Upstart Startups: Spins.FM Connects Radio to Social Media

EAST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN: Radio still rules. Sure, we all spend a lot of time with our heads in headphones connected to our streaming devices, but as Spins.FM understands, there’s plenty of action happening on the airwaves.

David Baker of Spins.FM heard radio calling out to social media.

Borne and bred in the East Village, Spins.FM launched its Social Radio Requests App this summer, a handy gadget that helps to bridge social media and radio stations via Facebook-driven song requests. Listeners use it free to ask for their favorite songs, while artists and radio stations purchase it to implement campaigns, measure results and interface with listeners.

Born in Hawaii and raised in Arizona before making New York City his base of operations, Spins.FM Founder/CEO David Baker is passionate about terrestrial radio’s place in connecting to the fan base – and he has numbers to support it. For example, check out this chart Paul Resnikoff created for Digital Music News: “The traditional radio audience still dwarfs the streaming audience,” Baker explains.

For a look inside a scalable startup on the rise, see what Baker has to say about hatching a communications hybrid like Spins.FM.

How did you first get interested in radio?
I’ve worked in Web development and music for the last twelve years – and in the past few years working with music labels I learned that, contrary to common opinion, traditional FM radio is still very, very important in terms of leveraging a fan base and helping music artists make money. I also learned that there was no tool that existed that enabled them to do that using social media yet, so I started Spins.FM.

After creating an initial prototype and testing with a few of my clients, we launched over a year ago and have had success with top artists like P Diddy, Chris Brown and Britney Spears, and labels like Jive, Interscope and Capitol Nashville.

Congrats on getting yourself out there! When you were setting up Spins.FM, what opportunity did you see to bridge social media and radio?
Unlike a lot of Internet and emerging radio platforms, the economics of traditional radio are well established: Artists know that they make money when their songs are played on the radio, and they know that it is the most proven way of getting booked for local shows across the country. And radio DJ’s really care about listener feedback. Before Spins.FM existed, it was very hard for fans to connect with radio stations the way artists wanted them to.

There are three products that we offer:
1.     For fans: Free Social Radio Request tool on Spins.FM homepage that allows any fan to request any song on any radio station,
2.     For artists: service for artists and managers to start their own Spins.FM campaign – promoting their single on a targeted list of cities and radio stations,
3.     For radio stations: a Facebook app that allows listeners to request songs on the station’s Facebook page, and for stations to engage with local listeners — and filter out the noise.

Our main competition right now is the listener request line since no one else has made an online request form that is easy to fill out.  Mediabase, which is owned by Clear Channel, also has an online request form that makes you manually enter in info about you, which is not very fun and takes a long time to fill out. Even for the super uber fans who are willing to make a phone call — old school! — the system doesn’t work: It isn’t easy getting through to the radio station and discouraging.

Can you tell us about a specific project that Spins.FM has worked on lately? What were you able to accomplish?
Hot Chelle Rae started a Spins.FM campaign recently for their single “Tonight Tonight.” Before they started, they hadn’t had any radio play — the head of Jive was curious to see if Spins.FM could help with Hot Chelle Rae so they connected with us. A few months later, Hot Chelle Rae is platinum and “Tonight Tonight” hit number 7 on the Billboard charts.

Here’s how it worked: Hot Chelle Rae got the National Premium Request Campaign which includes a landing page on our homepage at spins.fm/hotchellerae and a Facebook app on their Facebook page. The feedback we got from Jive’s radio promotions team was that the radio stations actually like it when they hear directly from fans.

Another positive spin in NYC.

Shifting gears, launching a new initiative in this business takes some guts. What’s giving you the gumption to get Spins.FM going?
While the music industry is changing, music creation has never been easier which makes it an exciting time for musicians. I believe that music will thrive and grow – and that artists just need the tools to connect with their audiences.

We need to bring the DJ back. People like having their music curated by a human, but services like Pandora and Grooveshark — which are great in their own right — completely miss this part of what makes radio radio.

Did you go after venture capital/seed funding to get Spins.FM started, or did you bootstrap it?
We bootstrapped it from the start and have focused on growing revenues and growing a real business. We are in the process of raising additional capital for the next phase of the company, more on that to come!

In your experience what are some of the financial considerations that a startup needs to take into account to launch? And tell us you learned about making a strong business plan during this process?
Things take longer than you expect them to. Early stage companies should be aggressive with their timelines but also realistic with budgeting. The easiest way to fail is to run out of money. Sweat equity can only get you so far. It’s still crucial to keep in mind that it’s still a business and it takes money to move things forward. Each quarter, we plan knowing that things are going to change in another three or four months. We try to “get real”, to quote Jason Fried, as soon as possible — which means get feedback from our customers as soon as possible instead of forecasting and forecasting.

Are there other music business innovators you can point to that are pushing the envelope right now, especially in the online space?
Extension.FM, run by Dan Kantor and Charles Smith, is an incredible company. Their Google Chrome extension is hands-down the best music discovery service.

And we always want to know: Why make NYC your base of operations – why is this the right place to get Spins.FM spinning?
New York is the best place for us to be located because we are a 15-minute subway ride from any record label, radio station or media company we could want to talk to.

Not to mention it’s the music capital of the world: The startup scene here is very inspiring and provides a great environment and support system for entrepreneurs.  Institutions like General Assembly and New York Tech Meetup are critical for keeping it all going strong.

— David Weiss

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