Guest Post: TopSpin Media NYC Meetup by Chris Schlarb
There are very few companies who not only seem to be surviving the current music industry depression, but also seem to be thriving. One of those companies is TopSpin Media who has foreseen the impending doom of music sales and empowered many artists to DIY.
Topspin allows artists to sell their music direct to fans by creating widgets that are seamlessly integrated into web sites, social media pages, and blogs. They allow users to sell their content, stream, or offer promotional (free) downloads in exchange for email addresses or a fan page “like” on Facebook. They can even sell concert tickets, bundle physical and digital packages together, and pretty much any other customized offer you can think of, all for less of a percentage than iTunes takes.
This past Tuesday was a who’s who of independent music industry professionals getting together to do what they do best, drink in a bar and talk about the music industry. The TopSpin meetup was held at Idle Hands in the East Village, which was a perfect little watering hole for such an occasion. Boasting the largest selection of Bourbon’s North of the Mason Dixon Line, and a bar tender who swears he is not Kenny Powers. This former live music venue played host to music professionals currently working with or interested in utilizing Topspin’s well organized solution for direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales. The platform has simplified a problem that some of the largest music companies can’t seem to figure out. Without confusing rhetoric or endless miles of red tape, Topspin has created a dashboard that is versatile as it is easy to use.
Veterans like Tommy Silverman (Tommy Boy Records), who has been promoting Topspin at his New Music Seminar, were in the crowd along with reps from Billboard, Mick Management, The Orchard, NUE Agency, Putumayo, DubShot, and many more. Although there is a college course at Berklee School of Music dedicated to running and optimizing the Topspin API, representatives of the company like Rian Rochford make the learning process enjoyable and very easy. This meetup was more of a victory lap than attempting to recruit new business.
Aside from being a fellow board member of SoundCtrl, Chris Schlarb is the founder of Dubshot Records, a label specializing in authentic Jamaican diaspora music.
