In the last few weeks social media site Buzznet has purchased music focused blogs Stereogum and Idolator and teamed up with Universal Music Group as a content partner and equity holder in an effort to become the ultimate online music destination.
“You see music fans jumping from site to site to piece all the information they want together . . . Our goal is to put that all together into one place and have an experience that is largely programmed by the users of the community, ” GM of music Scott Boyd told Reuters. “Not just user-generated content, but really creating the whole experience.”
The site has moved from a place were users could upload camera-phone pictures of concerts they attended to a music focused site. It has recruited artists to create their own profiles and tour blogs, and has acted as the official online community for the Coachella music festival.
Boyd says the blogs the company recently purchased will be separate from the site but will integrate some content into the main Buzznet site to offer context about individual artists searches and profiles.
“So if you’re looking into a particular band, there’s a review from Stereogum and a news story from Idolator and there’s a photo gallery created by a kid who was at the concert last night,” Boyd says. “We can add value by bringing that content into our bigger community and spreading it around.”
The Buzznet deal with Universal Music includes audio streaming and music video. The company won’t confirm it, but it reportedly received $25 million in recent venture funding.
In addition Buzznet has been working with artists to host contests on the site. For example, Arvil Lavigne, had a model search for her clothing line on the site, and 30 Seconds to Mars asked fans to upload pro-environmental videos along with making donations to environmental charities.
Boyd says the company now offers only 50 percent of what it hopes to achieve in the future when it comes to content and services.
“I don’t think it’s that interesting to just do an audio streaming service,” Boyd says. “That’s incredibly important, but our users want the editorial around that. They want to create their own programming around that. So that’s just one part of the piece, not the end-all, be-all.”
