A few weeks ago, Mochila (the sponsor of this blog) was spotted by a Springwise SpringSpotter, which positioned Mochila as a leader in rights management and digital content syndication. At the time, I wasn’t really sure how this worked or who was behind the site – but it’s actually really cool. These spotters are a network of 8,000 global business and marketing-savvy people in over 70 countries.
They’re scanning the globe for the most promising business ventures, ideas and concepts. Springwise, based in Amsterdam, gives spotters not only a forum to write about their observations, but makes them an essential part of the conversation.
In this post about Mochila, “Online Media Marketplace for Content,” SpringSpotter Susanna Haynie discusses how Mochila makes life easier for content publishers by giving them more options for high-quality content.
According to the Springwise post, “World media spent just under USD 2 billion on syndicated news content last year, and that figure is expected to grow to USD 3 billion by 2008, Mochila says. The time is ripe for a new content model, and it looks like this one is taking hold.”
This is something new for long-tail (and even magic-middle) publishers that didn’t even have the option to use licensed syndicated content before. In the past, access to this kind of content usually required expensive subscriptions or syndication deals. Mochila changes this by taking a glass half-full approach: they let content creators distribute articles, photos, audio, and videos a la carte or through their many other options.
A big win for Springwise readers is the fact that Mochila does away with subscription fees, but still maintains the integrity of ownership of the original author’s work.
There’s no doubt: we live in an era of user-generated content, and there’s a high demand for syndicated news at an affordable price. Mochila’s new content model levels the playing field for publishers of all sizes – long-tail blogs and large media companies.
It’s not an easy life. Supporting an underdog in a presidential race. But it’s what makes us American. Like him or not, he’s got some real momentum online.
340,000 people strong, this Facebook Group has exploded in popularity in the last 30 days. They call the group “International Skip School Day” and premise is simple. Get kids around the world to skip school for a day - on the same day.
Apparently, there are a few people who think that it is a good idea:
Day 1: 12 members…
Day 3: 102 members!
Day 6: 1000 members!!! wooo
Day 7: 2100 members!! wow
Day 17: 7900 members… just holy *&*#!
Day 19: 12000 members!
Day 21: 14700 members…
Day 22: 21000 members, Holy Jumping Jesus
Day 23: 24700 members
Day 24: 33700 members… Just how?
Day 25: 48 700 members
Day 26: 53 200 members
Day 27 : 58 300 members!
Day 28: 69 400 members!
Day 29: 80 800 members! wow
Day 30: 97 000 members..
Day 31: 106 800 members!!! WHAT
Day 33: 158 300 members.
Day 34: 201 900 members…
Day 36: 256 000 members
Day 38: 297 700 memberz
Day 40: 340 000 membaz
Impressive growth, and such a worthy cause. This growth has made it today’s “Top Blog Content”, and making it one of the most talked-about topics on the web.
We’re skipping school, and we don’t even go to school.
Supermodel Albert Reed and his professional partner Anna Trebunskaya were revealed to be the second couple eliminated from Dancing with the Stars’ fifth season during last night’s live results show broadcast on ABC.
Albert and Anna were among the bottom two couples based on a combination of the judges’ scores from Monday night’s performance episode and home viewer votes cast following the broadcast. Entertainer Wayne Newton and professional partner Cheryl Burke were the other couple in the result show’s bottom two.
While Dancing with the Stars’ judges scored Albert and Anna’s quickstep a 21 out of a possible 30 points and awarded Wayne and Cheryl’s quickstep routine a 15 — the lowest score of any of the 11 couples who performed — Mr. Las Vegas apparently has a larger fan base than the male model, as he was saved to dance for at least another week.
When Chuck (Dane Cook) refused to kiss a goth girl when he was ten years old, she placed a curse on him: every single woman he sleeps with will break up with him and marry the next man she meets. Chuck soon realizes this pattern and becomes hopeful that single women will seek him out as a date, so they will soon find Mr. Right. He then meets Cam Wexler (Jessica Alba), a lovable but clumsy penguin trainer. In one scene, Cam attempts to get out of the car, and her dress is ripped off, showing her panties with a penguin on it. However, he finds himself in a conundrum, as she constantly tries to convince him to have sex, something he tries to avoid because he doesn’t want her to marry someone else.
After made to believe the “curse” is fake, Charlie soon has sex with Cam. After realizing that she might fall in love with someone else, Charlie does everything it takes for her to stay with him. From stalking her at her workplace, to jumping into a penguin suit and serenading her.
Better known as: The fearless host of Spike TV’s HotLines; a party girl in the comedy The Wedding Crashers.
Her story: Sultry Ivana landed her Spike TV gig after a classic bait and switch…literally. “When I auditioned, they said I’d just be fishing,” she laughs. “Then I go from diving with sharks in the morning to jumping out of a plane in the afternoon. The show is like Wild On meets Jackass, and I’m the queen jackass!” Sounds perfect to us, even if there are plenty of on-the-job hazards. “I once had a chum-throwing competition with the other host, Stacy, and I ended up throwing myself in…with the feeding sharks! There’s nothing awesome about that.”
I can see the writing on the wall. The album is dying.Highly successful artists have started abandoning albums as a way to make money. They are now giving away their music for free. Instead of selling albums, they are concentrating on building their fan bases, putting out quality art, and making their bread through touring and merchandising.
First, Prince decided to give away his latest albumPlanet Earth in copies of the British tabloid The Mail this past summer. Predictably, the record industry was scared, with music retailers launching lawsuits and investigations and pulling Prince’s other records from the shelves. Next, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails urged fans to steal his albums, saying, “If I could do what I want right now, I would put out my next album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you want, [and] pay $4 through PayPal.”
Finally, Radiohead has told the world that we should pay what we want for their upcoming album In Rainbows. The album will be available as a download and users will really be able to name their price, or even pay nothing at all.
Together, these artists have sold over 55 million albums. They have dozens of top 10 hits to their names. These artists arguably understand the record business better than anyone and they’ve collectively decided that the album isn’t for making money anymore. This isn’t an isolated incident. This is a trend.
Small bands have never made money off albums because they can’t get signed or get a distribution deal. Now, the big guys are foregoing the album as well, giving up what was once their major source of income. The fans aren’t moaning the loss either, being happy to download content piecemeal. In short, nobody has a use for albums anymore besides the record companies. It’s pretty clear to anyone following musical trends that the era of the album is over. The file sharers have won and the era of free music is upon us.
I hope the music industry is ready for this change. I’m sure they see it coming, as they’ve taken steps to deal with the changing marketplace by selling digital downloads and ringtones on one hand and suing their file sharing customers on the other. But I wonder if a record exec has ever seriously thought, “What if nobody will buy albums anymore? What if the album goes extinct?”
The record industry is mammoth, corrupt, greedy, and above all, slow to change. They’ve already been caught flat footed by the digital music revolution. For their sake, let’s hope they are looking a little farther into the future.
I personally won’t morn the death of the album. If it does become extinct, so much the better. Do you think the future of the record industry lies with the album?
It seems like a good idea. It’s basically electrolytes on one of those cool strips you put into your mouth. Company officials claim that it delivers sodium and potassium to the athlete quicker than Gatorade does because it enters the bloodstream through the mouth. They say it’s a faster and more effective than going through the stomach.
Source: enlytenstrips.com
Anyway, Enlyten’s president is Dan Kelly, brother of Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly. Enlyten placed an ad in the Buffalo Bills game program calling itself the official electrolyte strip of the Bills. According to my sources, Gatorade wasn’t happy about this and voiced their opinion with the league, saying that they own the official electrolyte replacement designation with all of the league’s teams.
Sure enough, earlier this week, the NFL sent a letter to all club marketing officials saying that Enlyten could not be an official sponsor of any team. The only thing the company could do was take out advertising, but that it would not have the use of the NFL shield or any of the team logos.
Source: enlytenstrips.com
For a company that’s trying to get the word out about their product, their job just got a whole lot tougher. As they prepare to go into Sports Authority stores across the nation in the next couple weeks–three cassettes of 18 strips sell in a pouch for $10–they are faced with being more creative.
As far as the science of it all, there are obviously conflicting interests at work. Scientists at Duke said that IV’s of its football players decreased by 75 percent by using Enlyten. Dr. C.T. Moorman, who has some serious credentials at director of Duke Sports Medicine Center, was so impressed he agreed to become chairman of the company’s sports advisory council.
For their part, Gatorade officials say that athletes also need liquid and carbs (the liquid part the folks at Enlyten don’t deny) and they also say “there is no published evidence that electrolytes absorbed through the cheek and gum that bypass the gastrointestinal system are applicable.”
Moorman is working on a study now that could prove differently. I’m fine with Gatorade’s stance right now, but obviously if studies in the future prove that strips work, they are going to wind up buying Enlyten in a couple years.
