Norwegian digital music startup Soundrop launched a new service called Show.co that wants to help musicians promote their latest releases and grow their email lists. Show.co is kind of like an About.me for digital music – a very minimal and clean site with a basic player that gives visitors access to a track right away.
Once you hit play, you gain access to additional cards that offer access to additional content in exchange for an email address, prompt you to subscribe to a YouTube channel or follow the artist on Soundcloud, Twitter or Facebook.
Artists can also redirect users to streaming music services like Spotify or Deezer or offer an option to buy digital downloads on iTunes, Amazon or elsewhere. Show.co can be used as a standalone mini-site, or embedded into other websites. Check out a Show.co embed below:
Show.co is a bit of a departure for Soundrop, which has been building the collaborative listening app by the same name ever since Spotify first allowed apps on its service in late 2011. Over the years, Soundrop has brought its app to additional platforms, and struck partnerships with a number of labels and bands for live events on music services like Spotify and Deezer.
However, while Soundrop has been a success with users and labels, it hasn't exactly resulted in a windfall for the company. Soundrop's Chief Marketing Officer Thomas Ford told me Monday that the company has generated some revenue through branded events and apps, but added that the opportunity for a marketing tool like Show.co could be potentially much larger. "We think a lot of labels in particular have been looking for a way to promote content in a way that they get most of the value." he said. "Right now, they often share content through other consumer services that keep a lot of the data, for instance." Show.co on the other hand is giving labels complete control over their data.
Show.co will have to compete with a number of other digital music marketing and promotion tools, including some built by Topspin, the company that got recently acquired by Beats Music, as well as BitTorrent's artist bundles. And while some of those marketing tools are free, Show.co will only be available to artists and labels that pay between $20 and $400 a month.
However, the service could stand out once it adds some of the features the company developed for its Soundrop app. Ford told me that adding Soundrop-like live chats with artists is already on the roadmap. "You could imagine a scenario where an artist wants to do a chat to promote a new album," he said, adding: "They haven’t put it on Spotify, but they can put it here and make it available for just the length of the chat."
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