Singshot

SingShot.com was founded by Ranah Edelin and Niranjan Nagar in January 2006 (they both were executives at Listen.com, the company behind the music service Rhapsody) and is a legal karaoke website designed to allow its users to choose from a vast selection of music then record their own versions that can be shared with anyone on the Web. Members use a microphone or webcam connected to a computer to record themselves along with the site's Flash-based karaoke player.

The site allows users to create singing contests, although usually not for monetary prizes, just for "bragging rights". However, on some occasions contests are sponsored. Members are allowed to rate other member's performances on a five star scale and can leave "feedback" on the performances.

The site was launched on July 31st, 2006 and was chosen in August 2006 as one of Time Magazine's Coolest Websites in 2006 [http://www.time.com/time/2006/50coolest/] .

On February 12, 2007, Electronic Arts acquired SingShot Media. [http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/02/12/ea-acquires-karaoke-site-singshot/] The site became a part of The Sims Label within EA.

On September 5th, 2007 Singshot.com changed to The Sims On Stage. It is still like the original SingShot but users can now contribute other content in addition to karaoke such as movie mashups, poetry, comedy, and stories on the site.

References

* "Electronic Arts Acquires SingShot Media", [http://www.ea.com/article.jsp?id=ssm] , accessed August 14, 2007
* "The Sims On Stage is Announced", [http://www.Thesims2.com] , accessed September 5th, 2007