This is Mega!

Greg Diamond – ByrnesMedia

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Terry McArthur and Tim Morris of Mega Music Canada. Together, they have created an opportunity for your station to interact promotionally with listeners while simultaneously contributing to your annual Canadian Talent Development commitment. Sound interesting?

Tim was kind enough to take the time for a little Q&A about Mega Music and why, in my opinion, it’s a ‘no brainer’ for most stations.

Tell us about yourselves, the company, and what led you to the creation of Mega Music Canada?

Terry McArthur comes from 30 years at Universal Music Canada where he oversaw the sales, promotion and marketing for Western Canada. His time at Universal built him a solid and respected reputation in the music industry with both labels and radio stations.

I was also at Universal Music for 10 years where I ended up as Director of Marketing for Western Canada. I then went on as a VP of Business Development for Getty Images and excelled internationally in the digital space regarding social media and content platforms.

The combination and culmination of our skills set the stage for building Mega Music as a digital platform that bridges the gap between creating the demand for music and making the music actually available for the consumer. Something we saw quite often during our time at Universal where the demand was created for an emerging artist but the consumer could not find the music in record stores.

Thus, Mega Music, Canada’s Digital Download Platform for radio stations was born.

What is it and how does it work?

What we do is not complicated. But, yet, it is extremely effective. We create custom music download stores for radio stations. We then create custom music download cards that the station’s street teams hand out at concerts and events. The recipient of the card usually gets a download card that says “2, 5 or 10 Songs. How many did you win?” The listener is then directed to go to the station’s main website (thus, driving web traffic) and pushes a “Redeem Your Download Card Here” button which takes them to the custom made music store. Once the music is redeemed and downloaded, the artist and rights holders get paid. We have the exact same files as iTunes and the music is downloaded seamlessly into your iTunes library or preferred media library. 100% CCD compliant and CRTC Approved. We have over 1,800 Canadian artists and well over 65,000 songs available.

Using the exact same process as mentioned above, we can also provide full catalogue international music stores. This means listeners can redeem for U2, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and many more to the tune of 3.5 million songs available. This program must be funded outside of CCD.

The CTD aspect is very intriguing. A station’s clients and Canadian talent initiatives are largely exclusive. What makes Mega Music different in this regard?

While radio stations cannot monetize any CCD investment, Mega Music Canada just received a very unique concession from the CRTC which now allows for a download card to have a client logo on the back and also have the client be a distribution point for the cards. This is an advantageous way to leverage more client involvement and further the mass distribution of MORE music to MORE listeners.

How much work is involved at the station’s end to get this up and running?

This is one of the best parts about Mega Music in that we provide a turn-key solution without having to tax the station’s staff to create, design or populate the stores. We provide all of the graphic design, the platform build and research the station’s playlist and BDS charts to populate the music stores so they are reflective of the station’s format. From the time the station approves the download card artwork, they can expect to be up and running with download cards in hand and a custom made music store within 10 days.

Can you customize the service based on a station’s particular needs?

Yes. We are proud of the fact that we can customized these stores without limits which means we can include station promos, contests and existing station design assets so that it has the same look and feel as their main website.

Give us a few of your success stories to date?

We’ve run many campaigns across the country and without exception, the feedback we have received from promotion directors and their street teams is that this “digital swag” is very well received by their listeners. Handing over free music to someone has such an incredible perceived value because music is so universal. We’ve customized music stores for many different occasions and even artist-specific with Hedley and KISS in Toronto. Even around the Juno Awards last year with KISS FM in Ottawa. We’ve created Xmas music stores for stations like CHFI in Toronto, Clear FM in Winnipeg, Lite 92 in Halifax and Lite 95-7 in Edmonton who switch over to 100% holiday music for the holiday season.

We will be launching Juno branded music stores across the country again this year, so stations are urged to get in touch with us. There’s no better time to celebrate Canadian music than this time of year around the Juno Awards. Now is the time for stations to be thinking about mass distribution of music to their listeners for Canada Day as well.

Is there a demo available somewhere?

We created a quick 3 minute video which explains Mega Music to a tee. We often send this video link to stations so they can see firsthand real examples of our work, how it drives web traffic and how rewarding listeners with free music is so beneficial. Just go to http://megadigitalmarketing.com/howitworks.html

How can you be reached?

We can be contacted by phone or email anytime and are happy to answer any questions or discuss ideas.

Terry McArthur, CEO – tmcarthur@megamusic.ca – 403.616.7339

Tim Morris, President – tmorris@megamusic.ca – 403.978.2335

I checked out their company website, www.megadigitalmarketing.com and came across some more info to further explain the concept.

Benefits to Radio

  • An outstanding audience connection concept for stations in all formats.
  • Directly link fans of the station to the music they love.
  • Free music download winners must visit the radio station website in order to redeem the free music PIN code.
  • Website traffic grows with every winner.
  • The branded download store is provided free to the radio station by Mega Music Canada.
  • PIN codes must be purchased by the participating station.
  • Mega Music Canada has CRTC approval for the use of CCD funds to purchase pin codes.
  • Custom branded, full colour download cards include space for 3rd party or station client to further expand mass distribution opportunities.

A few highlights on Mega Music Canada…

Support from all levels of the music industry has been most satisfying. Here are a few of the highlights:

  • The CRTC has approved Mega Music Canada as an official expenditure for CCD funds.
  • FACTOR has provided a grant of $50,000 to further develop technical and content resources.
  • Mega Music has been included as a long term beneficiary in new radio applications. The CRTC had no issues with Mega’s inclusion and acknowledged our CCD approval.
  • Mega Music partners with CARAS to provide a custom digital music download sites for the Juno Awards. Give “Award Winning Music” to your listeners in celebration of Canada’s vast talent.

Yes! The Artists get paid…

Once a pin code is redeemed, all rights holders are paid full royalties, the artist, song writer(s) and the record company. Finally, a digital solution that is CRTC approved that benefits everyone: The station. The Listeners. The Artists.

Robust Social Media platform integration

Each page on your custom made music store has dedicated positions for your Twitter posts and Facebook streaming feeds. Our Mega Music design team provides positions on your landing page to accommodate music videos or any other video content specific to your station.

If you have a YouTube channel we can direct users to view your videos.

On average, users spend well over 3 minutes on our music stores which exposes your branding, promotions and Social Media interaction to them.

Promotion concepts & ideas: Mass Distribution of your cards

Anyone can give the gift of free music, announcers, promotions people, at remotes, concerts or other events or by a third party sponsor.

Even senior management can get involved by giving the gift of music to business friends and associates at lunches, dinners, service clubs and charity events such as golf tournaments.

The idea is to get as many cards into the hands of current and potential listeners as your budget can afford.  The more cards in your market, the more visits to your station website and the greater the benefit to Canadian music industry.

One of our clients utilizes their clients by giving them stacks of cards and then announcing that listeners can pick up the free music download at various locations around the city.

I encourage you to explore Mega Music Canada further. Like me, I think you will find yourself left with no reasons why you shouldn’t pursue this as part of your overall promotional/web strategy and CCD commitment.

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