Music fans are bands' most precious resource. They can take artists to fame and earn them money. Creating and maintaining a strong fanbase is, therefore, extremely important for any band. Mobile Backstage offers artists directly engage with their core fans through a fully customized mobile app. Now their solution is also available as a Facebook app, though for the moment it is in free invite-only beta. Artists can apply for an invite here. Steam Republic, the company behind Mobile Backstage, also hired a new Chief Marketing Officer - David Hazan, a seasoned professional in music industry that would help the Helsinki-based start-up establish presense in the US.

Mobile Backstage Facebook application includes all the features of the mobile app and some more. Band members can create profiles inside the app and update them with rich content and news. Bands can post upcoming gigs, which fans can later check-into from their mobile devices. Artists can also sell their music and concert tickets directly from the app using iTunes and Songkick respectively.

To keep fans hooked to the app, Mobile Backstage enables fans to comment, 'like' and rate any content posted by the band or other users. They can also post photos and videos with comments and geo-tags. The tags are put on a customized Google map that shows location of fans and their posts as well as band's movement on the map. With the Facebook app fans can also invite their Facebook friends to join a band's online community, helping the band easily recruit new fans.

Bands can manage the app either directly from their phone or from a browser. Mobile backstage includes analytics to measure fans engagement.The application is available for most of the mobile platforms, but the more platforms the app encompasses, the more the band would have to pay.

The basic package includes an iPhone and Facebook apps for $699. Each additional platform would cost $249-349 on top of that. Plus you'd need to pay a monthly fee of $49/month for hosting.

Steam Republic was founded in 2009. Though based in Helsinki, their core business is primarily abroad in UK first and now in US. Their new CMO, David Hazan, has extensive marketing experience in the music industry from working with big music labels and independents alike, and is bound to help the company dramatically grow their US and global presense.

As Paavo Bäckman, CEO and co‐founder, commented: 'David Hazan has been working with Mobile Backstage on a consulting basis over the past few months as we prepared for our North American launch, and his work has been instrumental in getting the company to this stage'.

Below is a video showcasing Mobile Backstage's Facebook app: