Having had a number of friends and acquaintances who’ve embarked on musical careers, one of the most significant challenges they’ve relayed to me is how to gain an audience without a hefty budget, or the backing of a record company. Bar gigs, and local touring can only get you so far, and in an age where music is spread at light speed across the internet, the competition is endless.
Meet Promolta, every aspiring musician’s new best friend. The site is aimed at providing talented new artists previously inaccessible promotion across the internet through a number of online sources.
The Run Down
The company was founded nearly three years ago, and is based out of Silicon Valley. As part of AlleyNYC, a major coworking space, and startup accelerator, the company was recently featured in Entrepreneur’s class of ‘Next 500 Startups’.The business plan is simple, with the firm offering two main methods for artists to grow their audience.
The first is an artist entering their own video for one of their songs. For a small fee they gain access to the Promolta platform of over 7,000 blogs, websites, mobile apps, and social media services. Based on the type of music posted, the company directs it through the aforementioned channels to music viewers around the world. Promolta claims that the videos will be shown as part of pages viewers are already on, and not as advertisements, which would run the risk of burdening potential new fans.
Alternatively, (for those feeling lucky) users can enter the company’s “Viral Drawing” at a price of $5 per week. There’s no telling you’ll win, but if you do Promolta states that your video will go viral with its increased backing.
Once you’ve become a member, the site offers you the ability to track your progress through web analytics detailing fan growth, and overall video visibility among other perks.
My Take
If there’s something that’s been made abundantly clear, especially with regards to the entertainment industry, it’s that the only thing people on the internet love more than cat videos is listening to new music. Now, the issue is that through Youtube primarily, but also other channels such as Pandora, there are ample ways to get your name out there for free. More than that, musicians, especially in niche genres might prefer to take the road more traveled by and commit more to touring, appealing to the local community before taking the next step. Finally, with the number of record labels, agents, and other more traditional methods still in use, Promolta doesn’t seem to offer the assurance that they would in fact be a superior option.
That’s not to say it’s not a wise choice. It just seems like a shot in the dark for a new artist, and one that’ll cost them financially as well. When you’re still just starting a career in music, as I’ve seen before, money can be something hard to come by, and before making any investment you need to be sure it’s the right one.
Promolta is based on a sound concept, offers a large network, and expertise in promotion that many artists might find useful though. For that reason, I see it as a company with potential, which we might be hearing more about in the future.
(image from: http://movieblog.nl/)
Startup Hook 