Business is all about the bottom line — ironing out inefficiencies, increasing productivity, finding ways to get or make things cheaply that you can sell high — and web work offers new ways to bolster that bottom line.Pay for web workers: How much should location matter?
Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/lunihPv8mZA/
We had heard last December that Google was ready to write huge checks to the record labels to get its music service off the ground, but we had no idea exactly how big.
But a story in Businessweek has the answer: more than $100 million.
That's according to two anonymous label execs.
If true, that makes the cost of entry a real barrier to smaller music startups that are currently in similar areas like Spotify (subscriptions) and Pandora (online radio). Only big companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft could afford those kind of up-front fees or guarantees.
$100 million is also a significant number for the labels: according to the RIAA, total digital U.S. revenue last year was $2.1 billion. But only about $500 million of that revenue came from mobile services like that which Google is building, and only $200 million from subscription services.
Reports from Billboard and other sources say that talks broke down because some labels demanded that Google do more to eliminate pirated music sites from its search results. Google couldn't agree to compromise its crown jewel, search, so instead it launched with an imperfect service.
Businessweek also reiterated earlier reports that Apple is close to launching a music service -- which may be called iCloud -- will let customers mirror their iTunes libraries on Apple's servers, then stream songs to any device. This would save users the hassle of uploading songs manually to the cloud first, as they have to do with Google Music and Amazon's Cloud Drive.
For the latest tech news, visit SAI: Silicon Alley Insider. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
Google Was Ready To Pay $100 Million To Record Labels
Facebook has found that one of the best ways to bring new talent into the company is to acquire small, failed startups and put their entreprenurial employees in charge of products.
These are called "talent acquisitions" or "acqui-hires." The people who started FriendFeed, Drop.io, Hot Potato, and Parakey all ended up at Facebook this way.
Today, the New York Times covered the trend.
In the story, the Times revealed this juicy nugget: Faceboook M&A guy Vaughan Smith says that when Facebook is deciding what to pay for a startup "engineers are worth half a million to one million."
So now we know: If Facebook were to end up buying group-texting startup Groupme, it will probably pay $7 million to $13 million. We know that's not what those guys want to be when they grow-up, but it's not a horrible fall-back plan.
Click here for a tour of GroupMe >>
For the latest tech news, visit SAI: Silicon Alley Insider. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
Facebook Will Pay $500,000 To $1,000,000 To "Buy" An Engineer
Earlier today, I wrote about our brush with machetes, the chaotic world of Nigerian filmmaking, and a company called Iroko Partners that's working on bringing order and YouTube distribution to the chaotic world of Nollywood. It's made stunning progress in the short four months it has been in business, and it's barely scratched the surface of Nollywood demand.
Below is a video we shot with founder Jason Njoku. He describes the business in more detail, and the clip opens with some glimpses of the chaotic Alaba International Market where Nollywood movies are bought and sold.
Video below.
Wait, You’re Going to Pay Me to Watch Movies All Day? (TCTV)
Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/elqdhCFbcPU/
Mobile payments startup Square plans to make all of its dongles encrypt credit card data on the fly, a Square exec said at a conference. This is after Square said in response to accusations from competitor Verifone that it doesn't need to encrypt credit card data.
Square is doing this to conform to Visa's new set of mobile application best practices. Those new best practices were released yesterday, just as it was announced that Visa made a strategic investment in Square. So in other words, Visa made Square add encryption to its dongle.
This must be a bummer for Square, because it has to design and build new dongles all over again. Moreover, we assume that the chips that will be needed to encrypt credit card data will be more costly than what the current dongle has, which should be costly -- Square gives away the dongles and makes money from a commission on each transaction.
Just to be clear: even without encrypting credit card data, Square is by all accounts fully compliant with all industry regulations. So it's not like there's this huge gaping security hole with Square. But their new big and important partner evidently feels that they have to beef up their security.
Now You Should Read: Why Square Will Need To Ditch The Dongle →
For the latest tech news, visit SAI: Silicon Alley Insider. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
Turns Out Square Isn't Secure Enough For Its Big Fancy New Partner, VISA (V, PAY)
Comment on Would You Pay for Apple’s Cloud Music Service? by Glenn
Backlink: http://gigaom.com/apple/would-you-pay-for-apples-cloud-music-service/#comment-619781
Comment on Would You Pay for Apple’s Cloud Music Service? by Dan
Backlink: http://gigaom.com/apple/would-you-pay-for-apples-cloud-music-service/#comment-619665
Read it and tweet: Social media takes a lot of time, but it pays off, says a report released today.
Ninety percent of marketers surveyed say that social media is important for their business, with the self employed and small business owners with two or more employees "more likely to strongly agree," says the 2011 Social Media Marketing Report, which surveyed some 3,300 marketers.
The No. 1 payoff: Generating more business exposure, say nearly 9 in 10 marketers. Increased traffic (72 percent) and improved search rankings (62 percent) were also top on the list. Improved sales was last on the list of seven benefits, with 43 percent of those surveyed enjoying success—but it was the self-employed and small business owners with two or more employees who were most likely to report that social media helped them close new business.
The self-employed and small businesses also were most likely to find business partnerships through social media, with at least 59 percent reporting that benefit.
As almost anyone who's ever updated a status (and then clicked around for another hour) can attest, social media is time-consuming. More than half (58 percent) of respondents are using social media for more than six hours per week, and about one-third (34 percent) invest 11 or more hours weekly. Fifteen percent spend more than 20 hours a week blogging, tweeting, and the like.
The more experience respondents had with social media, the more time they spent: 63 percent of people with three or more years experience spend more than 10 hours a week on social media. Just 41 percent of those with one to three years experience spend that much time. For the record, about half of those surveyed have less than a year's experience with social media marketing.
Wondering if you can (or should) hire someone to do this sort of marketing for you? Just 28 percent of businesses are outsourcing some portion of their social media marketing, says the survey.
Where, exactly, are efforts being spent? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and blogs were the top four social media tools. Facebook overtook Twitter to take the top spot in the study this year (in 2010 it was Twitter).
But some three-quarters (77 percent) of marketers plan to increase their use of YouTube and video marketing this year—a virtual gold rush.
This post originally appeared at Inc. To read more from Inc., check out:
• How Great Entrepreneurs Think >>
• Tactics Are the New Strategy >>
• 5 Things You Should Never Say While Negotiating >>
• How to Extend Your Laptop’s Life >>
• 11 Businesses You Can Start in Your Pajamas in 2011 >>
For the latest career news, visit War Room. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
"Yes, Social Media Does Pay Off," A New Report Says
