Meet LaLa.com

As I mentioned last night, my favorite radio station in the world, WOXY.com, is coming back in a couple of weeks. What I haven't mentioned is how.

WOXY is being saved by a man named Bill Nguyen. Bill is an internet entrepreneur based in San Francisco who owns, among other things, a music venture named LaLa.com. Bill heard about WOXY's plight a few weeks ago, and like all good businesspeople, he saw an opportunity - an established trade name, a dedicated fanbase, and a huge potential for growth. So in the space of about 10 days, Bill contacted the principals of WOXY, starting talking about a deal, and reached an agreement in principal to revive WOXY sometime in the next two weeks. Talk about fast.

While the exact details of the new WOXY.com are still kinda murky, the generalized outline includes more live in-studio performances, an expanded physical presence into San Francisco, and close integration into LaLa.com.

What is LaLa? Essentially, it is an online CD trading forum. You set up an account, and then list all the CDs in your collection that you don't want anymore. If someone else wants your CD, LaLa tells you, and gives you a postage-paid envelope (much like NetFlix), and you send it to the person who wants it. For every CD you send out, you can choose a CD from someone else's collection for the price of only $1.75 (not sure if this is variable at all), which includes, among other things, shipping costs and a royalty to the artist/songwriter.

In a nutshell, LaLa allows you to give up CDs you no longer want, pay an additional $1.75, and have a CD you DO want. Oh, and they also sell a number of brand new CDs at good prices from Newbury Comics. So they're indie through and through. Go here for a better explanation of exactly how LaLa works.

I think this is a great idea. I just joined, and I'm looking forward to getting rid of the Sufjan Stevens, Devendra Banhart and Winger CDs in my collection. And, very soon, LaLa will be integrated with WOXY, so that any time you hear a song or band you like, you can click on a button to add them to your LaLa "want" list. How easy is that?

If this sounds interesting to you, do me (and all WOXY fans) a favor, and head over to LaLa.com and check it out. Show Bill that he made a wise choice!