I have 404,772 users. Now what? • Hacker News Board

Re: I have 404,772 users. Now what?

#11

Post by zpk » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 3:10 AM UTC

Coldfusion? You built this with ColdFusion? Damn PUD, you're advice back in the day was to use CF for version 0.1

And still using it, impressive!

Maybe you can advertise the hell out of this, and make a threadless or kickstarter for musicians and take a haircut every month for some sort of product the consumer would pay for, downloadable mp4 at a certain quality?

Or maybe add video ads like youtube, or maybe a radio player for users to pay for to queue up entire albums/genres/suggestions streaming.

Re: I have 404,772 users. Now what?

#12

Post by pud » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 3:11 AM UTC

j45 wrote: post #9

Some (random) thoughts / ideas. They might or might not hit what you're looking for but they're some types of connections that came to mind when surfing the site: - On first sight, I get the impression that it's a profile site. The musician in me wants to find others like me, or that complement what I'm doing to connect, relate, share music with, maybe collaborate with.. - Events - Maybe music related events (learnin…

I like all these ideas and want to do all of them in one form or another. Most of them I'd want to make free (like the learning stuff). But.. events... that could be a fun one. Specifically, I envision a huge trade show like CES but for musicians. There's currently one called "NAMM" but it's not open to the public. It would be a lot of hard work but I think would be fun. Ideally it would be free or cheap for musicians, and money would be made via sponsors and selling booth/demo space.

Re: I have 404,772 users. Now what?

#13

Post by rjd » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 3:12 AM UTC

heifetz wrote: post #4

I'm curious, if you do you something like adsense, what kind of revenue can you expect?

Starting at 10c CPM, if every user viewed one ad... $405, most sites have 3 ads per page so $1200 if every user logged in during one day.

Better targeting and click through can get that CPM up, most places I know of managed a consistent 40c through automation, through sales teams $20 is achievable (big diff between google and agencies huh).

Now the real trick is how many pages does each user view per visit, and the daily visitor rate. Going off a user visit per month and 3 page visit. (((((400,000 users) * 3 ads)* 3 pages)/1000 cpm) * 40c) = $1440 from basic impressions without including click throughs and targeted spends...

Not much for a month unless you are in an area where the bidding is high like travel, I've seen travel ads going through at $20CPM, at $20CPM the above calculation is $72k.

So a huge range in profits, I would assume music sales would be a highly bid on thing, so maybe $30-50k a month ?

Re: I have 404,772 users. Now what?

#14

Post by aymeric » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 3:14 AM UTC

xiaomei wrote: post #10

You could sell the site on http://flippa.com

Imagine:

You have a growing successful website and you wonder what to do with it, would your answer be: I should sell it on flippa?

I think this is a poor advice, especially in an entrepreneur community.

Re: I have 404,772 users. Now what?

#15

Post by mtjl79 » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 3:15 AM UTC

Or what about...

Making a Pandora like music player to discover new music from profiles on your site? You can throw ads all over that, and maybe charge a couple of bucks? Plus have musician eCommerce so people can buy stuff they like.

So I say I like "Nirvana" and your player matches me to undiscovered artists that are similar? I LOVE discovering new music.

Re: I have 404,772 users. Now what?

#16

Post by bryanh » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 3:15 AM UTC

Why not go the CDBaby, Bandcamp.com or Threaded route? You have musicians, they have music, why not create a marketplace around their persona and talent?

Feature them, give them exposure. Get them sales. Just take your modest cut. 400k users is an awesome sandbox, don't waste it!

Re: I have 404,772 users. Now what?

#17

Post by ForrestN » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 3:16 AM UTC

What about sponsored content? Pay a per-day fee to get promoted in the listings and therefor be a more visible part of the network?

Re: I have 404,772 users. Now what?

#18

Post by rquantz » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 3:16 AM UTC

zpk wrote: post #11

Coldfusion? You built this with ColdFusion? Damn PUD, you're advice back in the day was to use CF for version 0.1 And still using it, impressive! Maybe you can advertise the hell out of this, and make a threadless or kickstarter for musicians and take a haircut every month for some sort of product the consumer would pay for, downloadable mp4 at a certain quality? Or maybe add video ads like youtube, or maybe a radio…

Musicians are already using kickstarter.

Re: I have 404,772 users. Now what?

#19

Post by ccoggins » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 3:19 AM UTC

j45 wrote: post #9

Some (random) thoughts / ideas. They might or might not hit what you're looking for but they're some types of connections that came to mind when surfing the site: - On first sight, I get the impression that it's a profile site. The musician in me wants to find others like me, or that complement what I'm doing to connect, relate, share music with, maybe collaborate with.. - Events - Maybe music related events (learnin…

Going along with the idea of helping musicians find gigs, make the venues pay a membership fee to get connected with musicians. I would think venues more likely to be able to pay for a service over an aspiring musician. Also, I enjoy seeing such an honest response from someone in charge of a business :)

Re: I have 404,772 users. Now what?

#20

Post by imjk » Tue, Apr 17, 2012, 3:20 AM UTC

Build another site aimed at musicians with an clear revenue stream from the start (i.e. the Zappos of Music or the Groupon of Music) and use Fandalism site as a free traffic source/advertising platform.

Continue to grow Fandalism as a social network which in effect will grow your revenue site.

Another Idea:

- Use your platform among musicians to build a music festival and again use Fandalism as a free traffic source (and it's users as free promoters) to build a large reputable production (a la Coachella, Bonnaroo, SXSW). Live like a rock star.