Brand Asset Digital, the company that offers brands the ability to market their products via P2P search terms similar to Google’s AdWords service, came out with a new product this week called P2P Pulse.
In a nutshell, P2PPulse allows labels and artists to track how fans are downloading their music from P2P networks. The metrics include where and when their music is downloaded, how often a file is played, and how it is shared with others.
Joey Patuleia, the company’s co-founder, says it’s aimed to help the music industry better market music based on where the interest is. He spent a few minutes with Billboard.biz explaining the product and its intent.
So what’s the advantage of P2PPulse?
On radio, you’re going to pay [someone] to promote your record. That’s like a hit or miss business. And even if you get those spins, you’re getting SoundScan or BDS spin reports, which are very general. With the P2P data, for a fraction of the cost people pay for radio promo, you’re getting a specific download geographic number and other data around who this person is, where they are on the network, and what else they might be into and downloading.
Why P2P?
People are looking for consumption metrics. Who is my fan? And when you look at the music industry, the only metrics there are, are how many spins you get. That’s crazy.
But labels are collecting all sorts of data on how their music is sold and streamed online. They can collect that internally through their licensing deals with those other outlets. It’s not like they’re not able to collect consumption data.
Sure. But at the same time, even the metrics on the Web side, they’re not really telling you much outside of the general surfing and engagement on social networks. The fact of the matter is that people are discovering this music on these social nets or on the radio, and they’re going right to P2P and downloading it. So at the end of the day, that’s the biggest black hole. To never have had metrics around what those people are doing or be able to compare who’s downloading what.
Can you talk about any artists using this new service?
We’re about to start two campaigns with two independent artists that are looking to do tours in the summer, and they’re putting out their singles on radio and on P2P to see where the popularity is. They’re going to use the data to tell their booking agent where to focus the tour. We have done this for a few major label artists, but I can’t say who yet.
Can you give me an idea of how many artists?
We’ve had probably a dozen already try it, and about two dozen doing something with it in May, ranging from majors, indies and unsigned. Most are indies.
Do you think the sensitivity of using P2P data will affect how the major labels will want to use this service?
You’re going to get different takes from different people based on what business affairs tell people. But the fact of the matter is, the data is too valuable. At the end of the day, if that’s the biggest black hole in the music industry they can’t fill, and if they don’t know what’s going on in [P2P networks], how the hell are they going to figure out how to deal with it going forward or market against it or target the rest of their promotional dollars and make money with it?
I can tell you that one of the artists is Papoose, being a Violator act and everything, and Papoose is very popular online. To be able to know that Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, California and whatever is definitely here he needs to be on a college tour because we can see that the major universities in these areas are where he’s hot right now… that’s never happened before.
How are you associated with Brand Asset Group, the joint venture between Warner Music Group and Chris Lighty’s Violator?
Chris is a partner of ours and a partner of mine. Our offices in New York are inside that of Brand Asset Group and Violator. Warner is obviously the JV partner with Violator and Brand Asset Group, but they’re just another affiliate we work with on certain campaigns. Brand Asset Group is really our marquee partnership.
