Scott Murphy - iMixtape

Our first Pitch in our " Bitch or Pitch " which was offically launched  on 07-16-2011 by our USF MBAe 2012-2 cohort .

iMixtape

When was the last time you made a mixed tape or CD for someone? Or when was the last time someone made a mixtape for you? Did you learn about new artists or new bands? Did the mixtape have special meaning?  Was the mix made for a significant other? A close friend or family member? Did every song convey a message or memory? Did you spend hours picking out a playlist? Did it take more time editing the playlist and making sure it all fit nicely on a tape or a CD? Did you spend even more time making an album artwork? Writing down the track titles? Then finding a clean and presentable tape or CD case to gift it? I believe these labors of love are becoming less frequent today because music is dominated by the digital format. Getting music today is the easier than it has ever been. It is available on YouTube, iTunes, Amazon, Pandora, and various other services.  Yet people are struggling finding or connect with new music because there is so much choice and the market is so fragmented and drowned out by other competing media. Today people are also very time pressed and have limited time putting together a wholehearted multitasked effort into making a mixtape onto a dying medium like tape or CD when most people listen to IPods. The unmet met need I see in the music market is bringing back the compassion and opportunity to learn about new music when you give or receive a personalized mix collection of music with artwork that can be created digitally and shared through social media.  I want to call it iMixtape.

How will iMixtape Work?

Digital music is rapidly evolving with the advent of quicker Internet speeds and the popularity and scale of digital music players and smart phones that allow people to carry thousands of songs in their pocket. The next big change in digital music is with cloud computing and this is just right around the corner. Cloud computing is going to allow people access to an even larger library of music that connects and updates automatically with your computer, iPad, and smart phone all wirelessly at the same time.  Similar to a Netflix subscription model people will be able to access music on a monthly subscription..  I think this subscription model is critical for the music industry and the artists to have more consistent profits and a larger audience by delivering music more efficiently and by exposing them to their full catalogs of songs.  But how do you connect with others and share with others in this new cloud-computing world? This is where I see a unique and revolutionary niche. I want people to be able to build a diverse music playlist and then be able to create personalized artwork with the playlist to share with others. I want to make it very simple, intuitive, social, and fun. After customers make their song choices and name their own mixtape. They will be able to upload their own photo(s), add and place different types of text with various font options, and then pick from a collection of clip art to place in click and drag user interface. The client will then have the options to share the playlist on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and send the playlist via email. The client will be charged $2.99 per digital mixtape.  The individual receiver who doesn’t have a cloud computing digital account will be able to listen to the mixtape for free once.  After that they will then be prompted to opt into the program by signing up for a cloud computing account if they want to listen to mixtape unlimited amount of times. If the receiver does have cloud computing account they will be able to listen to the mixtape unlimited amount of times since they are already an established client. If the customer decides to share their mixtape on the social media sites, recipients who are not the initial person of contact, will also be able to demo the playlist in 30 second clips, if they are not existing cloud computing customers.  Lastly, clients will be able to create their own mix tapes on personal computers, IPads, and on their smart phones as a downloadable phone application.

What is iMixtape’s Business Model?

Tech companies rarely buy just the idea. Tech companies buy ideas that are technological feasible and are tangible. I would have to design a working beta version or connect with venture capitalists with the idea for necessary capital and engineering connections . Ideally, after having a working beta version I would look to approach Facebook, Apple, Google, Pandora, Spotify, and Amazon. At this point these companies look like the major players in the music distribution business in the future. My top choice would be to choose a company like Facebook who has 700 million users and is growing.  Facebook would be the place to quickly scale up due to users and viral nature of Facebook. They seem to be creating new applications inside Facebook now. For example, there is BranchOut, which is a business and job network under the aegis of Facebook that is very similar to LinkedIn.  Perhaps Facebook would want to compete in the music sphere? Apple would be next because they are the leaders in the cloud computing features with iTunes and with their dominance with personal music players. Apple already has very strong connections and inroads with the music labels. However, iTunes users stand about 200 million right now and iTunes doesn’t have a strong the social media aspect, which could be a weakness.. Amazon is another company that has a cloud computing music abilities. They would probably be very interested to differentiate themselves in this emerging market from Apple.

In closing, I think this is a viable and worthy business idea on the potential revenue collected just from clients making and designing digital mix tapes. However, I think its real value in this company lies in the ability for emerging cloud computing music distributors to grab market share and attract new customers with the subscription music distribution model.