The Big Problem With Reverbnation That No One Wants To Admit

ReverbNation.com is a web site, launched in 2006, that focuses on the independent music industry. It aims to provide a central site for musicians, producers, and venues to collaborate and communicate.

ReverbNation provides a widget that allows its members to place content on web pages. This TuneWidget is a feature that links back to additional content, such as music recommended by the band who created the widget.

Upcoming Kenyan artists have flocked to this website as some sort of saviour, given that it allows them to distribute their music at almost no cost. Many normal Kenyan citizens can attest to how they have been littered with alerts on their Facebook and Twitter profiles from celebrities egging them on to listen to music on the ‘Reverb Widget.’ However, as excited as artists may be about Reverb, there is one major flaw in the website: THE FANS ARE NOT ON THERE.

Lets look at the numbers:

A feature called Band Equity measures popularity based on four metrics of its service: reach, influence, access, and recency with the top 100 of each genre being recognized.

When we look at the artists with the highest Band Equity in Kenya, we come up with these figures:

1. Nonini – 1,208 Reverbnation Fans
2. Avril – 576 Reverbnation Fans
3. Wahu – 250 Reverbnation Fans

In “internet terms,” that is a really small number of fans to have after having a profile up for more than a year. Perhaps it’s time for local artists to look for websites that will promote them better… ( *cough* Ghafla *cough* )