2010 Music Website Heat Map
If you’re color blind then this is going to hurt. Based on estimated traffic data from Compete, this visualization depicts web-based music consumption in the U.S. in 2010. Included are sites where music is streamed or downloaded. YouTube, SoundCloud, OurStage, Bandcamp, Grooveshark, ReverbNation, and Vevo all saw notable change in 2010.
URL Change: MF or VM?
I consider my URL selection virtualmusic.tv as a minor fail. Of course when I launched the site in July 2009 I thought it was brilliant, but truly, only hindsight is 20/20. Last summer a conversation with Bandzoogle founder Chris Vinson helped confirmed in my mind that the URL choice of virtualmusic.tv was not ideal for the core reason above—it’s no .COM.
Price Point Game
The median price point on RocketHub…and other crowdfunding platforms for that matter…is 20 bucks. … Make your $20 price point really jump off the shelf. –Brian Meece, RocketHub co-founder. Crowdfunding website RocketHub was launched in January 2010 by three musicians/entrepreneurs—Brian Meece, Vladimir Vukicevic, and Jed Cohen. (tonic.com) Meece was speaking above in his August 2010 [...]
Location vs. Cost: Touring U.S. Cities
What’s normal in New York is not normal in Fargo. Location changes costs. You’re in a touring band? You might want to consider this when booking shows and pricing merch/tickets. Expect higher expenses in the more expensive cities, but at the same time, expect fans to be willing to pay relatively more. To help gauge the spectrum, here’s a comparison of living costs in 100 U.S. cities that may be on your tour map.
![Facebook More Traffic Than Google [Stats]](http://img.virtualmusic.tv/thumbs/facebook-friendwheel_jahw.png)
Facebook More Traffic Than Google [Stats]
Here’s some graphical perspective on Facebook’s growth via estimated traffic data from Quantcast and Compete. The numbers are significantly different between the sources but the basic trend and relative traffic difference between Facebook and Google is evident: Facebook is a rocket, or, rather a full-blown planet with enough gravity to start a galaxy—the data shows it surpassed Google in traffic in late 2009.
Censorship and Media In An Expanding Internet Population—Do You Feel Censored On The ‘Net?
Blocking sites = blocking progress. I’m American. It’s hard to imagine über-restricted Internet surfing. In the U.S. internet censorship does exist in workplaces, libraries, and schools but U.S. censorship is minimal compared to Chinese censorship. Censored sites in China include wikipedia.org, amnesty.org, nasa.gov, digg.com, bbc.co.uk, cnn.com, guardian.co.uk, facebook.com, flickr.com, tumblr.com, wordpress.com, youtube.com, and—WTF—even disney.com is censored.
