Another Online Music Venture
Add another interesting new music website to the list I discussed the other day. This one is called Baeble Music.
Baeble Music is positioning itself as yet another music-based community site, with blogs, playlists and the like, but offers one unique service that no one else has that I've seen - they're selling video of live performances online. They seem to focusing on the indie set (and really, who isn't these days?), and are currently offering sets from, among others, Portastatic, The Hold Steady, Figurines, Thunderbirds Are Now! and Harvey Danger. Short clips of performances are free, and full performances are $8.99 each.
Interestingly, a couple of friends and I thought about this exact business model some time back. Frankly, we decided that we didn't think there was enough of an audience for it, and the capital needed to secure videotaping equipment, agreements with venues, licensing rights for the music, and salary for videographers, plus more, would easily outweigh revenues. Who knows, maybe we were wrong. Maybe not.
I doubt I'm ever going to pay $8.99 for a live video of a concert by a band. I've ordered band DVDs before and downloaded footage, and never seem to watch a concert video more than once. Even if it were formatted for my video iPod (videos are currently in Windows Media format), I doubt I'd watch too many concerts, and certainly not at that price. Maybe if there was a subscription model like eMusic, where you could download a certain number of shows a month for $10 or something, I might think about it. I also might think about it if the footage were in HD and had great audio quality, so that I could stream it through my HDTV. Until those things happen, though, I'm unlikely to give them much of my money.
posted by Steve @ 10:26 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
this is the best thing to ever happen to me. in the last twenty years. besides my ipod.
but seriously - this service - un....it's just un. i mean, have you ever tried to explain the live performance of a band like Gil Mantera's Party Dream? not possible. but now i can say, "watch this".
and Oxford Collapse? those guys kill it.
this is really great. i hope it works, because this thing is awesome.
on the 'business idea' front - i feel ya. but, after being criticized recently for being 'overly pessimistic' about one of my own ideas, i've kind of allowed myself to dream again - to be a bit more self-delusional than i'm generally comfortable with. not too much, but hopefully enough. i think that's part of the startup culture - especially the successful ones. who is willing to not only forge ahead against the will of the naysayers, but possibly against their own better judgement. sometimes, i figure, startup success is just about having the audacity to challenge whatever - an existing idea, competitor, or conventional wisdom.
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