Comments on: Y Combinator’s Popcuts Pays You To Find Good New Music

By: JabberTags - Find New Sites and Explore the Internet

JabberTags - Find New Sites and Explore the Internet — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:05:02 +0000

Recent Links Tagged With Combinator…

Bookmarked your site as combinator at JabberTags!…

By: 2 new music sites you need to check out - A Song A Day

2 new music sites you need to check out - A Song A Day — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:26:54 +0000

[...] Y Combinator’s Popcuts Pays You To Find Good New Music [...]

By: xavierv

xavierv — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:27:58 +0000

Wow, so much hating for a young startup. These guys have barely launched, and we all know that ycombinator’s seed funds are really small, so why bash them as if they were Microsoft?

Seriously, keep your pants on, it’s just a music Website.

By: Social marketing and MLM schemes » didn’t see that coming

Social marketing and MLM schemes » didn’t see that coming — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:35:34 +0000

[...] TechCrunch explains: When an artist signs on to the store, they allocate a certain portion of the revenue generated by their songs to go back to their fans. This money is then distributed according to how early each user purchased a song (the earlier you buy, the more you make). For example, the band My First Earthquake has decided to pay out 30% of its revenues to its fans. The earliest adopters (say, the first dozen people to buy the song) will break even after the song has been purchased by around 25 other people. Fans buying the song later on will still earn credit, but it will be earned at a much slower rate (the site will tell you how quickly you’ll be earning credit before you buy a song). [...]

By: Y Combinator’s Demo Day Summer 2008

Y Combinator’s Demo Day Summer 2008 — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:13:47 +0000

[...] wish to remain in stealth mode any longer. See our prior coverage of Posterous, Anyvite, ididwork, Popcuts, and Slinkset – all of which are part of this batch and have launched [...]

By: www.best-practice-business.de/blog » Popcuts: Bei diesem Preismodell werden die ersten Käufer langfristig belohnt

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:12:12 +0000

[...] bei Techcrunch via exciting-ecommerce-Blog « Newcomer (141): bop-Blogs [...]

By: greedy bastard

greedy bastard — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:05:23 +0000

haha, the TOP “trendsetter” on popcuts has made back less than the price of a single album. you could make money faster by panhandling.

By: Marco Almondine

Marco Almondine — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:59:02 +0000

This system will get gamed almost immediately. If the average song gets more than 25 downloads eventually, some investor can automate buying the first copy of every song that goes up, and sit back as the algorithm generates profit over time. Perhaps they could be the nth buyer just before the payout rate changes so they aren’t the only one holding truly bad songs.

Essentially, doing this would make the song buyer an investor in the company, paying upfront cash for Long Tail revenue rights. The cash pays for the hosting and overhead and comes back eventually if the company doesn’t go under. The only question is whether 25 downloads is more or less than the average – more and the scheme is profitable, less and it isn’t. If it is profitable then only the 25 schemers (or one with 25 aliases) who get to each song first will ever make money, while everyone else will just be a sucker buying songs later with no hope of getting much of a kickback. If it’s not profitable then it’s still just about street cred or maybe shaving pennies off your music collecting costs, which you can reduce to zero through BitTorrent already.

It’s blurring the line between a Ponzi scheme and a legitimate operation. Early buyers will eventually find out that the company has all the data and can adjust the payout scheme any way they like so they keep drawing new buyers. All they have to do to stay profitable is keep selling songs for greater than hosting cost, everything else is gravy, but they can game it to maximise their own profit. Early buyers are gaming late buyers but the company is gaming them all.

By: PopCuts - (official) Death to the A&R | FreshNerd.com

PopCuts - (official) Death to the A&R | FreshNerd.com — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:15:20 +0000

[...] Popcuts, a company that pays you for a band becoming popular. Don’t believe me? Here is what TechCrunch has to say: When an artist signs on to the store, they allocate a certain portion of the revenue [...]

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:21:16 +0000

Will Popcuts succeed where Weedshare failed? Maybe: Weedshare was doomed by relying on DRM. Now that DRM-free music is no longer anathema to musicians, perhaps the share-music-to-make-money model can work.

By: crunchnugget

crunchnugget — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:35:06 +0000

They may not be paying for the music. But they buy the t-shirt!

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:20:15 +0000

I’ve already made $1.11 off of buying 3 songs. Popcuts rocks : )

By: :: RADIOGLUE :: Video, Print and Web Design for the Radio Industry

:: RADIOGLUE :: Video, Print and Web Design for the Radio Industry — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:00:34 +0000

[...] Popcuts, a Y Combinator-funded music store that launches today in public beta, is looking to reward these early adopters by paying store credit to the first people who buy a song that later goes on to become popular. [MORE] [...]

By: My First Earthquake - MFE: top of the Pop(cuts)!

My First Earthquake - MFE: top of the Pop(cuts)! — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:21:01 +0000

[...] the #1 top artist on the site! Buy now to get a 30% cut of our profits! We are also mentioned on TechCrunch! Horray for the [...]

By: Dick

Dick — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:03:07 +0000

Sounds like a sellaband.com ripoff…

By: Marked as “del.icio.us,” ed. 1 « The Little One

Marked as “del.icio.us,” ed. 1 « The Little One — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:52:55 +0000

[...] as “del.icio.us,” ed. 1 7 08 2008 1. Startup pays you to find good music–TechCrunch [...]

By: Joe | A New Band A Day.com

Joe | A New Band A Day.com — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:44:52 +0000

Whether this idea works or not, at least it’s another way of getting people interested in new music. If someone buys a song by a band they’ve never heard before and decide they like it, everyone’s happy.

Joe – http://www.anewbandaday.com

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:50:12 +0000

Congrats, you are a broken record.

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:34:30 +0000

Whoops: The Music Snob

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:33:13 +0000

It’s an interesting idea, but I’m wondering if their target demographic is too cool to have their coolness institutionalized and commoditized on a website.

Just wrote a post about it at my own blog,

By: Thomas

Thomas — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:22:32 +0000

Kevin,
Your idea is *awesome* and it’s original thinking like this that will help musicians find an audience and an income in the future. I don’t know whether PopCuts is the ultimate answer, but it’s *certainly* an innovative step in the right direction. Kudos to you and your team.

By: Damon

Damon — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:43:54 +0000

Wow you predicted a startup will fail – that’s like predicting a batter won’t hit a home run in baseball. Congrats you’re the new Oracle of the Obvious.

By: Damon

Damon — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:42:00 +0000

You mongoloid – you’re payout on black would only be 2x if you won. Payouts on successful startups can be anywhere from 4x-100,000x.

ORLY most startups fail?! That’s why the payout is so high.

Wow you predicted a startup will fail – that’s like predicting a batter won’t hit a home run in baseball. Congrats you’re the new Oracle of the Obvious.

By: Damon

Damon — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:38:25 +0000

It’s like 5-10k per article.

By: First Y Combinator Boston 2008 Startups — Boston Startups

First Y Combinator Boston 2008 Startups — Boston Startups — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:09:05 +0000

[...] Popcuts – online music store with a twist, they pay you a cut if you discover bands early. TechCrunch explains. [...]