paidContent.org - The Economics of Content

Current Story

Will Smith And Others Invest About $2 Million In Music Video Startup PluggedIn

By Rafat Ali - Tue 15 Apr 2008 05:15 PM PST

A new music video destination is launching tonight, and yes, another one. PluggedIn, a new site based in Santa Monica, is launching with about $2 million in venture funding from Will Smith’s entertainment company, Overbrook Entertainment and others, CEO Jeff Somers told me today. The company says it has deals with Universal Music Group, EMI and SonyBMG, and will launch with about 10,000 HD and broadcast quality videos. The video is being delivered by Move Networks, which is the high-def video tech company that just announced its own $46 million round. PluggedIn has hopes of being the destination site of music videos (licensed and third party from around the Web), with artist profiles and community built around it.

The company’s team includes Brett O’Brien, founder of Xdrive, which was sold to AOL in 2005; Kevin Welk, CEO of Vanguard and Sugar Hill Records; Somers, former executive with Amazon and Zillow, is the new company’s CEO; and others.

Of course there is tons of competition: MySpace Music is a big music video destination, and so is the once music video overlord Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Music. MTV.com is a big one too. Most of them will add HD video, if they don’t already have them (all it takes is a license from Move Networks, or other competitors). So not exactly sure what the unique selling point of the new destination like PluggedIn is, besides some interesting social media tools layered on.

Posted in: Entertainment, Music, VC+M&A, Venture Capital

Tags: overbrook entertainment, will smith, pluggedin

Related Research from Alacrastore.com

0 Responses:
  • There are currently no comments for this article.

    Why don't you make one?

Post Your Comment

Mobile Options

» Mobile/BB App
» Mobile/Wap Site

Send a News Tip

About

paidContent.org, flagship of the ContentNext Media network, provides global coverage of the business of digital content.

Rafat Ali
Publisher & Co-Editor

Staci D. Kramer
Co-Editor

David Kaplan
Senior Correspondent

Joseph Weisenthal
Correspondent

Robert Andrews
U.K. Editor

Amanda Natividad
Editorial Producer

EconAds Conference - The Economics of Ad Deals. Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008. The New World Stages, NYC

New Media/Interactive Job Listings

Post Job
More Jobs

Generous Supporters