Who Used SpiralFrog.com? Ever?
August 11, 2009
The subject of SpiralFrog.com is in the news again. With one of the most awesome and in-depth looks at an internet startup music company is this week’s article at CNET. And yes, they show numbers.
It discusses the rise and fall of SpiralFrog.com – an innovative ad-driven, streaming music website.
They Had Big Dreams – But Plopped a Turd Instead
The best part of the writeup is this quote among many other figures,
…He noted that SpiralFrog had initially projected 2008 revenue at $55 million, then reduced estimates in January that year to $25 million, then reduced them again three months later to $3 million. “Uniques are great, but hedge funds want to see revenue,” he implored….
Check out the article for the numbers $$$
Awesome article, a must read. Here ya go.
After reading how bad they screwed up managing the thing, ask yourself, if they actually ever had a chance?
675k Awarded To Greedy Labels
August 1, 2009
The labels have once emerged victorious by suing a grad student over 30 songs. If you didn’t read his merciful article that he wrote before going to trial, you must read it.
He was found guilty and the punishment is 675k. Of course this was also the guy whose defense was “he’s was just a kid doing what kids do” so I don’t feel too sorry for him.
675k to the RIAA – I wonder how much the artists are going to end up getting out that? Any of it?
Also, if you can’t prove how many times the song was downloaded, how can you prove what the damages are? I always thought that the law was founded in proof. Proof that you actually distributed those songs to someone and in doing so that person did not buy the song when they were actually going to buy it… How can you prove that?
How can you prove that much in damages when the only proof is that mediasentry downloaded the file. Mediasentry wasn’t planning to buy that song before encountering the download were they? Acting as the copyright holder and merely stealing your own music…does that prove that someone else is illegally sharing and causing damages to the tune of 675k?
Man…when are we going to see a video of one of these cases?
Imeem Moves To Deadpool – Loses Battle For Music Rights
July 31, 2009
How can I possibly say this? I mean, they’re still operating fine right? And there’s been no news of trouble, in fact they’re still getting funding right?
Well, to me, they are dead.
When a new revolutionary music service comes along, I know that it’s always a matter of time before the customer experience is ruined so bad that the company cannot sustain. Imeem has reached that point today and I can say that their time is very limited.
Why Imeem Is On A Path To Failure
First interface change
With free music services, the initial innovation by the creators is typically magical. They create a service and interface that is proven to be well liked in testing and then they get investment money to continue. Typically, the labels let them launch as is, but, then the company realizes that the pressure is on to make money because the labels get paid from the play of free music. The labels are cool with it, as long as the website pays the music licensing fees. Therefore, if your company is successful, you amass a shit ton of fees in licensing. Most of the time, rapid growth for a company is equal to success. In streaming music, rapid growth usually means rapid bills to pay. When the website realizes that they’re going to get squeezed on margins, they resort to their original plan of promotional package sales and PPC or CPM. Typically, music advertising pays little for publishers because there is so much ad inventory available from places like lyrics websites. Therefore, you must optimize your ad inventory to be more valueable through targeted advertising.
something similar on lil wayne's page for weeks
Welcome the Advertising Engine
When Imeem made their first interface change, many customers greatly disliked it. The new player was heavily complained about and the prescence of more advertising was brutal. I remember multiple times going to the Lil Wayne page and seeing a ghastly advertisement from the non-profit company for fixing facial disfigurement. Now, I don’t know about Imeem’s team here (most likely they are small since the budget is tight), BUT HOW IN THE HELL DO YOU SELL ADS when your hottest artist has a photo of facial disfigurement on it. Now I’m all for non-profts filling the ad space when you can’t sell the inventory, but an ad like this on Lil Wayne’s page is extremely damaging to the artist. It’s almost like having a McDonalds website featuring the juicy Big Mac next to a pile of dogshit! But I digress…
The advertising had to be more heavily implemented with the second interface so that Imeem could have a chance. Eventually, Imeem found a decent balance with their interface and their advertising.
I strongly dislike it when I’m listening to music and then an audio ad plays…but you know what I’m okay with it as long as your service is great.
Imeem emerges victorious from the ad interface changes! Is the ad system good enough to optimize and make money? I don’t know.
Enter the Greedy Labels
So after that interface change, I’m thinking…wow they still have a chance. But today, I realized that they are heading striaight for the deadpool.
About six months ago, I made a couple playlists. In one, I recreated the Pretty In Pink movie soundtrack. I didn’t have all the songs, but 90% of them. That’s very impressive to find that much 80’s music. Good job Imeem (although you had it because users uploaded it – didn’t you see the other companies already fail for having users upload music?). I also made a playlist called Chill Beats. I make one of these playlists on every new music website to try it out. On it, there were 22 songs spanning from the 80’s through current.
Now that I have returned, only six songs remain on the Pretty In Pink playlist. And on the Chill Beats playlist, many songs remain, but they are only 30 second samples.
Now, I don’t know about other music fans, but I do know that you can’t be competitve if you change their experience. As a fan, the biggest features are finding and playing music and of course creating a custom playlist for yourself. If you create a playlist and then the playlist just disappears, then basically all the time you invested in that service is lost.
I cannot invest my time in a music service that steals away my time due to music licensing issues that they have not figured out.
My experience says that Imeem is doing everything in their power to stay alive, but the labels again view it as a temporary promotational platform with no longevity and no real interest in its success.
I could be wrong so prove it
F the labels
