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May 25, 2006

How the Internet Can Change Industries and Lives

We have all heard about how the internet is changing the way we do things.  Well here is a true story of how a musician used the internet to her advantage and change her life by thinking differently and embracing the internet.

It was during the cold, short days at the start of 2006 that Sandi Thom had her Eureka! moment. Instead of driving to gigs up and down the country with her band in her clapped-out car, as she had done for years, the singer from Scotland resolved to try a different approach. She bought a webcam, and announced a run of 21 shows to be performed on consecutive nights during February and March in the basement of her flat in Tooting, South London. The audience capacity in the flat itself was limited to just six people. But the half-hour shows were to be broadcast, free of charge, via her website at www.sandithom.com. The first night, 70 people tuned in to watch, the next night it went up to 670. And by the middle of the second week she was performing to a peak audience of 162,000. By then, the suits from every major record label had visited the flat to see the show for themselves. What they heard was a singer with a sensational voice - strong and expressive enough to fill the largest theatres, but also warm and soulful enough to win over hearts and minds in the most intimate of settings. All the record companies put in offers, and a fortnight after finishing her virtual tour Thom signed a recording contract with RCA executive Craig Logan, live in front of her webcam audience.

Even before her debut album, *Smile... It Confuses People* is released on June 5, preceded by a single, *I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker* on May 22, Sandi Thom is a phenomenon. The company is calling it "the first webcast signing in major record label history" and she has become the overnight internet star who won a global audience and a megabucks handshake thanks to her investment in a £60 webcam. Needless to say, the story goes a little deeper than that.

If only i had thought of that first ... and could actually play!

Posted by Simon at 06:42 AM | | Comments (0)

May 05, 2006

The Best of the Worst of the Internet

There are often great ideas that blossom on the internet including such well known names as google, amazon and ebay.  However, over the years there have been the real duds - i am sure every one remembers pets.com and the sock puppet.

So it was with interest that i was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about "The Best of the Worst" of the internet.  Do you remember cyberrebate.com, flooz.com, ismell, cuecats, iLoo, Audrey or point cast?

  • Cyberrebate worked on the theory that people would be happy to pay up to 10 x the value of a product on the condition that they received a 100% rebate.  The company worked on the theory that not all people would claim the rebate and they would make money.  They closed their doors $83 m in debt
  • iSmells was a product created to enhance the web surfing experience by engaging the users' sense of smell by plugging the device into the USB port.  Enough said ...
  • In May 2003, Microsoft announced the plans for iLoo - an internet enabled toilet!  The UK office announced plans for a portable toilet complete with a computer, waterproof keyboard and wireless Internet connection, to be used at summer music festivals in England. 
  • And we all remember pointcast - the technology to automatically deliver news and headlines over the web to the user's PC ... well the company knocked back $450m from News Corp and was eventually sold for $7m.

For more information check out the full Wall Street Journal article and enjoy ... http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114424637699117715-OO16F7Ov3DMZcs1xpbu5ksPDTl0_20070503.html

Posted by Simon at 12:05 AM | | Comments (0)