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TopSpin Media vs eStore

November 23, 2011 in Day to Day, Music Success in 9 weeks with 0 Comments

Good-bye TopSpin Media and Hello eStore!

Today I finally closed my TopSpin account and now I’m so excited with the power of eStore!

9 Months ago I signed up for a monthly TopSpin Media account. You can read my previous blog posts as to why.

TopSpin - Topspin Media Review – The best new marketing tool for indie musicians

TopSpin -TopSpinMedia – What am I going to do Now?

TopSpin - Would You Buy A Music Cd if You Had to Agree to a Terms and Conditions Agreement?

So today I finally closed my TopSpin account and have began using eStore!

I have to say that I’ll miss Ian, Bob and all the wonderful people at TopSpin. These guys have been great and are really working hard to make a great product.

For all those wondering why I switched, here it is…

As a little indie guy and a big DIY (do it yourself) artist I found TopSpin to be too expensive, a big set up learning curve, an email management system that was lacking (back in March there was a lot of talk that it would be improved and I still haven’t seen any improvements), also to make a purchase from my site you had to submit your email address agreeing to TopSpin’s Terms and Conditions Agreement.

My online sales between April to September were very dismal. I thought it was mainly due to the economy however, now with eStore my sales have tripled. I believe it’s because of eStore’s very easy and direct shopping cart and maybe because PayPal has become very well known as a secure and trusted site for online purchasing.

As for the cost… TopSpin vs eStore

TopSpin was only $9.99 per month however when a fan purchased an item there were too many extra fees attached. For Example…

I would sell a digital download package for $29.99. TopSpin took 15% off the top “$4.50″. Then a (2.2% + $0.30 per transaction) credit card processing fee “$0.96″. Then a bandwidth fee of ($0.15/GB) “$0.02″

So after the dust settles I was left with roughly $24.51

Now with eStore… Initially I have to pay $49.95 for a single user license. That’s like having a free TopSpin account after 5 months!

Then my only fee is from paypal is a 2.9% transaction fee on the total sale amount plus a $0.30.

So on my $29.99 sale, my total fee to PayPal is only $1.17. I’m now left with $28.82! That’s $4.31 more money in my pocket than what I was given by Topspin for the same sale.

Also, with Paypal I’m paid immediately!

As for the Topspin widgets….

They’re awesome! I’ll miss those however, I’m now back to using Reverbnations widgets and they do the job just fine. Also, Reverbnation widgets are all FREE!

The other thing I don’t like about Topspin was that fan’s had to originally agree to their lengthy terms and conditions (T&C) agreement to make a purchase from me. I wrote about this in a previous post and Topspin did hear my concerns and did change this… well sort of… Ok… not really!

Now instead of a check box that a fan has to agree with the Topspin T&C, Topspin now makes the fan enter their email address before they can continue with the purchase. It’s kind of disguised as a Receipt Destination box as you can see below.

Receipt Destination

You can see by the above, in order to make a purchase my fan still has to agree!

With eStore I have the option to have my own simple T&C or no T&C at all. I am resposible for my products and guarantee shipping, quality, etc… and do not need a fan to agree to a T&C.

So… How are things with my new eStore?

Amazing!

I’m selling cd’s, downloads & subscriptions, hundreds of dollars worth every month! (there was virtually nothing with Topspin)
Don’t show anyone but here’s my actual sales report…

Topspin: April 2011 to November 2011 Gross $351.01 = $285.45 (net to me after topspin commissions)

eStore: September 2011 alone was $255.85 net to me, October 2011 was $411.13 net to me & November is looking even better!

That’s $666.98 with my new eStore that I sold within 2 months compaired to $285.45 that I sold with the Topspin store over a 6 month period.

To sum it all up…

I loved the Topspins apps and store. I also love the people behind the product! In my mind, if you’re a small DIY (Do It Yourself) guy like me, fans may not purchase anything if they have to take any extra steps with a purchase such as being forced to read and acknowledge a lengthy terms and conditions agreement. If you’re Elton John or Paul McCartney then it doesn’t matter. There fans will most likely jump though a bunch of hoops to make the purchase.

I honestly can’t say that’s what prevented fans from purchasing products from me during my stay at topspin. All I know is that I love the look of my new eStore and shopping cart. I’m also very excited to be creating a new Affiliate program soon that easily integrates into my new eStore.

eStore was extremely easy for me to set up and use. It may not be so easy for you as I know how to work in WordPress, I know photoshop really well for creating all my graphics, I know how to use PayPal effectively, I know html, I can create my own zip bundles,  etc… as a hard core DIY guy there’s so much to know. But when you’re and indie artist living on an indie artist budget it’s the way to go! And that’s where I’m at these days! :-)

Here’s my little emotional foot note for all the artists out there….

Today is such an amazing time! 
Knowledge is power and very freeing!

We can learn to do anything together! Globally connected online with tools like youtube & google we can find each other, learn from each other, build anything, be anything! It doesn’t take bundles of money. Just your own dreams and driving force to make it happen!

Then keep testing, trying new things, (lightly) continue to bang your head against the wall as it all falls apart, pick yourself up again and keep moving forward!

Do what it takes to live your dreams. As hard as it may be at times, there’s no other way I’d want to live!

My Music Success – Week 12

September 20, 2010 in Music Success in 9 weeks with 0 Comments

Music Success in 9 Weeks MSi9W – The Morning After

This week again I really need to focus on my continuum programs, mainly the members & students only lesson site. However, it’s been really difficult as I have 3 very important dates to rehearse for, one is the West Coast Guitar Night this coming Saturday were I’ll be playing 3 Vicente Amigo tunes, Sunday were I’m playing a bunch of solo guitar jazz tunes (that needs to be rehearsed) and I’m still preparing for the Oct Tour.

Week 12 – Day 1… Mining through emails to catch up on new fans. I need to create a Reverbnation store asap. I want to create more merchandise such as T-shirts, mugs, etc…

Also, been updating details to musicians regarding upcoming corporate performances. It’s been crazy busy again. I need my mini me asap and a 48 hour day! (24 hours isn’t enough anymore, help!)

I’m looking forward to working with Daniel Turner in Victoria mid October as well. Shhhhh! It’s a secret project that I’ll share details with you one day soon.

Week 12 – Day 2… A few cool things have happened today #1 I discovered that it’s ok to post cover tune video’s performed by myself to youtube without permission of the original artist or a license from the music owner and publisher. This is great as recording and posting video cover tunes is a great way to be found on YouTube. This is something to add to my “to do” list asap. Also, yesterday I had a chance to talk with Ben Woods from LA. Ben is a great guitarist and we may be working on the previously mentioned, secret project together. We also may both get over to Japan to do some more touring. We’ll see what happens and we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

Today’s another busy day rehearsing and I have a gig later in the afternoon. Other than keeping up with my blog posts and tweets I hope I can find a bit more social networking time and do a little guitar school work for one of my continuum programs. I also have to check in with Ariel Hyatt’s CyberPrMastermind site. Looks like we may have something happening for the MSi9W grad class.

Here’s my latest post to the CyberPrMastermind group…

Tips for gaining followers on Twitter and Fans on Reverbnation…

Ok I’m still in and here’s a few tips I have learned from others in the group that I’d like to share….

To increase my twitter presence I went to a couple of big name artists I sound like and began following aprox. 900 of their friends. (twitter will only allow you to follow so many at a time) Those friends are the people who I though would be most interested in what I’m up too. So the result is that I’ve increased my followers by 300% and it’s slowly growing every day.

Also Mary Lemanski suggested I become a fan of everyone in my music genre at reverbnation to increase my fan base and ranking there. And that’s working!

I took this one step further… I’m performing in a few new towns and I need to get more people out to these shows. So… you can go to reverbnation and Browse the Charts for all artists in the new location you will be performing in. Then you become their fan.

I also posted on my reverbnation calendar the shows I was playing in their town.

So what happened was reverbnation artists in these areas discovered me and that I was playing in their town. So it looks like some will be coming out to my performances and hopefully they’ll bring some friends.

There’s so much more I’m learning from everyone and wish I had a 48hour day to do what I’m trying to fit into each 24hours!

Please, let’s not hold back and share our ideas! There is room for all of us to become successful artists.

Oh, one more thing I learned from another reverbnation artist… Anyone that signs up to be my fan, I personally thank them and ask them to click “like me” on face book. and I do the same for them. It somehow increases our presence there. I don’t know how that all works, I just do it for everyone now.

Week 12 – Day 3… So much to do today and not enough time! Rehearse, schedule, blog, emails, teach and a list of tasks I can’t even begin to chip away at. So frustrating!

Week 12 – Day 4… Shipping a couple of Dvd orders today and repackaging some product, I finally managed to get started on my new Guitar School site! It’s going to be great. I’m trying a plugin called s2Member for wordpress to handle my student subscribers. I’ll let you know how it works out. It could be great, we’ll see. I’m off to the post office then it’s back to rehearsals and teaching this afternoon and eve. I hope to get back to working on the new site and Jam tracks tonight. (the jam track will be part of an improvising class as well as material available to the Guitar School subscribers.

My Music success posts have come to an end…

I’m sad to say that due to the ever increasing amount of tasks I have to chip away at I’ll have to discontinue my Music Success posts. There is much to do and so little time.

Thank you Ariel Hyatt and your inspiration as I continue to forge ahead!

My Music Success – Week 11

September 13, 2010 in Music Success in 9 weeks with 0 Comments

Music Success in 9 Weeks MSi9W – The Morning After

This week I really need to focus on my continuum programs, mainly the members & students only lesson site. I also have to rehearse for my October tour.

Week 11 – Day 1… Phplist once again is driving me nuts. Nothing to do with the software and everything to do with Netfirms. (I think) Anyways, I’m not going to give up yet however paying $20 a month to Reverbnation is becoming very tempting. Also joined www.formspring.me It’s a simple form that allows anyone to ask me anything. (We’ll see where that goes…) Been a busy day, rehearsing, teaching, networking on twitter and blogging.

It’s now 2:21am and I really wish I could function on no sleep because I have sooooo much to do however, Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Week 11 – Day 2… What a crazy busy day with students and scheduling. Also phplist is driving me nuts! It’s been 3 day’s trying to send out my current newsletter and netfirms still can’t resolve my issue running it from there hosting service. Is it just me or what???

Been checking out lots of bands at Reverbnation today and subscribing to their newsletters. So much talent and so music! How wonderful.

Just checked my web stats… 600 visitors to my website today!!! Thank you Ariel Hyatt and your 9 week music success boot camp challenge. From 150 to 600 visitors, wow. For years I could never break 200! and this is only the beginning. So much to do and so little time each day. I have to keep chipping away at the big stuff.

Week 11 – Day 3… First thing this morning I went to Reverbnation and became fans with more artists I liked then I got a tip from Nick Tann on how to link my web pages to my iTunes cd purchase pages. So I’ve created new links to iTunes from my blog and web site. If anyone wishes to do the same. You have to join cdbaby to have your music on iTunes. From there you can go to http://itunes.apple.com/linkmaker to create buttons and links to your itunes cd page for music purchases.

Now I have to spend some time rehearsing as WCGN is fast approaching.

Actually found time to do a little song writing today. Feels good as it’s been awhile!

Wow, my first survey is generating some very interesting insight for my online lesson material and tracks. I highly recommend SurveyMonkey.com for this. It’s awesome and can be very powerful for your market research!

Week 11 – Day 4… This morning I’ve been listening to more Reverbnation artists and becoming a fan to the artists I like. It’s helping to build awareness to my own music. Then I have a busy rehearsal day today. I’m rehearsing solo jazz pieces for a new corporate gig at the end of the month, rehearsing for WCGN and for the Oct tour. I have to book rehearsals with the group and get set list to them today.

Week 11 – Day 5… So much to do now each day! I have to be careful how I allocate my time. Did a quick tweet and my daily reverbnation fan building exercise. My improv classes has become very popular and are filling up fast. I still have a lot of preparation to do for my upcoming performances. Still on the fence re: phplist. I’ll try it for one more newsletter mailing and if I’m not 100% satisfied I’ll switch to ??? (I’ll have to do a little research here still)

Week 11 – Day 6 & 7… Not having much time these two days for social networking. Created a new blog post and some work on twitter however it’s been a busy 2 days. Yikes! again I need a mini me!

My Music Success Journal – Week 10

September 6, 2010 in Music Success in 9 weeks with 1 Comment

Music Success in 9 Weeks MSi9W – The Morning After

I’ve completed my blogging challenge with Ariel Hyatt and I’m very grateful for all the new music promotion tools I now have. So this is the beginning of my new music success journal to keep me accountable for my musical career and dream. As I complete my daily tasks, I’ll mark them done in bold and later summarize the day / week.

Week 10 – Day 1…

My main tasks for the day are:

- rehearse for my Sept. 25th WCGN performance (Westcoast Guitar Night) - Done
- mine through my emails (update my newsletter mailing list) - Done
- schedule rehearsals with my band for the Oct tour and create the set lists. - 3/4 Done
- call private students to finalize my fall schedule - Done
(Today I’m also creating a new group improv class and a reading ensemble and have been pitching it to students)
- create a new newsletter to mail out at the end of this week

The most important on going task is to put my continuum programs in place. Also ongoing is my daily tweets and blog commenting. I also set up Google Alerts to alert me on anything regarding Rumba Flamenco Guitar. I also still not to happy with the look of my blog. I’ll tweak it as soon as I can. I’m still really new to editing php and style sheets.

Last week my website broke 300 visitors in a single day. That’s a new gilliat record thank you for stopping by!

Week 10 – Day 2…

My main tasks for the day are:

- schedule rehearsals with my band for the Oct tour and finishing the set lists. - 3/4 Done
- create a new newsletter to mail out at the end of this week – must begin today!! – began
- Tweeting – Done & On going
- Ok, also working on my bathroom reno today – On Going
- Rehearsing WCGN tunes – Done
- Updating newsletter mailing list & private lesson schedule – Done

Tonight I’ll be visiting with friends from Japan that I haven’t see for awhile, can’t wait. Had to transfer my complete music library as zip files at 320k to Music Dealers. Had fun playing at the Latin Quarter tonight

Week 10 – Day 3…

- Began by reading a few tweets and tweeting (on going)
- Google Alerts is great! I began using it a few days ago alerting me to keywords I submit to provide me with blogs discussing topic in interested in commenting on. blog commenting – Done
- October tour set lists Completed – Done
- Must continue to finish news letter today - In process (just emailed a friend to include in my featured artist column) will include my article on private teacher scams and facing your fears
will also include my first ever fan survey!
- Prepare private lessons and teach today – Done

Week 10 – Day 4… Today I’m continuing to work on my newsletter. I’ve changed the format a bit and the look, I think it will be great. I’m also continueing to rehearse for WCGN and I’m working on new looping tech for the Oct shows. I’ve also confirmed a new date for the October tour. I’ll be performing solo Thurs. Oct. 21st at the Cabana Grille in Kelowna 7pm to 10:30pm. I’ll get that on my calendar right away!

Week 10 – Day 5… Did my rehearsing, and continued to tweak my newsletter to send out. I haven’t heard back from my featured artist so I’ll send this newsletter without him. I hope to hear from him soon for the next newsletter or I’ll move on to my next artist to feature. Did some tweeting however today was very busy with non musical events. Also set up rehearsals for WCGN and the Oct Tour.

Week 10 – Day 6… I have to get my newsletter out today! I’m rehearsing for WCGN then I’ll complete my newsletter. Also looking forward to working with members of Ariels CyberPrMastermind group to create a forum to help each other move forward with MSi9W. (the morning after)

Finally completed my newsletter! It looks great and took hours to complete however, this one will act as the master template. I’ll send it out tomorrow. I’m also happy to report I’ve included my first survey. You can check it out here.

Bandcamp.com has now decided to charge me for people that download my music for free. What the?… Everyone is trying to make a buck these days. After the initial shock I think it’s ok as there is a lot of value in what services Bandcamp.com provides. So I’ll hang in there with them and see how it all pans out.

Week 10 – Day 7… Today’s the day to send out my new html newsletter with phplist. It’s been a ton of work and frustration trying to set this up to make it work so here we go… (fingers crossed) Also rehearsing while phplist does it’s thing!

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