

Hipset Launches Artist Discovery Program - schlichtm
http://discovery.hipset.com

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orangethirty
I like how this is a twist on the old music label agent. Where artists would
hound them with demos ande whatnots hoping to get discovered. One interesting
take is the fact that artists are being charged money without much explanation
as to what they will receive. I'm not implying that this is a scam. No sir. My
point is that one should at least have more information available from the
website. Maybe a little FAQ page would help convert those people who may have
any doubt about this.

Now, artists are quite an unique market. They will gladly pay for this type of
service. I'd say you should test charging more, because $20 dollars might come
off as being too cheap. I think $99 is a good number to test. Enough to only
bring in serious prospects and not hinder the aparent quality of your process.

The record labels list would be better served with their logos. Record labels
are powerful brands. Artists dream with having those logos on their
productions.

Though I'm curious about the business model here. I can assume you will take
_n_ amount from the profits of an artist whom you discover. Do you aim to
represent the artist or merely just introduce them to people in the industry?

I hope you are ready to sort green M&Ms. ;)

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schlichtm
FAQ is a great idea.

We're working on an updated design that includes record label logos, it looks
MUCH better.

You are correct on the business model.

Green M&Ms, Yellow M&Ms, as long as they are making great content, whatever
they want ;)

~~~
orangethirty
I would not do the usual bulleted FAQ, by the way. You are dealing with
artists, and for them the presentation is as important as the content. Also,
you should research what makes artists anxious. Address that in your copy. For
example:

(Picture a website with an image of a backstage with some pretty sketchy
looking folks in there).

We know you don't want to be taken for a ride. That is why we work with select
insdustry people. You will be introduced to them. If you feel uncomfortable,
will have the choice to decide against working with them. Our aim is to create
a good team that will propel you towards the top of the charts and not nickel
and dime you over every aspect of your career.

 __* And so on.

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danhodgins
Smart move to charge $20 up front to eliminate the majority of crap -
definitely keep charging (and don't forget to A/B test your pricing).

My hunch is that you'll have to provide more than just another artist's
opinion for the $20.

Consider additional value you could bundle up for the $20, and create a
'killer offer' that you believe in, and that provides excellent value for the
artist. Play with the parameters you bundle into the offer to make it
absolutely irresistible. A/B test the offer of course.

Some ideas for bundling additional value into the $20 price:

1\. Offer to make it a video review, and transcribe it as well. 2\. Publish
both the video and transcript on one (or all) of your web properties with
links to the artist's website and top social media handles. Get the artist who
does the reviews to also link to the artist being reviewed. 3\. Create a
'discovery' directory with listings of each artist who paid the $20 for their
review - I'm curious to find out about these artists myself - even the ones
you don't want to promote - the $20 is an effective filter for both you and I!

Cool idea, and I LOVE to see people taking some risks and innovating the
business model for music.

~~~
schlichtm
Thanks for the feedback - we're looking into how we can make more of a "killer
offer". We've received quite a bit of feedback that videos would be very
desirable.

~~~
danhodgins
I'm all for charging - it's the best way to eliminate the tire kickers. You
obviously have to provide good value for money, and it sounds like you're
getting some great feedback already, so keep up your data-driven feedback loop
and I'm confident you'll end up with something really interesting and
innovative.

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benwerd
My sister is an artist (<https://soundcloud.com/hannahwerdmuller>) and I would
like to front her $20. The website as it stands looks like a lottery, mostly
because of the "if we like it" component. How can I reassure her and get her
to agree to submit her music to you?

~~~
jimbobimbo
Well, being an artist IS a lottery - an occupational hazard, if you will.

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schlichtm
Please post your feedback!

Our goal is to discover talented artists and then help them grow an audience
and monetize it online.

~~~
powrtoch
Talented artist here :-)

I think there's definitely a market for helping artists get discovered,
especially as more and more of them tend to operate online from their bedrooms
instead of going on tour. So kudos for trying to help them along on that
front.

From the other comments here, it looks like the $20 goes to the "feedback",
and not the promotion to labels.

From an artist's point of view, this seems backwards. Personally I can't see
why I would pay $20 just for feedback on a recording. If it's a demo
recording, then there will be lots of things about it that could be improved,
but I will already know this. If it's a professional recording from an album
I've done, then it's sort of too late for feedback on it to do much for me. I
suppose I could take it into consideration going forward, but my ability to
act on this information still seems pretty minimal. So it's not clear why the
"feedback" would be worth my $20, especially since there are lots of free ways
out there to get feedback on your music.

"Submit your music for free, and if we like it we'll contact you about paying
to have it promoted (and maybe give you some feedback)" is a model that would
make more sense from my POV as an artist. That said, I know it's not the
easiest model from your POV, as you'd be inundated with YouTube acoustic
guitar covers.

So my advice would be to work on making it clear why the $20 will be well
spent. I'd be more likely to pay up if I knew how likely I was to be "liked"
by you, how likely I would be to get in touch with record companies if this
were to happen, and exactly what benefit I could get from your feedback if I
wasn't selected. This might something that gets easier once reputational
effects start to play in.

Hope that's helpful!

P.S. My band, in case any one feels the need to investigate my boasting:
<http://doctorsquid.bandcamp.com/track/on-my-way>

~~~
schlichtm
Super helpful! (powrtoch, add me on Facebook, I'd love to chat more >
<http://facebook.com/mattfs>)

Here's what we're thinking:

\- If your music isn't good enough to go viral yet then we can provide you
with feedback on how to improve and reach that point.

\- If your music IS good enough to go viral the we want to promote you, get
you press, get you featured on YouTube, Ustream, etc (these are all things we
can do very easily if your music is good - we already have these
relationships).

\- If you are really taking off we can help you monetize this growth in very
interesting and artist/fan friendly ways. When you reach this stage we will
enter into a production style agreement and take a % of the revenue we
generate you. This is where we make our money and NOT on the original $20.

Concerns:

\- If we don't charge we will be bombarded, like you pointed out, with low
quality content. This is a problem we want to avoid.

\- If we don't charge then we will be paying artists to review your content
out of our own pocket.

Question: What would this site have to say so that when you saw it, as a
musician, your reaction was "Holy shit I have to do this and would be stupid
not to"?

~~~
abeh
If I was an artist considering this, I would want to see a video of the
reviewing artist as they listened to my song. I would want to see their facial
expression, and see that the reviewer seems like they know what they are
talking about. Also, if I could listen to the music of the reviewing artist, I
could judge if the review has any merit.

~~~
schlichtm
Noted.

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d0m
I don't like the facebook connect where it says Hipset can post on my behalf.
Isn't it possible to give basic info but ask for permission later on if/when
there's something to share?

~~~
d0m
Also Ctrl-Click on links should open in a new tab rather than the same window.

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whiddershins
This is what YC has come to? Funding pay-to-be-discovered scams? Because
whichever way you slice it, this is pay to play. Sad.

~~~
dbalatero
I imagine the $20 is to keep artists out that are less serious, and therefore
make the queue of songs to review more manageable. And to pay the folks
reviewing stuff so they can go in depth.

I agree pay-to-play can be sketchy, but the alternative (which I do all the
time) is put my music out there for free to writer's overcrowded inboxes and
hope that they take a look (which they often do not).

I put in $20 just to give it a shot. If nothing happens, no big deal.

~~~
schlichtm
This is exactly right.

~~~
wavesounds
Actually its exactly wrong.

For a lot of real artists $20 is a BIG deal, thats dinner for the band or gas
to the next gig, any real artist would never agree to this, by charging $20
your only going to get desperate bands that everyone else ignores because they
suck. It takes a minute to listen to someones mp3, your kidding yourself
thinking charging is going to give you better overall quality.

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tarice
At the bottom of the page it says:

"Forbes: Hipset Is Next Generation Music Site >>"

...which seems like it would be a link to the article. But I can't seem to
click it. In fact, I can't even find that text in the DOM, which is confusing
me something fierce.

~~~
schlichtm
Ah, looks like Optimizely had an error. Fixing this.

Here's the link: [http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2012/08/19/hipset-
is-...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2012/08/19/hipset-is-next-
generation-music-site-from-y-combinators-tracks-by/)

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dbalatero
I submitted a track from my band. If you don't like the track or don't think
it's promotable for whatever reason, will you give me that specific feedback?
I'd like to have that feedback vs. a form letter, especially if I pay $20.

~~~
schlichtm
Yes, absolutely, you will receive specific feedback from us about the
production, vocals (if there are any), and presentation.

Thank you for trying our new service out!

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UAintMySon
I want to sign my artist up for this, he has a pretty large fan base i'd like
to know more. i added you on fb my name is Jada Brown and i'd like to chat. i
know Mazy btw. I dnt mind the $20.

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wavesounds
Tons of blogs will review your music for free and give you exposure.

Charging for _maybe_ access to an old boys network of major labels _if_ some
random person likes it, is really taking advantage of peoples hopes and
dreams.

Please ditch this idea and start a label, zine or venue instead. Something
that will actually benefit artists and the art world.

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kdazzle
Preying on the insecure. And I'm willing to bet that only the worst artists
will pay for this crap.

~~~
schlichtm
Our goal is to discover artists, grow their audience, and help them generate
real revenue online.

We've already found quite a bit of incredibly talented artists. Check out this
recent submission from an artist in San Francisco:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7jcfFrpvMA>

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flexxaeon
Would be interested to know who 'verified artists' are

Is the $20 for the feedback or the promo?

~~~
schlichtm
The $20 is for the feedback. If the song is good we promote you but there is
no additional cost to you as the artist.

~~~
flexxaeon
Gotcha

Without some details like a list w/ credentials of the reviewers, it comes off
as less than credible. I'd wanna know who was reviewing me and what makes them
qualified. Even if they're not the biggest of names, I'd be less leery if
seeing more than 'verified artists'.

Calling Rap Genius "the #1 hip hop site" adds to this leeriness. Aside from
the fact that it's not (no disrespect to Rap Genius), specifying a hip hop
site as the success story on a page with limited details kind of pigeonholes
it into seeming like a "rap thing" - potential artists that aren't making hip
hop music may think they aren't qualified, or may become disinterested.

~~~
schlichtm
This helps, thanks for the feedback. We'll work on being more transparent to
add to our creditability.

~~~
flexxaeon
No prob. Like some others here I'm a musician myself so I've seen offers like
these several times.

A 'seasoned' starving artist is going to be looking for rep & credibility.
Doesn't have to be major artists, major labels, etc. Just show me that the
music is gonna be reviewed by someone who _might_ know what they're talking
about and I'm interested.

