Partners now have access to Fan features

We've redesigned the InstantEncore.com title bar to highlight two new features.

First, Partners now have access to the same features that InstantEncore Fans have. This means that you can:

• Add and edit your Fan List (the artists, composers, presenters, works and cities that you are a Fan of)
• Access your personal concert calendar which keeps track of the concerts you are going to or interested in
• Add friends (link to other InstantEncore users)
• Manage your Fan Alert Email Settings

To view your Fan Profile click your username in the top right (under the "Logout" link). The Fan Profile is private for Partners. This means that your fans won't be able to access it. Instead they will be directed to your public InstantEncore page which has all of your music, videos, concert listings, etc.

Here is an example of the User menu available to partners:

The second new feature is that the Control Panel menu is always displayed at the top of the page. This gives you quick access to the Control Panel no matter where you are on InstantEncore. To go directly to your public InstantEncore page click your full name (in the top right of the website, just to the left of where it says "InstantEncore Partner")

We hope that these changes allow you to be both a fan and an artist on InstantEncore. Try out the new features and let us know what you think.

Promote your Music, Concerts and Videos

We've just released an update that gives you new tools to promote your music, concert listings and videos. The goal of these tools is to make it easier to share your music with fans no matter where they are on the internet.

The heart and soul of these tools is the Promotion Checklist which you'll find after you upload an album, create a concert listing or add a video. This checklist will give you options for promoting your content on:

• Social Networks (Facebook and Twitter)
• Your own website with Widgets
• InstantEncore.com
• iPhones
• and more...

The Social Networks item gives you a fast way to post your new content to Facebook or Twitter. If you want, you can even save your Twitter account info so that you never have to leave the Control Panel.

We've also made it easier to embed widgets of albums and concert listings. Click the "Embed Widget" button in the checklist and you'll be given quick access to the embed code and a preview of the widget. There is also a link that you may click if you want to customize your widget.

In addition to the Promotion Tools we've also improved the Video management. You can find a complete list of your videos directly in your Control Panel (just click "Videos" in the Digital Assets section of the Control Panel). Each video includes links to view, tag, and of course promote the video. The pages for adding new videos to InstantEncore has also been redesigned in an attempt to make it quicker and more straightforward.

Take a look at the changes and let us know if you have any comments or questions.

Sync your YouTube Channel with InstantEncore

We've made it even easier to manage your videos on InstantEncore. If you have a YouTube channel you can sync it with InstantEncore so that all of your existing videos are automatically imported. Also, in the future any videos you upload to YouTube will be imported automatically.

To use this feature do the following:

1. Go to your Control Panel
2. In the "Digital Assets" section click "Videos"
3. Click "YouTube Channels" in the menu on the left
4. Submit the name of your YouTube Channel

All videos will be automatically tagged with your name, and you can set it up to auto tag any other artists, ensembles, etc that will appear in every video.

As always, if you have any questions just drop us note or leave a comment.

Website update Nov 2, 2009

A few updates went online recently. Here's a quick recap:

Redesigned Work, Venue, City and Metro Area pages

The Work, Venue, City and Metro Area pages have all received a face lift. The pages now have the same format and similar features to our artist pages on InstantEncore. To access these pages just click the name of any Work, Venue, City and Metro Area when you are browsing InstantEncore. In the future we plan to make these pages searchable from our Search Bar at the top of every InstantEncore page.

Here are some examples:

Mozart: Symphony no 41 in C major, K 551 "Jupiter"

Kimmel Center

New York

Download audio files from the Control Panel

You can now download your audio files directly from the Control Panel. If you need to re-use the audio for another album or if you just want to keep a copy for yourself on your computer you can get the downloads by logging into your Control Panel and going to the album page (click "Upload Audio" from the menu on the left of the album page). No more need to create a download code that you'll only use once!

Miscellaneous Tag

This new tag was designed for the small niche of our partners who needed to tag people/organizations that should be associated with an item but aren't technically the presenters or performing. For example, if you want an album or concert listing to show up on the InstantEncore page of an artist management firm you can tag them in the miscellaneous field. The public won't see the name of the artist management firm when looking at the concert listing, but the concert listing will show up on the artist management's IE page, iPhone App, or WebKit widgets. For more information visit here.

As always, please send us your feedback. You can either leave a comment on the blog or send us an email.

Add any link to your Buzz

We've had a lot of requests asking that we give partners a way to manually add a link to your Buzz. In the past, items in the Buzz had to come from InstantEncore's Buzz Directory. That meant that if you had a great review but it came from a source that didn't have an RSS or ATOM feed then it would not appear in your Buzz. Now we've made it possible to get that great review in your Buzz.

Here's how to do it:

1. Make sure you are logged in with your Partner account.
2. Go to your InstantEncore Page
3. From the menu on the left choose "Links"
4. Paste in the link you want to add.
5. Write a description.
6. Check the "Include link in the Buzz" box
7. Click the "Submit" button.

The link will show up in the Buzz section of your InstantEncore Page (and iPhone App if you have one). If you've added a Link in the past and want it to show up in your Buzz you can go to your "Links" page and click "edit" on any link you've added. You'll be given the opportunity to make the link Buzzworthy.

You can find more tips about how to manage your Buzz in the Control Panel. Just go to the Control Panel and choose "Buzz" in the "Digital Assets" section.

As always, let us know if you have any feedback.

Promote Download Codes, iPhone Apps and more with Printed Materials

We have been receiving requests for printed program inserts to promote your iPhone apps, feature download codes and cards, and quick "how to download instructions". We decided to make the process a bit easier!

In your Partner Control Panel under "Fan Center" you will now find "Printed Materials". There are five templates to fit your project needs along with examples from the London Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Portland Friends of Chamber Music, WFMT-Chicago, Ravinia Festival, Thomas Hampson, and La Jolla Music Society.

We hope this makes it fun, quick, affordable, and easy to bring your amazing innovative projects to your audience. Let us know if you have questions.

Control Panel Redesign

You've probably noticed that we've redesigned the Control Panel. All the features that you are used to are still there - but now they are organized into a few different sections to make it easier for you to access them.

• Digital Assets - This area contains all the assets that you manage with InstantEncore such as Concert Listings, Music, Videos and more.

• Platforms - Platforms are the places where users interact with your assets. Choose InstantEncore.com to manage specific settings for your InstantEncore page. Your Website has widgets and tools that make it easy to put your digital assets on your own website. And last but not least is the iPhone section. If you have an app powered by InstantEncore you can manage it here. If you don't - get one!

• Fan Center - The Fan Center contains tools that help you leverage your assets and platforms to gain more fans, sell more tickets and increase donations - the important stuff!

These three sections form the backbone of the Control Panel, but there are a few more changes, too.

• Premium Services - This section lists additional services that you can get from InstantEncore. The iPhone app is the easiest way to gain a presence on the mobile platform. WebKit Pro is a new service that gives you advanced tools and widgets to help put the assets you manage with InstantEncore such as Concert Listings and Music on your own website (saving you TIME and MONEY). Learn more about WebKit Pro here.

• At a Glance - Get a quick look at your InstantEncore activity. Find out how many fans, streams, downloads and revenue you've had in the last 24 hours or all-time.

• Menu Bar - The menu bar at the top of the Control Panel is the quickest way to jump between sections of the Control Panel. It also has direct links to you page and the Help section.

We hope that you find these changes improve your InstantEncore experience. If you have any feedback or questions please leave a comment on the blog or send us an email to support@instantencore.com.

Welcome to the InstantEncore Partners Blog

Thanks for visiting the Partners Blog. We'll be using this blog to communicate with you about new developments for IE partners. Anytime we have minor or major updates we'll write about them here so definitely come back often to get the latest news. You can find a link to this blog in the "What's New" section of the Control Panel.

We'll also us the blog to answer questions that we receive frequently and we even hope to have a few partners write guest blogs about how they get the most out of IE features. If you've got any questions, feature requests or any comments please feel free to leave a comment or send us an email (support@instantencore.com).

Thanks as always for using InstantEncore!