FanTrail - Breakthrough Platform Directly Connects Musical Artists And Fans

FanTrail, a groundbreaking, FREE mobile platform for iPhone and Android launches today. The innovative platform connects musical artists and fans in ways that have never been possible before, and pays the artists when their fans use each app. FanTrail is the first platform to offer the artist’s actual voice, a reward system for fans, and a direct relationship with the artist. Artists like Erykah Badu and The Roots are among the pioneers of FanTrail; theirs and other FanTrail artist apps are available on iTunes today, and on Android soon after.

Joel Rasmussen, Co-founder and CEO of FanTrail notes, "Artists and fans naturally want to connect, and this platform allows them to do so in a way that is more immediate, direct, and personal than ever before." Joshua McClure, Co-founder and CTO, notes "What’s exciting about the platform is that it allows an artist to use their voice, their most powerful instrument, as their primary tool for reaching their fans."

FanTrail’s patent pending technology, including LoveMail and the LoveMeter, give artists a powerful new set of tools for reaching, engaging, and entertaining their fans. Employing elements of popular games, the platform keeps fans coming back again and again. Artists can post news and events, update all of their social media at once, send voice messages directly to fans, and even reward their most devoted fans with shout-outs, meet and greets, private messages, or anything the artist can dream up.

"What is perhaps most surprising," continues McClure, "is that we pay all of the artists on the platform. We share all of our streams of revenue with the artists, based on how many fans they have and how active those fans are." Rasmussen notes, "This has never been done before, and we've found an exciting way to align everyone's interests."

SxSW COMPETITION

FanTrail is also launching a major competition -the "Sweetwater INDIE CUP" - for all 2200 showcasing artists at the 25th annual SXSW Music Festival in Austin, March 15-20. Each band can build FanTrail apps in their name; the act that creates the biggest "fantrail" by recruiting fans for their app will win $40,000 worth of recording equipment, as well as a free recording at world famous Sweetwater Studios in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Bands can sign up at www.FanTrail.com.

FanTrail was created by entrepreneurs Joel Rasmussen and Josh McClure. Joel Rasmussen is a writer, publisher, filmmaker and digital audio expert. His critically hailed film "Before the Music Dies", starring Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Questlove, Erykah Badu, and others was called "the most important film a music fan will ever see", by Lee Abrahms, CEO of XM Radio. Josh McClure is a technology entrepreneur with a widespread background ranging from military intelligence to the video game industry. Over the years, he has founded several technology firms including Agile Poet, the firm that developed the initial FanTrail prototype.

Artists – independent or signed- can register for their own FanTrail app at www.fantrail.com.

Fans can find their FanTrail apps at the iTunes and Android store online.