There are two kinds of music aficionados in the world – those who dream about having their own band, and those who dream about managing their own band. For those in the later (only slightly nerdy) category, VIPbandmanager is the website for you.
According to Springwise, VIPbandmanager is looking for 50,000 people who are prepared to pay £20 for the opportunity to have a (small) say in the management of a band. Once they reach the magic number, auditions for the bank will begin, with all decisions to be made by an online vote.
Pretty much everything will be in the hands of the managers, from the band’s name to choosing producers, helping pick tracks, deciding on the band’s image and promotion, organising a British tour and, of course, reaching the top of the charts, a task that will be that much easier with the viral marketing clout of 50,000 fervent fans.
What’s in it for the managers? Although being one in 50,000 doesn’t exactly equate to being a VIP, perks include entrance to exclusive parties, goody bags and backstage access. Even better, you get to tell everyone that you’re a band manager.
Time has published its top 50 websites for 2007. Here are the top five:
Weebly.com: MYO website presented in such a clear way even tech-neanderthals will be tempted to get themselves an online presence.
Blinkx.com: Search engine for just about every online video ever, plus it has a really cool clickable video wall.
Stumbleupon.com: New wave social networking site that lets you tag sites you think friends should check out and recommends sites to you based on what other users have tagged in your areas’ interests.
OhDon’tForget.com: Type in a mobile phone number and a brief message (“Pick up dry cleaning”) and this site sends it out as a text message to that phone on the date and at the time you specify. Simple as that.
Chow.com: Recipes and party tips galore, all served via a smorgasbord of audio and video, photos, blogs and boards.
The value of online ads delivered via streaming audio and video is forecast to reach $US1.37 billion in 2007, up 38% from 2006, according to AccuStream iMedia Research’s “Streaming Media Advertising 2003-2008: Market Spend by Avail, Brand and Content Category,” reported by Marketing charts.
The rapid growth in streaming media advertising in 2007 mirrors that in previous years: the $US990.3 million spent in 2006 was up 128% over $US433 million billed in 2005.
At $US66.4 million, 2007 internet radio gross ad billings make up a relatively small share of the total, but with 60% growth from 2006, the report says it is an advertising market to watch. In-game video ads are also forecast to be quick growers faster.
Cost per interactive click applications, which enable screen overlays or crawls over site content, are increasingly being used and are achieving some success, the report says, predicting that they could become regular features on larger aggregated catalogue sites such as Amazon.com, music video sites and premium content sites.
China has surpassed the United States to become the world’s biggest emitter of carbon emissions and it is only the beginning. Last month the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency used BP energy data to estimate China’s 2006 CO2 emissions surpassed those of the US by 8%. With this, China tops the list of CO2 emitting countries for the first time.
Today, The Age reports that China’s economic boom will add the equivalent of another US to global greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
Ross Garnaut, economics professor at the Australian National University and former Australian ambassador to China, issued the double-edged forecast at ANU’s annual China update conference yesterday. Professor Garnaut and Citigroup’s managing director in Hong Kong, Yiping Huang, said environmental concerns about the sustainability of China’s extraordinary growth were mounting as the economic concerns were fading.
“China is now at the centre of what could turn out to be the strongest period of global economic growth the world has seen — a Platinum Age,” they said. “Chinese officials talk privately of the economic system functioning better than at any time for 5000 years.”
“We listened to what our customers wanted and acted on what they said. Good things happen when you pay attention.”
John F Smith (retired General Motors chairman)
Smart Company is a sister publication to The Mandarin, catering to Australia’s entrepreneurs, small and medium business owners and business managers.
