Its new flagship product, mobiuslive.net (www.mobius-live.net) promotes an Internet-based community where both fans and musicians can discover music, meet friends, and know more about the music they love.
Mobiuslive.net is where Friendster and iTunes meet plus more. The overall concept incorporates uniquely Pinoy elements, such as Filipino bands singing about themes with local color and context to make mobiuslive.net different from any other music download site. It has also been developed to be easily accessible even to those with very basic understanding of computers and the Internet.
The idea for mobiuslive.net sprang in the course of enhancing the features of the online gaming platform to expand its reach beyond a niche market.
Research showed there has been a significant shift in consumer behavior toward accessibility and delivery of the kind of entertainment they want.
Jojo Anonuevo, president of Digital Media Exchange Inc., says, "Our market research showed that music ranks among the top forms of entertainment consumed by gamers. Secondly, we are now experiencing a huge shift worldwide in how music is consumed – from CDs to tracks being downloaded to iPods or MP3 players. Thirdly, we have spent time building the ideal platform for micro e-commerce, or sachet (tingi-tingi) distribution, which we can leverage beyond online games."
He adds: "These three factors combined, along with our experience in building online communities, made our decision to go into online music a ‘no-brainer.’"
Still, the move from online gaming to online music proved tricky since Digital Media Exchange has to change the underlying methods and technologies it had utilized in building online communities.
For one, dme partnered with Syndeo media, an innovations-oriented company with extensive experience in new media consulting and social marketing.
Syndeo fielded a multinational team to build the online music portal using a proven technology platform for social and viral marketing on the Web.
The Syndeo advantage was matched with experienced hands from the local music industry. The pairing allowed a faster time to develop the mobiuslive.net portal, one that is attuned and responds to the real demands of its target market.
A technical infrastructure was already in place which included fully equipped information data center, local Internet peering network, e-commerce platform, e-payment facility, digital distribution platform, and FTP servers.
With a perfect match of resources, expertise and talents at its inception, mobiuslive.net turns out to be a dream come true for music fans and artists alike.
Digital meeting place
With mobiuslive.net, every fan has a direct line to their idols and every music idol has a way to communicate directly with a huge audience. Suddenly, hearing a new single, getting info about an upcoming gig, or comparing music notes with close buddies is easier than logging on to a Friendster account… and way more fun to boot.
There’s more, mobiuslive.net features a library of established and up-and-coming musicians from a wide range of music, including indie rock, alternative, hip hop, electronica, world, punk, jazz and everything in between. There are even tracks or songs available exclusively in mobiuslive.net.
All types of music of any genre as long as they are original compositions are welcome. Independent foreign and local record labels and striving singers and songwriters may finally be given the big break they are looking for. Music collectors and avid enthusiasts of electric music may even find that hard-to-find track in mobiuslive.net.
Fans can buy music at mobiuslive.net. P20 (E-VAT included) is all it takes for anyone to grab a personal MP3 copy of any of his favorite tracks from mobiuslive.net. At that price, a full album will only cost about P195. And the fan gets to support her idol because the lion’s share of the payment goes to the artist. It’s just as important for mobiuslive.net to keep the artist, the music provider, happy.
To further facilitate user access to these advantages, mobiuslive has entered into on-ground partnership with all Odyssey music stores nationwide to carry and sell merchandise as well as accept music submissions for possible inclusion in the site. (The corporate office at the 8th floor, Net One bldg., Fort Bonifacio is open during office hours to entertain inquiries. More information is available at http://www.mobiuslive.net.)
The future looks bright. Even at this early going, the mobiuslive.net. management is upbeat about the shape of things to come.
Anonuevo says, "We are still in alpha stage and we’re encouraged by the level of interest from independent bands. We started out targeting 200 bands and we easily exceeded that in our first month."
"More importantly," he adds. "We’re seeing interest from artists coming from all over the Philippines and other countries as well. This is all driven through word-of-mouth promotion, but we’re also starting to see the network effect of viral marketing."
At the current alpha stage, more music content is coming and the mobiuslive.net management is vigorously negotiating with a lot of independent music labels all over the world to further beef up its catalogue of prime downloadable music.
It expects to make a major breakthrough in world music via artists from such formidable labels as Midem in France and those featured in the winner music conference in the US.