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Research & Promotion Teams

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Research & Promotion Teams

The competitive advantage for MyGigNet will lie in the thoroughness of its band and venue research. The greatest percentage of the research budget should be spent on this.

At first, it will be a matter of shoveling all the data into the MGN database that is already out there on bands and venues. This means scouring the web for any and all information on bands from The Jumpers in Molalla to the Rolling Stones. The same with venues.

Then, once we are able to offer new, original content on top of everything else, we'll truly be a playah...

Building the team should be an ongoing activity, with MyGigNet Scouts being created and reporting in from all corners. Each scout has database access and input rights, and then earn credibility credentials depending on the accuracy and volume of information. Scouts with "Cred" can input data that is immediately posted, where as those who have yet to earn "cred" have to be fact checked.

Reference:

DATA ACQUISITION MODEL FOR INDIE AVENUE/IN2UNE
Ver. 1.0
by Boyd Martin, VP Data Development

Intro
This report lays out the proposed strategies, capital outlay, personnel requirements and time lines envisioned in the creation of a national database of musicians, bands, venues and production vendors, while simultaneously creating a media and industry buzz around Indie Avenue dot com and the In2une online booking/promo system (the Enterprise).

GOALS

  1. Quickly gather and meticulously maintenance a database reflecting all live music performance venues in the United States, from the smallest coffee house and piano bar, to the largest concert hall and outdoor festival.
  2. Train all venues to send their calendar information to the In2une database.
  3. Interest and inspire musicians and bands of all genres to join the database immediately and to utilize the services of the Enterprise to further their personal musical goals and aspirations.
  4. Interest venue owner/operators in the value of the Enterprise, and inspire them to purchase the services of the Enterprise as a cost-saving solution and smart partnering strategy.
  5. Rapidly amass a database of music/sound production vendors and make the Enterprise irresistible to them as an advertising medium and client pool.
  6. Create a media and industry buzz around the Enterprise resulting in a juggernaut of energy propelling the Enterprise into the brightest possible future.
  7. Establish dependable and enthusiastic field reps in each market.
Strategy Rationale
Several conditions currently exist in the marketplace indicating the necessity for quick deployment and voracious data gathering via a hands-on "guerilla" approach in the achievement of our Goals.

  1. The aggregation of data currently available through several online music services begs for the next step of an efficient online booking system.
  2. The instantaneous nature of internet communications allows aggressive niche-seekers to claim significant market portions from slow-moving development strategies, once those strategies are publicly underway.
  3. That same instantaneous-ness of communication also encourages partnering and affiliations within common service markets.
Therefore, with quick and aggressive data acquisition and deployment of services, competitors will be much more likely to seek affiliation instead of attempting to compete directly, thus protecting the Enterprise's market share. This opposes the more conventional method of data gathering and roll-out of dot coms, which assumes a more surreptitious stance, satisfied with aggregating data as it comes online, then seeking online advertisers to support the roll-out of that particular aggregation as a service. This strategy has been proven to be unworkable (witness the dot com graveyard of Y2K), and tends to separate market analysis from the real world. Just because a particular aggregation can be done, doesn't mean everyone will want it. On the other hand, if a business problem is solved by an aggregation service and that solution is made personally available to each and every customer in need of it at a cost-reducing price, everyone will want it.

Basic Data Acquisition Strategy
Utilize a striking and brightly logo'ed "Mobile Service Unit" (MSU) 28-foot Class C Motorhome, one small car, and a five-person data-gathering team.

Two members of the team work six weeks in advance of the other three (the Advance Team). The AT has one week to do the initial surveying, contacting, recruiting and organizing within each the 12 major markets. Their objectives are:

  1. Confirm a Launch Event date in a prominent venue.
  2. Book 3-4 acts for the event, who are enthusiastic about the Enterprise and represent a good cross-section of the local music scene.
  3. Liaise with Marketing for press releasing and media buying for the event.
  4. Recruit an ardent local music aficionado with online experience as a field rep and start them inputting venue and band info, training venues to send their calendars to the database, and provide strategic reconnaissance telegraphed to the incoming MSU team.
The MSU team follows six weeks later, spending approximately 6-8 days in each market to accomplish their objectives:
  1. Introduce the MSU's production capabilities and its interface to the Enterprise by providing free demo OPK's for selected local bands and musicians at various venues in representative genres. Each evening, a new band is "OPK'd" in a different venue.
  2. Produce the Launch Event on the last night, record and webcast it.
  3. Do face-to-face meetings with prominent venue owners, musicians, bands, agents and industry vendors. Build and maintain an active e-mail list of music professionals in each market, and write "on tour" reports for the website.
  4. Act as a lightning rod for media and public interest, soliciting and doing media interviews, and answering questions with succinct brevity.
  5. Meet with and debrief the local field rep, ensuring data quality and high resolution.
At the end of the 1st Tier data acquisition run (approx. 20 weeks) the following goals should be accomplished:
  1. All venues in all 12 markets entered into the database.
  2. A dependable and dedicated local contact in each market maintenancing their data, who also act as customer service reps and promoters of the Enterprise to venues, bands, agents and potential partners in their local areas.
  3. 1000 venues actively using or planning to use the online booking/promo system within three months (representing approx. 15% of venues in all 12 markets, figuring very conservatively 100 venues for every million people).
  4. 20,000 bands and/or musicians added to the database, with OPK's for at least 10% of them.
  5. Lots of free media coverage in all major markets.
  6. Detailed and road-tested procedures and marketing buttons for fleshing out the remaining markets for a 2nd Tier data acquisition run (such as Sacramento, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Memphis/Knoxville, Philadelphia, Detroit, etc.)
Shortly following the 1st Tier run, the 2nd Tier run could be organized. There are two approaches to this-fast and slow: 1. The same teams do what they did for the 1st Tier, targeting the next 12 largest markets.
2. The country is divided into six geographical areas, and MSU's and teams are established for each region, which then target the next 12 largest markets in each region.

With No. 1 completed within a year of the beginning of the 1st Tier Run, there would be a total of 24 markets, roughly 15,000 new bands/musicians added to the database, and, say a total of 2000 venues onboard (since the 1st Tier will be continuing to add clients).

With No. 2 completed within a year off the beginning of the 1st Tier Run, there would be a total of 84 markets, roughly 53,000 new bands/musicians added to the database, and, say 5000 venues onboard.

Obviously, the cash factor is the difference here, and data management becomes more of an issue with No. 2, although the protocols developed during the 1st Tier Run should be robust enough to handle that amount of traffic.

Pre-Beta Run
As I continue to carry out my duties in Data Development, after this initial assessment phase, I will begin work on a "Pre-Beta" data acquisition phase, and as a budget for the team is available, I'll put them to work online to accomplish the following objectives:

  1. Determine the best-selling, highest profile artists within each market, and begin a dialog.
  2. Assess the balance of genres in each market, what bands and musicians are leaders in each, and the most popular venues.
  3. Dialog with local music writers and find who we should be talking to.
  4. Survey the current membership of Indie Avenue to find hot buttons to use in developing tight scripts and brain-sticking patter to be used in the explanation of what exactly we are doing.
  5. Research the political power and activities of community leaders in the music scene, the general arts landscape, and read up about the movers and shakers in the local arts.
  6. Begin a database of music production vendors and retailers for each market.
  7. Begin a contact database of venues and musicians in each market.
  8. Study the music history of each market-what local musicians/bands became nationals, the legends and lore surrounding them, histories of longstanding venues and festivals, and local characters.
Additional strategies will surface as we progress, but the more information we have about a market, the easier it will be to bullseye the heart of the muse to accelerate acceptance and use of Indie Avenue.

The whole team should spend two weeks debriefing me and gathering information to fill in my holes. We will compare notes daily, and draw conclusions, all with the goal in mind of delivering the services of Indie Avenue to the most crucial nexus in each market. Also during this time, we will further develop scripts and patter based on the hot buttons found so far. It is paramount that each team member is saying word-for-word the same thing about what we're doing. Our job will be to create easily repeatable mantras, slogans and mottoes that spread like wildfire through our markets.

This lays out a possible way to start gathering information, and can be scaled up depending on capital expenditure.

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