- Music Forte
-
Music Forte Inc. is an S-Corporation registered in the State of Illinois, located in Naperville, which promotes and sells digital music which focuses mainly on "indie music", which is somewhat of a loose term as it includes both signed and unsigned artists. The company also serves as a "Full Line Internet Dealer" on behalf of Hal Leonard Publishing Co., and provides a social network for musicians and their fans
Contents
History
According to the State of Illinois,[1] Music Forte was registered in May 2004, citing Greg Percifield as the President of the Board and Owner/Founder. As an employee of the company he currently serves as CEO. David Werba is the co-Founder and also an Owner, serving as Editor and Director of Public Relations. Jeff Mason, minority owner/consultant, concurrently serves as President of Novatex Solutions.
Development
In late 2008, Music Forte newsletters announced a financial partnership with Novatex Solutions,[2] a web development company, which Music Forte claimed would enable vast improvements to their business model. In early 2009, a "new" Music Forte (Version 1.0) was released. Work to the site has since continued, and subsequent versions have been released.
Version 1.0
On May 5 of 2009, Music Forte revealed the first release. The V1.0 release showed that Music Forte had stripped away much of its previous functionality. It was noted by staff that this was a process that they had to take in order to rebuild and code the site with a consistent level which would allow for rapid future expansion. Several features, including membership plans were removed. Features that did remain, had a more polished look. Minor errors in data integration between the old and new site were noted.
Version 1.1
On October 1, 2009, Version 1.1 was released, bringing significant development with digital streaming. Music playlists were reintroduced, with added customization. Slight attempts at integration to dominant social networks were noticed. Footer links also announced the development of Music Forte's emergence on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. A Feedback Portal powered by UserVoice was released, which provided insight to bugs existing on the site, and feature requests.
Version 1.2
In March 2010, version 1.2 of the website was released, providing a renewed focus on member and staff blogs, artist interviews, and podcasting. Many features that had disappeared prior to 1.0, began to reemerge. A stronger integration with Facebook and Twitter was developed, allowing users to share information both to and from Music Forte. Facebook Connect allowed instant registration for users who already had a Facebook Account. Twitter's OAuth (authentication protocol) allowed instant registration for members who already had a Twitter account. At the time of the 1.2 release, it was announced that a strong focus towards the music chart algorithm had also gone into effect in an effort to provide more comprehensive charting with results that better reflected the interests of its listening audience. Completion of automated eMusic submissions were greatly improved, allowing artists to obtain ISRC for their tracks and UPCs for their digital albums.
Online Storefront
As an online storefront, Music Forte appeared to have trouble in its previous history. In June 2008, "Practical eCommerce"[3] had critiqued their storefront operations in an article that was designed to model how a successful online storefront should operate by presenting common errors and problems. Music Forte's storefront received a low score.
Artist Sales
Music Forte provides 100% of digital music sales to the artist. There is not a split imposed. Music Forte does not participate in ad-sharing either. Artists are required to have a minimum of $20 before receiving payment. However, money is accrued without any loss regardless of how long it takes to meet the minimum requirement.
The online storefront has since undergone two complete makeovers, although the results of the makeover have not been critiqued or documented.
Music Forte Catalog
Music Forte carries a variety of music products and has created two main identifiers in which products are categorized by; sheet music and digital music. There are many miscellaneous products as well, such as statuettes, music stands, posters, and DVD, which are indexed in their sheet music catalog.
Sheet Music
According to a Press Release by PRWeb,[4] the sheet music products equate to over 300,000 unique titles. The Music Forte website references over 100 Publishers, of whose work they sell.
Digital Music
The exact size of the current digital music catalog is unknown. Their catalog is broken into 24 main genres with several branching sub-genres.
Television
In April 2010, Music Forte announced they were working with Communications Corporation of America to produce televised commercials through ComCorp's affiliate-owned networks, including NBC, CBS, and FOX.
References
External links
Categories:- Online music stores
- Music retailers of the United States
- Companies based in DuPage County, Illinois
- Naperville, Illinois
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
