Next Big Sound
Encyclopedia
Next Big Sound is a music analytics website. Its tagline is "actionable intelligence for the music industry," and the site (nextbigsound.com) measures the growth and popularity of bands across the major web properties. In the summer of 2009, the company was chosen to participate in the selective TechStars
incubator program for online startups in Boulder, CO.
and MySpace
, fans on Facebook
, iLike
, Last.fm
, MySpace
and Twitter
, band page views on MySpace, and band page comments on MySpace. NBS calculates and graphs each of these statistics over time and compares the data to that of other similar bands. The site has been tracking this data since June 2009 for over 486,000 bands, including Jason Mraz
, Lady Gaga
, Chester French
and KDrew. In addition, users can subscribe to weekly email updates discussing popularity trends for their favorite bands. NBS is a tool for music industry professionals, bands or anyone interested in tracking how millions of fans interact with music online every day. Its goal is to help bands better understand and increase their online audience.
, they already had received mentions in The New York Times
, Mashable
, and Pioneer Local.. Since their presentation at the conclusion of TechStars, in August 2009, they were featured in TechCrunch
and the personal blog of entrepreneur Fred Wilson
. Next Big Sound was recently named as one of the 10 best music startups of 2010 by Billboard Magazine and CEO Alex White was named to Billboard's 30 Under 30 executives to watch list.
, where founders Samir Rayani, Alex White, Jason Sosnovsky (since parted with NBS) and David Hoffman attended. As part of the entrepreneur class, students present their ideas to venture capitalists. The Next Big Sound received US$25,000 in seed money
. Their investors include Foundry Group, Alsop Louie, SofttechVC, David Cohen, David Cancel, Peter Zandan and Troy Henikoff. They have offices in Boulder, CO and Nashville, TN.
Techstars
TechStars is a mentorship-driven seed stage investment fund founded in 2006 by David Cohen, Brad Feld, Jared Polis and David Brown. TechStars provides seed funding for teams forming web/software companies. The organization holds programs in Boulder, Colorado, Boston, Massachusetts, Seattle,...
incubator program for online startups in Boulder, CO.
Features
With NBS, users track mentions of their favorite bands and musical artists across a variety of major music websites: music plays on Last.fmLast.fm
Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, fans on Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, iLike
ILike
iLike is an online service that allows users to download and share music. The website makes use of a sidebar that is used with Apple's iTunes or Microsoft's Windows Media Player. The program and sidebar are not required in order to use the site but allow for ease in discovering new artists....
, Last.fm
Last.fm
Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
, MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
and Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, band page views on MySpace, and band page comments on MySpace. NBS calculates and graphs each of these statistics over time and compares the data to that of other similar bands. The site has been tracking this data since June 2009 for over 486,000 bands, including Jason Mraz
Jason Mraz
Jason Thomas Mraz , also known as Mr. AZ and Mr. Raz, is an American singer-songwriter. Mraz released his debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, which contained the hit single "The Remedy ", in 2002, but it was not until the release of his second album, "Mr. A-Z", in 2005, that Mraz achieved...
, Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
, Chester French
Chester French
Chester French is an American indie pop band consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter David-Andrew 'D.A.' Wallach and multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Maxwell Drummey...
and KDrew. In addition, users can subscribe to weekly email updates discussing popularity trends for their favorite bands. NBS is a tool for music industry professionals, bands or anyone interested in tracking how millions of fans interact with music online every day. Its goal is to help bands better understand and increase their online audience.
Background
Next Big Sound is based on the concept that the music industry has changed, and that success is now most accurately based on direct engagement with fans. The purchase decisions of a critical mass of consumers has moved online, with fans participating in activities online related to the music industry (ie: Following bands on Twitter, listening to songs on MySpace.) Their interactions can be accurately measured, reported and then utilized, which is the service Next Big Sound provides. NBS continuously tracks the number of plays, views, fans, comments, mentions, and other key metrics for musical artists across major web properties. People then can sign up to have these otherwise expensive and fragmented statistics emailed to them. Users also can search a particular band or artist on NBS and immediately see graphics detailing fans' online activity.Press
Before NBS was selected for TechstarsTechstars
TechStars is a mentorship-driven seed stage investment fund founded in 2006 by David Cohen, Brad Feld, Jared Polis and David Brown. TechStars provides seed funding for teams forming web/software companies. The organization holds programs in Boulder, Colorado, Boston, Massachusetts, Seattle,...
, they already had received mentions in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Mashable
Mashable
Mashable is an American news website and Internet news blog founded by Pete Cashmore. The website's primary focus is social media news, but also covers news and developments in mobile, entertainment, online video, business, web development, technology, memes and gadgets...
, and Pioneer Local.. Since their presentation at the conclusion of TechStars, in August 2009, they were featured in TechCrunch
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
and the personal blog of entrepreneur Fred Wilson
Fred Wilson (financier)
Fred Wilson is a New York-based venture capitalist and a prominent blogger. Due to his successful investment track record and community involvement, he is recognized as a leading voice of the venture capital finance community in New York...
. Next Big Sound was recently named as one of the 10 best music startups of 2010 by Billboard Magazine and CEO Alex White was named to Billboard's 30 Under 30 executives to watch list.
Origins
The business grew from a class assignment at Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, where founders Samir Rayani, Alex White, Jason Sosnovsky (since parted with NBS) and David Hoffman attended. As part of the entrepreneur class, students present their ideas to venture capitalists. The Next Big Sound received US$25,000 in seed money
Seed money
Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding, friends and family funding or angel funding , is a securities offering whereby one or more parties that have some connection to a new enterprise invest the funds necessary to start the business so that it has enough funds to sustain itself for a period...
. Their investors include Foundry Group, Alsop Louie, SofttechVC, David Cohen, David Cancel, Peter Zandan and Troy Henikoff. They have offices in Boulder, CO and Nashville, TN.
External links
- Market Watch, The Wall Street Journal
- ReadWriteStart
- Techstars TV Documentary episodes chronicling NBS' participation in Techstars.