Monday, July 19, 2004
Business Plan + Website Planning + Contract + Laser Printer + Fax
The business plan now has the help of Mick Bates. I asked him to review it upon completion to get his feedback (as well as Jennifer Vanderberg at SBDC's).
I sent Clint an E-mail today after a conversation with him begining to outline the upcoming website's features. The features discussed are as such:
Accounts - Listeners will need to have accounts with us that should allow us to track their media related choices (whether we charge or not). Tracking their choices is the premium thing we're interested in, above and beyond collecting payment. We'll need to collect enough information about them to know how to get them to do more stuff. For example, if we see they're from Minnesota, our site should offer them links to concerts in Minnesota and artists based in Minnesota. If they're 25 and Christian, we won't offer high-school punk rock. If they're a middle aged carpet salesman who was raised in Cuba, we need to somehow cater to that. Basically, I want the site to be able to pull an "Amazon.com" trick, and start offering special creations based on user choices and the info about themselves they provide. And if they refuse to offer any info, then we still need to track their choices and make recommendations based on that.
Chat / Boards - We will want forums where geeks and nerds of all genre can collectively debate the merits of their friends garage bands. The more opportunities we give our consumers to interact, the better. I want the chat (or boards if chat is too complicated to host) and review / rating system to be integrated so that the same people who look at the ratings will see an opportunity to post their thoughts. Each artist should have their own area where they are discussed by users.
Review / Ratings - I want the reviews left up to IJ insiders, so that we can have an official stance on our artists, and the boards will be the user's reviews. I want artist's ratings tied to number of downloads for that artist. I want our users able to see what artist get downloaded the most, second most, and so on. Something about knowing lots of other people are doing something online makes it seem like a better idea. I want the presentation of our site to shift automatically if an artist shifts from second to first most downloaded, or a nobody starts moving up through the ranks. Big movers should get top representation. Rottentomatoes.com asks for a sample review and then if it shows some level of comprehension the reviewer is accepted. I would like to do something like that where users submit reviews to an e-mail address and then an IJ staff person reads them and allows or denies access to post reviews on the artist's page
Concert Finder - The concert finder will have to integrate all the concerts planned for all the artists and offer maps to get their and an opportunity to buy tickets (if that venue has a site to sell tickets over the web). If not, contact info for the venue. You should be able to jump from an artist, to their concerts, to another artist concerts, to that second artist's page.
Concert download - I want people to be able to search for a download either by searching for the artist, finding the artist page, and seeing the link for that artist's content there, or by look at all the content newest to oldest, selecting something and being offered a link to that artist's page. Our homepage will host a "best of" iRadio station mix from our best live recordings.
Merchandise - We will have to have a way to accept payment if artists have produced merchandise. I will offer to warehouse it in Upland after the artist ships it to us, then IJ will take a cut of the revenue if it is sold through our site. I want users bombarded with offers to buy the merchandise of the artist they are looking at.
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I contacted Jerry Holderead today and he said our contract and bill should be dropped in the mail sometime around Wedenesday.
I set up a laser printer that was donated to us to save ink on black and white documents and equipted the computer to send faxes to simplify sending digital documents and save paper.
I sent Clint an E-mail today after a conversation with him begining to outline the upcoming website's features. The features discussed are as such:
Accounts - Listeners will need to have accounts with us that should allow us to track their media related choices (whether we charge or not). Tracking their choices is the premium thing we're interested in, above and beyond collecting payment. We'll need to collect enough information about them to know how to get them to do more stuff. For example, if we see they're from Minnesota, our site should offer them links to concerts in Minnesota and artists based in Minnesota. If they're 25 and Christian, we won't offer high-school punk rock. If they're a middle aged carpet salesman who was raised in Cuba, we need to somehow cater to that. Basically, I want the site to be able to pull an "Amazon.com" trick, and start offering special creations based on user choices and the info about themselves they provide. And if they refuse to offer any info, then we still need to track their choices and make recommendations based on that.
Chat / Boards - We will want forums where geeks and nerds of all genre can collectively debate the merits of their friends garage bands. The more opportunities we give our consumers to interact, the better. I want the chat (or boards if chat is too complicated to host) and review / rating system to be integrated so that the same people who look at the ratings will see an opportunity to post their thoughts. Each artist should have their own area where they are discussed by users.
Review / Ratings - I want the reviews left up to IJ insiders, so that we can have an official stance on our artists, and the boards will be the user's reviews. I want artist's ratings tied to number of downloads for that artist. I want our users able to see what artist get downloaded the most, second most, and so on. Something about knowing lots of other people are doing something online makes it seem like a better idea. I want the presentation of our site to shift automatically if an artist shifts from second to first most downloaded, or a nobody starts moving up through the ranks. Big movers should get top representation. Rottentomatoes.com asks for a sample review and then if it shows some level of comprehension the reviewer is accepted. I would like to do something like that where users submit reviews to an e-mail address and then an IJ staff person reads them and allows or denies access to post reviews on the artist's page
Concert Finder - The concert finder will have to integrate all the concerts planned for all the artists and offer maps to get their and an opportunity to buy tickets (if that venue has a site to sell tickets over the web). If not, contact info for the venue. You should be able to jump from an artist, to their concerts, to another artist concerts, to that second artist's page.
Concert download - I want people to be able to search for a download either by searching for the artist, finding the artist page, and seeing the link for that artist's content there, or by look at all the content newest to oldest, selecting something and being offered a link to that artist's page. Our homepage will host a "best of" iRadio station mix from our best live recordings.
Merchandise - We will have to have a way to accept payment if artists have produced merchandise. I will offer to warehouse it in Upland after the artist ships it to us, then IJ will take a cut of the revenue if it is sold through our site. I want users bombarded with offers to buy the merchandise of the artist they are looking at.
___________________________________________________________________
I contacted Jerry Holderead today and he said our contract and bill should be dropped in the mail sometime around Wedenesday.
I set up a laser printer that was donated to us to save ink on black and white documents and equipted the computer to send faxes to simplify sending digital documents and save paper.
