Etsy’s Unofficial Music Scene Takes Off
As Lady Gaga stormed the web with promotions for Born This Way this summer — Farmville knockoff, Starbucks virtual scavenger hunt and Gilt Groupe deal included — her presence on one unlikely platform went largely unnoticed.
Etsy, the online marketplace for handmade goods, hosted a sale of posters inspired by the album. The pop star commissioned three Etsy artists to design the posters and then signed each one, giving the profits to VH1 Save the Music.
Though Lady Gaga is no stranger to trail blazing, her presence as a musician on the craft site fit a trend. Etsy has been gaining steam as a platform where artists promote themselves, sell their merchandise and connect with fans.
“We have been doing little music projects for about four years at Etsy,” explains Matt Stinchcomb, Etsy’s European director and one of its first employees. “Only now are we really beginning to think about how we can develop that further.”
Artists ranging from independent garage bands to international pop sensations have helped create Etsy’s unofficial music scene. Here’s how.
Original Merchandise
I’m From Barcelona member Anna Froderberg poses with her book, which is for sale on the band’s Etsy store
Is music a handmade good?
At Etsy, the official answer is yes. “People work hard to create the content in MP3s and it seems in the spirit of Etsy and handmade to allow the output of these types of endeavors to be delivered in digital format,” explains Etsy Marketplace Integrity Specialist Mark Shaw. “Also, a file physically does exist. It isn’t ephemeral, it is stored data, somewhere in the world.”
Hundreds of musicians sell or give away their MP3s or CDs on Etsy.
But more of them sell other merchandise, like handmade tote bags and t-shirts. Etsy takes a smaller cut of these sales (3.5%) than a record label would, and the site provides a sales platform to little-known bands who have neither a label nor a website with checkout capabilities.
Even when a band is more established, an Etsy store can have its advantages.
“It’s something that’s real, it’s something that’s physical, and it’s something that’s limited really,” Stinchcomb says. “There’s a deeper connection that comes with it.”
The Avett Brothers, for instance, include original photos taken by their stage manager on their Etsy store. They’re donating profits to a small charity called Often Awesome.
“They are a caring group of individuals who have come together in support of a dear friend, Tim LaFollette,” the band writes about the charity. “Tim is battling ALS and has amazed and inspired so many of us. ”
The personal tone of The Avett Brothers store is present in the Etsy stores of other well-known bands as well. Twenty-nine-member I’m From Barcelona sells typical band merchandise on its website, but offers personal items like hand-drawn broaches and a picture book on its Etsy Store. Chaz Bundick, whose band is called Toro Y Moi, sold a limited edition tote bag that he designed himself and packaged with digital download cards of the new album.
Collaboration With Etsy Artists
In 2009, Etsy started inviting artists to perform in its space. At a series of events called “Rock n’ Shop,”It would stream these performances live (rock) in its Virtual Labs, and the artists would curate a selection of items from Etsy (n’ shop).
The events were one of the first examples of bands collaborating with Etsy artists to establish a presence on the site.
Three years later, bands that don’t craft are still using Etsy. Like Lady Gaga, indie rock band The Walkman teamed up with established Etsy sellers to launch a pop-up store on the site in anticipation of its latest album release.
Why Etsy?
Etsy’s music roots go deep. Stinchcomb used to be in a band with Etsy’s “office ecologist,” Josh Wise. Two more employees are still working together in a band called Neighbors, and several others are DJs. Etsy’s social media specialist, Dave Brown, ran an independent record label for more than 15 years. And when new employees start at the company, they are given a $50 budget for headphones.
Music plays a big role in the lives of many Etsy’s employees, and the theme seems bound to have leaked into the product that they’re creating.
At some point, for instance, Brown started a Twitter tradition of highlighting a band on “Music Mondays.” At another, the video team decided to profile the band Tuneyards (the video will be posted on the Etsy site in Mid-September). Asking to speak with people who have worked on music projects at Etsy gets you a meeting with representatives from merchandising, customer support, community, editorial, international and office ecology teams.
Now, Stinchcomb says, the company is just starting to consider what a more formal format for Etsy music might look like. He could personally, he says, imagine a licensing platform where bands can collaborate with Etsy artists to make fan art.
His guess is that Etsy’s costumers overlap with the music scene as much as its employees.
“We have 25 million people coming to Etsy every month, and they are looking for unique and special things,” he says. “And I feel like they’re the kind of people who also want to find unique bands.”
Thumbnail image courtesy Etsy user IHeartThis
Via Mashable: http://www.mashable.com
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