music fansite

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phil9922

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Jun 5, 2007
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I have a friend who raps and a few months ago he was signed by universal on a distribution deal. Currently, the only internet traffic he is bringing to himself is from myspace. He does have a registered domain that he uses for an email address, but I registered it about 6 months back under my own godaddy account in my own name. Last week, his new single hit the billboard charts on the top '100 hot singles' chart in the top 10. This week his ranking in the top 100 singles moved down but he is still somewhere in the top 20. However, he is now listed on billboard's hot rap & r&b singles in the top 10. The domain I own in his name has just been sitting and only been used by him for email. I was wondering if someone could give me some tips on setting up a fansite for his music, because I think that this may possibly be a big $$ maker for me in the future if his first album release (scheduled for august) under universal is a big success.
 


i wouldn't use wordpress for this project, make a website with some flash and a huge online store with his gear. Since technically it is his official site, you shouldn't have any problems with visitors or SERPs if you know what you are doing SEO wise. Who is the artist by the way?
 
the thing is, ive helped him lots with his myspace and other internet related stuff to get his name out there. if i build him a site, he would have no problem labeling it his official site and linking to it from his myspace (with about 20k friends and 1k+ views daily). the domain i own is the same as his myspace url (if his myspace url is myspace.com/bandname i own bandname.com). if he labels it his official site, it of course will get lots more traffic than any others that pop up later on. there is currently no fansite for him as far as i know. i was planning on using adsense and maybe some ringtone ads or whatever, but that is not looking at the big picture. i see the biggest $ making possibility down the road, if his album release is successful and my page is getting a decent amount of traffic. if both happen, i wonder if universal may want to buy the site off me, especially since the artist himself has already labeled it as his official page.
 
You gotta first get a good site up and running with lots of value before universal would consider buying the site from you, or else they would only buying the domain name from you, which would make you less profit.

if universal signs him officially in august or whatever you said, they might gain rights to all his assets and screw you out of your site. Let me know if you want any of my help or not
 
he has already been signed by universal several months ago. the site is in my name, so it is my asset, not his, and it cannot be taken away from me.
 
he has already been signed by universal several months ago. the site is in my name, so it is my asset, not his, and it cannot be taken away from me.
Actually I'm pretty sure they can, since its his exact name.
If he uses his actual name it may be different, but if he uses something like Lil' [insert retarded name here] I wouldn't be surprised if they snatched it with ease.
 
Actually I'm pretty sure they can, since its his exact name.
If he uses his actual name it may be different, but if he uses something like Lil' [insert retarded name here] I wouldn't be surprised if they snatched it with ease.

how is this? im sure that whatever individuals had the idea to register ford.com, chevrolet.com, etc all made good money and didnt have the domains all just stolen away by the companies once they realized what had happened. since it is my property, how can they just take it away?
 
how is this? im sure that whatever individuals had the idea to register ford.com, chevrolet.com, etc all made good money and didnt have the domains all just stolen away by the companies once they realized what had happened. since it is my property, how can they just take it away?
Copyrights?

I honestly wouldn't worry about it if I were you. But I would build a quality site ASAP.
 
Copyrights?

I honestly wouldn't worry about it if I were you. But I would build a quality site ASAP.

ive been lurking these forums for a while but still dont know exactly where to start when it comes to site building. would anyone be willing to help with the project and point me in the right direction?
 
I wouldn't try to build it yourself then. Hire a designer, make it look professional. The site itself wouldn't be complicated, but the presentation on these things is very important.

I'd outsource the work. It could turn out to be a great investment for you.
 
im looking for a design similar to chrisbrownworld.com and richboyonline.com. Anyone have recommendations for someone i could outsource the work to? and what price range can i expect to pay for a site similar to that?
 
EZ-tracks.com encourages all artists to sign up with their music. The people at EZ-tracks will help get the artist some exposure. EZ-tracks users can listen to your guys music for free. There are spaces for Bios, forums, news, it's a great resource for upstart and independent musicians.
 
EZ-tracks.com encourages all artists to sign up with their music. The people at EZ-tracks will help get the artist some exposure. EZ-tracks users can listen to your guys music for free. There are spaces for Bios, forums, news, it's a great resource for upstart and independent musicians.

since the artist im speaking about has already been on billboard for the past 2 consecutive weeks and is in the process of filming a music video for his first major single, i dont think he needs much more exposure. im trying to build his 'official' webpage and make as much $ off it as i can for myself since i already own his domain.
 
how is this? im sure that whatever individuals had the idea to register ford.com, chevrolet.com, etc all made good money and didnt have the domains all just stolen away by the companies once they realized what had happened. since it is my property, how can they just take it away?

It's called cybersquating and the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) established by the US Government in 1999 which amends the provisions of title 17, United States Code, and the Communications Act of 1934, relating to copyright licensing and carriage of broadcast signals by satellite (S. 1948).

And if he sold the rights to his name or licensed them to universal your outta luck. Your only claim is if you actually have a business or a legal reason you own the name. Unless you have a deal with your friend your don't have a legal reason. If your worried about it you should be talking with your friend's legal council. If your gonna risk it, then I'd throw up some information about the artist, sell some cd's, maybe some studio demo's, t-shirts, personalized pictures, etc.

Oh, and the domain really isn't your property. You're just borrowing it for a while. Only one domain I know of that has stood any test in court is Nissan Computer Corporation and those guys had a legitimate computer business named Nissan.
 
Fansite

For what it's worth I'm going to tell you something that i was involved with back in 97-2000.

A friend and I started a Bone Thugs n Harmony Fan Site called Thugland. I'm not sure if any of you are hip hop heads but Bone thugs are grammy award winners among other great accomplishments in the industry.

Anyways, we received more hits than Ruthless/Relativity/Sony did on their site, so for a few years we became the #1 Bone Thugs source for info and news, etc. I worked for Relativity/ Sony as a street rep at the time so, the labels knew it, bone thugs knew it, but they didn't bother in trying to take us down or take the name,(note:bone thugs was at the top of the game at the time) all they said was keep up the good work. Now I know this is a little different in your case but this leads me to my next venture while running thugland, I had come into contact with Bizzy, one of the members. His manager asked if we could do his website for Bizzy-bone.com I said yeah if I can gain control of that domain, but it wasn't possible. They went through alot of bullshit to get that domain since it was already printed on his album art, but nope... they said someone already owns that. The record label couldn't do anything. Till this day the domain name is on the album Heavenz Movie but they never got to use it.

Now that was 9 years ago...maybe things have changed but I would really doubt universal would go through the trouble to gain ownership of the domain you have. For an artist who really hasn't broken all the way through yet. They could always make a variation of it (hence the hyphen in Bizzy-bone.com), kinda like how movie websites sometimes have the word "movie" at the end of the url. Now maybe it would be different if your homie was like making or breaking the label, then they might consider but rare chance.

This is what I would do, Make a dope ass website with your URL, like someone said earlier, a Flash website like modeling it after the industry standards of websites. I've been out of touch with the industry in the past year or so but I know Flash based websites were hot for music and still are for movies. If need be, make a blog off to the side using wordpress or blogger. Write some reviews of your homies music on article sites link back to your sites, do some colabs with as many heads in the hip hop communities on the net as you can,and get backlinks on other high traffic fansites in relation to your site. Keep it moving if you want to blow your homie up. But always keep this in your mind, Universal will have a team of designers, promoters, A & R, etc. to promote his album too. It's their investment that matters. Link to whatever official site is decided on, then try to get a link back which leads me to the next paragraph.

What I would do, (similar to how I got started with Bone) is ask your homie for a favor and ask him to submit your resume to the label, maybe get you on as an intern for A & R, soundscan, or Street Team. Sooner or later you just may have a nice partnership or something you can work with if you know what you are doing. Shit you can easily be the Unofficial Source which in my case people like better than the official site , becuz the record labels hardly update the sites.

Now as far as monetizing it, you may wanna think about that one. Ask your homie, what does the contract include as the labels ownership. If you are making money off his name there may be a fine line that you may not wanna cross. Blog and adsense the shit, it may be ringtone clicks which aren't shit but I'm sure you can get creative with it. If his music is on itunes, affiliate with that. Do the screensaver thing using Zango (it's controversial but heard it works), Shit I would get his underground CD's if they are under a different name and use that as leverage to get some money. There is so much you should be able to do it's crazy. Oh yeah if he does blow up make sure to always put up a message board. You need those contacts.

Somebody mentioned before something about sell his gear. That's an idea, if it doesn't cross over into the contract. Just cover your ass in all aspects becuz next thing you know you could get a cease and desist letter from universal.

Sorry for such a long message but I hope it helps. PM if you want, I can show you the flash site we did for Bone back in 2003 or sumthin.

Peace
 
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