Next Big Sound

Next Big Sound

Type	Private
Industry	Music Internet
Founded	August 2008
Headquarters	Boulder, Colorado
Key people	Alex White: CEO David Hoffman: CCO Samir Rayani: CTO Eric Czech: Chief Data Officer Todd Zusman: Systems Architect Sam Pucci: Software Engineer Colin Willis: SVP Sales Buck Heroux: Software Engineer (Founders: White, Hoffman, Rayani)
Products	Online music analytics
Website	nextbigsound.com

Next Big Sound is a music analytics website. Its tagline is "actionable intelligence for the music industry," and the site (nextbigsound.com) measures the growth and popularity of bands across the major web properties. In the summer of 2009, the company was chosen to participate in the selective TechStars incubator program for online startups in Boulder, CO.

Features

With NBS, users track mentions of their favorite bands and musical artists across a variety of major music websites: music plays on Last.fm and MySpace, fans on Facebook, iLike, Last.fm, MySpace and Twitter, band page views on MySpace, and band page comments on MySpace. NBS calculates and graphs each of these statistics over time and compares the data to that of other similar bands. The site has been tracking this data since June 2009 for over 486,000 bands, including Jason Mraz, Lady Gaga, Chester French and KDrew. In addition, users can subscribe to weekly email updates discussing popularity trends for their favorite bands. NBS is a tool for music industry professionals, bands or anyone interested in tracking how millions of fans interact with music online every day. Its goal is to help bands better understand and increase their online audience.

Background

Next Big Sound is based on the concept that the music industry has changed, and that success is now most accurately based on direct engagement with fans. The purchase decisions of a critical mass of consumers has moved online, with fans participating in activities online related to the music industry (ie: Following bands on Twitter, listening to songs on MySpace.) Their interactions can be accurately measured, reported and then utilized, which is the service Next Big Sound provides. NBS continuously tracks the number of plays, views, fans, comments, mentions, and other key metrics for musical artists across major web properties. People then can sign up to have these otherwise expensive and fragmented statistics emailed to them. Users also can search a particular band or artist on NBS and immediately see graphics detailing fans' online activity.

Press

Before NBS was selected for Techstars, they already had received mentions in The New York Times, Mashable, and Pioneer Local.^[1][2][3]. Since their presentation at the conclusion of TechStars, in August 2009, they were featured in TechCrunch and the personal blog of entrepreneur Fred Wilson.^[4][5] Next Big Sound was recently named as one of the 10 best music startups of 2010 by Billboard Magazine and CEO Alex White was named to Billboard's 30 Under 30 executives to watch list.^[6][7]

Origins

The business grew from a class assignment at Northwestern University, where founders Samir Rayani, Alex White, Jason Sosnovsky (since parted with NBS) and David Hoffman attended. As part of the entrepreneur class, students present their ideas to venture capitalists. The Next Big Sound received US$25,000 in seed money. Their investors include Foundry Group, Alsop Louie, SofttechVC, David Cohen, David Cancel, Peter Zandan and Troy Henikoff. They have offices in Boulder, CO and Nashville, TN.

Notes

1. ^ Sisario, Ben (2008-12-24). "A Chance to Be a Music Mogul". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/education/edlife/ideas-recordinglabel-t.html?_r=1. Retrieved 2009-01-10. 
2. ^ Thomas, Jennifer (2008-09-09). "Next Big Sound site lets you discover new music, play record mogul". PioneerLocal.com. Sun-Times News Group. http://blogs.pioneerlocal.com/entertainment/2008/09/next_big_sound_site_lets_you_d.html. Retrieved 2009-01-10. 
3. ^ Cashmore, Pete (2008-11-10). "Free Streaming Music Is The Next Big Sound". Mashable. http://mashable.com/2008/11/10/free-streaming-music/. Retrieved 2009-01-10. 
4. ^ Next Big Sound Shines A Light On Music Fans’ Online Behavior, TechCrunch.
5. ^ Fred Wilson on Techstars
6. ^ Warner, Joel (2010-10-07). "Fueled by venture-capital funding and a love for unknown bands, can Boulder's Next Big Sound predict the next rock star?". Westword. http://www.westword.com/2010-10-07/music/fueled-by-venture-capital-funding-and-a-love-for-unknown-bands-can-boulder-s-next-big-sound-predict-the-next-rock-star/. Retrieved 2010-11-28. 
7. ^ "Power Players: 30 Under 30, Page 5". Billboard. 2010-08-18. http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i724a018466b894111a8d9258d7a9bd94. Retrieved 2010-11-28. 

External links

• Market Watch, The Wall Street Journal
• ReadWriteStart
• Techstars TV Documentary episodes chronicling NBS' participation in Techstars.