Overview
Gogoyoko is a social marketplace where artists are able to interact with their fans, sell music and distribute it for free. This website is a startup that has created absolutely new approach to music selling. This project was created by a group of enthusiasts who were tired of mediators and other costs which ate most of the sales revenues. Dwelling upon the history of the website creation, it should be stated that it was founded in September 2007, in Reykjavík by musicians Haukur D. Magnússon and Pétur Einarsson and Reynir Harðarson (Gogoyoko, 2009). Nowadays, the company enumerates 8 employees which are able to manage the business in the organization. Even though the niche Gogoyoko occupies is innovative and there are not many rivals who operate in the same sphere, the organization has a number of competitors, such as MOG, Bandcamp, eMusic, Grooveshark, iTunes/Ping, etc (Gogoyoko, 2009). Gogoyoko is the project which has brought an innovation in the world of music by means of combining a number of services which helped both artists and users reach their purposes. The organization has already been operating on the Internet for four years, however, it has many goals which have not been achieved and the problems which should be considered to make sure that the website develops and continues it growth.
Industry Size/Structure
To understand the industry size and structure, it is important to consider the latest financial information devoted to the company. Company’s start-up capital was very small. However, in 2009, Gogoyoko received 100 million Iceland Kronur (0,69M EUR or 0,89M USD) for its development. In spite of the fact that the economic situation of Iceland was unstable and the waves of crisis prevented the country from stable development, Icelandic New Venture Business Fund and private investor Vilhjalmur Thorsteinsson funded 90% and 10% respectively to Gogoyoko (Kukkosuo, 2009b). There is no particular information devoted to the destination of those funds, but the company managers referred to the necessity to move to the new larger office. Thus, it may be stated that starting with boot strapping, the organization has managed to get sufficient financing.
At this time, the organization is at its growing stage. Having hundreds of artists who distribute their songs by means of the website and hundreds of users who visit this website with different purposes, the organization is searching for creative destruction. The creators of the projects designed their website with the purpose to promote the artists and musicians of Iceland. However, looking at positive feedback loop after the website spread in the society, the project creators began to think about world integration. It is a great opportunity not only for the project creators to gain more money, but also for local artists to present their music for international audience. Nowadays, the team of Gogoyoko has the presence not only in the country of its creation, but also in Norway and Germany (Gogoyoko, 2011).
Considering the main idea of the project, it may be concluded that it is aimed at presenting the world with the music offered directly by the artists. Signed up users can listen to the music for free from the website or buy it directly from the artists. Moreover, the organization is corporate socially responsible as 10% of the income from advertising is spent on charity, to partnering international charity and environmental organizations. Additionally, this idea encouraged the website creators to apply social entrepreneurship principles on the visitors and artists. Thus, each visitor has an opportunity to donate, artists may offer 10% of their revenues from sales and users may just donate any sum of money they want (Gogoyoko, 2011).
Opportunity
Gogoyoko is not just a music store online, it creates additional opportunities and advantages for artists. Thus, when the site was invented, the creators wanted to promote Scandinavian music, giving an opportunity to interact and transact. The website offers many advantages for visitors. Being an innovative website, some specific ideas were used as 10x rule. Simple music stores, even online ones, demand too high charges for selling music. The creators of Gogoyoko have never had a desire to earn too much. The very idea of the website is to help unknown musicians sell their music or distribute it for free, to make the users listen to the music and make a decision whether to buy it or not.
Stating that Gogoyoko is more than a music store, the social options offered by the website creators are meant. Each artist has an opportunity to create personal online profiles. Therefore, the development of the social network platform within a music selling website is an opportunity for the organizers of the project to avoid customers’ pains devoted to the lack of information about the artists and the inability to contact those (Scandinavian music, 2010).
Dwelling upon Gogoyoko, we cannot but mentioning the opportunity Def’n characterized by four particular issues. Thus, the service under discussion is attractive as neither artists nor fans should leave their homes for buying music album. The project is durable as having been existing just for four years, it has managed to residence in two countries different from the place of the project creation. Thus, the world integration is the next step for project development which may be designed from suboptimal solutions. The project is timely because of the development of innovative technologies and Internet spread. All is sold and bought on the Internet and it is obvious that due to particular reasons it is economically advantageous to use the Internet shops for purchases. Gogoyoko creates more value for buyers or users, as they have an opportunity to listen to the music before buying it. The website offers free music play for registered visitors. Thus, a visitor has an opportunity to get familiarized with a piece of music and only the buy it (Gogoyoko, n.d.).
Product/Solution
Dwelling upon the product Gogoyoko offers to its customers, it may be concluded that Guerilla marketing is used for project development. Thus, the promotion of Scandinavian artists cannot be considered as a profitable business. The project creators are musicians who faced many problems connected with revenues and costs devoted to music selling. Trying to help similar musicians, the project has been created. The product of the company is the music distributed by different artists. It seems that Gogoyoko serves as the platform for the interaction between the artists and their fans. Additionally, being created as the helpful project for the beginners and to those whose music is not popular due to the inability to create a substantial advertising campaign, release a couple of singles and shoot a clip, the organizers have found a great solution for making their site profitable and fast developing.
It should be stated that Gogoyoko creators perform a function of locus of control. Gogoyoko is a linking channel between the artists and their fans, or just people who want to listen to good music. The website does not resell music or other services. Moreover, Gogoyoko gives the artists an opportunity to get all the revenues they manage to get from the sales of their tracks or albums. In other words, artists get 100% revenue from their sales. Gogoyoko’s revenue comprises 40% of advertising got from the streaming of the music and advertising. All the sides are winning from such partnership (Kukkosuo, 2009a).
The artists do not have to pay for their presence at different websites and for advertising of their personal web content. Gogoyoko is the place which has already gained particular popularity among artists and music listeners. Still, the organization creators should pay more attention to the website development and entering in an international zone. The first steps have already been implemented, still, it is not enough. Stress should be made on European and American audience and performers to be able to gain popularity worldwide. Dwelling upon the product development and solutions offered for its spread, it may be concluded that the Internet connection helps buyers all over the words download music for free. However, most of the websites do not offer an opportunity to communicate with the performer directly, to interact with the artist and to get some specific responses to asked questions.
Technology
The only necessary condition for using the services offered by Gogoyoko is to visit the website. Unregistered visitors have an opportunity to check the website structure, read all the information devoted to the music, artists, genres, and albums, but they are restricted in listening to the music, leaving comments and buying some pieces. The opportunities the registered users and artists have are better. A registered visitor can check the existing albums, comment on them, enter charts, view specific information created by the artists, etc. Being aware of the peculiarities of the website and music distribution, the visitors may listen to the music and download it for a particular price which is paid directly to the artists, therefore, the prices are low. Thanks to the innovative technologies, it is possible to listen to the music for free from the website. This, people are given an opportunity to listen to the pieces before buying those. Additionally, no one is obliged to buy the album after having listening to it. People can visit website every day for listening to the music without being interested in purchasing something.
Specific social network platform is an additional opportunity and technological advantage of Gogoyoko. While many online companies which purchase music just serve as the delivery organizations, Gogoyoko offers artists an opportunity to create online profiles and communicate with their fans there. Such option attracts many customers who want to buy the music they like and to read about their favorite artists. Being the website which promotes Scandinavian musicians, Gogoyoko may be the only source of the information about some unfamiliar artists who just begin their career but which music has already occupied the hearts of some buyers. Thus, having this advantage in comparison with other websites which sell the music, Gogoyoko should work on other innovative aspects which may make it unreachable for other projects. Thus, the implementation of the iPod application may be a great opportunity for customers.
Company
Gogoyoko is the project which deserves attention. Moreover, this project is winning due to a number of factors, which may be described as innovation, sociability, pricing advantage, social responsibility, and necessity. Here is a detailed description of each of the characteristics mentioned above. The project is innovative as there is no such a website which combines the characteristics and offers the services as Gogoyoko does. The main innovation of the project is that is gives an opportunity to artists and fans to interact. This option is better explained under the sociability feature. Thus, Gogoyoko offers the social network platform which gives artists an opportunity to create personal profiles, add different information and music posts there.
Visitors are offered an opportunity to leave comments and posts as well as ask questions, and express their opinion directly to the artists. Pricing advantage is seen in the cost of the music and in the ability of the artists to get 100% revenue from their selling. Moreover, the project creators donate 10% from their revenues (received from advertising) to charity. Artists and visitors also have an opportunity to do it. This is a detailed explanation of the social responsibility function. Dwelling upon the website necessity, it should be mentioned that living in the world of innovative technologies and the Internet spread, people are offered too much information. The ability to structure this information and to give an opportunity to find the necessary data in this amount of sources is really valued. Gogoyoko is one of such sites. Additionally, being one of the innovative and absolutely different websites, Gogoyoko has its competitors such as MOG, Bandcamp, eMusic, Grooveshark, iTunes/Ping, etc (Gogoyoko, 2009).
Leadership
Dwelling upon the leadership of Gogoyoko, it is useful to remember about the talent triangle, which may help understand the level of the company organization and inner structure. The company has two leading positions, the website creators and CEO. Having employed Alex MacNeil to this position, the organizers confirmed this person is skilled, acknowledged and can make appropriate decisions. Being occupied with the company development, Alex MacNeil helped the company leave country’s borders and get headquarters in Norway and Germany.
Thus, it may be stated that Alex MacNeil is a person with business acumen in Gogoyoko. Domain knowledge of the company is comprised in the idea of website social responsibility, network platform and revenue distribution. The expert in this field should make sure that the system works adequately and each task is performed in accordance with its destination. Pointing at the operational experience, it should be mentioned that the main reason for project development was the understanding of consumers’ pain and the desire to help new artists and customers find each other. Gogoyoko was created by the musicians who wanted to promote Scandinavian music and searched for particular ways for it. This project appeared to be a great idea and with the help of Reynir Harðarson, “one of the founders of CCP Games and the original art director of the massively multiplayer online game Eve Online” (Gogoyoko, 2009, n.p.), the project was implemented into life.
Reference List
Gogoyoko – fair play in music. (2009). Iceland Music Report. Web.
Gogoyoko. (2011). gogoyoko ehf. Web.
Gogoyoko. (n.d.). CrunchBase. Web.
Kukkosuo, M. (2009a). Gogoyoko introduces a social music marketplace. ArcticStartup. Web.
Kukkosuo, M. (2009b). Social music marketplace gogoyoko raises ISK 100 million. ArcticStartup. Web.
Scandinavian music promoted by social network website Gogoyoko. (2010). IceNews. Web.