Regular readers and friends might recall I had concerns about the initial incarnation of Topspin (www.topspinmedia.com). Basically I felt it wasn’t a good value for the cost, and it seemed very much aimed at sticking a cool hand in the pocket of most major label bands, and ignoring indies entirely. Back then ReverbNation did more or less the same things cheaper (if a bit uglier, and functionally less slick). Or you could cobble together a solution with bits and pieces from all over – not fun, but certainly affordable (even free). How times have changed!
Today Topspin is much more indie friendly. It’s pricing model is not far off from Bandcamp (15% cut of all commerce), but it does more. That said, like CD Baby, their model includes monthly membership fees on top of that share of sales. There are also bank/credit-card fees attached to each sale, in line with Paypal charges (moderate, but not cheapest). This is where it gets a little tricky: If you’re in a working band, playing at least 6-8 nights a month, Topspin would probably be a good solution. If you’re playing less, you can’t engage enough fans to make cover the monthly fees, and will quickly resent the 15% hit on each sale. The order fulfillment (shipping physical goods directly) is a great service to provide, but unless you’re selling tons of product, the monthly stocking fees will eat you up in a hurry (it’s priced by the stored pallet, to give you an indication of scale).
The key benefit of Topspin is that it tightly ties commerce to communication. You don’t just collect emails to pimp shows – you use them to engage fans. Same is true of social networks… Topspin provides a great way to embed widgets and engage fans across all media. It’s as easy to share music with press for free downloads (best way to get real sales, believe it or not), as it is to post to Facebook and other social media. In short, Topspin repackages your music to slide more easily through the tubes that are the internet, and accept money from every willing fan.
This is exciting enough that even ANP is considering a label account with Topspin! While it does nothing new and costs more than our current solutions, it’s also better. You get what you pay for. While we’re not exactly a record label (we’re a music licensing and services company – which means we can put out and make records, but our hand is never in your pocket post-release), we work with enough artists who are busy enough to afford a better tool that makes their band more efficient. If that sounds like you, give us a call – maybe we can hook you up!