Business Opportunities Weblog

August 16, 2006 by Rich Whittle | 2 Comments

MSNBC:

Technology changes, but popular taste doesn’t. Everyone loves a talent show, which is why audiences tuned into the Major Bowes Amateur Hour radio show in the ’30s and why they’re watching “American Idolâ€? today.

Now a crop of entrepreneurs want to move the talent show from the small screen to the computer screen.

Startups KSolo, Bix and SingShot aim to create sites where performances are evaluated and the cream rises to the top.

All three sites ask people to sing along, Karaoke-style, into their computer microphones. Listeners rate their favorites.

At KSolo and SingShot, only vocalists are eligible to share renditions, but at Bix singers, lip-synchers, dancers, comedians and artists are welcome to show off through their Web cams.

One challenge facing these sites is that, unlike YouTube, they’ve taken the legal high-road: Users cannot upload copyrighted music or video.

This means they’ve spent months wrangling with music publishers for lyrics and music licenses, and with Karaoke library companies for rights to instrumental tracks.

Photo by apollonia66.

In Ecommerce, Ideas | 2 Comments