MusicPlusTV.com launched a revamped
website today. As well as a new look, it has doubled the resolution of its
flagship 24/7 television broadcast stream, added social networking capabilities,
and more. MusicPlusTV.com is an interesting blend of online video/music and a traditional TV
network – only with a niche audience. It reminds me of Revision
3, which is also
creating niche online TV shows. I like these websites, because they’re not
just regurgitating mass media TV (a la the recent NBC/News
Corp deal). It is all about fresh made-for-Web content. MusicPlusTV’s
business model includes revenues from advertising, content licensing, brand
integration, event sponsorships and digital distribution.
In its first three weeks in open beta, MusicPlusTV.comÄôs new site has
already generated an active base of users and creators. Currently it is getting
an average of 140,000 page views per day, which equates to over 4 million page
views per month. Not too shabby.
I checked out the broadcast TV aspect – it’s mostly youth-oriented (no surprise),
with a lot of music. A good example is (indie) substance, hosted by 20-year old
Avital – screenshot below. The shows are recorded in Los Angeles.
MusicPlusTV.comÄôs key new features include:
- Social Networking: Community of content creators and consumers
- Multiple File Uploader: Simultaneously upload 300 files
- Unlimited Bandwidth: Embedding and linking to content
- Higher Quality Live Stream: 24/7 live broadcast resolution doubled
- M+ Exclusive Video Archive: Searchable by keyword and tags, filtered by
genre, category, and file-type.
There’s a more complete rundown of MusicPlusTV.comÄôs new website features on
their blog. Also check out this video
tour of MusicPlusTV.comÄôs new website.
Conclusion
MusicPlusTV.com seems to be differentiating itself from the likes of MySpace
and YouTube with its broadcast TV option. Some of its early beta registrants
have been prominently featured on MusicPlusTV.comÄôs live shows, which helps
drive traffic to their profiles. The site is still quite difficult to
immediately grok, but its central purpose seems to be as a social network for
young music/video fans – with content creation being an important part of the
appeal.
Of course, MusicPlusTV.com is hardly alone in the field of Web TV – check out Josh
Catone’s recent R/WW review of Joost, Babelgum, Zattoo, and others. It’s
exciting though to see what is being done in online video outside the
mainstream Google vs BigMedia legal wranglings and oneupsmanship.
