sampled + sorted

The Austin Hotel for Stephen & Amy’s wedding.

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:58:00 -0500

The Austin Hotel for Stephen & Amy’s wedding.

New from Fischerspooner.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:29:51 -0500

New from Fischerspooner.

From SAI: The radio versus Internet thing is a bit surprising...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:01:00 -0500

From SAI:

The radio versus Internet thing is a bit surprising till you remember radio can play passively in the background in cars and offices. The Internet is something you have to actively seek.

Key point is not the technological capability of radio to be accessed in various environments — internet radio will soon be on equal footing, with ready access from the living room, mobile phone or car — but rather that its passive programming can be consumed while doing other things (driving, working, reading, exercising).

Internet radio will soon have the potential to be consumed during a greater % of a person’s waking hours than any other form of media; if the associated advertising is infrequent, relevant and compelling, internet radio’s economic potential is massive.

Killer mix from Berlin.

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:40:00 -0500

Killer mix from Berlin.

From the Art Institute: Until the early 1940s, Franz Kline...

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:30:16 -0500

From the Art Institute:

Until the early 1940s, Franz Kline painted realistic landscapes, portraits, and cityscapes that were inspired by the textures and forms of New York City. Around 1949 he began to make black-and-white canvases such as Painting, which, while abstract, continue to suggest the invigorating energy of urban street life.

Check out All Hallows’ Even — a most awesome,...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:19:00 -0400

Check out All Hallows’ Even — a most awesome, eclectic mix from New York’s Midnight Rockers Express, hosted by RCRD LBL.

Wish we (8tracks) could figure out a mutually beneficial way to work with RCRD LBL on these.

Always loved the River North neighborhood. It’s a LOT...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:29:00 -0400

Always loved the River North neighborhood. It’s a LOT cleaner than when I used to walk to work through it back in 1992-93.

Cool that it still retains some of its old grime (Tokyo Hotel) mixed with shiny new architecture (Dana Hotel = crap picture but beautiful building).

SAI has the best charts.

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:58:26 -0400

SAI has the best charts.

Google generates $2.5bn in free cashflow in last 3 months.

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:47:40 -0400

Google generates $2.5bn in free cashflow in last 3 months.

Daniel Ek on viability of an on-demand model

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:32:00 -0400

Daniek Ek (CEO/founder of Spotify) on sustaining an on-demand model (in paidContent today):

“The truth is, if we only have ad-supported users, the model won’t be sustainable; if we only had paid users, the model won’t be sustainable either. If you look at the history of paid services, none of them really caught on. The key here is the balance of both.”

Completely agree about the challenge of on-demand music: the high royalty rate makes an ad-supported model untenable, while the unwillingness of consumers to pay a fee to rent music for on-demand streaming leaves a subscription-supported model as a niche play (to date).

In the former case, the issue is margin; in the latter the issue is volume.

Clearly, the key for Spotify is to achieve sufficiently high conversion from its free user base such that the positive contribution margin from subscribers can more than offset the negative contribution margin from free listeners.

Some excellent selections from a friend in London.

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:45:19 -0400

Some excellent selections from a friend in London.

Vote for Anthony of The Hype Machine!

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:41:32 -0400

Vote for Anthony of The Hype Machine!:

fascinated:

Ok, it turns out you can vote for me in this 30 under 30. You should click to vote.

A shot from the closing party at Space. 2manyDJs at the decks.

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:53:00 -0400

A shot from the closing party at Space. 2manyDJs at the decks.

Spotify should buy imeem

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:31:00 -0400

imeem just raised $6m in new cash at a $6m pre-money valuation (obviously a big write-down occurred here and/or in back in May). As imeem gives up a 50% stake, this sounds like a final round to move to profitability or, I think more likely, to sell the company to someone else (which I know they’ve been trying to do for awhile). While I don’t have access to Jupiter Media Metrix, even if we assume conservatively that imeem still attracts 6m uniques/month, this works out to $1/unique.

In contrast, Spotify just raised $50m on a $250m pre. As it supposedly has more than 2m registered users (the vast majority of which are not subscribers), Spotify’s per-user valuation comes out to $125. Given that some portion of these registered users are likely inactive in a given month, the apples-to-apples, per-unique comparable is probably $150 or more. Thus, active users on Spotify are currently valued at ~150X (or more) the value of active users on imeem.

Given that both services offer basically identical products (free on-demand streaming), albeit with Spotify’s better UX vs imeem’s overfeatured social networking, this contrast is pretty shocking.

If I were Spotify, I’d just buy imeem’s business (users) with the new funding and transition these 6m folks over.

The Fernsehturm turns 40 in 10 days. The story of the...

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:12:00 -0400

The Fernsehturm turns 40 in 10 days. The story of the “Pope’s Revenge” (check link) is amusing. It reminds me of a giant elevated disco ball, which seems apt for Berlin.

The Marienkirche, OTOH, is some ~750 years old (exact age not known) and is one of the 2 oldest churches in Berlin.

Check out DATA/DEBT’s Paranoia Mix of Come Back Clean by...

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:36:00 -0400

Check out DATA/DEBT’s Paranoia Mix of Come Back Clean by The Crystal Method. Full disclosure: DATA/DEBT = Matthew = 8tracks’ web dev maestro, who clearly has additional talent!

Click “Play my entry” at left to listen.
Click “Vote for DATA/DEBT” at left to give ‘em some love.

Thanks!

More excellent chilled electronic beats.

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:31:44 -0400

More excellent chilled electronic beats.

I hang at Jack the Ripper’s old haunt. http://bit.ly/meWTS

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:08:00 -0400

I hang at Jack the Ripper’s old haunt.

http://bit.ly/meWTS

The City, new (Broadgate Tower) and old. Love this building,...

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:25:00 -0400

The City, new (Broadgate Tower) and old.

Love this building, completed earlier this year, and the contrast.

Nice day in Hoxton Square.

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:11:04 -0400

Nice day in Hoxton Square.