Aussie music site We Are Hunted is instant online sensation
A new Australian music site that appears to have found a way to beat copyright issues by streaming music hosted elsewhere has exploded in popularity since its launch a few days ago.
We Are Hunted tracks what is being said about music on blogs, social networks, forums and P2P networks. It then uses this information to draw up a chart of the day’s most popular 99 tracks. It streams the tracks for users to listen to on the site or buy if they choose.
The site is a collaboration between wotnews.com.au and Australian agency Native Digital.
Native Digital, headed by Nick Crocker, was also involved in helping launch The In Sound From Way Out, an MP3 blog for EMI Australia in what is believed to be a global first for a major music label.
Crocker is also the author of the Way Cool Jnr blog.
Since its launch on Friday, the site has geenrated a large amount of coverage:
- A Social Formula For Finding Great Music Mashable
- Forget Billboard Techcrunch
- We Are Hunted digs up the web’s most popular tracks Lifehacker
- A fantastic new way to find hot music Wired
- We Are Hunted is Top of the Pops news.com.au
The question of the music being streamed from elsewhere is yet to be tested. Frank Rodi from the Australasian Performing Rights Association told news.com.au that APRA is discussing whether We Are Hunted needs to licence the music.
According to traffic information site Alexa, We Are Hunted’s biggest audience is in the US, followed by Australia.
Crocker told Mumbrella: “We’re really enjoying the response. We needed to produce a proof of concept and now we’ve done that, and the reaction means that we can now develop it further. We’re focusing on getting the user experience right. There’s still more we can do in making it a good web site.”
On the licencing issue he said: “If you ask 100 different people, you’ll get 100 different answers. But we feel we will make a positive contribution to the artists and give them exposure.
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I absolutely love this.
I think it is so clever it hurts.
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If you like this idea, then you’ll like a new kinda of media outlet being launched in July(ish) called http://www.guvera.com
They bring music to people for free, paid for by advertisers. It’s a brand new approach to the music industry & buying online.
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This is sweet. Curating content purely based on popular user behavior is clever (& obvious!).
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hey simon – not sure how similar guvera and hunted are to be honest …
Ben
You’re right, they are quite different in their approach, however, at a broader level they’re similar in they’re a new approach to music delivery, both resulting in listeners not paying cash.
The music industry is continuing to stick it’s heels in while ‘new media’ businesses create new ways to connect people with music.
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i think this is amazing.
how many time have you looked at the official charts and thought “who the f**k actually buys that sh*t in Number 1”
would love to know more about their measurement tools.
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I think the music revolution is going to play out in an interesting way.
Right now no one is getting paid really. Expecting advertisers to pay for it all is unrealistic and unsustainable. To do this you need to show a clear ROI correlation between funding someone’s music library and selling more burgers/cars/credit cards/mobile phones (ultimately at the end of the day we’re selling)
For a music web business working within the scope of current royalties even with 100% sell through of ads you’d barely break even so the current depth of offering isn’t sustainable either.
I don’t think Hunted is a new way of delivery really … it’s moreso a new way of making sense of all the blogs like the Hype Machine Zeitgeist did at the end of 2008 when it did a top 50 based on a formula across music blogs. Comparing it to the current chart system is way off as this approach will always lean towards acts that have more passionate supporters – niche acts – and that is its unique point … connecting with influencers not the 14 year old who just discovered Lady GaGa.
Remember, ARIA charts are based on sales … this approach is based on plays. There’s a big difference. People are paying for one thing, and they’re taking the other for free.
Ben I am cannot agree with your second paragraph – too focused on advertising and not enough on communication.
Certainly there are many (too many?) brands that only equate an advertising / marketing spend with DIRECT acquisition. However there are a (growing) handful of brands that will see a real opportunity with the Guvera model to build brand love and brand affinity by bringing people free music. Any progressive brand should feel confident that this increased brand love and afifinty that they received will translate into increased sales. Any brand facilitating the highly personal and emotional connection people have with discovering and enjoying new music could make a very strong powerplay by investing money into a platform where people (their potential customers) got it for free.
Generation G(enerosity); otherwise simply known (without the wanky title) as brands just giving love to get love back is real and there are many examples. Only this morning Adobe has decided to give away one of its paid for products to designers who are having a hard time.
They are giving in the hope to get back.
As long as a brand could control its investment into Guvera (investment the key word, not cost) then it could be a very potent position to take…a position that leveraged correctly could build huge brand love which utlimately would deliver increased sales.
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Hey Simon,
You should check out http://www.thelocalscene.com.au, those guys have been doing indie downloads for free that are paid for by advertisers for about 18 months…
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There’s also another very cool Aussie music video site – http://www.moshcam.com – great quality footage…and for those who have slipped pleasantly over the middle-age line and want to hark back to a more energetic youth, have a look at The Exploited footage from the Metro…!! (http://www.moshcam.com/#?page=.....#038;id=14)
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Love this.
However, I just wanted to mention it’s quite hard to track down a license for webcasting even when you are doing it as a not-for-profit.
I personally approached a solicitor that specialised in licensing and followed the avenues to obtain a license. It was recommended that I license with APRA, who had thus far not given me any concrete licensing info for webcasting through USA servers, but apparently they are who I should license through given that I am an aussie and residing here in Australia.
The whole online copyright issue is a mess and even when someone like me wants to do the right thing and license music to webcast, I can’t.
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“build huge brand love which utlimately would deliver increased sales”
Brand love is only worthwhile if it does bring sales. Do you want people to love your brand or buy your product. Not saying the two are mutually exclusive but it’s something to think about.
“Brand love is only worthwhile if it brings sales” …that’s more subjective than objective Ben I think. Philosophically I agree with your statement but I don’t think you are in a position to speak for every brand out there. There are very few absolutes left in the communications world but I certainly feel brand love has a value in its own right irrespective of a link to sales (altho a link to sales is ideal of course).
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” I don’t think you are in a position to speak for every brand out there.”
good point mr and I agree completely, but I’m not claiming to by any means
seems my comment got chewed up on here…
Who is behind Guvera.com?
It seems like a combination of Hulu.com and RCRDLBL.com – which I would be glad to have in Australia.
I know RCRDLBL.com have struggled to get enough advertising dollars but I hope it works out for Guvera.com
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