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February 8, 2008

Softbank, Rustic Canyon Put $3.5 million Into DanceJam

Michael Arrington

55 comments »

Put new startup DanceJam, a “YouTube for dance videos” down for another $3.5 million, bringing their total to $4.5 million raised. They’ve closed a Series B round of financing from Softbank Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners and a number of new angel investors. Note that I am an investor in this startup.

The company, founded by M.C. Hammer and Flock’s Geoffrey Arone and Anthony Young, is in private beta but should be launching shortly. Users will be able to upload short clips of themselves dancing; other users can rate those clips. Aggregate votes will be used to show top dancers by geography and dance type around the the country and the world.

In addition to the funding and the upcoming public launch, the company says they’ve signed a number of key business development deals to assist with distribution and marketing.

Wired Magazine wrote a good overview of the company here.

CrunchBase Information
Dancejam
Softbank Capital
Rustic Canyon Partners
Information provided by CrunchBase
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This entry was posted on Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 1:03 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. ProHipHop: Hip Hop Business

    March 4th, 2008 at 9:25 am

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  1. ZiZi

    February 8th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    with all due respect to hammer (that i actualy like and respect) I do not think this venture has a chance to grow, i give it 2 - 3 years max.
    I just dont see it working.

    good luck to hammer though.

  2. Your Daddy

    February 8th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    LOL, wow - amazing! How long does a private beta for a dance site take anyway!?

    I’m sure Suge Knight will be knocking on Hammer’s door (and yours) when/if the site ends up taking off.

  3. Your Daddy

    February 8th, 2008 at 1:11 pm

    LOL, and the link to the site is bad!

    http://www.dancejame.com/

  4. Ben

    February 8th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

    Except that you can already find plenty of videos of people dancing or giving dance lessons on youtube.

  5. dance

    February 8th, 2008 at 1:26 pm

    I am in the private beta and it is amazing. I had doubts too, but it just works and is cool. Not so much like youtube actually.

  6. HGuide

    February 8th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    I thought that youtube clones had already had their day. Apparently not. Add this one to the deadpool and keep writing about Facebook.

  7. Joe Momma

    February 8th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

    U CAN’T FUND THIS!

  8. stoopidguy

    February 8th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

    dance is huge. Get your heads out of your silicon valley asses!

  9. james

    February 8th, 2008 at 1:34 pm

    I’d too in a washed up, one-hit wonder. Mostly because he owns TechCrunch.

  10. Chatty

    February 8th, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    these guys were at tc40 in the demopit. I got a demo from Hammer and it looked cool. It was more like competitions and battles than YouTube. It was well designed, but I agree it’s not gonna be easy. I tried to get on the beta but never got off the list. I wouldn’t bet against the Hammer on this one!

  11. Tom

    February 8th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    Good to see Hammer doing something but with honesty it always amazes me when companies like this get so much funding.

    Perhaps somebody can introduce me to some of these money men who are so keen to dish out their money.

    This will die in a few months.

  12. Larry Larrikin

    February 8th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

    Isn’t there already a “YouTube for dance videos”?
    It’s called YouTube and its up and running now at http://youtube.com/

  13. Adolf bin Streisand

    February 8th, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    Regrettably my daughters spend far too much time in front of YouTube trying to learn latest dance crazes like “Superman,” “SlipSlide,” “Wu Tang Hop,” and the ever popular “Anaphylactic Seizure Samba.”

    Any parent will tell you this is a site/service their children sill spend too much time on.

    Hammer, don’t hurt ‘em!

  14. WhatThe?

    February 8th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    Is this a joke? This is going to be the VC and online Video equivalent of “jumping the shark”. Has to be one of the downright dumbest ideas in recent memory. Why in the world - and how in the world - did this idea get from pitch to funding.

  15. No Surprise

    February 8th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    What’s interesting here is that if the programming direction of this concept has legs, it should see fairly rapid viral take up. Hence, I have to ask the question, why didn’t the current round of investors wait until market launch and wait a few months? This would have been better for all, founders, VC investors, and the investors in the VC’s.

    Dancing has been a part of mankind from the beginning, hence it isn’t going away. Simply look at the tv success of the lame “Dancing with the Stars”, which continues to get good ratings. So conceptually, it could work even with dancing videos being available on YouTube. It could also prove more intriguing to the urban audience if the video is any indication.

    Best of luck to DanceJam. :-)

  16. Alan Wilensky

    February 8th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    People put money into this YAVSS? You can’t surprise me anymore. Not a dime for real web 2.0 applications for professional trades, and now this?

    Yoikes!

  17. Cool

    February 8th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

    that’s funny just learned the supaman last week so can’t hate on this LOL. Luck to hammer its a cool vision.

  18. Marzipan from Toledo

    February 8th, 2008 at 2:28 pm

    This is 10x better than edgeio.

    think about how many people thought DanceDanceRevolution was a stupid idea. Dance is huge, i don’t personally get it, but it is huge and it hits the myspace demographic.

    good call Mike!

  19. Ghaus

    February 8th, 2008 at 2:33 pm

    This company is Flop(or going to get flopped)! Mark my word guys…

  20. sd

    February 8th, 2008 at 2:33 pm

    why you need so much $ to create a group in youtube.

    why don’t you give youtube those 5 millions and ask them to create a group? i think they would do it, probably 1/2 of the money.

  21. Erik

    February 8th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

    How is this supposed to make money?

  22. techcrunchreader

    February 8th, 2008 at 3:12 pm

    The concept looks cool, but to get a financing like that, I’m surprised and wonder what would be the exit strategy for the investors. Also, what’s the revenue model?

    Anyway, best of luck to Dancejam and MC Hammer ♪

    Almost forgot…Stanley, if you succeed, don’t get an entourage like you did in your previous career.

  23. dave

    February 8th, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    Do a google search for “dance” - I hope they aren’t planning an adsense revenue model.

  24. Bernie Lomax

    February 8th, 2008 at 3:42 pm

    Mike, you have a niche for funding awesomely terrible ideas. What’s the name of that pet social network you’re an investor in?

    As the kids already said, how about a YouTube branded channel. Wait a second, I think I’m on to something…brb

  25. seamus

    February 8th, 2008 at 3:48 pm

    1999: “X will be the eBay for Y.”
    2007: “X will be the YouTube for Y videos.”

    In 1999, X always = eBay….

    DanceJam is two years late to the show.

  26. Everett

    February 8th, 2008 at 4:23 pm

    Mr. Arrington, I believe you’re an investor in this startup no?

  27. Marzipan from Toledo

    February 8th, 2008 at 4:41 pm

    @26

    “Note that I am an investor in this startup.”

    Read the f-in article

  28. jim

    February 8th, 2008 at 5:07 pm

    Umm…I must be missing something. Isn’t this basically a search term on YouTube, not a separate site? Dunno…maybe they can build a community around it somehow but it is hard to see why folks wouldn’t just use YouTube. special features coming? don’t hurt us hammer - give us something.

  29. Manny

    February 8th, 2008 at 5:21 pm

    To all the haters out there, you’re all just racist. Why do you want to deny black people a place to hang out on the internet? Dancejam is brilliant.

  30. Shakir Razak

    February 8th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    1983: Who’d watch a channel that only showed music video!

    Hi,

    It might not work, but those who don’t see any potential are blinded by your dogma!

    This is the hip-hop demographic, one of the biggest ones out there.

    Established companies like to pay premium prices to be related to such a valuable audience in the form of advertising and sponsorship.

    The same demographic spends the most time online.

    Compare the classification and discovery system on Youtube to what dancejam will have.

    $5million for this company, that once it gets its core, could expand beyond, not unlike viacom/mtvn -and you guys are absolutely sure this is a bad investment??????

    Yours kindly,

    Shakir Razak

  31. Startup News

    February 8th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

    Well ..It may work
    This is a niche site just like Porntube or is it pornotube and uporn are niche sites .. You have a channel on tv for Music … How about one for just news .
    Wait ..Isn’t there one for Cooking or Food
    How about one for just stocks
    Emm let me see there is are some that show only cartoons
    Errr There is one called BET
    Hmm ..what about the Travel channel and the Health channel and the Cop channel and the ……..WELL U GET THE MESSAGE

  32. Larry Larrikin

    February 8th, 2008 at 6:37 pm

    In less than a month YouTube could add whatever extra functionality this site offers and target tens of new niche markets.

    The reason porntube (or is it pornotube? no one who hasn’t actually visited knows for sure) exists is because youtube doesn’t serve that market.

  33. Techcrunch is lame company

    February 8th, 2008 at 7:08 pm

    Techcrunch is lame company. I hated went Techcrunch always write same catch phase “Note that I am an investor…”

    Why can’t you at least say something insulting to us(Techcrunch guys like us) like “Hahaha. I owned DanceJam shares. You jerks don’t own one! I enjoy jackhammering MC hammer’s butthole.”

  34. Alize

    February 8th, 2008 at 7:16 pm

    I just raised a kabillion dollars and I made sure that my PR company does some webraiding. That’s the official term by the way for posting positive comments against the negs.

    “I am in the private beta and it is amazing. I had doubts too, but it just works and is cool. Not so much like youtube actually.”
    yes, i work there too, not so much like youtube, other than people can upload video and watch it and belong to the community and of course its different too in that it only has less than 0.001% of the traffic.

    ” Adolf bin Streisand
    Regrettably my daughters spend far too much time in front of YouTube trying to learn latest dance crazes like “Superman,”
    “SlipSlide,” “Wu Tang Hop,” and the ever popular “Anaphylactic Seizure Samba.”
    Any parent will tell you this is a site/service their children sill spend too much time on.
    Hammer, don’t hurt ‘em!”

    Yeah, I am really named after a german dictator, but mainly ‘cos the research staff are so young and they never paid attention in history and think adolf is a cool name. Hey , Adolf Stalin that would be an uber cool name to make up next time.
    They are on google now and researchign “Funky Chicken” and “Moonwalk” so they will be up now as they pretend to be a hip dad.

    “Dancing has been a part of mankind from the beginning, hence it isn’t going away. Simply look at the tv success of the
    lame “Dancing with the Stars”, which continues to get good ratings. So conceptually, it could work even with
    dancing videos being available on YouTube. It could also prove more intriguing to the urban audience if the video
    is any indication.”

    Prostitution is even older and hey, that is good ratings too! But true, lets find some “lame” TV shows that have good rating and take them from broadcast and put them online, that has to work !

    I was talking to some urban people the other day and asked them if they were intrigued, they pistol whipped me with a 9 and robbed me so I never found out.

  35. i am under age

    February 8th, 2008 at 7:45 pm

    even youtube hasn’t made money yet, why are ppl still going in?

  36. Joe

    February 8th, 2008 at 8:31 pm

    How about a facebook app called dancebook? it can crush dancejam just like dogbook crushed dogster. this is ludicrous. arrington, put your money in bonds or give it away, but please spare us from watching you light it on fire.

    BUBBLE.

  37. Ryan

    February 8th, 2008 at 9:30 pm

    Yeah Hammer was everywhere at TC40… every corner we turned there he was it seemed. THough we didnt run into him at the Crunchies.

    Maybe Hammer you could lend your voice and start waking up some of my users?

  38. Auston

    February 8th, 2008 at 9:37 pm

    Sorry dude, dont think you will see much of an ROI on this one…

  39. Marzipan from Toledo

    February 8th, 2008 at 10:24 pm

    I think a lot of you are underestimating the amount of time this demographic spends online, and what their interests are. Turn on the TV, this is a craze and its pervasive.

    This demographic is hot and the advertising possibilities are huge. Music (Hip Hop), Clothing (Under Armour, Sean John, etc.) , Sneakers (Nike, etc.), Cars (Chrysler 300M), etc. It’s a lifestyle site that advertisers will want to be a part of.

    Open your minds people — you might make some money.

    I also suppose many of you thought Edgeio was a better investment than this one….

  40. i am under age

    February 8th, 2008 at 11:10 pm

    why not give it to charity?

  41. So Many Spammers on TechCrunch

    February 9th, 2008 at 12:50 am

    @39 Marzipan

    I want you to go over to Oakland and find out how many of those kids know about Dancejam or TechCrunch even. Please report back to us if you don’t have a few bullet holes in your rear end.

  42. Dyde

    February 9th, 2008 at 1:11 am

    Hey VCs, I have a kangaroo jumping videos site that has a huge potential to be exremely profitable. I’m feeling generous today so you’ll be allowed to make bids for financing. First come first serve, minimum bid $2mln.

  43. plop

    February 9th, 2008 at 1:37 am

    OH MIKE NOT AGAIN

    …..

  44. sky

    February 9th, 2008 at 2:27 am

    I have a site shows dog running. People can rate which dog runs fastest,and has the best runnig stye. They can rate them by dog type, locations… etc.

    Actaully, I also have a site for hamesters and cats and ….

  45. Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

    February 9th, 2008 at 7:34 am

    @Startup News: No, no, no, no, no. Porn is an entity unto itself. If YouTube let porn on their site? They’d be raking in the cash. Porn will always support itself. Always, always, always. Maybe DanceJam should add a section for EXOTIC dance. Look! I found a revenue model!

  46. CanCar

    February 9th, 2008 at 8:32 am

    But, perhaps because dancing is something that happens in the here and now, nobody has figured out how to tap the trend and build a true online destination.

  47. rubu

    February 9th, 2008 at 9:08 am

    This demographic is hot and the advertising possibilities are huge. Music (Hip Hop), Clothing (Under Armour, Sean John, etc.) , Sneakers (Nike, etc.), Cars (Chrysler 300M), etc. It’s a lifestyle site that advertisers will want to be a part of.

  48. Marzipan from Toledo

    February 9th, 2008 at 9:43 am

    @41

    Nice racist attitude - you are a real piece of work. Just because you see a couple of black kids dancing on the video you assume the demographic is an Oakland project. This is very telling.

    If and when you acquire a second brain cell, you might be able to see that hip hop and dance is more prevalent than something that is found on a street corner in Oakland.

    Why don’t you go to YouTube and search for “Soulja Boy” and then look at the types of people in the videos and the houses, neighborhoods, and schools they are dancing around in.

    Then come back here and apologize to the world for being a judgmental and racist moron.

  49. HonestMall.com

    February 9th, 2008 at 10:10 am

    i can’t wait for this site to come out. Marzipan, good call on the advertising ideas.

  50. Joe

    February 9th, 2008 at 11:19 am

    @44

    I am extremely interested in investing in DogRunning. Our VC firm has a history (5 years) of investing (gambling) in cutting edge (whatever) ideas that come across our desks.

    I’d also like to explore the possibility of advertising on the dog collars and dog leashes, as well as possibly fitting the dogs with LCD screen jackets with wi-fi connections that can deliver targeted advertising to other dog lovers and lovers of dogs that run.

    we just raised (fleeced) $250m from a group of institutional investors, pension funds and wealthy individuals (who didn’t bother to check the returns of the VC industry and realize that unless you invest with the top ten firms, you might as well go long on bonds) so we are ready to GO IPO with you!

    BTW, have you thought about which letters you’d like to use for your ticker symbol on the NASDAQ? I like DR, short for DogRunning….let’s discuss on a videochat.

  51. HobahHobah

    February 9th, 2008 at 12:38 pm

    LOL!!! i love how at the end of the clip (really bad dancing, couldn’t tell whats is what in that clip) it said “copyright dancejam.com 2007″ LOL!!!11one!

  52. New Fast Browser

    February 9th, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    Keep it up.

    Buckler Browser
    http://www.jhatak.com/buckler/.....rSetup.zip

  53. A Joke

    February 13th, 2008 at 3:47 am

    You folks obviosly have never done business with this guy before! Be ready to get ripped off like some many others.

  54. John Smith

    February 13th, 2008 at 9:48 pm

    Hammer is a lil late on this. This site has been doing this for years and has contracted out the top choreographers in the world. come on hammer be a lil more ahead of the game. your late.

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