Three of the biggest companies in the music industry will be providing content for web-newcomer PluggedIn, which offers high-definition music videos and concerts to be streamed online for free.
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Will Smith’s production company, Overbrook Entertainment, is the major investor. Overbrook Entertainment, which manages artists in addition to producing films, is partnered by Ken Stovitz, Smith’s former agent at CAA. James Lassiter, the producer of I Am Legend and Ali, also produces for Overbrook.
Other investors include PluggedIn’s founding partners Kevin Welk and Brett O’Brien.
PluggedIn intends to do for music videos and concerts what YouTube does for user-created content and Hulu does for TV shows. The company announced yesterday that its users will have access to content from Universal Music Group, as well as EMI and Sony BMG.
The site describes itself as evolving from a “from a rare partnership between proven Internet entrepreneurs and successful music industry executives.”
Jeff Somers, PluggedIn’s CEO, previously worked for Zillow.com, a website that estimates real estate values by address. He formerly worked in vendor relations for Amazon.com.
Co-founders of PluggedIn include XDrive founder Brett O’Brien and chief marketing officer JJ Aguhob. XDrive was purchased by AOL in 2005. Kevin Welk, the CEO of Vanguard and Sugar Hill Records is also a founding partner.
Nicola Marzolla, a former Yahoo software engineer, is an engineer for PluggedIn.
PluggedIn’s content includes more than 10,000 free music videos, some of which can be streamed in high definition.
Users can also save videos and photos of artists such as U2, Jay-Z, Amy Winehouse and Rihanna. PluggedIn also plans on serving as a social network, allowing users to connect to one another by sharing created playlists.
The new content that PluggedIn is able to provide is the HD videos provided by EMI, Universal Music Group, and Sony BMG. The rest of their artist information comes from other websites.
YouTube links are provided to fill in the gaps in music video and TV offerings. PluggedIn links to Amazon, StubHub and eBay to purchase music, concert tickets, ringtones and other merchandise. Artist bios are mostly provided by All Music Guide, and news listings go to outside sites such as MTV.com and newspapers. PluggedIn also offers content from Wikipedia and blogs.
Will PluggedIn provide enough original content for users to be satisfied with the service they plan to offer? Considering the site doesn’t even have the HD music videos of investor Will Smith’s anthems Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It and Miami, PluggedIn’s success may be determined by future content acquisition.
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