Tenth Street Entertainment Markets with Mobile

This article started out as a piece about new social networking site Zannel , which launched with its mobile platform on Wednesday. Similar to MySpace, Zannel allows users to share content, but is designed specifically for mobile devices to attract younger users who focus more of their attention on their mobile devices than on their PCs.

As I was reading about the new service, I found a story about Tenth Street Entertainment's indie music label Eleven Seven Music using Zannel for a viral marketing campaign. The label, which includes Everclear and Buckcherry on their artist roster, is allowing fans of the band The Exies shoot live video at one of the band's concerts in April. The videos can then be uploaded on the label's page on Zannel.

With the RIAA increasingly trying to clamp down on online file sharing, and with the current state of affairs regarding web radio, the future of music online looks a bit bleak. The idea that a label wants to use fans to promote a band by doing everything that The Powers That Be want to eliminate seems almost revolutionary right now. While the partnership is obviously designed to promote both the band as well as Zannel, this signals what could be the future of music marketing if only the RIAA would wake up and see the potential of the online community.

What Tenth Street Entertainment has realized with this promotion is that word-of-mouth has long been the best way for bands to make their mark. Long before there was online file sharing, there were Deadheads, allowed by The Grateful Dead to record concerts and share the tapes with others. Josh Scheiner, director of new media at Tenth Street Entertainment, said that the company is planning a similar marketing campaign for Meatloaf, and hopes to also use the page at Zannel to embed downloadable music for mobile devices as well. It's refreshing to see at least one label willing to harness the power of online communities to market artists. Here's hoping more labels take advantage of the technology, via mobile communities like Zannel, or other outlets.