This article was recently brought to my attention.
It’s about YouTube’s plan to put together a subsection of its website called “Musicians Wanted.” After I read it, I shot off this email to my Entrepreneurial Journalism professor:
I think it could mean YouTube is already basically doing my project, but my hope is that this can be an example of when competition is good. YouTube is inviting bands to become a part of the “Musicians Wanted” section. Bands that are selected to be a part of Google’s YouTube Partner program.
“Artists will also make money when their YouTube videos are embedded on external websites, including music blogs. Considering the importance of blogs to the music scene, we’re inclined to agree with YouTube that this could turn into a significant source of revenue for independent bands and labels that make videos people that want to see and music they want to hear.”
Further, “To make participating bands easier to find on YouTube, which ingests more than 20 hours of video every minute, the site will gather them into a browsable, searchable section dedicated to independent music.”
Bands that make the grade will get to add links to merchandise and MP3s (which I was already planning to allow for any and all bands that wanted to add them).
Do you think this is too similar to my site for both to co-exist?
I would allow all bands to post links to merch and mp3s as I said, and I would have a top ten videos section on the site every day, which I think is different from the way YouTube plans to run the site. I could put more emphasis on an artist meetup section where people looking for say, a PA could meet someone who has a PA to rent, or a guitar to sell, etc. But I’m not sure if that’s enough to make my site stand out.
I look forward to your input. Thanks.
My professor spoke with me yesterday and urged me not to worry. He said I can differentiate my website by providing higher-quality sound than YouTube, which has notoriously poor fidelity. I just need to figure out how I can ensure a better sound experience for visitors. My professor also said I needn’t worry too much, for the purposes of this class, about YouTube scooping me a bit. “The journey is the most important part.” He wrote.
[...] suppose I could pay for advertising on relevent websites, like YouTube’s Musicians Wanted, but I don’t want to spend a lot on marketing. I suppose I could use YouTube’s site to [...]