Concert Window, The Netflix For Live Concerts, Gives Fans A New, Mobile-Friendly Venue On The Web
Back in February, we introduced you about EvntLive, a new startup backed by Silicon Valley veterans that’s on a mission to create a scalable platform for broadcasting live concerts, from arenas to small clubs, backed by a library of recorded shows, profiles and music info. Of course, a platform for live concerts isn’t exactly a new idea. In fact, it’s been floating around for years, but those entering the space have been hamstrung to an over-abundance of friction stemming from royalty and licensing issues and having to convince venues to install the technology and hardware — among other things. As a result, live online music has been slow to take off.
But the EvntLive founders see a new music industry beginning to emerge, in which the new scale of online consumption and distribution channels now allow artists to tap into much larger audiences. In turn, with digital music moving towards free, artists now make most of their money from touring, but because they can only tour so much and play so many venues, the access to new audiences and ticket sales afforded by a live, online platform is becoming more appealing.
EvntLive isn’t the only startup looking to capitalize on this shift. While it remains in private beta, services like Concert Window, StageIt and Qello are live and finding traction. Concert Window co-founder Dan Gurney tells us that the startup is beginning to hit its stride, having quadrupled revenue over the last five months, added a handful of employees and is now broadcasting over 100 live shows each month.
The startup has been able to do by broadcasting live concerts over the Web, allowing you to listen and watch as the concert happens from the comfort of your couch. To address the friction for venues mentioned above, Concert Window attempts to take the work out of the hands of venue managers — all the venue needs is an Internet connection.
The startup provides the equipment, camera and cables, and its system controls the broadcast remotely, so, after the initial setup, venues can just kick back and stream whenever they please. No production team required.
On the user experience end, Concert Window has done its best to keep online ticket prices low (under $10, depending on the concert), and distributes two-thirds of ticket sales to the venue and artist, making it a comparable revenue split to iTunes and app stores. Both the video and audio quality are high, which is a must for online concert services, and if you have a good sound system and are lazy like I am, it almost beats being there in person. By addressing these barriers, Concert Window has been able to stream 2,000 concerts with 1,500+ artists at 15 partner venues to date. To really make a dent, it will be key to offer more selection, but it’s a pretty good start.
From the beginning, Concert Window has dealt with licensing and rights hurdles by focusing exclusively on livestreaming, rather than offering both streaming and archiving. This leaves a gap in the experience, and down the road, the startup that takes the cake in this space is going to do both (and do both on mobile), but it will be a long, uphill battle to work out all the minutia with rights holders.
Since launching last fall, Concert Window has been focused on building relationships with venues and artists, meaning that design and its UI have taken a backseat. But, today, the startup officially launched a platform-wide redesign and new branding. The startup now offers an HTML5-compatible site, allowing viewers to tap into what it claims is the largest concert volume of any live music platform from their computer, smartphone or tablet.
By offering a mobile experience, a relatively steady stream of concerts and allowing fans to chat with each other and leave feedback for artists, Concert Window hopes its v2.0 can give it a leg up on the competition.
Find Concert Window at home here.
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TechCrunch Giveaway: A Parrot AR Drone 2.0 And A Ticket To Disrupt NY
Spring has arrived in New York City. The sun is out (besides today). The snow is finally gone. It’s time to shed the winter layers and head outside. And in the spirit of spring, we want to give one of our readers a ticket to Disrupt NY and the ultimate outdoor toy: A Parrot AR Drone 2.0.
Disrupt NY kicks off later this month. The lineup is stellar and we have a new venue. The hackathon and conference will be housed in the Manhattan Center, located conveniently in midtown with plenty of access to public transit. Tickets are still available but we’re giving you a chance to win one right here.
The winner of this giveaway will walk away with one ticket to Disrupt NY (valued at $2,995) and one Parrot AR Drone 2.0 ($299.95).
Want a shot to win? Follow the steps below.
1) Become a fan of our TechCrunch Facebook Page:
2) Then do one of the following:
- Retweet this post (making sure to include the #TCDisrupt hashtag), or
- Leave us a comment below telling us something fun – anything!
The contest will start now and ends April 22nd at 7:30pm PT. Please only tweet or comment once, or you will be disqualified. We will make sure you follow the steps above and choose our winner once the giveaway is over. Please note the winner will only receive one (1) free Disrupt ticket, and it does not include airfare or hotel.
Our sponsors help make Disrupt happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team here sponsors@techcrunch.com.
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Announcing Disrupt NY Hackathon Judges And Another Wave Of Tickets
TechCrunch Disrupt NY is only a couple of weeks off, and before the curtain rises on the main conference, we’re running our famous 24-hour Hackathon. It’s a great way to connect with amazing people, launch your hack in front of thousands and possibly follow in the footsteps of GroupMe, a hack from Disrupt 2010 that went on to be acquired a year later by Skype.
Today we’re releasing more tickets and announcing our incredible panel of Hackathon judges who’ll be responsible for choosing the winners that will be featured on the main stage during TechCrunch Disrupt as well as share in the prizes from our 13 partner companies.
If you haven’t got your tickets yet, move fast — we’ve just released another round. These tend to go quickly so register right away. Remember, if you participate in the Hackathon (that is – you make a hack and present it on stage), you’re granted a general admission ticket to Disrupt. Yep, the same one that goes to $2995 after the early bird ticket sale ends tonight.
We have a full roster of API sponsors and partners putting up a large number of prizes for the Disrupt NY Hackathon. They include: Microsoft BizSpark, Wrigley Energy Gum, Box, CrunchBase, Exadel Apperi.io, GM OnStar, Microsoft SkyDrive, NewAer, Pearson, Samsung, Visa, Yammer and Volusion.
Our sponsors help make Disrupt happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team here sponsors@techcrunch.com.
With a wealth of investment experience (especially in mobile), Jalak Jobanputra joins our judging panel as Founding Partner of FuturePerfect Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund in NYC.
Before starting FuturePerfect, Jalak was Director of Mobile Investments at Omidyar Network, and has formerly managed technology and digital media investments at New York City Investment Fund (started by Henry Kravis of KKR fame) as Senior Vice President.
Jalak also spearheaded the formation NYCSeed in 2008 has worked closely with the Bloomberg administration and NYCEDC to grow NYC’s tech/digital sectors. You can find her on Twitter @jalak.
Bringing some hardware hacking chops is Tarikh Korula, Co-founder and CEO of Mahaya, a platform to reveal the world’s stories.
Before founding Mahaya, Tarikh was a winner at Yahoo’s first open Hack Day and his hack, ybox, lives on as open source hardware kits.
A native New Yorker, Tarikh previously co-founded the pioneering hardware and software design studio, Uncommon Projects which built mobile, web and tangible products for Fortune 100 companies including Yahoo! and Microsoft. Korula is a member of root at NYHacker and has been instrumental in helping to develop and shape TechCrunch’s hackathons, beginning with their first in 2010. You can find him on Twitter @tarikh.
Also joining the panel is a man with experience on both sides of the table. Charlie O’Donnell has been active in the NYC startup community for a decade as both venture investor and founder.
At First Round Capital he sourced investments in GroupMe (launched at Disrupt and later sold to Skype) and SinglePlatform, which sold to Constant Contact in 2012, as well as spending time with Union Square Ventures.
Not content with investing along, Charlie founded Path101, a Big Data play in the careers space. Little surprise then that Charlie has been named to Business Insider’s 100 Most Influential People in NY Tech five times. You can find Charlie on Twitter @ceonyc.
Combining entrepreneurship and media savvy, we’ve also got Kathryn Minshew, CEO and Founder of The Muse as one of our judges.
The Muse is a career platform and job discovery tool helping over 3 million people figure out what they want to do with their lives. You might have seen Kathryn in the media – she’s appeared on CNN and Fox, and contributes on entrepreneurship, leadership and career topics to the Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review and has spoken at MIT and Harvard. No wonder she was recently named to Inc.’s 15 Women to Watch in Tech.
If you get to chat with Kathryn, make sure you ask her about vaccinating Rwanda and Malawi. You can find Kathryn on Twitter @KMin.
In case you thought we were getting a bit heavy with hackers and investors, we’ve got you covered with a real scientist: Hilary Mason, the Chief Scientist at bit.ly and renowned cookie chef.
At bit.ly, Hilary finds sense in vast data sets, and is involved in both pure research and product development. She’s also a co-founder of HackNY, a non-profit organization that connects talented student hackers from around the world with startups in NYC. She has discovered two new species, loves to bake cookies, and asks way too many questions – which we’re sure will make her a perfect judge. You can find Hilary on Twitter @hmason.
As a seasoned early stage investor with lots of NYC runs under his belt, we’re excited to have David Tisch, Founder and Managing Partner of BoxGroup contributing his expertise & insights.
BoxGroup is a NYC boutique seed-stage capital firm with investments in companies like Boxee, fab.com, Flavors.me, Goodsie, Behance, art.sy, Lore, Skillshare, GroupMe, DataMinr and many more. David is also the co-founder of TechStars NYC and was named to Mayor Bloomberg’s Advisory Council on Technology as well as serving on the Investor Board of Venture for America. He is also a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal’s ‘The Accelerators’ online blog – you can find him on Twitter @davetisch.
Register for the hackathon here.
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Announcing TechCrunch’s 2013 Meetups + Pitch-Off: Austin, Seattle, San Diego, And Boston
After the amazing success of our New York Pitch-Off in February, we thought it would be fun to bring the energy and excitement of a mini-Disrupt to more cities across the country. We’re pleased to announced the 2013 Meetups + Pitch-Offs will begin in Austin on May 30 at Stage On Sixth in downtown Austin.
Then, throughout the year, we’re holding meetups with pitch-offs in Seattle, San Diego, and Boston.
Each meetup is traditionally a crowded mishmash of networking, hustling and, well, drinking. 21 and older only, please. This year, after the roaring success of our first pitch-off, each meetup will feature a rapid fire pitch-off.
The pitch-off is a way to get your startup in front of TC judges as well as a few local judges from the area. Our goal is to pick three winners. Third place gets one ticket to Disrupt SF, second place gets two tickets, and the winner gets a spot in Startup Alley. Everyone who pitches will be considered for the Startup Battlefield as well.
Participants interested in competing in the pitch-off will have 60 seconds to explain why their startup is awesome. PowerPoint presentations are not allowed. These products must currently be in stealth or private beta, and they must be ready to launch at Disrupt in in September. Registration will be open in May.
We will post the RSVP link shortly but until then, we need some things from you. First, please recommend some judges. They can be folks from the startup scene you trust and would love to see on stage. Second, we’d love to meet with the major movers and shakers in your area. Please add the names of folks we should meet in your submission form. Are you a mover or shaker or know one? Simply email events@techcrunch.com with your recommendation.
This series should be a blast and we’ll be heading to Seattle on July 18, San Diego on August 22, and Boston on November 13. Look for more surprises coming up and we’re looking forward to seeing you in Austin.
Our sponsors help make meetups happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team here sponsors@techcrunch.com.
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John Donahoe, eBay President And CEO, To Take The Disrupt NY Stage
We’re pleased to announce John Donahoe, President and CEO of eBay, as a Disrupt NY speaker. Under his tutelage, eBay and its subsidiary PayPal have grown tremendously, with each company expecting to do $20 billion in 2013 mobile commerce.
Donahoe took eBay’s reins in 2008 after Meg Whitman’s departure. Since then, he’s managed to dramatically increase the company’s revenue and maintain its spot as a global leader in ecommerce. He’s an expert in his field and we’re very excited to have him speak at Disrupt NY.
With the conference just a month away, kicking off on April 27 at the Manhattan Center, he joins our growing list of speakers that currently includes Ron Conway, Ben Lerer, and David Lee, among many others.
Tickets are currently available with the early bird discount ending on April 11. Of course you can snag a ticket for free by participating in the Hackathon.
Our sponsors help make Disrupt happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team here sponsors@techcrunch.com.
John Donahoe
eBay, President and CEO
John has been President and CEO of eBay Inc. since March 31, 2008. Under John’s leadership, the company has become a global commerce platform and payments leader, with revenue in 2012 of $14.1 billion. Across its eBay, PayPal and GSI Commerce platforms, the company enabled $175 billion of commerce in 2012, which represents about 18 percent of e-commerce worldwide and about 2 percent of global retail. The company also is a mobile commerce leader, with eBay mobile commerce volume of $13 billion in 2012, and PayPal mobile payments volume of $14 billion. The company is focused on enabling commerce as a partner — not a competitor — to sellers of all sizes, from entrepreneurs and small businesses, to global brands and retailers.
John joined eBay in March 2005 as President of eBay Marketplaces, responsible for all elements of eBay’s global ecommerce businesses. In this role, he focused on expanding eBay’s core business, which accounts for a large percentage of the company’s revenues. John also oversaw a number of strategic acquisitions, including Shopping.com, StubHub and classifieds sites, such as Gumtree. During his three-year tenure as President of Marketplaces, revenues and profits for the division doubled.
Prior to eBay, John spent more than 20 years at Bain & Company, a worldwide consulting firm based in Boston. Starting as an Associate Consultant, John rose to become the firm’s president and CEO in 1999, overseeing Bain’s 30 offices and 3,000 employees.
John received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Additionally, John serves on the Board of Directors for eBay Inc. and Intel Corp.
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