BMG Music Market Research Report
TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 MEDIA PLATFORMS: GENERAL TEEN SITES 7 SNOWBALL.COM 8 BOLT.COM 9 ALLOY.COM 10 ITURF.COM 11 MEDIA PLATFORMS: TEEN SITES FOR GIRLS 12 TEEN.COM 13 KIBU.COM 15 EXCITE.COM / COMMUNITIES / ZINK 16 MEDIA PLATFORMS: GENERAL AUDIENCE MUSIC SITES 17 ALLMUSIC.COM 18 SONICNET.COM 19 UBL.COM 20 MUSIC.YAHOO.COM 22 TUNES.COM 23 LISTEN.COM 25 RECORDSTORE.COM 26 AUDIOFIND.COM 26
MEDIA PLATFORMS: TEEN MUSIC SITES 27 MTC.COM 28 MUCHMUSIC.COM 29 LYRICS.COM 30 MEDIA PLATFORMS: FAN SITES 31 KORN.COM 32 NSYNC.COM 33 BRITNEYSPEARS.COM 34 BACKSTREETBOYS.COM 35 POTENTIAL PARTNERS: MESSAGING AND COMMUNICATIONS 36
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Media Platforms: Destination Sites Offering Community, Commerce, and Entertainment Target Audience Category Sites Types of Technology Available Types of Content Available Revenue Models Driven By General Teen Female Oriented Teen Site General Audience Music Site Snowball.com Bolt.com Alloy.com ITurf.com Teen.com Kibu.com Excite.com/~zink Allmusic.com Sonicnet.com Ubl.com Music.yahoo.com Tunes.com Listen.com Recordstore.com Audiofind.com Free e-mail Instant messaging Voicemail MP3s ICQ Chat Games Message boards Personal web pages Online radio application Online shopping Email cards Online CD sales MP3s and digital downloads Digital audio players Web radio players webcasts of concerts digital music videos Music Search engines entertainment sports topics games celebrity gossip News letters contests advice current issues opinion polls user-generated articles horoscopes fashion poetry Information about artists and albums Reviews Articles glossary of musical terms Discography Comparison pricing for albums Top Hits Charts Stock listings Music history info Concert info Primarily: 1) Online advertising and sposorships. 2) Ecommerce sales commission. 3) Sales of proprietary merchandise (e.g. fan merchandise). To a lesser extent: 4) Sales of digital music downloads. 5) Licensing of syndicated content. Teen Music Sites Mtv.com Muchmusic.com Lyrics.com Information on VJ's and Videos Fashion news
Fan Sites Kom.com Nsync.com Britneyspears.com Backstreetboys.co m Online merchandise sales digital music video chat with artist audio clips Concert info Celebrity news Celebrity biographies Advice
KIBU.COM CONTENT fashion and beauty trends animals music advice social issues relationships entertainment news college and school survival Kibu's Daily Dilemmas, where members discuss real life issues and questions There is no traditional homepage, making the site easier to use. Issues are presented by Kibu FACEs, people who are in their mid-20's, just a little older than the target market. The site has 21 FACEs. Kibu has an online lounge where girls can voice their thoughts, propose and vote on daily dilemmas. Kibu will open an offline Lounge this summer in Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco, where girls can interact, explore, learn, have fun, and socialize. 2 TECHNOLOGY Online shopping Message boards Polls and quizzes ( to acquire marketing profiles of end users) REVENUE Kibu's corporate site describes their business model as online integrated marketing a combination of creative online content and offline programs that girls love and sponsors find effective. Kibu does not have banner ads. Instead, they offer permission-based marketing messages to the girls and give sponsors an targeted invitation to reach their market. Kibu has a loyalty program for girls called kpoints xchange 3. Girls are rewarded for being active participants by answering survey, clicking through partner marketing messages or submitted a Daily Dilemma. The Kibu Box is mentioned in the press section of the Kibu site. Ten thousand girls will win a Kibu Box each month, and the box will be filled with sample products from sponsors. 4 The sponsors also get rich market research in the form of follow-up online surveys and chats about the products.
Site revenue is driven by: 1) Online advertising and sponsorships: 2) Ecommerce commissions enabled by loyalty program: Girls can exchange kpoints for gift certificates, accessories, beauty products, and more at the kpoints xchange. 5 TARGET The target market is made up of girls between the ages of 13 and 18, a total population of 12 million girls in the United States. 6 Girls are asked for permission before Kibu markets to them. Eighty five percent of users feel comfortable giving Kibu personal information as long as Kibu does not reveal this information to outsiders. Only minimal information is required to register: username, password, date of birth, zip code and email. 7 According to www.kibucorp.com, girls like the articles on how to write an essay, turn down a date, etc., but they dislike the design of the site, which they find to be dull. 8