The big music labels have made it patently obvious that they don’t know how to deal with the internet. Revenues are down, the market is fragmented, and indie artists that manage to gain a following find that they have little need for the labels in the first place – they can sell their music online through sites like AmieStreet and iTunes.
myAWOL (My Artists Without Labels) is looking to show the big four how it’s done. The site is taking a multi-pronged approach to tackle the music industry with the web: first, it will roll out a professional database to help establish itself as an authority in the space. Then, this Fall, it will introduce a consumer site that will function as a mix between a music community, online television channel, and independent music label.
Lofty goals to be sure, but the people associated with myAWOL may have the backing and experience to pull it off. The site is the brainchild of Andrew Bentley, an entrepreneur with a head-turning resume that includes stints as the CFO of Virgin Media, the CFO of EMI, and the CEO of EMI Music/Asia Pacific (before they went on a lawsuit spree). And you can be sure that during his time as a music executive, he’s made some friends.
Within the next month, the site will be rolling out a professional-facing music database (an “imdb for music”). The goal of the site is to become an authoritative resource for everyone in the music industry, from studio musicians and equipment managers to studio execs. Bentley says that while this portion of the site may not have much appeal to consumers, it will help the site gain credibility while offering a much-needed service to the industry.
myAWOL’s consumer-facing site is where the real excitement will lie, and while it won’t be launching until early September, it may well be worth the wait. Unlike many music sites that effectively serve as storefronts for artists (leaving little reason for users to come back), myAWOL is focusing on content creation. The site will produce daily content for what amounts to an online television channel, where it will feature concerts, interviews, and TRL-like daily programming that will be distributed both online and through podcasts. Footage will come from submitted tapes, studio filming, and concerts put on by the site (there’s a myAWOL concert at The Roxy later this month).
The purpose of the internet TV channel is to help myAWOL’s fledging artists gain exposure, with the ultimate goal of getting the best ones signed to myAWOL’s music label (artists are under no obligation to do so – there is no exclusivity contract associated with appearing on the site). Each music artist will have their own profile page (similar to MySpace Music), from which they can stream their songs for free or sell tracks in a 70/30 rev-share agreement. Featured artists will be hand picked by myAWOL’s judges, who will be constantly searching through artist profiles for the next big hit.
With myAWOL’s consumer launch still a few months away, it’s far too early to hail it as the second coming of online music. The music space is very crowded, and myAWOL’s expensive ventures in content production could wind up going totally unnoticed, especially alongside offerings from MySpace, which has a huge following in the music space. That said, with Bentley’s experience and funding from a number of rock legends, myAWOL will be one to watch.
This is an exciting time for the music industry. I am looking forward to the arrival of such an innovative new site. It seems like the dream artists have been waiting for.
Using an acronym for a business name is a risky move because it cost so much to educate the public as to what it means. Toss in a logo that is illegible and you’ve effectively built yourself a wall in front of your business.
I think my font folder just threw up on their logo. In addition, myAWOL could be the worst company name I have ever seen – especially when expanded to My Artists Without Limits.
Also, how is this different from all the other music sites (MySpace, iMeem, iLike, Last.fm, PureVolume, Virb, etc.)? Daily web programming sounds cool, but it costs serious $ and takes serious logistics. As far as I can tell, they aren’t really providing a needed service. All they are doing is giving people a platform to promote their music (see above for why this isn’t needed) and trying to find talent that they can mismanage just like the big four.
@ImageCo
Ha. Great minds think alike.
I love the logo! Fall more innovative and unique than many of the other music sites out there
Ok I think u guys must b old…the logo is great, u have to think of the target audience.
Be unique. So just cus they are a music company does not mean they should use a music note in the logo. Hundreds of other music-based companies have already done so, and their logo will not be memorable.
Don’t Jump the gun…Learn what graphic design is, what elements make up good design…PEOPLE!
yes! thank you Ceci !!
It sound great can’t weit for the website!!!!!
Does anon work for a rival company? Yes it does seem like they are providing a visual platform for un signed artists , un like myspace etc. that just provide bullet boards. … dumby!
the name is just a little bit too close to AWAL (Artist Without A Label) which is a fairly well established aggregator for (you guessed it) Artists without labels.
Read the Bio….his British…give him a brk! As long it works its all G!
and?! more hits for myawol then if people go to the wrong site which, from the sounds of it, will be a far more interesting place to go!
hmmm a music site trying to be all things to all people, launched probably 2 years too late, and run by an ex-big label bean-counter?
good luck. stick with the eagles back catalogue.
As an artist that has been signed as a Featured Artist to myAWOL , I can only say how excited we are to be part of this. There is no other platform available at this time for un known artists like us to promote ourselves in a way similar to a signed artist. myAWOL not only cares about the artists it represents, but works really hard to make sure that we all get the personal attention we need to help us get our music out to the public. The splits are amazing and I can thoroughly recommend this site to any artist not looking for a deal.
When you say MyAWOL out loud it sounds almost exactly like MyAOL.
I don’t see how a startup can survive that.
@Ceci
I am a web and graphic design professional living in NYC. I know design. What I also know is that using a different font for each letter in a phrase is not only difficult to read but not pleasant to look at. In addition, I also know that the logo presented on TC is different from the logo on the myAWOL website (brand consistency at its best) which contains a four pronged W (huh?).
@Jane Ballard
Don’t hate. MySpace provides much more than bulletin boards. They provide artists with an online space to communicate with their fans through text, image, sound, and video – just like the many services I mentioned in my previous post.
@Ian Curtis
Yes.
@M.C
What exactly is a featured artist? As far as I can tell, the company hasn’t launched yet and the website is a mess. That being said, what splits? Are they currently helping you generate revenue? In what form? I’m actually very interested to know as this would provide actual insight into what the company does. At this point all I see is a press release outlining a recycled business model and an ugly ass mock up of what looks to be a video player.
@Ian Curtis – so what is your website Topspin actually going to do?
D’oh! scrub my last comment
If I understand the site correctly, the idea of having fresh quality video content presented in a tv format is great! I guess it means that these guy’s are producing content with selected artists in order to do this… this is some committment!
I’m so sick of trying to find stuff on mySpace…
An IMDB for music, what about AllMusic? Online music television, what about Fuse.tv? Despite this, Andrew Bentley obviously has impressive credentials so I imagine a year from now myawol.com will look nothing like it currently does and will be able to affect change in the industry
Horrible Name.
Horrible Logo.
Good luck on trying to get traffic – and good luck on trying to work with the smaller artists.
Hope they can quickly sell the smoke and mirrors for a return for investors.
Maybe AOL will buy them? lol….
imdb for music (midb) is more like the biz at variety.com though for music/recording industry specifically.
I’m wondering how AWAL didn’t sue yet..
It’s hard to imagine that they didn’t know of AWAL (Artists Without A Label) as awal.com is based in the UK after being founded in the US. I’m sure Mr. Bentley (with his music industry background) would be aware of awal.com as they have been around for years, received a fair amount of press and helped launch the Arctic Monkeys. With AWAL already having sold millions of downloads from independent acts I guess the business model has been shown to work – so why not steal it. Shame on them. I’m sure they know better. It’s amazing they thought they could get away with it.
anon…. why so bitter?
I agree…. by the way Mitch, awal is the site indie artists have to go through to sell on itunes, so that’s how they’ve sold millions.
There’s plenty of room out there for good sites, I think the point of this and other sites is to benefit artists, so why diss something that is trying to help the arts community….. shame on you!
I don’t know. I think that no one really knows where online music is going. From LastFM to Pandora to pick a site, it’s still evolving. It’s like…Radio in the 20’s and 30’s. I think that they’re pretty ballsy in attempting to try something new, and regardless…it’s about damn time that someone did something, not only for the unknown artists, but something that was ACTUALLY beneficial to artists (that revenue split seems extremely artist friendly in an world that usually rips artists off).
Not only that…but it’s so hard to find music on myspace these days, and of my friends that still use it, myspace disabled all the features that were useful (like being able to search friends after you have 5,000). The only thing MySpace is good for music wise is throwing the artists they want to throw in your face. I think myAWOL will bring something new to discovery, and maybe they’ll even bring the industry with their “imdb for the music industry.” If you can mix a site that combines a place for industry folk to hang out with a place for unsigned artists, you’ve got magic. Isn’t that what all unsigned bands want anyway?
Anyway…I think the logo is hard to stomach ’cause it’s something different. It’s not very conventional, but maybe that will give them an edge over sites like LastFM and others that are incredibly not user friendly. I remember when I first singed up for MySpace in like 2003 or 4, and I hated the interface. It sucked. The design sucked. But they were doing something different, and now it’s the standard.
I think whenever you try to do something incredibly different and you try to change the mindset of people, you’re going to get a lot of haters. If no one questions the business model, then how do things change?
Definitely something to keep your eyes on, though, methinks….
Jane – I don’t have any problem with MyAWOL helping artists – more should be doing it. What the problem is that this new company so directly rips the name of another service while doing it. I would not be surprised if they have to change it. Negating all the press and word of mouth they have built up to date. Not a good place for a start-up to be. It make me question their management. You would not call a new search engine “MyGogle” and not expect to catch some flack for it. I bring up the fact that AWAL has sold millions to point out the fact that MyAWOL should have been aware that there was another site out there for years using the “Artists Without (A) Label” tag-line and pitching a similar service. It’s great that there are more companies playing in the space. AWAL and (it looks like) MyAWOL are a bit more selective than (say) CD Baby or others and actually do some A&R to find their acts. Great. Again – they should just find a unique brand so that we can all discuss the merit of the service and not the fact that they seem to be in possible violation of trademark – it makes them look a little “shady” and I think the music business has had too much of that in it’s past. I think their model and their A&R service are things the industry needs – just be original and don’t appear to be swiping another brand.
AWOL has always meant something… Abscent With Out Leave… sort of indie, loner, doing your own thing…. this is a great name for an Indie record company… The Guy’s over at AWAL must be kind of stupid to get the acronym wrong!
Good luck to the myAWOL team, looks like they get it!!
While no where knows where music is going, one thing is clear: most of the people making music today are DIY/Unsigned/Indie. There have to be better mechanisms so that DIY artists can cultivate a fanbase and engage new fans. It’s a lot easier if you have a name people know, but if you’re starting from nothing, it’s tought. Maybe AWOL will be able to do this, maybe not. Time will tell.
But, it’s good to see companies like AWOL pop up, as they are for the unsigned/DIY artists who make up most of the industry. One thing I am not seeing here is a good way that AWOL will help artist profit from their works. Hopefully, they won’t drop the ball on this. Either way, seems like music companies are getting funded more and more now (topsin!), so its a good time for music!
Viva!
I think I will be engaging at myAWOL one of these days. I really wanted my songs be heard all over the world. I’m going to take this opportunity no matter what. I love music and myAWOL too!
We’ve got good friends whose band has been selected for the myawol.com launch. The band is talented, and the best thing is…they’re all just really good guys. We love them and want the best for them, so we’re all very excited to see how this thing develops for them.
A major concern: Myawol is saying that they are going to model themselves unlike anything in the industry. But when the execs are formerly execs from the standard record industry, it’s hard to see how they can avoid doing things the same old ways. Even though they’ve got good intentions going in…we wonder if they can really bust out of all those years of intense on-the-job training in “How to Run a Record Industry.”
Is it possible to teach an old dog new tricks? Particularly with regard to treatment/payment of the artists.
Will Myawol really give the artist a fair deal…and not just xx% of NET earnings AFTER paying for all the shiny new websites, videos, AND after all of the Myawol exec and employee salaries have been paid First?
Usually, that nets the artist exactly xx% of NOTHING. Worse, sometimes the artist is left owing the company (for recoupment) and the feds (for taxes)!
Anyway, misgivings aside, we’ll be the first to admit it: So far…So good. At this stage, Myawol appears to be the real deal.
They’ve been telling the guys what will happen and have been doing their level best to make things work according to their promises. The first sort of “pre-debut” gig ran into some quite serious obstacles but the Myawol team jumped in and are working to set things straight. It’s not going to be the evening we expected (not exactly the A location we were looking for) but everyone is stoked and we all think it’s going to be great!
Any new business venture has it’s share of crazy, idealistic optimists and dour, fatalistic pessimists. Reality usually winds up somewhere in the middle. We’re excited for the future and send lots of love and good vibes to the Myawol team…and to our guys in the band.
Good luck and warmest regards to all of you!
The indie artist is left out, Myspace got in Bed with the majors so they can get the content. The Indie artist needs to do things themselves and sell and promote there music independently with all the opportunities out there. And this is not only for artist but also for producers and beatmakers. Producers are selling there beats on sites like http://www.beatslocker.com and any artist can now get quality beats for a reasonable price, that before they could not as the Major labels owned them.
Myspace had a great thing going but they sold out long ago, letting plays get inflated, kissing up to the majors and throwing the indie artist to the side, even though Indies made myspace
to avoid confusion with myAOL, the site will now launch under the name LP33.tv .
See http://helloblog.lp33.tv/?p=51 for more details.