New Online Content Site To Launch During SXSW

Any way you look at it, the world is only in the birth stages of a new digital entertainment economy. There’s a lot of growing left to do. And with regard to content distribution and artist compensation, chaos and disorganization continue to reign supreme. From music and episodic television to film and publishing, players across the entertainment industry continue to grapple with the ultimate question: How do we get content to consumers in an organized fashion, and in a way that efficiently monetizes the consumer’s attention? Simply maximizing the amount of content available on the web through social networks and other music-related sites does little more than increase the level of noise without adding any sustainable value for the consumer or for the artist. In order for the digital entertainment economy to move forward, there must be organization and ease of use for customers and fair compensation to artists for their work.

As we reported several weeks back, MySpace has been toying with a new concept in this line of thought: “MySpace Music,” a “one-stop-shop” portal that would host a vast quantity of music – via free, ad-supported streaming and download – provided by the Big Four record labels. Whether MySpace will actually secure the compliance of the major labels on this project is certainly a big “if,” but if they do, it will represent a new leap forward in the music industry’s adolescent struggle toward digital maturity.

MySpace will certainly have some competition in presenting such an offering. After all, such a logical concept as organizing large volumes of content on one site and offering it for free on an ad-supported model is hardly top secret. On the contrary: it’s the new wave.

One competitor in particular, Unicorn Media, appears to have taken this concept even further. Unicorn’s site will be an ad-supported entertainment site offering “free, unlimited access” to audio and video content, but there’s more to it: Rather than focusing on sheer volume of music, as MySpace seems to intend, it looks like Unicorn will raise the bar by focusing on two primary goals: (1) Offering consistent, high-definition content to customers, and (2) allowing emerging artists to showcase their work in a more attractive, efficient and profitable way.

It seems like both established and emerging music and film artists around Austin should really be into this idea. At the very least, it’s a step in the right direction; at the most, it’s a disruptive innovation that could completely revolutionize the way that artists and consumers do business on the Internet. According to Unicorn’s upcoming press release, their model will offer artists “an easy way to gain worldwide exposure and the opportunity to immediately earn money from their work” by utilizing the “massive reach of the Internet.”

“Unicorn Media’s mission is to connect artists with the legions of people who are potential fans,” says Joe Bransom, vice president of artist relations for Unicorn Media, in the upcoming SXSW press release. “By ensuring artists retain full rights to and control over their valuable content, Unicorn Media is committing to a wholesale reinvention of the entertainment industry. Unicorn Media is democratizing entertainment where popularity determines pay, artists can freely produce and control their own art and interact more directly with audiences, and the role of the middle man shrinks considerably.”

As the people at Unicorn seem acutely aware, artists are more autonomous than ever these days thanks to the Internet, and the DIY approach works for the majority of things they need to advance their careers. However, nearly every artist hits that point where they need some third party assistance to get to the “next level.”

Large-scale distribution, essentially the service Unicorn Media will provide, is one of those areas. Unicorn offers Internet distribution, and, in exchange, the artist gets to retain all copyright ownership and receives more equitable payment for their work – up to a 50% cut, to be precise. In short, Unicorn offers a valuable (one might even say necessary) service on terms that are more artist-friendly.

Unicorn Media is based in Tempe, Arizona, with satellite offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin and Chicago (with a London office in the works). They’re privately held and fully funded.

A beta version of the Unicorn Media site will officially launch next Monday, March 10, with a call for content to the artist community as the SXSW conference gets underway. Also starting next week, the company will have a street team working during SXSW, each member of the team with contracts in hand, ready to sign all artists that cut the mustard. Austin artists – especially you musicians and filmmakers out there just getting started – if you’re interested in getting your work out to the masses through Unicorn’s service, contact their sales team here:

sales@project-unicorn.com
480-214-4861

Unicorn Media has also invited SXSW-goers and Austin musicians to celebrate the company’s launch with a party on Wednesday, March 12th from 8pm-2am at Union Park (612 W. 6th Street), featuring free food, drinks and live music from a couple Unicorn Media featured artists.

What do you think, Austin? Is this a sustainable model for artists and fans? Is this an innovative concept? Will artists go for it?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By s in News on March 6, 2008 12:30 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Nancy Prager

"Also starting next week, the company will have a street team working during SXSW, each member of the team with contracts in hand, ready to sign all artists that cut the mustard."

Before you sign a contract, especially one being offered to you during SXSW on the street or at a show it is imperative that you read it. A company claiming to protect the rights of artists may have all the best intentions in the world, but one word in a contract can sabotage those intentions. Literally one word can take a contract from being fair and reasonable to being egregious.

In fact, walking around with contracts to have artists sign during a music festival is a red flag that something might not be right with the contract. For more information about contracts and musicians come to my panel, Red Flags in Contracts, at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12 at the Convention Center. All people with badges or musicians wristbands are welcome at my panel that day, and all of the great panels on March 12.

Nancy Prager

www.pragerlaw.us

www.nancyprager.wordpress.com

Nancy Prager

"Also starting next week, the company will have a street team working during SXSW, each member of the team with contracts in hand, ready to sign all artists that cut the mustard."

Before you sign a contract, especially one being offered to you during SXSW on the street or at a show it is imperative that you read it. A company claiming to protect the rights of artists may have all the best intentions in the world, but one word in a contract can sabotage those intentions. Literally one word can take a contract from being fair and reasonable to being egregious.

In fact, walking around with contracts to have artists sign during a music festival is a red flag that something might not be right with the contract. For more information about contracts and musicians come to my panel, Red Flags in Contracts, at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12 at the Convention Center. All people with badges or musicians wristbands are welcome at my panel that day, and all of the great panels on March 12. Check out the great lineup, and get more information at http://2008.sxsw.com/music/conference/panels_schedule/?action=list&date=2008-03-12

Nancy Prager

www.pragerlaw.us

www.nancyprager.wordpress.com