Rodney Jerkins to Launch MusicMogul.com

Would you pay to see a live performance online in a virtual world? How about paying for a monthly subscription to let an avatar live and dress like a celebrity? Do you want to see how your favorite artist would be living large online? Do you want to upload your own videos and have them be viewed by people in your network?

Grammy Award-winning songwriter/producer Rodney Jerkins and former Vivendi Games executive Nicholas Longano think your answers are YES, YES, YES and YES and launching MusicMogul.com in February. According to the placeholder landing page, it’ll be the place where you can “Make Your Mark”.

Jerkins says, “We’re creating something where labels can make money and artists can make more money through micro-transactions like fans wanting to wear a particular artist’s hat or clothes,” he says. “They can click on that item and buy it.” The site will also give an opportunity for artists to interact with their fans with fee-based album release parties. It is not clear if access to this stuff will be a pay-for-event or subscription only service.

There will be a preview on November 24th to show some of the site features. The virtual world is being described as “basic”, but it sounds like they are really trying to marry the best the web has to offer in terms of a one stop music and entertainment spot with performances/music content, games, social networking and user generated content. There is a catch on the user generated content though: Music Mogul will retain ownership of any user-generated videos uploaded to the site.

My first thought is, is there room for another virtual world? Afterall, that is what it seems like the site is going to be first and foremost, with users having the ability to style avatars, visit artist’s “cribs” and buy accessories for their own virtual space. My next question, the one that I think is even more important with a plan like this is: Do artists have time to devote to another social network in such a way that it will be valuable to consumers and make them want to spend not just time, but money on this site, especially when all the parts of it can be found on other sites for free?

Hopefully the upcoming preview, will have some good stuff. If the technology and commitment from artists (I want to know who they’ve got on the roster to participate) is there, it might be interesting to see where it goes.