????任何一位或多或少了解過基于數字化的音樂產業新范式的人都知道，今天已經進入了后唱片時代，專輯銷售已經不再是音樂產業昔日的搖錢樹，歌手或者音樂團體完全有可能過上體面的生活。

????大量的時髦產品顯示，只需擁有一個強大的粉絲社交網絡，一個殺手級的營銷理念，同時在眾籌平臺Kickstarter上舉辦一場籌款活動，就可以成為下一個阿曼達?帕爾默。這位女歌手去年憑借從粉絲手中成功籌集的一百多萬美元資金，制作了一張自我發行的專輯《邪惡劇場》(Theatre is Evil)。這張唱片最終榮登公告牌200強專輯榜(Billboard 200)的第10位。

????問題是，一個人身上不一定能夠同時具備卓越的音樂才能和超凡的營銷技巧。音樂圈內既有大衛?鮑伊這樣的營銷高手，也不乏尼爾?楊這樣的“隱士”。盡管尼爾?楊同樣具備非凡的音樂才華，但他幾乎連一張宣傳照片也不屑于拍攝。或者，如 Shoutabl網站聯合創始人特拉維斯?多諾萬所言：“現如今，如果你組建一支樂隊，你就會覺得哪個山頭都要占領，讓人覺得分身乏術。這些山頭一盤散沙，各自為陣。歌手們已經不再認為自己是一個有價值的目標，不再認為脫離Twitter或者Facebook就能打造一個以自己為中心的社區，而Twitter或Facebook并不會真正把他們的經濟利益放在心上。”

????“我的榜樣永遠是Tune-Yards，”他的合作伙伴特拉維斯?莫里森說。“她是美國最有趣的音樂人，她的網站就像是一張與其Facebook和Twitter賬戶相鏈接的圖像。她的首頁應該是美國音樂界最有意思的網站。這種情形是不對的。”

????多諾萬和莫里森試圖在目前處于測試階段的網站Shoutabl，應用他們在《赫芬頓郵報》( Huffington Post)工作期間學到的數字戰略，幫助音樂界的尼爾?揚們解決自我營銷問題。這個平臺允許不具備編程技能的用戶搭建可定制網站，而這些網站不僅可以承載來自音樂人社交網絡賬戶的內容，而且內置了一個基本的博客設置，提供了一個把內容通過這些賬戶推送出去的簡單方式，還可以充當YouTube 和SoundCloud等網站音樂內容的媒介。

????除了擁有為《赫芬頓郵報》推送內容的經驗外，多諾萬和莫里森還具備宣傳各自樂隊的實際經驗。多諾萬是鳳凰城金屬核樂隊 Not Quite Bernadette的成員之一。早在上世紀90年代，莫里森就在一支朋克樂隊擔任過主唱。它名叫“肢解計劃”(Dismemberment Plan)，以舞曲風格為主，在華盛頓特區頗具影響力。自從“電子郵件剛開始被接受”那時候起，他就一直應用技術來打理這支樂隊的業務。這支樂隊最近重新團聚，還計劃在10月份發行12年來的首張新專輯《Uncanney Valley》。Shoutabl直接反映出他在全新獨立音樂產業的經驗。

????“歌手們需要一大堆電子產品，”多諾萬說。多個產品無法單獨地提供一個全面的音樂營銷解決方案。樂隊可以把歌曲上傳至SoundCloud，通過BandCamp銷售，在Twitter上與粉絲溝通，在 Facebook推廣現場演出。在多個站點之間跳來跳去，但卻只能解決一部分問題，這是許多音樂人根本不想應對的一件麻煩事。“我討厭這樣做，我是一個高級用戶，”莫里森說。“那樣做太勞神了！我的意思是，如果你真的嘗試著創建一個WordPress博客，連上帝都看不過去！”

????Anyone who's read at any length about the new, digitally-based music business paradigm knows that it's entirely possible for an artist or group to make a living in a post-label world where album sales are no longer the industry-sustaining cash cow they once were.

????According to a vast number of trend pieces, all you need is a robust social network of fans, a killer marketing concept, and a Kickstarter campaign to become the next Amanda Palmer, who last year raised over a million dollars from her fans that funded a self-released album,Theatre is Evil, that made it to number 10 on the Billboard 200 chart.

????The problem is that musical ability and a knack for marketing aren't necessarily connected -- for every master salesman like David Bowie there's a reclusive Neil Young who is just as musically gifted but can barely be bothered to take a publicity photo. Or, as Shoutabl co-founder Travis Donovan puts it, "These days when you start a band, you're just inundated with all of these places you feel you need to be. It's so fragmented, it's so disconnected, and artists have moved away from the idea that they're a valuable destination, that they can curate a community around themselves without handing over that community to Twitter or Facebook, who really don't care about your financial interests."

????"My example is always Tune-Yards," says his partner, Travis Morrison. "She's the most interesting American musician working, and her website is like an image with links to her Facebook (FB) and Twitter accounts. Her front page should be the most interesting website in American music. It's not right."

????Shoutabl, currently in beta, is Donovan and Morrison's attempt to apply the digital strategies they learned while working at the Huffington Post toward solving self-marketing for the Neil Youngs of the world. The platform allows users without programming skills to assemble customizable websites that can host content from musicians' social networking accounts and a basic built-in blogging setup, as well as offering a simple way to push content back out through those same accounts, as well as serving media hosted on sites like YouTube (GOOG) and SoundCloud.

????On top of their experience pushing content for HuffPo, Donovan and Morrison both have real-world experience promoting their own bands. Donovan was a member of the Phoenix metalcore band Not Quite Bernadette. Morrison was the frontman for a dancey, punk-influenced Washington, D.C. outfit called the Dismemberment Plan back in the 1990s, and he has been using technology to help manage the band's business since "just as email was becoming legit." The group recently reunited -- they'll release Uncanney Valley, their first new album in 12 years, in October. Shoutabl is a direct reflection of his experience in the new independent music business.

????"There's this huge pile of B-plus products for artists' needs," says Morrison. The multiple products don't individually provide a comprehensive solution for marketing one's music. Bands can host tracks on SoundCloud, sell them through BandCamp, communicate with fans on Twitter, and advertise live appearances on Facebook. Bouncing between sites that solve only part of a problem is a hassle many artistic types just don't want to deal with. "I hate doing it, and I'm a power user," Morrison says. "It's exhausting! I mean God forbid you actually try to set up a WordPress instance!"