rVibe Blog

As you may or may not know, comedian Stephen Colbert is running for President in the state of South Carolina.  Although somewhat of a joke, Colbert has been getting a lot of votes in the latest polls and his popularity has even extended to facebook.

 A person started a group called “1 million strong for Stephen Colbert” and 1.2 million facebook users (including myself) joined the group within 8 days.  8 days!?!?!  That means that not only are millions of users logging into Facebook everyday but they are actively checking groups and wanting to join them.  Even though some members have had facebook for years now and some are not even in college anymore, they still make it part of their daily routine.

I really think that shows the power of social networks, especially when it involves a cause.   

So I went to 2 Springsteen concerts last week, the 7th and 8th that I’ve been to in the past couple of years.  There’s just something about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that is truly great.  They seem to be having such a fun time on stage that it makes the whole audience feed off of that energy. 

I think a lot of the artists nowadays need to go to an E Street Band show and take notes on how to put on a concert.  There’s no opening act (they always play for over 3 hours), the setlist changes every show, and every member of the band gets the credit they deserve during the show.  Some artists these days are more concerned with looking cool and playing their top 40 hits every show than truly having fun on stage.

The E street band shows that it’s about the music and about the fans..not about the clothes, critics, or the media.

 -Seth

I am truely amazed by how MySpace has become such a phenomenon.  I guess I should include Facebook as well, the popularity is simply astounding.  I am very excited about the prospect of Rvibe and what it could do for the music industry as well as for everyday, normal people who are looking to meet new friends and find great music legally.

 These things take some time to take off, but I think the foundation has been laid for a very successful launch.

Myspace has become a driving force in our world, so powerful that people have gotten famous just by being popular on the social networking site (Dane Cook, Tila Tequila, etc.)  But what most people don’t know is that Myspace started out as a place for unsigned bands to post a bio about themselves and a few tracks in order to gain recognition.  This is a great concept and one that has really taken off.  Now, not just musicians, but anybody can use Myspace as a site to promote themselves or to show the world what they’re really made of.

 rVibe hopes to bring back the independent music feel to a Myspace-like program.  Bands can have their own pages, fan groups, and even sell their own music on rVibe-free of charge.  They can recommend songs from their albums to members of the rVibe community and even get their songs reviewed by different users.

 How cool would it be if in a few years there were a handful of bands out there that got their start through their pages on rVibe!?!

I’ve heard that statement uttered more than once (as am sure all of our team has).  Itunes is the driving force behind online music download sales and the iPod far outsells any other mp3 player, so I’m not entirely shocked when people have that reaction.  

But what I always tell them is that rVibe is  different, rVibe is innovative, and rVibe doesn’t need to compete with itunes in order to be succesful.  The reason why I love rVibe so much is because it combines social networking and music downloading.  Instead of simply picking out a song, buying it, and listening to it…rVibe makes that process totally interactive. 

It’s very much like sharing CDs with friends.  You have a group of online friends on rVibe and talk to them just like on myspace.  You make reccomendations to them about the music you have in your own personal musical library, and if they like it enough, they simply buy it from you.  Although they are not really buying it from you, you get a reward for each song you sell…so it really does pay to have a lot of music on the rVibe software and make reccomendations!

Not only that, but all music is DRM free meaning that it can be played on any mp3 player…even an iPod!

 I would not be a member of the rVibe team  if I did not believe in the software and use it myself. 

So that my friends is why I’m working for a company that is trying to “compete” with itunes!!

-Seth