Toronto startup aims to connect bands to fans

There's a new site on the market that wants to take money from the pockets of artists in exchange for success. Reciever, now on Indiegogo, at first looked like a pretty cool concept when it was featured on Thump - a way for fans to streamline streaming across platform and devices.

But while Receiver's website still links to this previous coverage, the concept they're crowdfunding for has nothing to do with helping fans streamline their streams. Rather, the new idea is for artists to buy in for a flat yearly rate for a ready-made website that promises to build their online following. So, what happened to Receiver, and is the new product worth it for musicians?

I asked co-founder David King about the transition over the phone. "It's one of those things that happens" he explains, citing that he and Blake Edwards (Earmilk) found "bigger problems to solve in market" while building the original platform. Both came from artist management backgrounds, and the new concept took shape organically.

For $72 for a year via Indiegogo or $10 a month regular price, Receiver will supply an easy-to-use website platform, though artists still have to pay a site like GoDaddy for their URL. King is confident that the simple tool is exactly what artists, desperately struggling to reach new fans (I'll give him that), need to get their music heard.

Artists using Receiver are expected to drive fans to their websites, where, King tells me, Soundcloud content, for instance, can be downloaded in exchange for fans' email addresses and/or social media shares.

"It's kind of like Buzzfeed," King says of the relationship between bands' social media and the Receiver pages, "they're active on Facebook in order to drive [users] to their website."

King says that bands are currently forced to spend money on Facebook to reach fans, while email campaigns are (according to Receiver's indiegogo) "5x more likely to be seen than social posts." Receiver's option to grab email addresses in exchange for downloads is one of its major features. But doesn't Bandcamp do that already for free?

"Artists are moving away from Bandcamp," King is quick to tell me. "Major labels aren't on Bandcamp... Bandcamp doesn't drive fans to drive fans to iTunes." King's right that major label artists typically stick to Soundcloud - but major record deals also lead to unique, label-funded webpages. Isn't this a service for up and coming artists?

like Bandcamp, Receiver only collects email addresses - for email campaigns artists still have to figure out a third party like MailChimp.

Receiver also boasts "analytics specific to artists" in their promo. King admits to me that they're still working out what analytics they'll be offering, but that the stats will lead to artists "knowing where conversations are happening about [their] music help allocate resources."

He cites an example of a band's video getting more plays on blogTO than a competitor website, and thus, the band choosing to pursue more coverage on blogTO.

King sends me two examples of Receiver pages that are up and running: Hunter Siegel and Jessy Aarons. Both have unique URLs but look almost identical, and as a listener, I'm not sure exactly what to do when I land on the pages. (To be fair, I remember when Soundcloud and Bandcamp were new and foreign platforms too.)

I click the download link in the corner of the box for Siegel's "Let Me Love You Right" ft. Kai (Official Video)." A song plays with a still image, but there's no link to watch the video. I wonder why it says "Video" and I'm curious enough to click "Buy" to find out. I'm taken to a Beatport page for the song, not the video ($1.49).

I click "Share on Facebook" and the page reloads. A video starts to play. I wonder if the video has automatically posted to my Facebook wall - but no, a code has generated on the page. I could click "Share" again to post it, but the video is already playing. I don't bother to share it.

Due to no fault of his own, Siegel's Receiver site is clunky. I try out Aarons' page and find Receiver will, conveniently, let me stream his songs one after the other, just like on Soundcloud. I share "Beverly" to Facebook and a pop-up launches, showing me a tiny version of Receiver's website.

I don't get a download, or a thank you for sharing. I "x" out of the song's page. If I want to know anything about Aarons, I'll have to click a link up to to check out a Facebook bio. I've never heard Aarons' music before, but even if I was his (their?) biggest fan the experience would leave me more alienated than connected.

King tells me Receiver is "planning to do a bit of tweaking and refining to our campaign and homepage based on feedback from friends in the industry over the next few days before actively pursuing press." I'm not sure the campaign and homepage should be their immediate focus.

Back on Receiver's Indiegogo page, $20k will buy me production for a 3 track EP by a "record producer who was nominated for a 2015 Grammy" (55% discount!) and a Receiver website.

I notice sample artist Viceroy's link leads to tracks.viceroymusic.com, while viceroymusic.com is a separate entity, featuring a Soundcloud embed from a month ago. The track isn't on his Receiver page, so I leave my email to download the first track, a remix from 2012. A link to an mp3 on Mediafire (remember Mediafire?) arrives in my inbox a few minutes later.

Receiver continuing to link to press for their previous concept is more than questionable, but is it as evil as Sonicbids? Definitely not. It may, however, never live up to the tempting promises it makes to artists struggling to know when to hold on to their money, and when to pay up for marketing services.

In the meantime, remember to double check that you're marked "Following" the artists pages you've Liked on Facebook - that might be the easiest way to stay connected online to their hard work for now.

by Aubrey Jax via blogTO