Music Xray introduces a new service: FanMatch and Tip Jar for musicians

As I previously introduced Music Xray in this post along with the newest opportunities in a feed, the platform continues to extend their services through FanMatch including a feature called Tip Jar which both have been launched in August 2012. These are accessible for registered users at musicxray.com.

FANMATCH it's a new paid service that will result in recommendation of your songs to as many targeted fans as you apply for.*
Music Xray allows fans to sign up and join so called focus groups (soon to be renamed to FanMatch) where they're presented music of registered artists (one song per one listener). If a fan who has agreed to contribute in this service admits he/she likes your song, you'll get his/her email address so that you'll be able to manage your mailing list on your own discretion, independently. A fan can dislike the song as well as become a fan and tip you (see Tip Jar below). Fans hold the right to unsubscribe from your newsletter anytime.

To start a new FanMatch, you need to:
1) log in into your artist Music Xray profile (or sign up here),
2) authorize your Facebook profile to connect to your Music Xray account,
3) upload a song or a few into Music Xray (mp3 max. 20MB each, you can also import them from your SoundCloud profile),
4) locate FanMatch on the top bar,
5) pick "start new FanMatch campaign" and adjust it to your needs.

You can also see your existing campaigns and your income as well as other necessary details under "my FanMatch" menu.
According to Music Xray promo movie, a fan who signs up for this option, will leave his/her data kind of: first name, age, location, favorite bands, favorite genre and last CD bought.

For each $1 you (the musician) pay, we will target 3 potential fans and if they like your music, we’ll get their contact info for you and maybe even convince them to leave you a tip. They will be targeted based on their taste profile – meaning that they will be somewhat predisposed to like your general style and sound.
First, you will need to pick a song of yours and submit for the campaign. Next, for each dollar you spend, Music Xray targets 3 fans. When fans hear your music, they can become a fan and they will be allowed to download your song in exchange for their email address. They may also tip you in support of your work and to cover some of your expenses (listed on TipJar page).

Sign up here (free) to join Music Xray - a modern A&R on-line platform for music industry professionals

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TIP JAR is a feature offered through FanMatch.

As part of Music Xray’s new FanMatch service, every artist account will now have its very own Tip Jar. The Tip Jar will have it own URL so you can link to it from anywhere, tweet it, post it on Facebook, email it… you name it – and you’ll be able to set it along side any one of your tracks when you send it to your fans to hear. In other words, whenever you send a new song out to your fans, your tip jar can go right along beside it.
Targeted fans will get a chance to tip you in support of your music. Not only they can make a decision about an amount of money to send you but also you will decide about a minimum and maximum tips to receive. So instead of 'pay what you want' resulting in 50 cents, you will get for instance $3.00 from 1 fan (minus a transaction cut unless it's added upfront to an amount of the tip a fan wants to pay, it's not explained yet).
These tips will be displayed visually as icons representing the typical cost of an item "including the average cost of a song submission to an industry professional via Music Xray". For instance, there will be icons such as a glass of beer, a hamburger, a guitar (meant as strings), a microphone, an amplifier etc.
This should make the listeners realize why a financial support means a lot to musicians who have their own ordinary needs like everybody else.

Every registered musician (having an artist account on Music Xray) will be able to customize the Tip Jar description in terms of its goal along with a option to display a song to present to a listener on the Tip Jar page. What's more important, a musician will be also given a chance to enable/disable the amount of tips (for instance leaving everything over $10 only) and change a tip name.

You will be able to withdraw all the money you've received or invest it into collecting more fans or submit to various Music Xray opportunities (such as a song review, music licensing for a movie/commercial, label roster consideration etc.) provided by music industry professionals.

Since the payments have been managed through PayPal, there will be two cuts unless Music Xray arranges a better deal with PayPal. Music Xray will take 10% from your tips - 5% for PayPal credit/debit card transaction costs and 5% for FanMatch development/maintenance.
It should be underlined, that PayPal payments allow Music Xray to offer their opportunities worldwide and so they are not limited to the US residents only.**

Sign up here (free) to join Music Xray - a modern A&R on-line platform for music industry professionals
FanMatch along with Tip Jar are still in a progress of development, however promotional materials don't explain yet:
- if there's a minimum amount of tips to withdraw,
- what happens if a fan doesn't like your music (any refund?),
- how many songs a fan could download (computer IP-depended?),
- if there's any protection of your files so fans wouldn't share them illegally with others (or if you must agree that a fan can do anything with your files or a fan agrees he/she will never share?),
- if there are any consequences for a fan if he/she marks your email address as spam,
- if there's a hub for you to manage your newsletters through musicxray.com
- if Music Xray oversees the results of FanMatch, band newsletters, fan behaviors etc.

(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, August 30th, 2012)

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* Source 1 | Source 2
** Music Xray is a digital music company based in New York City. The company's official name is Platinum Blue Music Intelligence Inc. but it began operating under the name Music Xray in July 2009. Source

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