Purpose

The music industry generates billions of dollars of revenue every year. Four companies (Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, and EMI Group) are responsible for the majority of the music that people listen to. These four companies gain most of the profits made in the industry and control the majority of the music that is circulated. If there were a way to infiltrate the market in a way that these four companies have not, there could be a tremendous reward. The motivation behind Fight The Power is to enter the music industry in a unique way that lets unsigned artists sell their music to their fans. The fans will directly support the artists financially and Fight The Power will take but a modest return for every transaction.

 

How Fight The Power Works

• Two kinds of accounts
• Free artist account
• Includes artist profile page with pictures of the artist, genre, band member information, artist location, contact information, concert/event information, list of fans, list of artists that similar listeners like, music previews, and a place for fans and fellow artists to write to each other (like a Facebook wall)
• Can upload their music and set a price for their music
• Fight The Power takes 50% of the total proceeds
• Free fan account
• Includes fan profile page with pictures, fan location, fan age, favorite genres, artists that they’re a fan of, upcoming shows for their favorite artists, and place for fans and artists to write to each other
• Can preview and purchase artists’ music
• Can search for artists by name, region, popularity, and genre and can also view artists that similar listeners enjoyed

 

Target Audience

• The target audience has two components:
• Unsigned artists to upload their content to Fight The Power
• Many artists upload music to their venues like mySpace in order to get their music out into the world. However, on mySpace there is no way for the bands to make money. Hopefully the artists will see the opportunity to generate revenue by uploading their music to Fight The Power rather than giving it out for free on mySpace.
• Fans to come and find music
• The audience that Fight The Power will cater to is the audience that uses tools like the iTunes music store and mySpace already. This audience usually consists of the younger generations who are used to buying their music online. Fans of any current artists will want to flock to Fight The Power because similar content to that which they already enjoy will hopefully be available.

 

Competitors

• iTunes Music Store
• What they are doing right:
• Offers music of all genres at a flat rate of $1 per song
• Readily accessible music easily and securely purchased
• Trustworthy brand name
• Shows consumer music that similar listeners bought
• Limitations:
• No artist-fan interaction
• Content controlled by record labels that may be missing out on niche markets
• mySpace
• What they are doing right:
• Offers a place for musicians to upload their music
• Fans can listen to music for free and write on artists’ pages
• Fans can find concerts in their area
• Limitations:
• No way for artists to generate revenue
• Interface is not conducive to communication between the fans and the artists

 

Market Analysis

The record industry’s CD sales have been declining for years now and this is greatly due to the availability of digital music, both legal and pirated forms. While the music industry hopes that its customers will purchase music in CDs or through the iTunes music store, listeners can hear music for free on artists’ mySpace pages or acquire the music through other free means. There is currently little incentive for fans to pay for their music when it is so readily accessible for free. This is why Fight The Power could potentially make money where the big record labels have failed. By limiting artists’ exposure to Fight The Power, their music will not be available for free unless the artist chooses so. Also, the iTunes music store has proven itself successful and has generated millions for Apple. If high quality content is available to users, then Fight The Power could be quite successful as well.

 

Long Term Plans

• Set up website (beta stage)
• Create website that illustrates the purpose of Fight The Power and its potential, can create artist and fan profiles, can support the uploading and downloading of music, and can support secure billing for music
• Purchase domain name and host the website
• Hire web designers to build the website
• Estimated total cost: $30,000
• Estimated time: One month
• Acquire users (beta stage)
• Go to local bands and have them register on Fight The Power and upload their content
• Advertise around Stanford and through friends and family to initialize the website’s development
• Test website’s scalability and success on a small scale
• Hire programmers to maintain the website and change it when necessary to fix bugs and tailor the site to users’ needs
• Estimated total cost: $10,000
• Estimated time: Two months
• Acquire more users
• Advertise on other music sites
• Reach out to local unsigned bands
• Create a Facebook application that revolves around Fight The Power and syncs with artist and fan profiles
• Conduct further market research and change website based on results
• Estimated total cost: $40,000
• Estimated time: Three months
• Maintain website
• Continue to pay programmers to maintain the website and make sure that it is functional
• Make sure all data is backed up
• Expand the functionality and offerings of Fight The Power
• Idea: add music videos and concert video uploads
• Potential integration with YouTube
• Estimated cost: $50,000 for first month, $30,000/month thereafter
• Estimated time: For the rest of Fight The Power’s existence
• Partner with larger sites
• Potential partners
• mySpace
• Pandora

 

Revenue

-Debt and profit over time

 

Risks

• Is there enough high quality unsigned talent to keep the site going?
• How will people come to the site?
• Will people pay enough to keep the site going?
• Can enough money be raised to start Fight The Power?