SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- 05/06/08 --
IODA, the global leader in digital
distribution, marketing, and technology solutions for the independent music
industry, today announced the general availability of IODA Label Stores™, a
unique download storefront solution that enables labels and artists to sell
digital music directly to consumers. The announcement was made at the NARM
2008 conference in San Francisco. IODA Label Stores expands upon the
company’s existing suite of integrated marketing and distribution products
and services with another way for independent artists to grow their
businesses. Fully integrated into the company’s industry leading
Rightsholder Dashboard, IODA Label Stores operates seamlessly with IODA’s
catalog management, accounting, and marketing tools.
Last year, while participating in the beta program for IODA Label Stores,
several IODA clients launched storefronts to drive their direct-to-consumer
commerce strategies. Unlike major labels, independent labels such as Six
Degrees Records, Paper Bag Records, Om Records, ABB Records, Birdman
Records, and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO Classics) are strong
brands with loyal fan bases. IODA Label Stores provides these innovative
labels with an effective way to leverage and build their brand equity.
IODA-powered storefronts currently offer high quality MP3s from artists
such as Tokyo Police Club, Bebel Gilberto, Mark Farina, Little Brother, and
Rhat Ali Khan.
"In a time when big box retailers are squeezing every last penny out of
independent record labels, IODA Label Stores provides us with a way to get
top-quality digital music directly to our fans using the latest Web 2.0
technologies and innovations," said Brent Corey, chief technology officer,
G7 Welcoming Committee Records "The control it gives us over pricing is
ideal and has enabled us to be far more creative with our marketing. We
love it."
IODA's best-of-breed Rightsholder Dashboard will now empower labels to sell
direct to fans via a fully customizable, flexible online storefront. Within
minutes, labels can launch a branded digital download store right from the
IODA Dashboard with no set-up fee. Labels have many customization options
for design, pricing, and integration with their existing sites, all
controlled in real-time from the Rightsholder Dashboard. IODA's new
offering is in partnership with DownloadCentric, which provides ecommerce
expertise and end-user customer support. Advanced options also provide an
integrated digital and physical commerce solution.
"We are delighted with IODA Label Stores and have seen an up-tick in
purchases from fans that prefer to buy from us directly. The ability to buy
both digital music and traditional merchandise like CDs and t-shirts in a
single shopping cart on our branded storefront is a great user experience,"
commented Pat Berry, president, Six Degrees Records. "IODA Label Stores
brings together the best of both worlds: a trusted business relationship
and ecommerce functionality. This reliable combination is ideal for
companies like ours in a rapidly changing digital world."
IODA Label Stores is also available to IODA's physical distribution
partners via its D3 Distributor Platform. Allegro, one of IODA's largest
distributor clients, is taking advantage of the platform to drive
direct-to-consumer commerce.
"We are committed to providing our labels with the best technology
solutions, which is why we chose to partner with IODA," commented Jesse
McCann, digital operations manager, Allegro Media Group. "Through IODA's
platform, we can offer enhanced marketing and sales opportunities to our
many labels: IODA Label Stores and IODA Promonet(TM) network are two
excellent vehicles towards greater exposure and increased revenue for our
clients."
"IODA Label Stores saves labels time and effort while also providing a
great way to promote independent label brands and increase revenue,"
commented Kevin Arnold, founder and CEO of IODA. "Selling direct to fans is
an important part of the essential artist-fan relationship. As our labels
are already working with us to market and sell their catalog online, it
makes sense to add an easy to use, direct ecommerce solution."
Highlights of IODA Label Stores
Direct Commerce Relationships
-- For labels who already manage their content and digital business
through IODA's Dashboard, IODA Label Stores offers an easy and
integrated solution for creating direct commerce relationships
between labels and fans
Complete Control
-- Fully Customized: Labels can choose from a variety of design and
layout options ranging from templates that yield an attractive store
in 20 minutes to advanced HTML and CSS options for those with web
development resources. A storefront can include an entire catalog,
or separate stores can be created for individual artists, sub-labels
and imprints
-- Real-time Pricing: Sophisticated pricing controls allow labels to use
pricing as an effective marketing tool and provide flexibility that
large digital retailers are unable to deliver
-- Unique Content: Store content can include rare, out of print or limited
edition recordings previously unavailable to fans
Leveraged Digital Marketing and Operations
-- Promonet Integration: IODA's promotional network will distribute Label
Stores links to Promonet users, so that PromoTracks can point fans back
to label storefronts to buy
-- Integrated Accounting: Accounting and payment are available through the
same reliable system that labels depend on for the rest of their
digital business
-- Leading Technology: Labels receive the best of both worlds with IODA's
metadata, content, and delivery systems coupled with DownloadCentric's
expertise in e-commerce and web development
Seamless Integration
-- Artist and Album Integration: At both the artist and album level, IODA
Label Stores integrates with labels' existing websites
-- One Shopping Cart: Sophisticated integration of physical and digital
products into one shopping cart creates a complete commerce experience
Upcoming Features
-- Widgets: Customizable store widgets that can be embedded on and enable
sales on external websites including MySpace, blogs and fan sites
-- Multi-Currency Support: Support for pricing and billing in British
Pounds, Euros and Canadian Dollars
About IODA
IODA, the Independent Online Distribution Alliance, is the industry-leading
digital distribution company for the global independent music community.
IODA provides comprehensive services to record labels, physical
distributors, and artists, including license negotiations; media encoding
and metadata management; and royalty payment administration and reporting.
The company also offers promotional support through a dedicated marketing
division and through the IODA Promonet (www.iodapromonet.com), a
promotional distribution network that provides qualified podcasts, blogs,
and other promotional sites with access to pre-cleared, legal music and
other promotional assets from IODA's labels. Founded in 2003, IODA
represents a rapidly expanding roster of over a million tracks from
thousands of independent labels around the globe. IODA was named one of
FORTUNE magazine's 25 Breakout Companies for 2005. The company's website is
www.iodalliance.com.
IODA, IODA Promonet, IODA Rightsholder Dashboard and IODA Label Stores are
trademarks of IODA, Inc. All other trademarks are properties of their
respective owners.
Contact Info:
Jessica Hoffman
IODA
tel: 925-296-6161
email: Email Contact
