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Aspen Live Music Conference

I appreciate the love. I really do. Though I’m not entirely sure why it’s coming iggli’s way. Yesterday, I headed up to Aspen, Colorado with Nanette to attend the Aspen Live music conference. On the way, we stopped to pick up Alex White, CEO of The Next Big Sound, and we managed, with the help of Google maps, to take the scenic route from the last leg of the trip between Glenwood Springs to Aspen. But the weather was sunny and the sky and terrain were beautiful.

I knew things were going to be a bit strange when I walked into the conference room, and I was the first person there. This never happens. Never. I seriously wondered whether I had come to the right place. But within ten minutes or so, folks started to trickle in. [Noticeably absent for this session: Bob Lefsetz. We missed you!]

Jim Lewi, the conference organizer and chief rabble rouser, had another personal story to tell. I won’t tell it here. Suffice to say, Jim ALWAYS has something interesting happening. Always. (Jim, I do hope your package arrived.)

As things got underway, Jim laid out the theme for the afternoon’s discussion: Compression of Purchase Decision Time & How it Affects Our Marketing. A couple key ideas drove the conversation:

• consumers are waiting till the last minute to make purchasing decisions
• we’ve somehow managed to train the fan to wait till the last minute to purchase a concert ticket
• the live music experience can be wildly uneven, and some artists just don’t seem to have the capacity to move the entire crowd in the way that others do
• the ticketing fee add-0ns aren’t doing us any favors when it comes to encouraging fans to buy tickets early; they wait till the last minute to save money and keep their options open
• there are some things that “work” for marketing live music, maybe we ought to pay attention to these things and try to figure out what we can do to adopt these practices
• where’s the data?
• why is it that Amazon can speak so personally to its customers, but in the music industry we seem ignorant about so many things, including: who we’re talking to, what they did with us last time, what they want now, how to talk with them, etc.
• “I get so many things from so many promoters, it’s ridiculous and overwhelming.”
• how can we “prime the pump” and provide a good way to get a solid contingent of fans into early decision mode so they can talk about the event, and we can point to them talking about the event?
• is anyone really everaging the sharing that fans do via social media – Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc. – by providing them with the content about the show/artist that they can share with their friends?
• fan driven “word-of-mouth” is the best marketing

During the course of these discussions, Jim kept hinting that maybe Tom Higley and iggli had some solutions that could be helpful to the industry. And Jamie Loeb of Nederlander Concerts was kind enough to talk about some of the benefits that iggli provides.

But the truth is, iggli is being oversold. Again, I really appreciate the love. But we still don’t provide the powerful, compelling solution that I envision: a service that every artist, promoter, venue, sports team, agent and ticket seller wants to use to help promote the event and sell more tickets – via fan-based word-of-mouth. We still have a long, long way to go. But in just a few weeks you’ll be able to see real progress. iggli has created the beginnings of a real-time, event based engine for social interaction. And that engine comes with its own API.

Personally, I think it is this social interaction – real-time fan-to-fan event-based conversations – that will provide the industry with the biggest bang for its marketing buck. What do you think? Let me know!

Back in 1993, when I was still a practicing lawyer, I went to lunch with a good friend of mine. He was the head of the Cable Television company, and my law firm represented his company. At the time everyone seemed to be preoccupied with the notion of 500 channels of TV, and he was troubled by this. During our lunch, he turned to me and said,

Now remember, this was before YouTube. It was before social networks. It was even before email and the web were in common use. Nobody was talking much about user generated content in those days. But the truth is, the elements were already there, the groundwork already in place, to precipitate a revolution.

When Tim Berners Lee invented the world wide web and Marc Andreesen and his buddies at NCSA created Mozilla, the first really important graphical web browser, they laid the groundwork for an explosion, a big bang in the universe that is “content.” And ironically, from the moment that happened, content has ceased to be “king.” You remember the expression, of course. But “content is king” only when content is scarce, controlled and meted out. Today content is cheaper to create, cheaper to store, and cheaper to distribute than ever before. And there are many many more “producers” of content than there were in 1993. The world will never be the same.

All of this has an enormous impact on music and on the music business. There is more recorded music available today than ever before. Orders of magnitude more music. People listen to more music today than ever before in the history of the world. And increasingly, they’re distributing that music (sharing) and even creating it themselves.

Every copy of Apple’s OSX comes with a copy of Garage Band. Programs like Garage Band, Logic, Ableton Live, Cubase, Pro Tools, Reason, Sonar and others have made it possible for nearly anyone to record or compile “music” that may be completely original (and fall anywhere on the scale from sublime to unbearable) or utterly derivative. Artists have long been treating this vast collection of content as source material for the inspiration and support of their further creative efforts, including Grandmaster Flash, Dr. Dre, The Bastie Boys, Eminem, Moby, and a legion of artists with names that begin with “DJ” and end with pretty much any other word or expression you can imagine.

And the thing that amazes me most about all of this? That the transition from mere spectator to full participant hasn’t been more widely understood, embraced and appreciated. I’d like to introduce you to someone who does get it: Suzanne Lainson. Suzanne writes the blog “brands + music (bpm),” has some interesting things to say about this in the context of music. A week ago, some people from the music, tech and marketing/advertising space got together as part of the Jim Lewi inspired “First Thursday,” here in Boulder. Suzanne was among them, and during the course of our discussions, it became apparent that (a) she’s tired of hearing so many people in the industry say the same things over and over again, and (b) she has a different point of view about what needs to happen – a perspective I happen to share.  Rather than steal her thunder, I invite you to read her most recent post, “Involving Music Fans at Many Levels” for yourself.

One of the things I particularly appreciate about Suzanne’s post: she wants to know what you think, and she asks you to respond. Instead of simply speaking her mind and leaving things at that, she has invited you to join in a conversation – precisely the thing she things needs to be happening in the music industry. And I can’t wait to read what you have to say.

iggli is happy to be working closely with Global Digital Syndication to provide invite services for tonight’s Jowell y Randy concert. Global Digital Syndication is working with uVu Mobile(TM), a mobility solutions and software provider to promote the first streaming concert event through ClickConcert.

Jowell y Randy

Use iggli to connect to Jowell y Randy

During the coming weeks, I’m planning to do something a little different with the iggli blog. We’ve managed to get to know quite a few people in the sports and entertainment, technology and ticketing industries. Some of them are very well known, others maybe not so much. But they all have a unique voice and a particularly valuable point of view. These folks will be “guest” bloggers from time-to-time, offering their own perspectives on everything from social media and marketing, the music industry’s challenges, new developments in sports marketing, friend-to-friend communication, ticketing (including primary and secondary market ticketing, paperless tickets, dynamic pricing) and more. We’ll see where it all goes, but wherever they take us, I know it will be interesting, educational and entertaining. In the meantime, go listen to some music or watch a game!

iggli just came off a remarkable week. If you check out iggli.com, you’ll notice dramatic changes to the website and to virtually every aspect of the service.

New partners.

During the last week we added support for AEG Live – check out the Ogden and Bluebird Theaters in Denver – and the WNBA. The Ogden and Bluebird, two of the premier venues in Denver, have begun to use the service on their event pages. Now when you find an interesting event, a great artist coming to either of these venues, you’ll be able to use iggli’s invite service to invite your friends.

The WNBA went live with iggli at the end of this past week. An extraordinary site and organization, you’ll find iggli’s invitation services used on the WNBA’s schedule pages.

New website look and feel. New event search.

We’re pretty excited about this, and we think you will be too. You can now use iggli’s home page to search for music and sporting events anywhere in the United States. (We’re not trying to leave anyone out, but we need to take a step at a time.) Enter a zip code, a city name, an artist or venue name, even the name of a sports team. Choose from among tens of thousands of available events. And, of course, invite your friends.

In the coming days we’ll be blogging about some of the other key changes to our services, including

• New top level navigation.
• New igg.li short URL services.
• New partner reports.
• New event pages.
• And more.

Stay tuned!

It’s nice when your company generates a little attention in the press. It’s nicer still when so much of what is written is on the money. Yesterday the Boulder Daily Camera covered iggli’s invitation service – invite – and left readers with the impression that we’d like to see our button used on every online listing of ticketed events. That’s accurate. They also accurately captured a couple other key notions:

• that events are social
• that the friends who are going to a particular event are often as important (or more important) than the event itself
• that most people pay more attention to information or invitations from friends

And the part they really got right, the part I particularly liked, was the notion that “one click of the widget” helps folks get through a process that would otherwise be tedious, time consuming and filled with frustration. You’ll know this is true if you’ve ever tried to invite more than two people to a concert or a playoff game. The process is ridiculous.

• Which event?
• Which friends should I invite?
• Do I talk to them by phone to see if their interested? Text? Email? Facebook? Twitter?
• How do I deal with the fact that some of my friends use Facebook (and won’t read email) and some use email exclusively (and won’t touch Facebook)?
• How do I keep track of those who respond?
• How many tickets do we need?
• Who is going to buy them?
• How are we going to handle reimbursement?
• Will we all get to sit together?
• How do we get the best seats?
• What if someone can’t make it at the last minute?
• What’s the best way to communicate with the whole group about our plans on the day of the show or game?

There’s more. But you get the idea. The process can be . . .  problematic.

iggli’s invite service has been designed as a way to deal with these issues. It’s not perfect. We have a long way to go to make the service as easy to use, useful, and fun as we think it should / could be. So feedback is welcome and appreciated! One of the biggest shortcomings of the service is the relatively few places you can find it or use it.  If you’re a fan who wants to take a group to see a Lakers game, a show at Red Rocks, the Michael Jackson memorial concert at Staples Center or anyone of a thousand different events around the country, you’re going to be out of luck for at least another few weeks. Because right now, you can only use the service if our invite widget appears on an event page.

We’ve already made substantial progress in this department. Today iggli’s services have been embraced by Nederlander Concerts, The Greek Theatre, The Grove Theater, Bill Silva Entertainment and Management, Jason Mraz and StubHub. And we have some big deals to talk about in the not-too-distant future. But things will really get interesting when you can use iggli’s service with just about any event you can find. And that capability is right around the corner. So please, stay tuned!

Atlantic Records Artist Continues His Innovative Use of Technology By Adding iggli Invite Service To His Website

Boulder, Colorado (Billboard Publicity Wire) June 23, 2009 — iggli inc. is excited to announce that Grammy nominated artist Jason Mraz has integrated the company’s invite service into his website. The Atlantic Records singer/songwriter is the first artist ever to adopt the technology. “We have had many venues and ticket sellers adopt the service, but Jason is the first major artist to recognize the value of our service and implement the technology,” said Tom Higley, iggli’s founder and CEO. “We’ve had great success improving ticket sales for our other partners and we’re confident that Jason Mraz and other artists will benefit as well.”

The service gives fans the ability to invite, track and coordinate whether or not they can attend a particular show or event. “We’re excited to have the technology to share with Jason’s fans,” said Bill Silva of Bill Silva Entertainment, Mr. Mraz’s management company. “iggli’s service helps people connect, and we’re all about exposing more people to Jason’s music.”

The unique on-line invite service uses friend-to-friend communication technology that makes it much easier for fans to coordinate event-based social activities. Ticket sellers, venues, sports teams, event companies, promoters and artists, like Mraz, benefit by reaching a broader audience and, ultimately, by selling more tickets. Fans benefit by using an easy communication tool to coordinate with their friends. They also use the invite service to post comments, purchase tickets and share details via partner websites and trusted social networks such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

When fans log on to Jason Mraz’s website (http://www.jasonmraz.com), they simply click the green “invite friends” button, in the tour dates section, to take advantage of the service. Everything else is automated from that point on. They can buy tickets to his upcoming “Gratitude Café Tour,” invite friends and organize who’s going using the simple, Jason Mraz branded interface.

ABOUT IGGLI, INC. – Founded in 2007, iggli, inc. is the creator of a web-based invitation service that serves fans and providers in the sports and entertainment industry. Fans use the service to create invitations for ticketed events, track responses, and create social conversations around an event. Partners, such as artists, venues, promoters, sports teams, ticketing sites, and event aggregation sites use the service to generate more awareness of events and make it easier for visitors to invite friends and buy tickets. Prospective partners can learn more at: http://www.iggli.com/partners

ABOUT JASON MRAZ – Atlantic Records artist Jason Mraz’s third studio album, the platinum-certified We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., received three Grammy nominations this year, including “Song of the Year” for “I’m Yours.” The first song ever to top the charts at four pop radio formats, “I’m Yours” has been certified 4x platinum in the U.S. and is currently the fourth best selling digital single of all time. The San Diego-based troubadour was recently honored with the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s esteemed “Hal David Starlight Award.” The award–given to gifted songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry via their original songs–has previously gone to such artists as Rob Thomas, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, and John Legend. We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. has proven to be a worldwide sensation: in addition to being certified platinum here in the U.S., the album has also received platinum certification awards in France, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong, triple platinum status in Korea, double platinum in Australia, with gold records in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, The Netherlands, and Switzerland. Mraz first broke onto the national scene in 2002 with the certified platinum Waiting For My Rocket To Come, which featured the hit singles, “Remedy (I Won’t Worry),” “You & I Both,” and “Curbside Prophet.”

In the business of ticket sellers, Tom Higley points to one phenomenon standing between the artists and venues that put on a show and the uncollected billions in unsold tickets and seats: the problem of the bad friend. In Tom’s description, it’s this bad friend (“Bobby”) who has historically given ticket purchasers pause when buying tickets in a block: Will Bobby show up? If he does show up, will Bobby pay? Will Bobby need to be hunted for weeks in chasing down reimbursement? It should therefore come as no surprise that, for ticket purchasers who need to outlay money upfront, the tendency is to err on the side of the conservative in choosing the number to buy. This phenomenon is one of the many problems that Higley and his company iggli, inc. seek to solve.

Excerpt above taken from Rocky Radar article posted on May 21, 2009.  To see the article in it’s entirety, please go to Rocky Radar.

The New Face of EventStream

SOME of the recent improvements to iggli’s invite service:

1. New fan-friendly and interactive user interface that makes it much easier to invite friends and coordinate ticket purchases

2. Login via Facebook™ username and pasword and publication to Facebook™ Friends

3. Calendar support to add event dates to personal calendars (Google®, Yahoo®, Outlook® and iCal® are all supported)

4. New iPhone® inspired, sliding interface that helps fans express their intent to participate

5. Group ticketing tools that let an organizer volunteer and coordinate with members of the group to buy tickets more effectively

We look forward to your feedback, and we’d love to hear what you think of the changes.

A visit our partner page (http://iggli.com/blog/partners) shows just how easy signup and setup can be.

Tom Higley
President & CEO

One of our favorite promoters, Nederlander Concerts, has been an extraordinary partner for iggli. The press release says it pretty well:

Since its inception, Nederlander Concerts has been setting trends in the entertainment and music industries. Nederlander Concerts reinforced that reputation this week by adding a pioneering, friend-to-friend invitation service to their on-line ticketing business. “We want to give concert-goers an easy way to connect and make plans with their friends when they want to go to a show,” said Jamie Loeb, Nederlander’s Vice President of Marketing. “We’re excited about the service and how it benefits our patrons and increases ticket sales.”

Jamie Loeb is the embodiment of a great Vice President of Marketing in the entertainment industry. She pays attention to what is happening in the world of concert promotion. But she also has an eye on developments in the tech space. And that helps explain iggli’s invite service on Nederlander Concert sites, including The Greek and The Grove.

Nederlander Concerts