Audiosparx and Pay Per Click (PPC)

[#tag]

whoops I did miss completely this PPC  issue on AS..

 

can anyone be so kind to bring me up to speed?  I have no idea how PPC could be related to a music library business

 

thanks!

[Art Munson]

Notwithstanding anything that you said MichaelL there are other aspects.

I seldom used PPC when it was implemented at AS as I never liked the concept. I applauded AS’s decision to drop it and to “level the playing field” as I thought it a worthy goal. From my understanding the decision to re-instate it was because some composers were complaining.

And as long as we are throwing real life examples around I will (once again) present mine. I developed and ran a very successful Internet business in the 90s and tried various ways to advertise my products, including PPC. Initially with Goto.com, Yahoo and finally Google Adwords. None of those avenues could prove to me that they were a viable way to advertise. But I and my competitors were generally on the first page of the *organic* search results with our products because of our content not because we paid to be there. My point is that a level playing field is more equitable to all, including clients who will be exposed to a wider variety of products, in this case music.

One of the things that Google does do is make a clear delineation of organic searches and paid searches. Something that AS did not do. PPC results looked like organic searches. They say they will change this when they re-instate PPC so we will see.

Regardless of what AS does it will not change how I feel about working with them as I have gotten a great education and always enjoyed working with Barbie. I will continue to upload my music and try to learn and improve my sales but I stand by my comment that I don’t think this decision serves them well.

[Advice]

As with #tag’s post, this is all new to me and I don’t understand what this is all about. Could someone explain what PPC is as it relates to composers on AS?

All Greek to me right now…

Thanks and Happy Holidays to all!

😀 A

[Art Munson]

@advice and #tag. Pay Per Click (PPC) is a system where you pay to have your product return first in any search results, in this case music. Google built a multi-billion dollar business on this concept.

[Advice]

Art

So how exactly does this work with respect to AS? I don’t recall any correspondence from them regarding this (I could have missed it). Am I supposed to do something to make it happen or not happen?

Totally lost and confused.

😉 Thanks!

[GaryW]

I had used PPC with AS since joining them a couple of years ago. What kind of impact it had on my sales, or plays I really cannot say. What is odd to me is that since they have done away with it, my plays, and sales have dipped considerably. coincidence??? Maybe so, maybe notI do agree that PPC does fall under the category of marketing your product, which is your music. MichaelL put it very well in his post above.

I too do not consider PPC paying to submit music. On AS your tracks are already submitted, and you are trying to get more traffic to your tracks. To make you stand out in a field of over 500,000 tracks. Very tough, so any little bit helps IMHO

So I will probably go back to PPC on AS and see what happens. I have only been at this for 2 1/2 years so I am still learning what works and what doesn’t.

 

[Sean]

@GaryW

“I too do not consider PPC paying to submit music”

To clarify…maybe that was not the best comparison.  I just meant that in my mind, it falls into the same category.  Not that it is the same thing.

Sean

 

[MichaelL]

 

I developed and ran a very successful Internet business in the 90s and tried various ways to advertise my products, including PPC. Initially with Goto.com, Yahoo and finally Google Adwords. None of those avenues could prove to me that they were a viable way to advertise.

Which is exactly why I said….

The ultimate question is not whether PPC is fair, it is whether the results justify the expense.

There are, as Art said, other aspects. We did the in-store promotions at B&N and Borders for our fingerstyle guitarist, because his music and their customers fit demographically. On the other hand, we promoted my Smooth Jazz CD at Best Buy, in cities, like Detroit, where it was charting. What worked for us was “target marketing,” and I think that is the best potential use of PPC.

On AS your tracks are already submitted, and you are trying to get more traffic to your tracks. To make you stand out in a field of over 500,000 tracks.

That’s true in a limited way. At any given time, you are only competing with the number of tracks in a specific genre. Your Christmas tunes aren’t competing with another composer’s 4th of July cues. Your Beatles sound- alike isn’t competing with another composers Lil’ Wayne sound-alike. Each track is only competing with the other tracks in its genre. PPC might help by placing your Beatles sound-alike at the head of the line of Beatles sound-alikes, but it’s irrelevant to someone looking for the 1812 overture. Arguably, there might be an ancillary benefit by raising awareness of one’s music, but I think that might be a bit attenuated.

With respect to a level playing filed: with or without PPC, it doesn’t exist. There will always be another composer with more gear, higher end gear, and better skills, who is more prolific. In my opinion having good language skills, being able to keyword effectively, and understanding the potential/likely uses for your music are much more important than PPC. So, if your language skills aren’t the best, or you can’t visualize what the potential uses are for your music, you are at a deficit, which means not on a level playing field. If anyone’s sales have dipped since PPC stopped, I would look at your metadata. Maybe paying someone to keyword for you would be just as effective, if not more.

Once again, Happy Holidays t o All,

MichaelL

 

 

 

[Art Munson]

Advice said: “So how exactly does this work with respect to AS?”.

It’s not available now and I believe it was under the “Marketing” tab. They are planning to re-introduce it in 2013, thus this discussion.

[Art Munson]

Which is exactly why I said….

The ultimate question is not whether PPC is fair, it is whether the results justify the expense.

The end result of having PPC is that it muddies the waters and purposely tries to obscure the true search results.

Going back to Google. In the last couple of years they have been skewing their organic search results with paid advertisers and are under investigation in the U.S. and Europe. Not serving them well either.

In my opinion having good language skills, being able to keyword effectively, and understanding the potential/likely uses for your music are much more important than PPC.

Very true but that is a different issue.

[ArtistsR1st]

There’s a few different interpretations happening here with ” a level playing field “. Mine is very simple , my interpretation of a level playing field regarding this market is Music loops. So the way I view it , with respect for other views, with my interpretation a level playing field does exist. Anyway, I hope things can work out for everyone involved, we’ll see. Merry Christmas everyone and all the best in 2013 ! 🙂

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of passionate and intelligent arguments here. Hopefully everyone can make the best decision for themselves. No need to argue with each other. Everybody’s journey is a little bit different. Good luck whatever choices you make.

[#tag]

Thanks for the explanation Art… it’s what I feared.

If none pays, there’s no reason for PPC to exist. If a few pay the ones that don’t are left behind. The only benefit here goes to AS, PPC is just another way to part composers from their money.

I really dislike the concept that you now you have to pay if you want to be on the same playing field, this is creates a worrying distortion where is not the market that decides what tracks is best, but the money you composer can throw at it, with no regards whatsoever to the quality of your content.

Paying to get better gear and make better music is not like paying to get your music an unfair advantage in a search engine.

I’m hugely disappointed, I believe this nullifies any agreement you might have had with AS.

[AudioSparx]

Hi All,
We appreciate everyone’s thoughts on any program we start up here at AudioSparx.

Our pay-per-click Track Campaign service simply offers vendors here a marketing tool they can utilize to get a brand new, dynamite track quickly in front of our clients with substantial visibility. While Track Campaigns have no guarantees of quick sales for anyone, it does provide a substantial benefit to both our clients and our vendors by providing a method for vendors here to be able to proactively raise the visibility of a new track that may be better than any other tracks in the niche that it is targeting.  Without Track Campaigns, this capability does not exist.

Through our constant development work here, we strive to find new ways to feature everyone’s music, and each of you will find your tracks on many searches (like our Editor’s Picks lists, Vertical Marketing pages, Home Page rotations, Hollywood A List, our Vocal Music page, 100+ Playlists, etc.).  We provide multiple different tools and reports and software capabilities for our vendors here to utilize to manage and market their tracks here.  The Track Campaign service is simply one more tool, a proactive marketing tool, that you may find will benefit you if used judiciously to promote only your best new tracks.  Track Campaigns can be utilized often for as little as one penny per click to bring highly relevant traffic and attention to a new track that a vendor uploads.

Many vendors here have indicated having good results with the occasional use of the campaigns; and as Michael L pointed out from his earlier experiences, he found it financially worthwhile in certain instances to invest a little marketing money to promote certain music from the back bins up closer to the cash register.  We believe that, if used judiciously primarily as a tool to promote new music tracks, it raises the overall quality of the shopping experience for our clients, and provides a means for our vendors to draw meaningful attention to their new music releases.

By reintroducing Track Campaigns with key changes from our earlier implementation, we intend to fix the problems that existed in the earlier implementation.  However, because of the competitive nature of the information, we will discuss these changes in detail later in a private KB article at AudioSparx rather than here in this public forum.  We hope that each of you will keep an open mind and consider that Track Campaigns offer a valuable capability that, without the service, simply does not exist here.

Our web sites are definitely large marketplaces with a rapidly growing client base.  Each year, our sales have consistently exceeded the year before, because we continue to innovate and offer new and exciting music to our clients.  We advertise heavily and are constantly striving to improve everyone’s bottom line.

We now operate five websites, and here is a link that more fully provides an overview of our business.  Please log in first to review this article:
http://www.audiosparx.com/sa/kb/article/show.cfm/kbarticle_iid.2064:
Before we relaunch our Track Campaign service, we will provide more information in a communiqué and in our KB that further explains how the new program will operate.  In the meantime, we appreciate the opportunity to respond here at the MLR and send hopes to each of you for a Happy New Year and a big thanks for helping us rock the web.

Regards,

Lee Johnson
lee@audiosparx.com
http://www.audiosparx.com

[axiomdreams]

Thank You Lee. Deeply appreciated. Continued success in 2013. Happy New Year!

-AxD

[Author]

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