You'll never escape that rat race.

Get them in your world.
Play your game.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

@officialexxicon Doing it with the largest and most successful artists on the planet.

https://t.co/VznvzPOYco

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

@Dustinlearns Nope.

We’ve been fooled into this.

It’s why the rest of D2C and ecommerce walks circles around music. You want to send people into your world, with intent, even if you lose a few ok the way.

They’ll find you on Spotify if they want.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

@bennyj504 https://t.co/YgaBh6iRv0

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

@datanoir_io Spotify doesn’t suck. They’re excellent. But you shouldn’t send your found fans back there, you should send them deeper into your world.

I’ve been building this solution at https://t.co/VznvzPOYco - which is being used by big (Paul McCartney, Bad Bunny) and new artists alike.

[Rob Abelow @AbelowRob]

@ankurnagpal Solo