Black Web 2.0

I had the pleasure of being able to talk with Brett Wright of UptownLife.net. UptownLife recently relaunched, a little over a couple a weeks ago, and is more or less the online version of Uptown magazine. See below for the full email exchange: (more…)

I just received my Dropbox beta invite, and already contemplating getting rid of some of my external storage devices. Dropbox is an Amazon S3 based online storage solution that allows users to seamlessly store your files in “the cloud” making them accessible from any location. Dropbox comes with a Python-based desktop client for both Mac and Windows, that creates and links shared folders from your computer to your online Dropbox. The application creates a folder on your computer called “My Dropbox”. Once files from you desktop are placed in the “My Dropbox” folder, they are instantly synced to your online Dropbox or any desktop computer with the client installed. (more…)

According to the latest U.S. numbers from Hitwise, the top niche dating sites are steadily gaining market share while their big mainstream counterparts stagnate. This report compared the overall market share of the top 5 dating sites; Singlesnet, Plentyoffish, TRUE, Yahoo Personals, and Match to the market share of some of the top niche categories (sexual preferences, race, and religions). The Black niche category included; BlackPeopleMeet, BlackSingles, BlackChristianPeopleMeet.

While mainstream dating websites declined in monthly market share (-7%), Black niche dating sites grew 14% from 5.26% to 6.01% of US market share.

This decline in market share for mainstream dating sites could be due to a number of reasons not examined by this article including; lack of space for mainstream sites to grow and an increase competition from mainstream social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook being just some them, but one thing’s for certain, the “one size fit all” sites are not meeting the needs of the entire population, creating opportunities for success in the niche market.

Source Tech Crunch via Online Personals

It seemed as if the only way to get your face/content on the Tube was to either live in Los Angeles, join the cast of a reality TV show, or know someone in the industry, but as the popularity of online video increases (up 66% over last year according to ComScore) the more people are opting to forgo conventional methods, and creating an online viewership. This phenomenon has become especially important in the black community where TV and Film executives are still having difficulty funding black content, despite that fact that Mara Brock Akil, John Singleton, Spike Lee, Tyler Perry and many others have proven and continue to prove that there is a market and demand for it. Now today’s aspiring black video producers can bypass the network executive approval process with tools and video distribution platforms at their disposal. Producers have complete creative freedom, allowing the success of their content to be determine by the people instead of executives.

Here are just a few people making waves using video distribution platforms.

Andre Meadow, the self proclaimed “Black Nerd” is just one of many Youtube members leveraging the platform to enhance his careers and express his ideas to the masses. (more…)

PaidContent reported yesterday that Essence will team with Warner Bros. TV to launch a new video heavy site this summer. You may remember when we reported on Essence’s “30 Dates in 30 Days” webisode last fall and our initial reaction on the it. Lets take a quick look at what this partnership means for Essence since most of the articles I have read on this only covers what this mean for Warner Bros.: (more…)

I mentioned this briefly in a post earlier, I was pleasently surprised when I came across this series on MTV’s Multiplayer blog. I just wanted to take a moment to big-up Multiplayer for even doing this series. I also wanted to share a little on each person they have featured thus far:

N’Gai Croal Talks Stereotypes, Finding Video Games’ Spike Lee

“I’ve gotten e-mails from black students… who’ve said that it was inspiring to them — to see my photo on the blog and read my stuff.”

(more…)

Are you ready for the music industry revolution? Jay-Z and LiveNation are ready to bring it to you with the announcement of what is being billed as the largest music contract ever awarded at $150 Million. But that is only half the story. The other half is that they are formulating a new distribution and business model that includes getting a share of his live performances as well.

The announcement does not go into details about any of the new distribution models but does infer that it positions Jay-Z and LiveNation to be in a strong position to take advantage of the current and emerging ways consumers will access and consume music. (more…)

Recently launched Muxtape, has been all the buzz on Twitter the past couple of days. Considering the site just announced its launch March 25, the amount of muxtapes being created was phenomenal. In fact yesterday, I saw a few tweets stating that the service wasn’t allowing any new signups.

Well, I got in there today, and though I haven’t started my muxtape yet, my playlist is set and ready for upload. I just gotta figure out which one of my most played genres I feel like sharing with folks.

What is Muxtape exactly? (more…)

As I prepare my presentation for the Urban Network Annual Summit, I cant help but to ponder about all the critics and analyst who keep saying the music industry is dead, this that and the other. But yet there are clear indications (no not Apple) that money can, and will be made. Look at Harry Fox, the agency reportedly paid out more in revenue this year, which shows that music publishing is growing. Concert tickets sales have goon through the roof, And Bacardi disclosed a partnership with Groove Armada, the latest post-major tie-up. (more…)

SplashCast Corp. has raised a $4 million Series A round of funding, the company plans to blend advertising with the viral effects of social media. The company openly boasts on its site that it has served some 260 million videos already. “Brands have to do that if they want to stay relevant to that younger demographic,” Chief Executive Michael Berkley said. “Banner ads just aren’t working. The demographic has become very cynical about advertising.”

“This is a land grab,” Berkley said. “There is a tremendous opportunity out there, so we really need to scale on the sales side and marketing.” (more…)