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Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Why Bands Need Their Own Website…
The recent purchase of imeem.com by MySpace left users out in the cold. I personally had grown to enjoy imeem's features, my playlists, and the recommendations that imeem gave. Though the web content and functionality was great, the mobile application certainly lacked some of the features (for the iphone anyway), and the library wasn't quite complete. In spite of these shortcomings, the service was one of the better ones of this type.
So, while users may have been left in the cold, the treatment of indie bands is straight-up disgraceful. A recent article in hypebot.com noted that imeem's obligations to 110,000 indie bands would not be carried over to MySpace. The original article notes that since imeem was purchased in a foreclosure process (similar to a bankruptcy),this allowed MySpace to ignore certain of imeem’s obligations after purchase. In this case, MySpace is ignoring the unpaid obligations of Snocap – the digital storefront used by some indie bands sites within imeem (Note: Bands can also sell through Snocap within MySpace). It is likely that most of these bands were owed less than $20 but it highlights the need for bands to have their own website- their own URL rather than a profile page.
At DigABand we plan to offer both: bands can use a URL of their choosing, while we also plan to offer a digital storefront where bands will be able to sell albums or individual tracks, while also setting prices for these offerings. We plan to use Paypal to handle the commercial end of the transactions. If a music fan purchases songs from a band using a DigABand website, the money will be deposited directly into the band's Paypal account. Independent musicians have been taken for a ride and it has to stop. We are doing everything we can to stem the tide.Labels: band websites, DigABand, imeem, myspace, paypal
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