Professional Update 2019 & Additional Member Benefits Coming Soon!
Interviewed by Peter Fosso – Head of U.S. Operations, Music2Deal
(Peter Fosso, Mario Christiani)
PF: Hi, Mario. So I hear that there will be a Music2Deal update happening in January 2019. What types of benefits can we expect?
MC: Well, we’ve noticed that there are many members who still are not benefiting as much as they can from our system so we’re helping them in this new update. For example, many members haven’t uploaded a Music (Song) Offer even though it´s free with a Basic Membership. Or sometimes they post their music in the wrong section. Although we tried with former updates to optimized the usability, members often don´t know the right steps to do on Music2Deal.
So the idea of Music2Deal is great and a lot of people are already doing good business on Music2Deal. But to be honest, sometimes it´s just a matter of having the right knowledge. For example, someone who is working in the music business should know about the differences between the song copyrights and the performance protection rights, so that they know in which section they should post their music offer. When I look at these sections I sometimes see members who don´t have this knowledge. But sometimes, it´s also a question of how the website supports his members in the way of using the website. And in this case, we see a lot of potential to make things better, which we wish to accomplish with this coming update.
You know…when I talk with people at those conferences, like MIDEM, they see the advantages of using the Music2Deal platform, that it makes sense to stay in contact with their business friends about music opportunities and that LinkedIn, Facebook & Co can’t really offer this. It´s like using Excel to do your accounting and not using an accounting program.
PF: Can you tell us more about how to solve those problems? Maybe give us an example?
MC: With this update, so that we can improve the user experience for each of our members, we are implementing better user communication and usability. For example, if you are a Publisher and your registration was accepted, upon first login you’ll see a short “1st-LogIn-Tour”. Currently, after completing your profile, you’ll see a page to post a Music Offer, choosing from 4 sections. These 4 choices are too much at the 1st time login on Music2Deal and then continuing with a further page. And a Publisher would unlikely need to post a Vocalist Offer. So, we assume that they’d prefer to post a Song Offer. In the case of an Artist, they would post mostly post an Artist Offer, and so forth. If you’re an Artist, who hasn’t yet posted a Music Offer, we’ll suggest it to you.
Or if you’re A&R, to post an Artists Want, etc. We simply want to see our members get the most so that they don´t miss business opportunities. We will also inform a member if they have enough credits for a free upgrade. We’re also adding guided tours and a new “how it works” page for a better understanding of how to use Music2Deal in the best way for their business.
PF: There was already an update announced in 2018. What happened?
MC: Once we started really getting to know the needs of our members we realized there was much more to do to incorporate their ideas – now further improvement that can be enjoyed by our community of music professionals.
PF: Is this the reason why this update is called “The Professional Update 2019?
MC: Yes, that´s right. Just two features, as an example. Now a member will be able to send a new song first to just their friend circle, getting initial feedback prior to deciding whether to publish the song. Additionally, you’ll be able to filter the members who can contact you. For example, it makes no sense if you are a Booking Agent and a Songwriter contacts you that is not a live performer. These mismatches are time-consuming and, of course, most music professionals would like to avoid this. Therefore, we’ll be providing this feature.
PF: Will you announce all features of the Professional Update 2019?
MC: Yes, we’ll be announcing the update’s features here on the blog as well as in our news section on Music2Deal.
PF: And finally… When will the update happen?
MC: Good question :-) Look for the update to happen in the beginning of 2019.
The Music2Deal Blog 