Interview with Rhodes Mason of Singing Fool
Music Video Press: OK, it is February 22nd, 2006 and we are in the great Garden State, talking to the Marketing and Promotions guy of www.SingingFool.com. Rhodes, tell us how this idea came about and when did Singing Fool launch?
Rhodes Mason: My boss Jed Horovitz used to run music video promotions for retailers and created reels for the in store music video plays. As he had a relationship with hundreds of labels, he decided to migrate his business to the web and launched Singingfool.com first as an online retail store in 2002. The business then went through several other changes including a subscription model in 2004. In the beginning of 2005, the site became free to the public. After years of promotion, the catalog has now grown to over 7,000 titles. It is one of the largest collections on the Internet.
MVP: One of the catch 22’s that new video programmers always speak of are the issues with actually obtaining music videos from labels and artists, did you have any dilemmas along those lines when you were first starting out?
RM: Of course the major labels are moving towards a different model which we had to wrangle with and that was getting licensing deals. Once we obtained those the label would send their catalogs. Indie labels are using their videos as promotion still and they understand the value of reaching millions of music fans and the more places a video is seen, the more likely people will buy that title. Singing Fool’s current reach has made it attractive for the labels to partner with us. In January, we had over 6 million uniques visitors watching over 38 million music videos. That is a huge market for any label trying to sell their music.
MVP: Last fall the New York Times had an article in their Sunday edition concerning the new age of music videos and they talked about Yahoo and they talked to the folks at Blastro. The article really shed a light on how important videos on the Internet have become. Would you like to comment on that?
RM: Well when I was working for a record label back in the mid-90's up to 1999, we only had 30 to 40 regional programs we could send our artists' videos out to at that time. MTV was closed because they only dealt with major label stuff and their own reality programming. Now with the prevalence of broadband connections and people able to see streaming video without the wait, you have over a hundred million plus online users in the US watching videos. Short video content is in demand and music videos are perfect for that.
With the low costs of making a video, artists are making more videos. The ability for music fans to program their own music video experience is something I wish I had years ago instead of having to wait for MTV to play the videos I wanted to see. I can't tell you how many hours I had to stomach Martha Quinn just to catch my favorite video. What Singing Fool provides is a place for users to become their own VJ's and mix videos they can share with their friends. I used to make all kinds of mix tapes to impress my friends and the girls I wanted to date. Today you can do it with music videos.
I think labels have to invest more in online marketing as just sending your video in is great but to steer people to watching it can make the difference in them buying your CD or not. I view music videos as a "try before you buy." At Singing Fool, we want to help labels grow their sales and utilize our reach to get their artists front and center of millions of music fans. Labels have so many more outlets now to promote their music videos and we want to help them go beyond just servicing us. Give me an exclusive video and I will show them what I can do.
MVP: Now let’s talk about that. If a record label marketing person is reading this interview, what would be some of the possibilities of how that particular label and their artist’s videos could somehow join hand in hand with what you guys do? So if it’s a real terrific video and the band has lots of buzz you guys can use what you've got going to put them up to the next level.
RM: We are currently doing a feature on cool labels every week. I have featured V2, Relapse Records, TVT, Sub Pop, Century Media, Koch, Touch and Go and many more are lined up. I like to get some giveaways for this but we give you free banners and preroll ads. We lock in a playlist of the labels choice and users can launch that from our site.
We also are supporting tours with free advertising and are doing something with The Subways in March. They hang a banner and put out some flyers.
Lastly, I really want to get artist's playlists in. They give us a playlist of six to ten songs and write a sentence or two on why they like that video and once I get enough in, we will launch a special page for them.
MVP: Let's talk numbers. Tell us how the numbers have increased over the last 3 years and some of the plans you have for 2006 to put Singing Fool on the map.
RM: Hey, we're on the map now ha-ha! Numbers wise we have seen huge increase in our business in Q3 and Q4 of 2005. We reach anywhere from 6 to 8 million uniques worldwide in any given month with 35-50 million plays. For an indie site, we probably are one of the biggest in reach.
Our plans for 2006 are focused on the user experience. We are currently working on a redesign that will include initiatives to make our users have all the tools they need to become the ultimate VJ. I am really excited about this but can't really get into details at this time. Let me just say, we have been listening to our users and we will be delivering the killer app they need to enjoy video on the web on their terms. Some other great things will be part of our redesign that should be live in early April.
MVP: What are your thoughts on music videos now on your cell phone? It seems to be something now that is coming. I'm just curious that as someone who has seen the technology advance so quickly do you think this is going to be something that’s really going to catch on?
RM: Here’s the difficulty we're undergoing with our redesign. We have to think about people watching videos on 2 inch screens to forty inch plasma screens and how does the site work for all of them. Of course the cell phone site is very different and we are making appropriations for that. Whether people are buying videos to watch on a little screen we'll see how that plays out. We're not jumping into that so carefree. We're just holding onto our business model as is. I see more of the potential of High Def. and things looking very strong on the TV and the merging of television and computer technology. That is something that interests us because we want users to have the best viewing experience.
I think it’s much like how ring tones took the world by storm, the cell phone thing is a great novelty for seeing music video on but the music video wasn't made for that screen. I can see how it would be fun to show to your friends and say “check this out”, and that kind viralness I'm not going to ignore.
MVP: I guess we're going to finish this up now. For everyone out there who is reading this interview if you could let them know how to contact you to find out more about Singing Fool.
RM: Well on our homepage we have “submit to us” and there is a form right there that you fill out as well as our terms and conditions. If you are an unsigned band, feel free to submit to us your videos as we encourage that and we can provide you with the code for your video to embed on your profile pages or site. Get a ton of plays and I will be sure to alert my label contacts. We will be launching shortly a way to transfer to us digitally, making the process even easier.
The main thing is that we want to be one of the best archives on the web for music videos so don't just send us your new videos but your catalog as well. We have a partnership with All Music Guide (allmusic.com) and if you have a bio on their site, we can add the video to that page.
MVP: Alright we just need your email and phone number for folks who want to get in touch.
RM: It’s RhodesM@singingfool.com. Phone number is: 856-310-1981 ex6. Give us a call. We want you videos.