We are humbled by your faith in us, and we do indeed subscribe to the same ideals held by Monster Loop. Let me give some thought to your suggestions about the Band Equity Score and the chart ranking system.

Thanks for the note about Patrick Phelan, I will make sure he gets your feedback and that it is reflected on his already stellar record of customer service here at RN.

If you are ever planning to be in NC, you MUST drop by our office in Durham so we can meet in person.

All the best,
Jed

Thank you for your incredibly thoughtful message. We’ve come to realize – and we expect that many of our readers who also record music would agree – that Reverbnation is genuinely and tirelessly dedicated to promoting emerging independent artists and – equally important – provides incomporable customer service! (anyone who has interacted with Reverbnation’s extraordinary Patrick Phelan knows what we’re talking about) And we’re not just blowing sunshine…!

Why do we say this? It’s based on our personal experience with a near-tragic musical event (to us) that took place in the 1990s. In the late 1980′s, thanks to some incredibly talented electronic musicians in Chicago, Frankfurt, Brussels, Antwerp, London, Manchester and a few other cities, electronic music exploded in terms of its quality and growth. Record labels took notice and, scrambling to monetize this emerging trend, began signing electronic artists left and right. We don’t blame them. The problem was, the labels’ A&R scouts had, understandably, little knowledge of the genre. They largely lacked the ability to discern the quality electornic music from the … well, the lesser quality. At that time, there was no option to download just 1 track, so you had to buy an entire CD making the purchase a crap shoot. And while potential fans of the genre were being turned off by some unfortunate CD purchases, the Seattle music scene exploded. And, at least in the US, electronic music largely stalled.

The confluence of these and other factors nearly destroyed Electronica (called “Techno” at the time) – at least in the US. In short, Techno had acquired a reputation for low quality. A well deserved reputation in fact. There were, however, very talented artists, but they were drowned out by the sheer volume of artists producing music that showed little signs of quality craftsmanship. The labels then resorted to appealing to the basest of human desires – sex. CD covers featured scantily clad women. The labels must have reasoned, “We don’t know whether the music is any good, but we know what a beautiful woman looks like.” It was a short-sighted approach and, ironically, CD cover art soon became a proxy to identify quality music. The “rule” was – if the cover had a scantily clad woman, the music was bad. Artists developed graphic design skills as a sign to knowing purchasers. This was how Aphex Twin and Rapoon, for example, broke through.

Fast forward to the present. We (Monster Loop) want to now help identify and promote artists who produce quality electronic music. And that’s why we like Reverbnation. We believe that Reverbnation is genuinely attempting to promote quality lesser known acts. Another thing we have in common is that it is Reverbnation’s stated goal to promote all artists. Monster Loop believes that each person (or artist/band) has it within themselves to produce extraordinary and powerfully unique music. We believe there are, at root, only two kinds of music: (1) good and (2) bad. What is good music? Good music is music that is an authentic expression of the artist. What is bad music? Music that is NOT an authentic expression of its creator. Maybe the artists doesn’t know him/herself well, maybe they are being lazy, maybe they are deluded by ego – who knows? But they have it within themselves to be as extraordinary as Pink Floyd – yes, we honestly believe that. Pink Floyd is, in our mind, extraordinary BECAUSE it knows itself and maximized its potential. And kudos to them for doing so – no easy task!!

We will continue to monitor Reverbnation Jed. We believe in Reverbnation and have high hopes. Reverbnation is helping artists be discovered and, in fact, helping artists be more fully themselves by developing technology that provides extraordinary feedback. We encourage you to read, if you haven’t already, our 10 part series on the Reverbnation rankings and our 5 person focus group. One thing that emerges from that small focus group study we believe, is that the Reverbnation rankings methodology – while light years ahead of our rankings services we’ve seen – would be improved if it could somehow incorporate a subjective element. There are some extraordinary artists lower in the Electronica rankings because they don’t perform (and hence have fewer fans) and/or don’t market themselves effectively – instead they stay in their home and record record record. How do we identify those? Is there a way, for example, to have artists anonymously judge a designated number of tracks? We’re still thinking through this. “Stickleback” “Burning in Noise” “Laura Escude” and “Going after Zen” would make interesting studies for you. They aren’t doing poorly in the rankings but, for those with a trained ear in the genre, their music is simply EXTRAORDINARY. Judge for yourself. How do we further promote these artists?

Good luck to you and your company. You have the potential to affect the future of music – in fact, you are shaping it now. This is about more than money, and we believe you get that. It’s about something that transcends profit – the legacy we leave behind. It is an awesome responsibility and we have faith in you.

Sincerely,
Patrick
Attorney (licensed in NC by the way!), Accountant, Engineer, Artist, and Musician in Monster Loop

Furthermore, we are in complete agreement that ‘talking about this’ and its ratio to total likes is a great way to understand an artist’s current “buzz”. We have been so interested in this ratio since facebook made it avaiable that we are considering ways to fold it into our Band Equity calculation in the near future.

Thanks for observing this, and thanks for being such a perceptive social marketer. We must be kindred spirits in some way.

-Jed Carlson
COO, Co-Founder
ReverbNation.com

Thanks!

Let me tell you that i really appreciate what you do promoting artists around the globe.

Awesome, soon I’ll be participating in a music contest at Reverbnation.com called Playlist 7 I hope You can help me by then….
Regards
STEVE BRAVO DJ