ARTISTDIRECT’S NEW VENTURE: MMM GOOD

ArtistDirect has partnered with FilterMMM (Music Media Marketing) to deliver what they’re calling a "one-stop service for record label marketing departments."

The tandem venture is called FILTERdirect, but if you don’t like the name, they’ll change it—for a price.

The two companies have been developing their respective online-marketing operations for some time now, and believe their complementary areas of expertise will add up to a highly targeted, cost-effective means of reaching music fans.

ArtistDirect’s extensive database of artists, fans, retail and concert resources, message boards and much more will get a further boost from FilterMMM’s experience in finding, communicating with and expanding fan bases. Unless, of course, the wildly disparate corporate cultures at the two companies—forced to merge by some mogul’s twisted dream of synergy—clash in a bloody turf war that brings the entire economy to its knees.

But that seems unlikely. Just look at these friendly quotes.

"FilterMMM is known for building almost one-on-one interactions with music fans," enthused ArtistDirect’s enthusiastic Vice-Chairman, Marc Geiger. "We have a huge community and a lot of traffic. Through FILTERdirect, we’re able to go in and connect members of that community to the music and artists they want to interact with."

"By combining with ArtistDirect, we’ve doubled the value of the marketing we’re able to deliver," proclaimed FilterMMM Co-Owner and Co-Founder Alan Miller. "Our campaigns become that much bigger through FILTERdirect because we’re able to use the resources and communities that ArtistDirect has built up over the years."

The new company will work from a 12-week "blueprint" customized to individual campaigns. The process begins with "initial seeding and pre-release awareness building" and continues through e-team and mailing list registration, pre-orders for product and post-release and tour-related promo.

"ArtistDirect can put a massive amount of information in front of big communities through targeted network and newsletter placements and other viral tools," urges Geiger. "With this technology and a shared strategy, FilterMMM can connect the dots at a very grassroots level and make FILTERdirect very effective."

Or, in the more succinct phrase of ArtistDirect Network Editor Penny Hewson, "We’re going to rock the online world!"

Well, somebody should.