BigChampagne's Ultimate Chart (a/o February 10th):
1. “What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger),” Kelly Clarkson
2. “Set Fire to the Rain,” Adele
3. “Turn Me On,” David Guetta
4. “Rack City,” TYGA
5. “Good Feeling,” Flo Rida
6. “Smooth Criminal (Glee Cast Version),” Glee Cast
7. “Young, Wild & Free,” Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa
8. “Domino ,” Jessie J
9. “Sexy and I Know It,” LMFAO
10. “Ass Back Home ,” Gym Class Heroes
Are stores like AmazonMP3 and iTunes just tapped out, plateauing, and soon-to-be declining? Everything has its saturation point, and the paid download as presently packaged may already be past its prime.
But wait. Ideas are still floating on ways to stimulate more purchasing, for those that still believe. Among them is SonicSwap, a small
music technology shop based in Palo Alto. The startup first emerged
late last year, and the team has been tinkering with b2b-focused
playlisting and social networking concepts ever since. Backing the
company are Allegis Capital and some angels.
The latest SonicSwap concoction is an Amazon-geared
feature called 'Shop Smart,' according to a pre-launch briefing with
Digital Music News
this week. Essentially, the solution analyzes an existing digital
music collection (paid or unpaid), then suggests additional purchases
to complete a playlist, album or artist collection. The entire
recommendation system is directly tied into the AmazonMP3 catalog, so
every recommended track is available for instant purchase.
But
like spoiled children, don't music fans already have everything they
want? The answer is frequently yes, and according to SonicSwap president
and CEO Dan Skilken, sometimes people purchase tracks they already
own. "As track collections have grown quite large, it becomes more
difficult to find and purchase new music without worrying that you
might already have the tracks," Skilken relayed.
The SonicSwap technology runs deeper than Shop Smart, and focuses on applications for existing collections. For example, the SonicSwap engine quickly reads an iTunes collection, then makes recommendations, calls related YouTube videos, and unleashes a number of social networking concepts.
But is it robust, to use the overused term? Actually, the system as presented on sonicswap.com is a bit clunky, and prospective partners will need to go beyond a good tire-kicking. Part of the reason is that the SonicSwap site is really a beta-stage testbed, not a slicked-out, consumer interface.
Actually, according to one source, SonicSwap has gotten some 'looks' from potential music ecommerce partners, though that discussion could be premature. "The whole site is actually a beta," Skilken told Digital Music News. "We're in the middle of the whole thing."
An official announcement on Shop Smart is expected early next week.
Comments Closed
OUR SPONSORS
© 2011 All Rights Reserved
Follow Us