nuweborder

Thanks for the comment and the tip. I appreciate it.

Seems like the RIAA is ALWAYS accusing someone of something. Organizations really show their focus and true colors when their power and strong hold is threatened. Control is a powerful and dangerous thing. Especially when someone else threatens it, even if it is for the greater good of the people and promotes their ability to choose.

I received the same exact letter lastyear for my music related startup. Word for word. You can email them directly to get more detailed info on exactly why they rejected you. I did it and got some good feedback.

Congrats! Where are you located?

Dont shy away from school. But gravitate toward feeding your creative self.

Thanks for the encouragement. We will see the outcome in 6 days. Im confident in my statup, and hopefully YC will see the opportunity as well. We are working hard and creating something special.

I too could see how some applicants would feel uneasy about this decision. Considering these are smart and savvy founders that are not investors in the applicants. Good thing YC is offering the "unapply" option for applicants. For example, the founders of http://www.thesixtyone.com, if they so happen to read my application, a lightbulb may go off in their heads. But as YC has stated, they have agreed to stop reading apps if there is competition. And will keep confidential. Therefore, I will be keeping my application entered. No guts, no glory. Could be looked at as a greater risk has been entered into the equation. But it could actually be a positive thing. I will be taking my chances in aspirations for a strong future partnership with YC.

Good point. That new Cavs Chinese ownership can definately be capitalized on, and their is a lot of Global money to be made from that deal. They loved him in China during the 08' Olympics in Beijing. Will be exciting to see what he's gonna do come next summer. Europe, Stay with the Cavs, NYC, Jersey (Brooklyn), etc. His options are endless. At one point, I thought the Jersey move was out because the team was having so much financial trouble with the possible Brooklyn move. But now with the new Russian ownership, along with his relationship to part-owner and friend, Jay-Z, that may be a viable option again.

I guess Lebron didnt have his wish come true of becoming the 1st Billion dollar athlete. But he's got many more years to come. Im sure he will surpass that number. As it is whatever his new contract is after this season, and whereever it is, is going to be worth a ridiculous amount. Try the possibility of a $50 million per year deal with a European team. Not to mention the Nike deal, the movie being released this year, the management company, a profitable and public relationship with the greatest rapper on the planet (Jay-Z), and many more endorsements. Who knows, maybe he'll be the first $2 billion dollar athlete. He taking a page from the book or "Jordan". Brand yourself, and take away from the game, more than just championships, and shoes. But a name that is worth even more.

Its like his friend Jay-Z said, "Im not a businessman, Im A Business, man."

I find it funny that the author of this blog did not include his own school, The University of Cincinnati, at which he is the Associate Dean of faculty at their school of law. As if Cincinnati would be on the list of "25 Most Safe Colleges in America". Yeah right. I bet you'll think twice about taking a night class there.

All registered. Looking forward to hearing Aaron Swartz speak.

Clearly you dont know. Somehow "ErrantX" was able to get the jist. But you seem to have missed it. Regardless of what kind of company it is really. New, old, startup, whatever. The extremely simple point here is that feuding destroys working relationships, no matter what way you choose cut it. And PG says this in his article, in black and white That this is what he dislkes the most about startups. And therefore the two are related. Who cares what stage the company is in. If it is a partnership or whatever. The notion applies to all. You missed the point. Read the article.

I agree. A complete waste of money if you ask me. An expensive, fake gesture to seem as if they are actually trying to educate the youth, instead of simply complianing about not getting their cut as they always do. And at the same time, in recent news, they have forced Pandora to pay royalties. Cover up.

"thedark", is the username of the previous poster. Not an actual reference to anything regarding this post itself. Looks like you got the wrong message.

The reason for low sales outside major labels, is the fact that there are no outlets for unsigned musicians that are worthwhile, and major labels regulate what you hear, and who is heavily promoted. And therefore, the competiton is not level. Unsigned musicians cannot afford expensive studio time to record, have little avenues to promote and sell, and therefore just cant compete. The indie market is a "disaster" as you put it, because major labels, the RIAA and FCC keep it that way on purpose. Who wants an area of business to succeed and compete, if they cannot get a piece of that revenue? No one.

Now how about Digg has done for news, and YouTube has done for music? Leveled the playing field, and taken some of the wind out of the sails of major media. And put more power in the hands of the consumer, and allow then to choose whats best in music. Not tell them what you want them to listen to.

Unfortunately, no doubt these numbers do not count non-label/unsigned record sales as "thedark" mentioned. This is due to the fact that according to major labels and the FCC, these numbers don't count, simply because they don't receive a cut of those sales.

Once we develop a legitimate platform for unsigned musicians to use and compete with the major labels, their artists, and the money they make. Then we will begin to see some numbers that include unsigned artists. Because once they begin to make competitive noise, the labels and FCC will certainly try to begin to get involved and want to regulate as they always do. But as long as the independent artist stays technically "unsigned", there's nothing the regulators can do to control the music, or get a piece of the earnings.

Once we see this happen, those downloaded album and singles sales numbers rise dramatically. Force the RIAA to count you. Record and be heard.

The article talks about fueding between company founders, stright from Paul Graham. Read the previous post. That link is just a reference if you want to check out the article.

Here's the link to the article if you want to check it out: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090601/the-start-up-guru-y-com...

YC stresses the importance of company founders having a positive working relationship, and in his INC magazine interview, Paul Graham himself spoke on his previous dealings with YC startups where company founders fueded and didnt get along. He spoke about how that alone can derail a company, and how it is a basic pain in his neck.

On the YC application it states, "How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet? Have any of the founders not met in person?" This is not done by accident. So how in the world are you going to host, critique, and try to provide opportunities for new startups to get noticed and succeed, if you cant even get along yourself? This is ridiculous. Lead by example.

Maybe th TechCrunch50 founders need to read that INC magazine article.

The best way is to actually create jobs (i.e., provide earning opportunities for the consumer), via your product or service. This helps to develop additional sales in the long-term from those earnings, as well as the all important "brand loyalty", in a recession. Take a note from what sites like http://www.ideaoffer.com, and http://www.udorse.com are trying to do. But kick it up a notch.

In response to "Learn to Relish the Door Slam", a setback is a setup for a comeback. Keep plugging at your entreprenurial dreams, and you will get there. Use those door slams as a learning experience. Each time someone says NO, implement their advice, and submit again.

Scratch the fact that your company is smaller and has an even smaller budget. Focus on solving a problem and creating something that people want, in the way that they want it. And success will come. Anyone and any company can conpete if given the correct platform in which to do so. Eventhough they may be extremely large, have deep pockets, and even deeper connections, even the "Big Boys", skip a beat sometimes. The larger you are, the more greedy you may become, and the less focus you put on the consumer's needs, and your original business model. And when that ball is dropped, and that opportunity presents itself, that's when your small company with a strong foundation will be able to swoop in, offer the consumer exactly what they want, and how they want it, and become a viable competitor in your market.

I second that notion. There's nothing like working for yourself, and being able to create something special to present to the world in your own way. And watch is grow and succeed. I love startup business and enjoy being a founder. Its my passion. I'm the type of person that would much rather create my own company to compete with Facebook and Twitter, and capitalize on their opportunities than be employed by them.

I was leaning towards Facebook, but the third from last Twitter pic showed someone's desk with Sushi on it. I'm sold. A creative working culture of sushi eaters and bike riders. My kind of people. Facebook looks a bit more flashy, but that's ok. Twitter it is.

Points taken. Hopefully we can come up with a better formula in the future. The game needs change, and iTunes needs to finally have a viable competitor. Its been great debated with you on here on this topic. By the way, what do you do? Keep posting.

Exactly. Thanks for proving my point. Clearly the playing field is not level. The only reason that "Grizzly Bear" is not as popular as Maroon 5, is because they dont have the outlet (iTunes or anybody else) in which to present themselves and compete. Maroon 5 is not the hottest thing since sliced bread. Trust me. There are many unsigned artists out there that are just as good and better, and that people would search for and request, and buy songs from, if they had the opportunity. An opportunity that is spawned from the people, music lovers themselves, and not major labels and the FCC.

That's great that "once" a month Apple releases a new indie pack. As if that truly compares to the amount of heavy rotation that major artists receive on iTunes. Not. Sorry to tell you, but that indie pack with 20 new bands once per month, is not getting anybody any significant exposure, nor helping any unsigned musicians to really earn a living from their music. Especially not in comparison to the millions Maroon 5 and others are getting.

Lets take notes from YouTube and Digg.

Seriously? It took an entire year to figure out how Twitter can generate revenue? And what they come up with is an Analytics Dashboard? Get out of here with that. If that's all they were going to do, they could have just copied TweetDeck or TweetCaster a long time ago. Or derived the idea even further back by learning from Google has done with Google Analytics. I thought they were going to really be coming up with something creative and new. Not so much I guess.

I guess you are supposed to be a mind reader. I'm not a web programmer, but I am the founder of a web startup, and have worked with programmers on my projects before. I is common sense that it behooves the customer, as in someone like myself whom is not a programmer, to give as much detail as they possibly can in order to get the end result that they want. Give details, and examples. If they don't, I guess they be expected to come back and complain later that what they got was not what they wanted. They should have spoken up when asked. After all, its their project, and therefore its in their best interest.

To all those customers out there looking to get a quote from a programmer on your next web development project. If you say exactly what you want, you are more likely to get exactly what you asked for.

Like Steven Finch said, "Most people im sure would probably agree that Apple’s iTunes software isnt a lightweight application. I was wanting to put together a great list of free alternatives to iTunes that are actually worth checking out."

So many people are stuck on Itunes because so many people have Ipods, which is the newest, gadgety, user friedly handheld device on the market. That's a given. But Itunes is really the only service that works seamlessly with the Ipod. Of course this is done on purpose, and I don't blame Apple. Gotta protect your product, business, and market share. But, a combative service can be built to loosen Apple's grip. Just takes less complacency, and greater "out of the box" thinking.

Foobar 2000 and Songbird are looking good. But, they still have a ways to go to actually be considered competitors, and not just alternatives.

Really? They're promoting indie artists as much as they are the major label artists? That news to me. Especially when the company has an application process for indie artists that is not required of major label artists. And most of them get rejected. The bottom line, is that via Itunes, the playing field is not level, as it is with sites like Digg and YouTube. I guarantee you that Johnny Random Band is not getting as many downloads and sales per track as Maroon 5 or Daughtry. Next time you see an indie artist who's on Itunes, see if they are wheeling the same Aston Martin DB9 that Kanye has been spotted in these days. I bet you it will be more like a Honda Civic instead.

And in comparison to the major label artists such as U2, Kanye West, and Amy Winehouse, how much do you think those indie artists from that free 20 pack are actually earning? Not much. The guidelines are not the same for all musicians.