Much was made recently about Nine Inch Nails creating a custom iPhone app for their fans. In the ever-changing landscape of the music industry, it's more important than ever for bands to find new ways to engage and interact with their fans, and things such as custom apps allow you to do just that. The problem for most of us, however, is that we're not programmers and even if we are, most of us probably wouldn't know how to get an app listed on the iTunes website anyway. That's where a new company called Mobile Roadie comes in.
Just to be clear, I don't work for Mobile Roadie, nor have I ever used their services. I am, however, a bit intrigued by what they offer and thought my readers might as well. Basically, Mobile Roadie allows you to create your own custom iPhone App that allows you to share photos and music, post news updates and tour dates, interact with fans on your 'fan wall', list your discography and provide direct links to your music on iTunes, and a whole bunch of other stuff. All the updates are done via your computer and Mobile Roadie claims it's easy enough to use that if you can send an email, you can use their software with no problems.
The one drawback at the moment (for me, at least) is the price. There is a one time set-up fee of $399, and then it is $29 a month after that. This includes your first 1,000 fans. For every fan using your app after that, it's an additional 1¢ per fan per month. The monthly fee seems reasonable, it's just that initial $399 that seems a bit steep to be sensible unless you are a band of a certainly level of popularity who tours a lot. Of course, the idea here is that you will (hopefully) sell more music in the end and that it'll pay for itself in the long run.
Is there anyone out there using their services? Let us know your thoughts!
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