Tweet that music on

MANILA, Philippines - The music industry has a death knell that sticks on its heels like an annoyingly catchy pop hook. As kids lap up music by waves of viral hype, new media models continue to crop up to explore ways on how to help artists hawk their beats, especially now that major music labels are slowly folding into the Jurassic era of CDs and middle management. “Major labels as we knew them aren’t necessary, the same way the cart and horse became relatively unnecessary, but people still need to get around,” proclaims Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls. The future may look bleak, but lifelines are being thrown out to artists as music-oriented startups strive to create a broader online market.

Services like Spotify, SoundCloud and Bandcamp have all taken on this challenge but surprisingly until now, no one has ever thought of tapping Twitter’s massive resource and capability to become a music-making machine in itself. It’s this potential that inspired Filipino-Italian brothers, Stefano and Christian Fazzini, together with marketing director Sandra Seifert, to come up with TwitMusic, a service in the vein of TwitVid and TwitMusic that turns the micro-blogging site into a sleeker, hot-shot version of MySpace. It is the only music site currently seamlessly integrated into Twitter.

“There was tremendous opportunity in this space and at that moment, there was a huge influx of musicians to Twitter seeking to connect with their fans,” Stefano says. “However, there was one problem: they needed a better way to share and effectively promote their music to their followers. That’s when Twitmusic was conceptualized.”

A Perfect Launchpad

The site has since amassed 4,000 users counting heavyweights such as Jason Mraz, Mike Posner, Bow Wow, MC Hammer, and Bryan Adams as some of its active users. Adams has recently released his single exclusively on TwitMusic, which he calls the “perfect launch pad” for artists.  

TwitMusic lets you directly upload your song on Twitter where listeners can comment, love, retweet, and share tracks with the #nowplaying hashtag that lets users flaunt their musical tastes. What’s great about the service is that it comes with built-in analytics that give track-by-track statistics.

“What we provide our musicians are analytics that gauge their listeners’ demographic on Twitter. So for a musician, it’s great to know where their listeners come from, who among them are followers and graph out your growth of listeners,” Stefano explains. “In a sense, knowing whether your listeners are followers vs. non-followers is a way to gauge your reach of audiences outside your Twitter follower base. Potentially, these listeners could convert into new fans and Twitter followers.”

TwitMusic also allows users to discover new music, with its “Discover Artists” tab and a listing of similar songs based on the tracks that you have been listening to. This integration proves the site’s intention of nurturing not only established talents, but also new artists who deserve a wider audience.

British rapper Mr. Rootsy and Filipina YouTube sensation Aria Clemente may have a modest following compared to bigger artists but their songs on TwitMusic have reached over 20,000 plays. Mr. Rootsy’s Look at Me Now currently has over 20,000 listens while Aria Clemente’s cover of One Direction’s Gotta Be You has over 40,000 plays.

Going Local

In the Philippines, indie bands such as Techy Romantics and Encounters With a Yeti, have also signed up to explore the site’s capability to reach a broader audience. Techy Romantic’s Get it On is getting traction on their TwitMusic page, with most of its listeners coming from the United States.

“Knowing where we are most viewed gives us an idea if we can go there and perform. Also, we would know which songs are more palatable for a certain area,” says Techy Romantics’s rhythm and beats man Dondi Virrey.

The site’s democratic approach to music-making is certainly an appealing aspect for emerging bands like Encounters with a Yeti. With their debut album, “Pilot,” released recently, the band is relying on a sharper marketing strategy that isn’t available for bands like them who aren’t in a major music label. “[TwitMusic] levels the playing field somewhat between major label bands and DIY music makers. Since the internet is a more or less “free” medium open to anyone, everyone has an equal shot at reaching out to a certain high school student browsing the web at a nearby internet shop. Whereas in the old days when you would need a major label to back you up marketing-wise to get your music to be heard, nowadays the social network has pretty much obliterated that notion,” says Encounters with a Yeti guitarist Ponchie Buenavista.

The Global Startup Arena

TwitMusic was recently picked up by 500 Startups, the Silicon Valley incubator program that nurtures new ventures and grooms them for success. TwitMusic is the first Manila-based startup accepted in the prestigious mentorship program.

“500 Startups is at the center of the startup ecosystem. Dave McClure [500 Startups founding partner] has been very successful in building a community and network for startups to tap into. What’s really cool is that at 500 Startups, we have arms reach to dozens of mentors who have been through typical startup issues and wildly succeeded at it. Guys like Branden Mulligan from Onesheet.com [500 Startups mentor] can give that invaluable advice that could make a big difference in your startup,” Stefano enthuses.

As more artists join TwitMusic every day, the site’s team is hoping to offer more premium options for artists who are serious in honing their craft. The site’s analytics alone can go further by just simple statistics and the creators are looking into that, as well as selling tracks on the artist’s page itself. Seifert is also looking forward to bringing more artists on board as she closely works with artists and labels. TwitMusic will also be including a blog on the site soon which Stefano says should be “a handbook for every musician on Twitter.”

Creating A New Media Model

TwitMusic’s success is an encouraging example of how Filipinos can compete in the global startup arena and how we can conceive Silicon Valley-sized dreams that actually aggregate that online noise and buzz into something innovative and useful.

“What we are seeing now in the Philippines is a growing infrastructure of incubators and accelerators, which is great for anyone thinking of creating a startup in the Philippines. I would advise the young generation of technopreneurs in the Philippines to think about building something great that disrupts old business models. There are many opportunities right now in the Philippines and the growing infrastructure makes it easier to build an online business. What we are experiencing is the start of a new era of entrepreneurial spirit where the new generation is proactively building on top of the old and that’s really exciting!” Stefano says.