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Over the weekend, I learned that Nimbit, which has been on my radar since Jon Delange of Tinderbox Music introduced me to the company’s CEO, Patrick Faucher, several months ago, has secured venture capital to the tune of $1 million. The company provides eCommerce solutions for artists and music promoters, and bespoke services such as digital distribution, CD/DVD replication and merchandise production, and web design. The company’s turnkey approach incorporates web technology to market and distribute digital music with physical solutions such as download cards and promotional prints. Nimbit appears to be acting in two ways: the first, as a technology company developing digital retail and marketing solutions such as embeddable storefront apps; and, the second, as a broker for commercial print requirements, from CD/DVD replication to custom-branded merchandise which complements its web facet.
Nimbit’s DownloadCards (credit card-sized branded cards with a unique ‘download’ code) can be sold or given away to the fan at the live venue and later redeemed online as digital tracks through a custom Nimbit store. This is an excellent example of digital commerce converging with physical commerce, however, DiscRevolt offers an almost identical solution. Emusu is also competing for a share of this market. In terms of digital music distribution, Nimbit is facing strong competition from TuneCore, ReverbNation, and CD Baby. As for print and duplication, Discmakers dominates the US music market and recently acquired Oasis, another formidable opponent in this space. Although Nimbit’s individual services are not particularly competitive as stand-alone features, the services, as a group offering, and Nimbit’s convenient all-under-one-roof approach, may satisfy artists and promoters with a slight edge.
