The third
SanFran MusicTech Summit gave another opportunity for digital media entrepreneurs, investors, analysts, distributors and musicians to convene and discuss the future. Among the highlights:
∙ In a cool-headed discussion of royalty rates and
policy affecting Webcasters, Tim Westergren (pictured at right), the CEO of Net radio provider
Pandora Media Inc., said the most powerful force keeping his company alive has been consumer sentiment. Fans of the site have petitioned Congress to give small Webcasters a break, allowing companies such as Pandora to stay in business. Westergren also said he expects artists to organize "in a more substantial way than they've done in the past" to keep Pandora and similar services alive.
∙
Buzznet Inc. founder Anthony Batt and
MySpace Music VP Josh Brooks agreed that in a down economy, people will spend more time at home online, potentially driving growth for their Web-based, ad-supported services.
∙ Josh Crandell of market research firm
NetPop Research presented slides with illuminating stats and trends. Among them: 80% of people using online music services only consume free content. Use of desktop PCs for music now outpaces use of CD players. And consumers looking to discover music now pay more attention to social networks, user-generated content sites and other "unofficial" channels than to mainstream mass media and press.
∙ Sometime VC and
Topspin Media Inc. co-founder
Peter Gotcher (pictured at left) said growth opportunities for investors are presenting themselves now, as incumbents are in the "capitulation phase in the death of a really screwed-up industry." But all three VCs on the funding panel, including WaldenVC's Larry Marcus and TransMedia Capital's Michael Downing, agreed that the next six to 12 months will be very slow, and will present challenges to seed-stage and late-stage companies alike. Still, Downing said exits will come, as media buyers look for "outsourced R&D" opportunities among startup companies.
∙
Fuzz.com Inc. CEO Jeff Yasuda, whose company created the increasingly popular
Blip.fm "Twitter-for-music" service, tells me the company has raised a fourth installment of capital from angel investors. Watch this space for more information about that in the coming days.
-- Paul BonanosSee May 12 post from Tech Confidential about the venture capital panel at the last SF MusicTech SummitSee May 15 post from Tech Confidential concerning Blip.fm
Continue reading below
