Media Wonk

RedAntenna tries to play fair - June 24, 2008

Is it possible to build a business around doing the right thing by independent content creators? Danish-backed startup RedAntenna intends to find out. Though still in beta, RedAntenna has begun signing up indie bands and small record labels to start using its e-commerce widget--RedAntenna calls it a ShopLet--to sell directly to consumers from their own Web sites or their MySpace profile page. RedAntenna handles the transaction and product distribution in exchange for a 7% fee.

While other e-commerce providers offer similar services--SnoCap comes to mind--U.S. business development manager Freddy Nager told Media Wonk RedAntenna hopes to go SnoCap one better for artists by letting creators set whatever price they want for their content and by keeping its own commission low. SnoCap has a fixed price schedule and takes a bigger cut of the sale.

"We see it as a sort of a combination of SnoCap and eBay," Nager said. "Our job is to help buyers and sellers find each other and then let them decide the price."

RedAntenna was hatched out of Denmark-based incubater Wannakey SA, which is listed on the Danish First North Stock Exchange, a division of NASDAQ. The goal, according to RedAntenna's mission statement, was to create "the fairest media marketplace ever."

In addition to letting musicians sell their work from their own Web sites, RedAntenna plans to place its widget on partner sites to extend the reach of its content creators' distribution. The company is currently working with the music-blogging network MOG to recruit bloggers as partner sites. "It's a way for bloggers to turn their banner ads into an e-commerce portal and earn money from music," Nager said. The company also has its own MySpace profile and has so far collected over 1,200 indie musician "friends."

Bloggers negotiate their own commission structure with artists and can choose which artists to feature on their sites. They can also feature genre-based channels compiled by RedAntenna.

The company has plans to expand beyond music as well, targeting independent film producers, authors, software designers, "whatever your creative verb or media," according to the mission statement.

"We also think it will be great for non-profits, who might want to sell a book or a song or something to raise funds," Nager said.

By allowing producers to set their own price while keeping its own commission fixed at 7%, of course, RedAntenna will be left with a highly unpredictable revenue stream.

"We plan to make it up in volume," Nager joked. "But seriously, we plan to be international in scope, and there are a lot of indie bands out there."

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