uPlayMe, which has developed a desktop app that connects people through their shared tastes in music, movies, TV shows and other digital media, has closed a “multi-million dollar” second funding round. The New York-based company’s backers include Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG), Village Ventures, and others. The participation of WMG in the round has given uPlayMe hope that it can win the support of other large media companies. The company, which started with $1 million in seed funding, plans to use this current financing for additional product and service development and distribution. In an interview with Folksonomy last month, David Fishman, uPlayMe’s CEO, said he sees the company as a competitor against other recommendation community sites such as LastFM and iLike. In terms of its business model, uPlayMe generates commissions from sales off of Amazon and iTunes, as the site’s users click through links that redirect to those online stores. Release
Entertainment Community Site uPlayMe Gets Second Round Funding
Summary:
uPlayMe, which has developed a desktop app that connects people through their shared tastes in music, movies, TV shows and other digital med…
Interesting connection…
Nov 02, 2006
Warner Music Group Names Dan Pelson, Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Marketing
Founder and CEO of uPlayMe, Inc. and Former CEO of Bolt, Inc. Will Develop and Shape Company's Worldwide Consumer Marketing Strategy
NEW YORK, NY — (Market Wire – Nov 02, 2006) — Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG) announced today the appointment of Dan Pelson as Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Marketing. Pelson reports to Alex Zubillaga, Executive Vice President, Digital Strategy and Business Development for WMG, and will be based in New York City.
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Most recently, Pelson co-founded uPlayMe, Inc., a business that focuses on the intersection of social networking and digital entertainment. uPlayMe is growing rapidly in the music discovery arena. Pelson also founded and was the CEO of Bolt, Inc., recognized as the first social network focused on teens.
Seen it before. Gosh, LastFMs 28M listeners and Pandora's 13M listeners still isnt enough to get people to buy music or click enough ads to be profitable. How are these late comers going to be any different?
Sorry. Wrong business model.