Well, at least for now it is. If you didn't independently launch your new music/media service 3-5 years ago or more, don't bother trying to do so now (at least not with the goal of "making it big" and earning much market-share or money!)

The window is about closed.

Conglomeration and consolidation the well funded mega media corporations is almost fully set in stone. I mean, where are all the people/customers these days? YouTube, FaceBook, Myspace, iTunes, etc. (That's where!)

Not trying to be all "doom and gloom" or nothing.
But let's face REALITY! Unless you have millions of dollars to blow (and even then, it ain't no guarantee!) if you TRY to start a music/media website to compete with the likes of YouTube or MySpace YOU ARE GONNA GO DOWN IN FLAMES!

CdBaby now is in the hands of DiskMakers. (And get this!) Even eMusic's top honcho stepped down!

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THINK about it!

Who the hell is left? (Besides non-prof and home-grown entities who are not anywhere's NEAR being a blip on the marketplace's radar?)

WHO?

(Besides, of course, the last hold-out: DMusic!)

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Folks, we gotta give Larry (leflaw) Feldman a little credit for being
'last man standing' in the indie media world.

Unfortunately, too few of the music bands/artists out there in the world know any better than to use MySpace as their de-facto homepage.

leflaw, my advice to you is to spend most if not all of your money (assuming you HAVE any left) on NATIONAL advertising. It really is time to grow the brand. NOW! (Before it becomes too late for you too!)

The "word of mouth" thang is over. Sure, you might have a hit here and there, some of your artists will (and have) achieved "15 minutes of fame" and/or (worse) end up enslaved to a major recording contract.

...but, for DMusic to survive and THRIVE, you are gonna need some national and international recognition.

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You have most of the ducks in a row!

The infrastructure already exists!

DON'T sell your soul!

Beware venture capitalists!

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heh,

(figures what I was trying to say would come out in "song-form/rhyme")

lol

You don't have to be THE best. You simply need to do your best. If you (the "general collective" context of the word "you") started a similar site -- and in the popularity ranks between 1 and 10,000 you were #10,000 and nowhere near #1 -- if you were making $250,000/yr on the thing (which is of course nowhere near the millions / billions that the big boys make) would you REALLY be bitching about it? no. lol ... you'd have to be insane to bitch about doing something you enjoy and making a descent living while you're at it. It doesn't need to bring in a million dollars a second and doesn't need to be the best.

-Dave

I am having 5 million dollar conversations with vulture capitalists anyway.