News from Web&Tech Ready winners: 3plet Publishing

Over its first year of operation, 3plet Publishing, a winner of the Seed 2014 nomination, has issued over 100 music albums downloaded by 150 thousand users. Thus, based on the data provided by the company, 3plet Publishing counts among the Top 5 music publishers in the country by the number of releases.

The new format of music content distribution

3plet Publishing is a company developing a new format of digital publishing and distribution of music albums. The 3plet (“triplet”) format is based on a combination of an audio recording, visual and text components. All album components are assembled in a single application and sold in App Store and Google Play. The release is also integrated with the artist’s channel on Youtube and accounts in social networks.

Business model

The path beginning at the moment of a triplet album creation via the web interface and releasing it to stores and ending with its publication usually takes 2–3 weeks. Release of one music album costs EUR350, and in case of commercial distribution via application stores, developers share sales income with the artist. A single containing 1–3 tracks from an album is free to be downloaded by users, and a full album costs $3–10. The triplet album format claims to set a new industrial standard for music album publishing.

Service functioning >>

Comments of the founder

Valery Mifodovsky, CEO:

Actually, our service performs functions of an album production factory; we just make them in the form of separate applications and obtain a finished digital product with an elaborate concept and content, without having to delve into such issues as the number of copies, logistics, or worldwide shipping.

For a performer, it is a chance to display their artistic potential to its fullest extent, a way to broadcast more emotion. Although, in one way or another, we have been conducting this project for nearly 8 years already (from first ideas to real implementations), spring 2014 can be considered as an official launch of 3plet, as it was when the platform enabled simultaneous releases for Android and iOS. In the same year of 2014, we won the Seed nomination of the Web Ready contest and gained recognition not only in the professional musician sphere, but also from the expert community. As a result, the project awareness increased greatly. Besides, participation in the contest gave us valuable experience, both in communications with potential investors and venture capitalists and an important skill of presentation preparation and demonstration of our product.

So what happened this year?

We have won or entered final stages of several contests. We represented Russia at the international finals of Creative Business Cup in Copenhagen. Articles about us were published in the Western mass media. The number of releases published has increased significantly: as of today, 100 albums have been released, and, according to our data, 3plet made it among the Top 5 music publishers in our country based on the number of releases; over 150 thousand users have installed our apps, which is quite an industrial achievement.

Market

As of today, our project does has no prototypes in the world; it is unique indeed. And it enjoys market demand, primarily by artists and their fans. We aim at the Western audience for which an album is a basis of musical culture, where not only music but visual and text components, a context, are important as well. In addition, the Western music market is larger than our market by an order. Our service is already being used by performers from the USA, France, Serbia, Ukraine, Estonia, and India. Yet an interest to such innovations is gradually become more present in Russia as well, both among professionals and music connoisseurs.

Customers

Currently, such famous musicians as Boris Grebenshchikov, Ivan Dorn, Mumiy Troll, and Noize MC have released their albums in 3plet format in Russia.

First examples of use of this format for presentations and electronic booklets with music have appeared. Releases have been made for Greenpeace, New Moscow, social project “Acropolis: How I found my body”.

We received confirmation that we were correct in our understanding of the chosen concept of album culture preservation and focus on the interests of artists and their fans. We received a ton of positive feedback.”