Startups and Puppy Dogs

Posted by Pinky on Aug 5, 2010 in Blog | 6 comments

This dog is probably cuter than yours.

We held our lastest JumpStart Foundry meeting last night here in Nashville and I had the great fortune to win the “lead” roll with our latest company, Source Your City.  It’s similar in concept to Help A Reporter Out but will focus exclusively on local markets the size of Nashville and larger.  It should be a lot of fun to be a part-of.

On the way to our post-meeting hang, it occurred to me that my love for startups is a lot like a child’s love for puppy dogs.  They’re so dang cute you want to own them all.  The glimmer in their eyes, the innocent look on their un-jaded faces and their limitless hunger for the experiences the world has to offer is downright seductive.  If only they didn’t require so much care.  Ruined carpets and patent leather shoes, scratches and bites, sleepless nights… Sometimes you wonder why you thought it was such a good idea to get a new companion at all.  Thankfully, some of them grow up to be your best friends and proudest achievements.  Of course others may not make it at all… the victims of bad DNA or Darwin Award-worthy mistakes.

I’ve said it before, but if you ever have a chance to teach, mentor or otherwise assist someone with a dream, throw caution to the wind and give it your best shot.  Though I may at times commit more of my time than I should, the friends I have made and experiences I have had have been some of the most rewarding of my life so far.

And if YOU’ve got an idea you could use a little support for, click here to apply.  Some lucky sucker out there might just over-commit themselves for you.

Independent Radio Promotion: Investing in the Music Business Part VI

Posted by Pinky on Jul 15, 2010 in Blog | 4 comments

Larry Pareigis doesn’t just talk about a new music business model, he lives it.  Having spent years of his career at radio stations across the country, he transitioned into the major label world, where he launched a few folks you may have heard of, like the Dixie Chicks, Miranda Lambert, Montgomery Gentry and some redneck named Gretchen Wilson, before taking the leap into the exciting world of entrepreneurship and independent business ownership.  This interview covers a lot of ground and should be a reality check for anyone that thinks major labels have a monopoly on hit songs… although it comes with a price.

Quick disclaimer – I forced Larry to do this interview through Skype so we would have video as well as audio.  The audio sucks when I’m talking, as you’ll hear.  Accordingly, I tried to keep that to a minimum.  Click here for the complete interview transcription.

MySpace Music Shutting Down

Posted by Pinky on Jul 10, 2010 in Blog | 7 comments

How’s that grab ya? The announcement hasn’t been made but rumors are swirling that free streaming of music may soon be a thing of the past for MySpace, which would most certainly be the death nell for the website that defined the term “social network” for most people in America. While logic may therefore dictate that the service should stay, the fact is, they’re bleeding like a stuck pig and that can’t go on forever, come hell or high-water.

In this interview with Billboard from June 7th, I stated that the music industry hates itself. And it does. There are warring factions that each represent different groups of rights-holders that defend their turf to the detriment of the entire ecosystem. Publishers, the radio stations, labels and the artists themselves each have their own personal interests at heart when they fight for a bigger piece of the pie, but the result is that legitimate music startups simply cannot afford to pay the fees, and therefore go out of business (or don’t start at all). Why do you think facebook has abstained from offering a free music service for years while MySpace took in so much traffic for that very service alone? And that’s to say nothing of Imeem, Lala, SpiralFrog, and most notably, Yahoo! Music, all of which fell on their own swords and either shut down completely or sold at firesale prices to others.

The move to shut down MySpace Music may come as a result of their advertising contract with Google expiring next month.  That relationship brought in $300,000,000 a year for the company, which allowed them to spend in-excess of $10,000,000 per MONTH on streaming services.  (Look at all them zeros!)

My prediction is that the shutdown will happen in two painful phases.  First, MySpace visitors will be required to log-in to the site in order to hear streaming music.  This will reactivate a vast number of otherwise dormant accounts, but it will also eliminate all passive traffic, which they desperately need right now in order to continue selling ads at a sustainable rate.  The drop in revenue will ultimately result in the fall of MySpace itself.  It will be sold and resold until it is no longer.  Remember Napster?  It’s nothing but a brand name that changes hands from one music service to another these days; no longer even a shell of its legendary self.

So enjoy it while it lasts, folks.  MySpace Music is shutting down.  When?  Dunno yet, but watch the writing on the wall this summer as they renegotiate their network-wide advertising agreements and continue to make cuts in staff and services in a vain attempt to survive.  They lost the war and facebook didn’t even have to compete with them on their most important service to do it.

Related Posts: New MySpace Slogan: Discover and Be Discovered, Goodbye Tom.  We Hardly Knew Ye.