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1. sandbox MUSIC MARKETING FOR THE DIGITAL ERA SEPTEMBER 10 2014
06 Tools PledgeMusic
07-08 Campaigns Etienne de Crécy, Paloma Faith,
Transgressive Records, Rolling Stones
09-12 Behind The Campaign Sinfini Music
ISSUE 116
CLOUDBUSTING
what monEtising SoundCloud and Mixcloud
will mean for music marketing

2. COVERFEATURE
2 | sandbox | Issue 116 | 10.09.14
S oundCloud has always occupied its
own rather individual space in the
digital imagination: it’s a streaming
service but for individual tracks and
mixes, rather than albums; it’s a
promotional tool for labels but
has something of the anarchic feel of
social media.
Until recently, though, the biggest
difference with SoundCloud was that it
didn’t pay out to rightsholders, something
that got some parts of the music industry
rather hot under the collar.
All that changed at the end of
August when SoundCloud launched
On SoundCloud, a creator/partner
programme allowing musicians to make
money from third-party advertising on
the platform.
The initiative built on the launch
of SoundCloud Pro and Pro Unlimited
accounts last year, effectively adding the
new tier of Premier Partner to the mix,
as SoundCloud chief business officer Jeff
Toig explains.
“On SoundCloud, our new partner
programme for creators, has three tiers
of service – Partner, Pro and Premier,” he
says. “Entry to the free Partner level gives
partners three hours of free upload time
per account, basic features and stats.
Pro Partners get more upload time per
CLOUDBUSTING
what monEtising SoundCloud and Mixcloud
will mean for music marke ting
Both SoundCloud and Mixcloud have focused heavily
on giving underground musicians and DJs a way to build
their audience and they are now both making significant changes
to their business models that could have enormous repercussions
for how they are used. As SoundCloud in particular has been criticised
for building its model around copyrights but not paying creators,
it is now addressing this – but the grassroots acts and fans who
took it this far could be driven away if it just becomes dominated
by major acts or a brash push towards revenue generation
that compromises the user experience. It is a high wire act and
one that will change (for good or for bad) how it is used in marketing

3. account, plus expanded features
and stats.”
He adds, “Premier Partners have
the opportunity to make money on
the platform [by having adverts placed
alongside their content]. Access is by
invitation only for now and we’ll be rolling
it out to more creators over time.”
As it launched On SoundCloud , the
company also revealed that it had signed
licensing deals with a small number
of music industry partners, including
publishers Sony/ATV and BMG as well as
distributors INgrooves and Seed, who will
henceforth earn money from SoundCloud.
Eventually, the company said it plans to
introduce a paid subscription service that
will let users skip ads too, with revenue
again shared with its partners
This wasn’t quite the full monetisation
and licensing plan that some in the music
industry were expecting, but it does mean
artists will have two opportunities to
make money from SoundCloud – either
signing up as Premier Partners (contracts
permitting) or via their existing deals with
SoundCloud’s music industry partners.
What’s more, as the company’s co-founder
and CTO Eric Wahlforss told
music:)ally in June, more commercial
plans are afoot. “Right now in the US
we’re experimenting with different
monetisation approaches,” he revealed.
“We’re testing out different things:
throwing a couple of things out there and
testing the waters a bit.”
This is almost certainly good news
for the music industry. But the question
remains as to whether it will change
how people use SoundCloud, which
has become one of the key marketing
platforms for the digital music industry.
And if it will, how will it?
The big unknown, for the
moment, is money. SoundCloud
may be about to start paying
rightsholders, but no one is
saying how much. And this could
theoretically have a big impact on
what happens to the service: if the rate
SoundCloud pays is significantly higher
than all other streaming services then
the site could soon be home to lots
of major label catalogues, exclusives
COVERFEATURE
3 | sandbox | Issue 116 | 10.09.14
and pre-releases as labels spy the
opportunity to make some serious cash.
Given the current difficulties in making
money from streaming music, this is
an unlikely scenario. But the fact that
SoundCloud is set to pay royalties will
almost certainly mean the resistance
some bigger labels/artists have shown
towards the platform will start to
evaporate. And if the majors get an
equity stake in SoundCloud – as it is
understood they will – this could give
them greater leverage over the platform.
That, in turn, will greatly increase
the number of tracks on SoundCloud,
according to Toig. “As labels and
artists understand that they can
make money with us, we expect
that they’ll want to add more
content to the platform,” he says.
This is a positive for SoundCloud, with
more content likely driving more users.
The possible flip side, however, is
that more major label content
could change the way the public
see SoundCloud, as underground
dance labels are joined on the
platform by major recording
companies and big pop stars.
Toig is confident that
SoundCloud won’t get
swamped by major label
acts, citing the broad
range of partners the
service already has.
“SoundCloud is for
everyone – not just the
majors,” he argues.
He goes on to explain
that On SoundCloud
launched “with a
broad array of creators

4. from across the platform, including
labels, independent artists, publishers,
podcasters, comedy networks and MCNs”.
“We’re an open platform,” he says.
“The breadth of content on SoundCloud
is as real-time and broad as human
creativity itself – from bedroom artists
uploading their first tracks to established
artists planning their worldwide release.”
Such openness is admirable and
SoundCloud has long stressed that it is
a home for “sounds” rather than simply
music. As such, an increase in non-music
content as a result of SoundCloud’s
monetisation plans would surely be
welcome for the company (and it’s worth
noting that comedy site Funny Or Die is
among SoundCloud’s first commercial
partners). Again, though, the caveat
is that music losing its monopoly on
SoundCloud could possibly have a
knock-on effect on the site’s devoted
music users.
The other big unknown is how the
SoundCloud community – the company
is said to have 250m users – will react
COVERFEATURE
SOUNDCLOUD STATS SUPPLY
4 | sandbox | Issue 116 | 10.09.14
SOUNDCLOUD PROMOTIONAL ISSUES
Even before users were
able to make money from
SoundCloud, many labels and
artists were already using it
as a promotional platform.
The company’s chief business
officer Jeff Toig talked us
through three recent examples
of promotional activity on
SoundCloud.
Beyoncé launched her ‘End
Of Time’ remix contest on
SoundCloud, where fans could
remix the track for the chance
to win $4,000, and to have
their creation included on an
upcoming Beyoncé release. The
contest ran for one month, and
saw over 3,000 tracks submitted.
The winner, Jimek, received a
congratulatory Skype call from
Beyoncé herself and became a
notable DJ in Poland.
Skrillex called
out a few artists
on SoundCloud
that he was
listening to
during a
Reddit AMA.
In a follow-up
interview, one
of the artists
who was called
out (TrollPhace)
said, “I received
a fl ood of new
fans and plays
across the
board. The first
24 hours I got
100,000 plays
on my SoundCloud alone. Mind-boggling,
really.” This is a great
example of a high-profile artist
using SoundCloud to discover
and support an emerging artist.
Diplo Approved
[In April, tastemaker DJ and
producer Diplo launched a
SoundCloud account, Diplo
Approved , “that has all the
best music in the world that
isn’t mine”.]
Setting up a separate
profile for curating sounds
across the platform can be a
smart way to keep your own
content highlighted separately
and give you more freedom
as an artist to share the
creativity on SoundCloud that
inspires you.
One way in which SoundCloud
use will almost certainly change
is in the statistics it offers
users.
Again, SoundCloud is
not saying exactly what
stats its different user tiers
will be able to access,
but the launch of its Pro and
Pro Unlimited tiers allowed
users to see counts, likes,
reposts, downloads and
comments on a city-by-
city basis (which
can obviously help in
planning tours).

5. to advertising. For the moment, no one
knows. But the nightmare scenario
for the company is that users instead
will leave the platform for one of its
streaming rivals rather than shell out to
skip ads.
SoundCloud is not the only music
streaming platform to make moves into
monetisation of late: Mixcloud, a platform
aimed at DJs and online radio, launched
its own Pro and Premium accounts in
August. The former is aimed at uploaders,
giving them a “sophisticated analytics
dashboard”, while the latter is for listeners,
allowing them to enjoy music ad-free.
music:)ally spoke to the company’s
co-founder Nico Perez about what the
moves will mean.
How have artists and labels been using
Mixcloud as a promotional platform so far?
Mixcloud is built primarily for DJs, radio
presenters and curators. There is some overlap
between artists and DJs, e.g. Moby and Zero
7, and also labels and curators, e.g. Domino
Records and Hospital Records .
Do you think the launch of Premium and
Pro will change the way labels and artists
use Mixcloud? If so, how?
Premium is an offering for listeners and the
main feature is an ad-free experience. Pro
is built for those uploading and we’re really
excited about the new analytics dashboard,
ability to schedule uploads and a few secret
features we’re working on now.
Will the analytics dashboard radically
change things for Pro users?
For DJs and radio presenters, the new analytics
dashboard will let them see where in a
show or a mix listeners are dropping off. This
is a really powerful way to understand your
audience better.
They’ll also be able to see the geographical
location of their listeners, what websites they’re
coming from and if they’re on a phone, laptop
or tablet.
Do you think listeners will start leaving
Mixcloud if it’s getting “commercialised”.
And how will acts respond if so?
We’ve had advertising on Mixcloud since
day one, and we’ve always strived to keep
a balance between content and ads. From
speaking with our users, I think we’ve done a
fairly good job of getting that balance right.
Will people who were not so serious about
Mixcloud now put it up their priority list?
Since we launched our redesigned site earlier
this year, we’ve seen a lot more people sign
up and adopt the platform. With the launch
of these new Pro and Premium accounts,
we’re taking one step closer to our goal of
rethinking radio for the digital generation. Our
focus is firmly on building tools and services for
curators, and an excellent listening experience
for everyone to discover new music and audio.
MOVES TOWARDS MONETISATION
COVERFEATURE
5 | sandbox | Issue 116 | 10.09.14
Toig, as you might expect, says this is
unlikely, stressing that there will only be
“occasional advertising” introduced to the
platform. What’s more, he believes that
SoundCloud users will understand the
financial reality of advertising.
“We believe our highly social, millennial
community understands that there
should be a way for creators to get paid
for their art,” he says.
“Every time users see or hear an ad,
artists get paid. For people who
would prefer not to hear
occasional advertising,
we’re also developing a consumer
subscription offering.
“We’ll share news on that in the
months to come.” :)

6. TOOLS PLEDGEMUSIC
6 | sandbox | Issue 116 | 10.09.14
became its fastest-selling catalogue project
to date. Major acts using the platform for
their new albums include Interpol and
Weezer, while Pledge also worked with Mute
Records on the new Erasure album, The
Violet Flame.
An interesting digital gimmick the site
has set up is that pledgers can have updates
from the band automatically pushed out and
posted on the fan’s personal social media.
sandbox was somewhat surprised that a user
would allow this as automatic social posting
is normally seen as an irritant, but Rogers
explained that these are super-fans and so
do not act like the average user.
But if this is a D2C platform, why not just
sell directly through an artist profile? The
answer here is the community. Rogers also
explains that artists can still do this once
the album is out and that all data (email
addresses etc.) belongs to the artist. The
pages can also allow for retargeting. With
the launch of the BandPage connection, the
products can also be pulled through to an
artist’s Spotify profile.
The main danger in doing these
campaigns is letting down your fans. When
creating the campaigns, artists are often
quick to think of great (often unusual) ideas
to promise to their fans. The problem is
that in the run up to the album release,
deadlines often become very tight and an
over-promised Pledge campaign can be
time-consuming and logistically demanding.
Disappointing a super-fan can be a very
costly mistake so Pledge campaigns should
be properly planned throughout. :)
As PledgeMusic turns five, we catch up with
Benji Rogers, the service’s founder and
president, to talk about its progress and how
it has evolved.
Pledge Music is often tagged as a
crowdfunding platform (the “Kickstarter of
music”), but the company continues to push
to be defined more as a D2C platform – one
that involves fans from the early stages and
emphasises on making those fans part of
the record/project. Rogers’ take is that there
is a strong group of super-fans who want
more content and are willing to pay for it –
but artists and labels, for the most part, are
not giving it to them.
Pledge is also different to Kickstarter in
the way it sets up projects. Goals of projects
can be set up as a total sum, number of
album sales, hidden financial targets (where
only the % of completion is shown) or even a
simple pre-sale with no goal.
The Pledge team will work with the
artist, manager and label to understand
which is the right approach. They tend to
advise staying away from emphasising the
monetary sum and move more into making
fans part of the journey – so hidden targets
are common. For projects with a goal, Pledge
can boast 88% of them either reaching their
target or exceeding it.
The first interesting development for
the platform is around the community it
has created. In the past it was the artist
who brought the traffic to the sites and
the projects. Now up to 40% of the fans
supporting projects are Pledge super-users.
This powerful
community dynamic is
also what keeps services
like Bandcamp and
Kickstarter growing.
There are 750k
monthly active users
on the platform and
they are supporting
60-80 albums being
released a month.
The demographics of
this community are
dominated by two
markets – the US (43%)
and the UK (21%) – and
there is a heavy skew towards male pledgers
(70%). The age group is spread as follows: 20%
are aged 18-24; 30% are aged 25-34; and 22%
are aged 35-44.
The stand out fact is that these pledgers
pay on average $61 per transaction. What
are they paying for? First, it is access to the
album in all aspects: name, artwork, digital
copies, signed physical copies, test pressings
and so on (83% of purchases are physical).
But also experiential packages such as meet
& greets, invites to the studio, fan-only gigs,
private shows at your house or more esoteric
things like the opportunity to catch an artist
swinging at a baseball.
The recommendation is to create about
10-15 products with a range across digital,
physical and experiential. Products should be
priced competitively. Fans need to feel like
they are getting a good value deal otherwise
they may not support you in the future.
Which leads us onto: how many times
can you do this? If all products are fulfilled,
technically you can start immediately.
Take, for example, Ginger Wildheart who
managed three campaigns in two years.
But to achieve this, Pledge emphasises that
fans must get more than just what they
pay for: so that means plenty of on-going
communication, behind the scenes on the
making of the project and exclusives to fans
(both before and after the campaign).
A second key development is the shift in
the positioning of Pledge. In the past it may
have been seen as a platform bands could
use as an alternative to labels to fund an
album, whereas now major acts are using
the platform as a way to get fans involved
(read: monetise) from the start.
A recent example was Union Square
Music and ZTT doing a campaign for the
Frankie Goes To Hollywood boxset, which

7. CAMPAIGNS The latest projects from the digital marketing arena
JUST #HASHTAGMYASS PALOMA FAITH COURTS DESIGN TALENT
Need help with an eye-catching song title?
Look no further than French DJ and producer
Etienne de Crécy.
His latest track, ‘#hashtagmyass’
(commenting on social networking and
the language used therein), has got its
own dedicated website (hashtagmyass.
com) that invites users to connect their
Instagram profiles in order to generate a
personalised music video. The video itself
includes users’ photos, based on popularity
and tags, that are projected onto vinyl
before leading into a section that perfectly
suits the song title – but is perhaps not
very PG.
The users can, once the video is created,
share it on various social media platforms,
including YouTube. All of the videos are
collected under a Super Discount 3
channel – the name of de Crécy’s new album.
Collectively the videos can help in generating
7 | sandbox | Issue 116 | 10.09.14
a strong YouTube channel that has a bigger
chance of appearing in search results and
driving attention to the platform. Users who
want to get rid of their video afterwards
need to beware as they themselves cannot
take down videos and must go through a
takedown request process.
Up until the time of writing (9th
September), the number of gathered views
on YouTube is 101,975 – an impressive
total in two weeks for a (relatively) niche
artist. It’s still too early to evaluate the full
results of the campaign, but considering
the continuing flow of uploads occurring,
it’s looking optimistic. sandbox loves this
fresh take on interactive
videos – even if there
are a few too many
backsides appearing
in the video. It’s enough
to put you off your
profiteroles.
Paloma Faith has, together with Sony
Music (her label), launched a design
competition in partnership with
Talenthouse. Designers are asked to
create their own interpretation of the
artwork from Faith’s latest album, A
Perfect Contradiction.
The winner will be chosen by the singer
along with a team of judges and they will
receive prizes including £800, tickets to a
show plus a meet & greet during Faith’s
2015 tour. The winning artwork will be
featured on Paloma Faith’s limited-edition
poster, merchandise, social skins and on
Hunger TV. A community
winner will also be chosen
via social media.
Art community platform
Talenthouse was the
platform that was also
used back in June when
Sandbox reported on Sony
UK and Sony Xperia’s talent
competition, #getrecorddeal.
“Labels and artists are
always looking for new
creative ways to market and
break artists. In an ever-cluttered
market, creative
content that engages
mainstream audience and
tastemakers in the creative
space can help enhance a
campaign,” says Talenhouse
co-founder, Maya Bogle.
Crowdfunding has now become an
essential part of certain artists’ livelihoods,
but crowdsourcing is still in its early
days. Kiss previously teamed up with
crowdsourcing platform Tongal to seek
ideas on how to best celebrate their 40
years in the rock ‘n’ roll business (see
sandbox 106 from April). Tongal was also
used for a Bob Marley campaign that, in
partnership with Ben & Jerry’s, launched
the ‘One Love’ music video project that
asked directors to pitch ideas for a music
video. There are plenty of opportunities for
artists’ to engage and continue to develop
this area in the future.

8. CAMPAIGNS The latest projects from the digital marketing arena
TRANSGRESSIVE RECORDS IS IN A GIVEAWAY MOOD ROLLING STONES – I JUST WANT TO SEE HIS FACEBOOK
The Transgressive label is
marking its first decade
with a month of giveaways.
The label is handing out
previously unreleased and
rare tracks every day for the
whole month of September
via its website .
The tracks will cover both
its present and past roster,
including The Shins, Foals,
Neon Indian and The Antlers.
In order to receive the
download, users have to first
submit their emails.
The campaign enables
people to focus on each
and every track and have a
celebration around that for a
day as opposed to a one-off
review of a compilation.
The campaign is a good
way of collecting label-centric
signups rather than ones for individual
bands and it allows better targeting and
long-term relationships with Transgressive’s
audience. It’s also a good way of continuing
the label’s tastemaker status.
sandbox understands that the response
to the campaign has been off to a good start,
with thousands of signups within the first
week and numerous features and articles
by the blogging community resulting in
a top listing on Hype Machine. sandbox
reported on a similar move made by Steve
8 | sandbox | Issue 116 | 10.09.14
Angello’s label, Size Records, back in March.
Drip-feeding exclusives does provide a
good opportunity to generate hype around
a release as well as building a continuing
email database from an audience that has
clearly shown interest in the label – but
there’s also a challenge in continuing to keep
that interest throughout a longer campaign.
The giveaway month will lead up to
Transgressive’s big birthday bash show that
will be held at the Barbican Centre in London
on 30th September.
The Rolling Stones have teamed up with
e-commerce firm Screenburn to give their
fans access to streams of a number of their
films on Facebook .
The band are making six films available
for users to rent for 48 hours and titles
include the filming of their show in London’s
Hyde Park last year (Sweet Summer Sun),
Stones In Exile and their 50th anniversary
documentary, Crossfire Hurricane.
The films are all collected under the
Screenburn tab that can be found on
the band’s Facebook profile page, with
each title going for £3.49. Screenburn
is a video platform that enables direct
sales and rentals on Facebook as well
as being adapted for mobile and tablets.
The company has previously had similar
partnerships with Katy Perry, Paul
McCartney and The Libertines.
Film rentals are certainly one way of
offering fans a little something extra while
still opening up a gap for those fans who
don’t want to own the films – as well as
offering them content via the platforms they
spend most time on.
Music download and streaming services
have also tested the waters in this area, with
Google Play Music releasing an exclusive
Clash documentary series last year as well
as Spotify’s ongoing Landmark series. The
streaming services definitely have an edge
and potential to further explore this area in
the future.
The band’s socials remind sandbox that
it really isn’t difficult to keep artist profiles
relevant and fresh. Perhaps this could be
something for other (younger) artists to draw
inspiration from.

9. BEHIND THE CAMPAIGN SINFINI MUSIC

10. BEHIND THE CAMPAIGNSINFINI MUSIC
Defining the role of Sinfini
Sinfini is really about creating an editorially
independent and credible digital platform
for classical music. We are about being
content creators and using that content
and marketing to effectively broaden the
market for classical music as a whole and
also to start the broader transition from the
Behind The Campaign normally zooms in on an artist campaign, but in a slight break
with tradition we look here at Sinfini Music, the classical music platform developed by
Universal Music in the UK and which has now launched in Australia. The service is label
agnostic as it looks to push classical music as a whole to a broader audience, creating
bespoke guides and video content to help it achieve that goal (tagline: “Cutting through
classical”). We talk to Mark Lewis, marketing and insight manager at Sinfini/Universal,
about the international roll out, how online comic strips are being used to broaden the
audience and why classical is still struggling to slot neatly into digital services.
10 | sandbox | Issue 116 | 10.09.14
physical space to the digital space for the
classical audience. The site is designed out
of those ambitions.
Its blog origins
It all started as a blog and it was important
to have a presence online. While the site
was being designed and built for launch, we

11. had already started creating content. The
blog was a way of starting to develop the
brand in a small way and make a name of
Sinfini Music – and also so that, when the
site launched, we already had an existing set
of articles and features. It was a nice way to
start to develop a name for ourselves.
The site, when it launched, represented
a major step on from the blog, which was
more just text articles with films. When the
site launched, we had the whole range of
Sinfini experiences to play with.
We have proper navigation, indexing
and tagging so we could create the
backbone of the site with our biographies,
profiles and playlists.
We deliberately soft launched the site in
November 2012 and we didn’t make much of
a splash about it until April of the following
year when we had a more public launch.
We produced a couple of live Sinfini
sessions in our High Street Kensington
[London] office with Avi Avital , the
mandolin player, and Martynas , the
accordion player, to show our readers online
the types of artists we feel really represent
what we do.
Creating the Sinfini Store
The Sinfini “Store” tab was launched at the
11 | sandbox | Issue 116 | 10.09.14
end of last year. That
is as much about it
being a discovery and
curation engine, with
the vast majority
of products being
fulfilled by Amazon
and iTunes. That’s
the same for local
markets as they
roll out, such as in
Australia. We work on
an affiliate retailer basis here.
Making classical work properly online and
the need to refine search
There is definitely an issue [for classical] in
regards to metadata and it is something
that lots of people are trying to resolve.
There are so many different ways that
people think about classical music and
respond to it so finding the best way for
searches to work online can be tricky.
There are factors like the composer, which
symphony orchestra is playing, who is
conducting, which soloists are performing;
these are all pieces of information that
consumers at all levels of knowledge will
search on. Metadata has always been
an issue with bringing classical
online. Shifting people online is harder
because of that. What Sinfini is trying
to tackle is in regards to the volume of
catalogue in classical. It is vast. Say you
have heard Wagner’s ‘Ride Of The Valkyries’
while watching Apocalypse Now, if you type
in “Ride Of The Valkyries” in Amazon you’ll
get thousands of search results. The big
decision is around which one you buy and
which one you listen to.
On Sinfini we have a store on the site
that is, in its essence, a useful search engine
in terms of filters. On Sinfini, instead of being
presented with 20,000 responses you’ll get
presented with 10. Because you know and
trust our brand, you will know that those
10 will be the ones you want to purchase or
listen to.
There is a core set of classical consumers
who will be instantly able to tell if you
stream a recording of Beethoven’s Fifth
Symphony conduced by Herbert von Karajan
as opposed to one conducted by Vladimir
Ashkenazy. There will be a core set of
consumers who will be able to navigate
those options to find the one they want.
There is a big market out there – which is
a core market for Sinfini – who just want
to consume and discover classical music,
but they need a guide. They need someone
to tell them why this particular conductor
might be more
relevant to them than someone else. Or
they might just want to know which one will
sound best and that they’ll like and are not
interested in the conductor at the initial point
of discovery.
What the Sinfini store tries to do is
replicate the idea of your local high street
retailer, staffed with people you can trust
and who can tell you which is the best
recording to buy for whatever reason you
want to buy.
Listening is a big part of the experience
on Sinfini. We have over 700 playlists from
Spotify embedded in Sinfini. They are all
designed to offer you a journey through
music. We have specially commissioned
biographies on all the major composers.
Each composer will have a playlist that has
been designed to offer the user the best way
to experience their works.
The vast majority of the products on offer
in our store are fulfilled by Amazon or iTunes,
but each piece will have a link to Spotify so
people can listen to the full piece.
Involvement with the Edinburgh
International Festival
Sinfini was the digital media partner for
the Edinburgh International Festival this
year. We produced lots of content for their
BEHIND THE CAMPAIGNSINFINI MUSIC

12. BEHIND THE CAMPAIGNSINFINI MUSIC
website and for our website over
the course of the festival. We
sponsored a concert there as
well this August.
The partnership came out of
an initial contact from Edinburgh
International Festival itself. They
were looking for a digital content
partner to help to build the
stickiness of their new website
they were developing at the time.
Content marketing is a trend at the
moment for organisations and
they [Edinburgh International
Festival] recognised our unique
approach to classical music and
the way we communicated about
it. They wanted to have a part of
our world on their website but
also recognised that we are still
a growing brand so the power of
their brand internationally would
be attractive to us.
As part of the deal, we have
not only written articles about the
festival that sit on Sinfini Music, we
have also created something called
Opera Strip which takes the plots of major
operas and digests them into comic strips.
They are drawn by an illustrator [William Elliott]
who doesn’t have a background in classical
music at all, so it is a quite new and different
take on opera. The interesting departure for
Sinfini is that we have used our resources to
produce 55 podcasts that sit on Edinburgh’s
website. There is a podcast per event at their
festival that are co-produced by us with our
tone and featuring journalists that we respect.
Sinfini Australia and further
international expansion
Australia is our first local territory release.
12 | sandbox | Issue 116 | 10.09.14
Want to feature in
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Marketing people: do you have a campaign you are
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Organically the site
has developed a
very international
userbase. We have
about 30% of our
users from North
America, which
roughly matches the
number from the
UK. There is a big
market for classical
music that is
already finding
its way to
Sinfini. But our
local launches
are producing
content that
is packaged
more ideally
for consumers
in other
territories.
A number
of other
companies
have chosen Australia as their second
launch platform [e.g. Pandora and Beats]
and we are doing so. There is an active
market out there and it makes sense for us
to use that as the test bed for how Sinfini
will work when it is rolled out across various
different territories.
There will be [other international
launches this year] but we can’t say which
ones just yet. Over the next year there will
be other – possibly non-English language –
versions of the site as well.
Targeting the audience better
We concentrate on making sure we are
there when people are searching for
classical music online. We make sure we
target those people as best we can using all
the online marketing tools you would expect
– paid search, display and so forth. There are
different scales of audience for Sinfini. We
have our core audience who are important
to us and that is really the classical core
audience. But we want to reach beyond that.
Partnerships are a way of doing that
for us, so it’s about brand awareness and
working with organisations to reach their
audiences who might be engaged with
culture as well as music. The Edinburgh
partnership is an example of that where
we created content for their website and
made use of their marketing channels to
communicate about Sinfini to a wider Scottish
and international audience in that context.
Research and understanding the
classical audience better
[Audience research] was something we
developed out of an increased desire to
understand more about how, globally,
consumers are interacting with classical
music today – especially with the growth
of streaming as well as the importance of
digital retailers like Amazon and iTunes.
From a marketing perspective, we have a
need to better understand how people are
consuming classical so that we can make
things like Sinfini a bit more consumer-focused;
and for the industry as a whole it is
really useful for everyone to understand that.
The site has a 10-minute survey that
takes a snapshot of global attitudes to
streaming, how people discover classical
music, what is more important and less
important for them and how that relates
to their live attendance. By the end of the
process we will hopefully be able to start
looking at what streaming services people
are using to listen to classical, if there
are any patterns we can see globally,
if there are any differences between
different countries and so on. Sweden
we already know is a very digitally
engaged market generally for music.
We are working with partners like the
BPI in the UK and ARIA in Australia to
try and get a global picture. Hopefully
we will be able to compare different
countries and patterns.
Next steps
We are working on a project to create
resources for music teachers in the UK
– and hopefully internationally – to take
Sinfini’s approach to classical music and
making resources that will help music
teachers at secondary schools to bring
that approach to their students. :)

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13 | sandbox | Issue 116 | 10.09.14
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