I have had the pleasure of interviewing Adam Cameron from iMusicTweet, the service for sharing music socially that I recently reviewed.
This is the first part of the interview, the second section is accessible here. Enjoy!
Full Name: Adam Cameron
Age: 17
Startup: iMusicTweet
Position: CEO
PART I
THE STARTUP
Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?
In late 2008, I thought how great it would be if we could share music on twitter. Facebook streaming came about because a lot of artists and my regular Facebook friends were praying to find a way to stream music on Facebook. Being a graphic designer, I sat down for a month or so drafting up everything. I created every page, hardly sleeping, constant headaches. Then I connected with my programmer and we produced iMusicTweet.com, the final product.
What was the original launch date?
The original launch date was early 2009 but I thought it could be better, so I went back to the drawing boards, took advice, incorporated my own ideas and re-launched in 2010.
What has been the response so far? In which countries has it been more successful?
Ever since we re-launched in 2010 the responses have been great. Many websites offered to review us, a few major artists in the U.S have used it and continue to use it. I attempted to submit it to Chris Pirillo and he responded with “Ah…”. I didn’t know if I should take it as negative or positive but I will keep that email forever. It’s being most successful in the U.S as of now, since we are based here but I have seen iMusicTweet be reviewed by websites in a few more countries.
What features can we expect to see implemented in future revisions?
I am a person that loves to think far beyond the “norm” or beyond “realistic” ideas. So, with that said, anything could happen. I would love to connect with Universal Music Group, thats a dream of mine. Connect with China because they have the largest internet market. I would like to offer artists a way to sell their music as well as streaming and thats all for now, I have a lot of thoughts, too many to list.
What is your take on Twitter on the whole? Where do you think it is headed? Do you think that people will talk about it in the future and place it in the same league as developments like e-mail?
Twitter was genius, I wish I created it. I was on Twitter very early, before the celebs, etc. Now I see major televisions stations using it, major organizations, basically everyone/everything has taken advantage of twitter and incorporated it into their business or life. Twitter will live forever and it will continue to expand. Twitter connects the fans directly with their celeb, business, organization, etc. It makes you feel more apart of it. People have to either get with the new genius inventions, or get kept “out of the loop” and thats how I look at iMusicTweet.
There is a certain tendency to demonize the Internet in the music industry. I think it is all a matter of perspective – it all depends on the uses it is put to. What is your opinion? In which areas has the Internet left an unquestionably positive mark?
The internet is a gift and a curse, we either can be good or bad. There is a lot of piracy that decreased sales but labels have been giving the internet a bad name until they recently started embracing it. Now you have artists songs going platinum digitally. CD sales are down because digital sales are up, why go to a store when you can go online to purchase and instantly get the music? Labels and artists are embracing the internet now, but not enough. They need to take heed of upcoming things, like iMusicTweet… all genius ideas. It’s very easy to stop Piracy, If the industry connected with me and my ideas, Piracy will be old news. It’s so easy to stop, I can’t believe they didn’t stop it yet.
What advice could you give to anybody who is launching a music-related startup in the future? What are the obvious mistakes that should be avoided?
Be unique. Copyright, trademark.. Those are two things you need to look into with anything involving business and music. Terms of Service, Privacy Policy… another two important things. Don’t create something that already exists , you will grow faster being unique.
Continue to Part 2.
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