Tate Music Group to launch iPhone apps this summer

Okay, I'm a horrible blogger, I know. I have the best of intentions to blog, but somewhere along the way I can't seem to carve out the time to make it happen. I actually get a lot of flack from my colleagues about this (you know who you are!), and I promise I'm making an effort to do better. But I do have good reason for my absence in the blogging world...

Over the past few weeks, I have been leading a team to create iPhone apps for our Tate Music Group artists. Since the initial introduction of this revolutionary device, more and more people are discovering that the iPhone is more than just a phone. The App Store provides downloadable applications that do everything from managing your son's tee-ball scores to telling you what song is playing at the restuarant you're eating at.

So why not create an app that allows fans to connect with their favorite artist? Coming this summer, Tate Music Group will provide their artists with an iPhone app that their fans can download to get the lastest news, events, photos and more about them. Fans can even listen to songs exclusive to the app and read stories about the songs themselves from their latest release.

These apps will be branded under the name "GottaKnow," as in "GottaKnow Jeff Chandler" and "GottaKnow The Cliftones." The artists that are seeing the most success today understand the importance of connecting with their fans. Marketing tools like websites, Myspace, Facebook and Twitter allow artists to constantly be in their fans' lives, and the "GottaKnow" apps will only enhance the power a Tate Music Group artist has to succeed in an sink-or-swim industry.

In my opinion, this is revolutionary, and although a few major-label artists are starting to see the power of the iPhone as a great marketing tool, I'm still amazed how many people still don't seem to "get it." This isn't 1955 anymore (or even 1992), and the music industry needs to realize that the rules have completely changed (for the better in regards to the artist, in my opinion).

And authors are obviously our next target for iPhone apps. Tate Publishing authors need to connect with fans just as much as artists, and plans are already underway to create an app for our published authors.