We continue our ongoing 4QFor (Four Questions For) series with Ben Campbell, the CEO of indie music site OurStage.com which takes a "Let The Fans Decide" contest approach to music discovery. (Read more 4QFor interviews with the heads of Sonicbids, imeem, We7, ReverbNation, New Music Strategies and Nimbit here.)
Q1. What major changes in the music industry do you foresee over the next year?
This year, we will continue to see a drop in CD sales for major label artists and the subsequent demise of the labels as we know them. However, the labels will adapt and acquire in order to keep their brands in the marketplace. We’ll see more start-ups trying to be the answer and the industry will have a big wash-out in 2010. A very few new-world-order businesses will rise above the noise by delivering real value to artists and fans.
Q2. How are you and your company preparing to benefit from these changes?
OurStage is one of the new world order companies that is trying to lead the way to change. Rather than having some guy in a suit in NYC or LA make the decisions, we let the fans decide who is great – via a fun, fair process that can’t be gamed. OurStage then offers top ranked acts real world opportunities for exposure like performance spots at major music festivals, meetings with top industry players, opening slots with famous artists, major press coverage, and $5,000 cash.
Q3. What excites you?
I. Playing with my kids and teaching them about the world;
II. Listening to great music and watching great film;
III. Helping to build OurStage – because it really is a better way to discover great music and film and it really is a better way for artists to get discovered – and both of these are really cool things.
Q4. What's next?
We’ve been in the market for 9 months now, and the world is starting to take notice. We had over 1.1million judging battles last month alone. A CMJ poll last month named OurStage as the #1 site for Indie Artists (Myspace came in 2nd). And major companies are now asking us to 1) be the source for great talent for them; 2) run competitions for them; and 3) allow them to market to our artists and fan bases. Look for us to announce several major deals in early 2008 with companies that are household names – and to continue to grow dramatically in 2008 and beyond.
ABOUT BEN CAMPBELL -
From his bio: Ben Campbell, a serial entrepreneur, has led a number of successful startups over the past 15 years, including running European operations for UNIFI Communications, (a global data communications operator), COO of Mentor Technologies, (an online eLearning partner of Cisco Systems) and CEO of BTS Partners, Inc. (a venture-backed, network infrastructure services firm).
Following the sale of his last company, Campbell, an avid film and music enthusiast, noticed the total lack of effective sorting technology in the web 2.0 world – causing great musicians and filmmakers to be lost in the noise of millions of rank amateurs online. In the summer of 2006 Campbell began assembling a team of top engineers and web experts to address this Internet-wide problem, and in October 2006, OurStage was born.
Powered by a proprietary technology for judging entertainment content, OurStage offers fans a neutral, game-proof way to rank (not rate) online entertainment content, thus deciding who’s the best in emerging music and video – in a broad variety of channels of entertainment. As a result, visitors get immediate access to great quality entertainment without having to waste time hunting for it. Equally, music and film artists benefit from a growing authentic fan base, over $10,000 in monthly cash prizes, and a wealth of opportunities for real exposure via OurStage’s partner companies – from articles in major publications to guaranteed showcases at major film and music festivals.
