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Like most other traditional business, the music industry is engaging customers via the Internet. Music, like all the other commodities, is also stumbling to a degree in its approaches to people in presentation, methodology, monetization and the use of technologies too. From iTunes to LastFm, people on the web are “engaged” or approached with a rather vast (if somewhat similar) array of interfaces designed to essentially allow a traditional media product to integrate into the digital realm. This is a great happening for music lovers. However, as proponents of “a new Web”, we must understand that all these sites are really only infantile attempts to produce a better musical mousetrap.

Popularity, as most of you know, is perhaps the biggest driving factor for online (or any other kind) success. Digg, TechCrunch, YouTube and even Google are far more viable because of popularity and branding than actual innovation. Enter the popularity equation for streaming and music dispersion. LastFm, and all the rest are in effect popular simple conduits for data. They loosely or directly push sales of tracks for any number of artists, middle men, companies and etc. Amid the mirage of what you might call “remora”, a music lover’s entertainment dollar washes from one hand to another. For listeners and artists alike, this has been a necessary evil for many years. No one as of yet come up with a better plan for music discovery,monetization and distribution.

Enter Fairtilizer

Ok, so what the hell is “artist centric” any way? Well, in this case it means gearing the marketplace to the commodity so that the consumer is put in closest proximity to what he/she wants. In entertainment and the world, we are not just talking about the songs, but all the peripheries of the art. The artist, the venue, the news, the atmosphere and ultimately the world where the art is made is where it is at for many fans. Face it, if we all just wanted the sound of music, we would listen to satellite radio and forget it.

Olivier - CEO Fairtilizer

Fairtilizer’s development, headed by co-founders Olivier Rosset and J. f. Groff, is one of the few I have seen that began with the value, and is intended to build technology around that. These two entrepreneurs are veterans of both the music business and none other than the actual creation of the Web in the case of J.F.Groff - who worked with Tim Berners Lee at the onset. Olivier first preached his message to me back when I first wrote about the startup for ReadWriteWeb. One interesting thing here is, that beyond this initial tech blog news for Fairtilizer, nothing aside grass roots word of mouth in the music community has been focused on the startup. Simply put, there has been no hype or even focused effort to promote Fairtilizer at all. Music is what it is about and artists love it - period - this is a pure art driven effort!

New Currencies

Beyond the stream and links to yet still more places to buy music, Fairtilizer’s mission is to tailor and simplify a process that has essentially become too complicated. Artist centric as opposed to user centric is sort of like analyzing whether the chicken or the egg came first. Perhaps a better way of looking at Fairtilizer’s place in the market might be to think of them as an apple orchard or garden where people who want fruits can go. In a very real way Fairtilizer symbolizes a return to basics with the use of modern technology. Simply put, consumers of music can cut through the BS and rather than practice “WalMart” consumers as the status quo, they can just eat straight from the farmer’s basket. Anyone who ever ate really fresh fruits knows that both cost and quality are far superior straight from the tree. So,Fairtilizer’s 100 percent royalty to artists combined with the lack of ad monetization (spam) on the site, equals value for artists and music lovers.

A Do-It-Yourself music company is kind of novel idea when you think about it. But for budding artists, seasoned veterans weary of the menagerie that is corporate music now and consumers who are essentially “fed” popular art -Fairtilizer represents a whole new currency in Web revenue models. Do be misled however, simple membership driven monetization (which is in effect what this startup will use) is not a novel idea. However, it is quite unheard of in this niche and potentially something that could be the flagship of a new Web monetization and advertising model. I will elaborate on this in a later post, but for now suffice it to say that Olivier and J.F. have helped open my eyes to a new way of thinking.

Simplified Truths

Giving readers a detailed corporate outline of one of our clients is not exactly what either they or this author wants. Suggestion and proposed intent are far more appropriate in this case. But for those of you who need more stimuli to look into something interesting, here are some simple truths that Fairtilizer answers.

Truth Number One - No other music Web site actually puts listeners or fans in real proximity to artists! As I said before, music lovers do not simply want the sounds, but the “proximity” for more than one reason. Detached and impersonal is what recorded music has been about for the last 40 years. This is why artists do concerts. Music is a medium really designed to be heard live actually. This is one reason music video is so popular, because accentuating the sound are the sights and other personalization aspect of what anyone knows is “an experience” as much as anything.DIY artists are right in front of the listner at Fairtilizer and will be even more so with upcoming innovation.

Truth Number Two - People are sick and tired of advertising. No need to go long on this one, a new advertising model is so badly needed and not one that is just creative either. I think that what Fairtilizer is doing with fee supported tools for artists is effectively sharpening the economics of music as a commodity. Again, like a farmer telling a passer by; “These beautiful apples are about 1 tenth as expensive as those atWalMart, yet (as you can see) red, juicy and delicious”. Another way of thinking of Fairtilizer is as a super cool recommendation engine for sound. By this I mean that in theory every artist in the world is presented to the listener for the ultimate in selection, quality and relevance. No ads, no hype - just all the music in the world where the artists put it.

Truth Number Three - People get lost in technology. Startups basically address problems these days with the use (or the illusion of need) for technology. Every startup I ever tested listed innovation or some technical term as one part of their vision. The problem is not with innovation being part of the vision so much as overshadowing it from the onset. Fairtilizer is about the music and the artists and is only now working on new technologies for the toolbox. The site as it has existed is fairly “early Web 2.0″ and for good reason. Oliver and J.F. are keenly focused on the music while realizing the eventual need for superb tools. This is not to say thatFairtilizer is not an effective tool now, but simply pale in comparison to what it soon will be.

The Last Truth - Whether you believe people go to concerts or concerts go where the people are, Fairtilizer and its developers consider this a fore-gone-conclusion. Interjecting art upon the scene of the Internet with such a vision effectively takes care of both. Fairtilizer brings the concert, the artist (and the behind the scenes) to people and plants the people smack dab in the middle of the artist’sDIY music company.

Clouds of Gas or the Classical Variety?

Ok, the FAirtilizer brand brings to mind cow manure! So, what is wrong with that? In my view Fairtilizer is one of those rare companies that simply will not fail. Symbolic of the confidence and patience required to be successful at anything, the development has not even been promoted. Honestly! Even our directive for consulting with the team is not constrictive but certainly does not presuppose any massive media push until the time is right. This time will, obviously be, when the interface, the rest of the artists, the partners and the advanced re-design and tools are in place. The focus is on what it should be on - art.

I seldom write articles like this about our own clients, at least to this extent. The reason I am writing this one is because I am so excited about the possibility Fairtilizer and its constituents. Also, the recent Mashable Open Web Awards post on music sort of did part of my job for me with regard to evangelism. I honestly hope the people voting and reading this will realize the simple elegance and progressive vision of thisstartup. From and informed point of view and after having tested any analyzed most startups, the certain success of Fairtilizer does not impede my desire to see it happen sooner than even the developers.

It goes without saying that I love this idea! In fact, our own company is working at this moment with several Web friends to create even more refined and useful tools for millions of people. It is an exciting time for me, my partner and our friends, and I want to thank Olivier and J.F. here for helping our team “reboot” our thought processes for the coming innovations. Mark the time and watch traditional music transform - Fairtilizer has the gas to embrace the vision.

Note: Fairtilizer is a client of Pamil Visions Public Relations of which I am a senior partner.