In order to understand market trends and get a better grip on where the greatest team-building and networking needs will be, the Bizooki team talks to the experts. Recently, Bizooki sat down with Mike Rapp, the Franklin, Tenn.-based president at founder of Generator Network, a newly-launched music packaging platform for independent artists.

Originally from Toledo, Ohio, and an Oral Roberts graduate, Rapp worked on Music Row in Nashville for over 20 years in a number of different capacities for record companies, from cassette/CD package design to art directing photo shoots. Since then, he has also managed his own graphic design company, Gear Inc.

In 2003, Rapp became co-publisher of a Rivals.com affiliate site, VandySports.com. For this site, Rapp has served as the chief photographer and columnist, covering multiple NCAA Tournaments in various sports, the MLB and NFL entry drafts, and has extensively covered sports recruiting. Rapp says he has learned many of the business concepts he has instilled in Generator Network from the Rivals model.

Bizooki: What is the purpose of your company?

Rapp: We provide an online business platform that helps artists and authors connect directly with their customers. We also give them the tools to monetize that relationship.

The artist pays us a design and development charge based on the demands of their site. Most of them pay us a la carte for many services including design consulting

Bizooki: Why did you seek to start Generator Network? What voids did you see that could be filled in the music industry?

Rapp: The music publishing business has always been a physical products business. When digital manufacturing began to happen, in conjunction with what was happening at Rivals (digital publishing of online sports content), it seemed like a natural evolution. What we do eliminates 80 percent of the costs in publishing. Regular publishing companies don’t have the infrastructure to do non-physical distribution.

For us, when I saw Rivals.com go from fairly fledgling to a powerhouse, I began to see something the record companies had no experience in, which was non-physical product information. I spent 20 years designing CD packages. Now almost everyone that made a living doing that is out of business; there’s almost no money to be made making physical products.

I saw the Rivals model as the polar opposite of the traditional record business, but I saw it as much more in line with what the fan wants. The fan does not want a relationship with the record company (i.e.-paying exorbitant prices for albums and traditional packaging), they want a relationship with the artist.

Rivals teaches you how to build a community, how to listen to fans. What we do is very similar to Rivals except that we have e-commerce and live event marketing.

(more…)