Forget Spotify, SoundCloud, or listening to old-fashioned radio. With Grooveshark, you can upload your own music, listen to your friends’ uploads, or listen to other’s broadcasts. While reading the blog below, why not start listening to one of my personal favorites right away?

Not only a great platform for launching your own garage-based heavy metal band, but also a nice way to listen to the same music as your friends, no matter where you are. Founded in 2006 by Sam Tarantino, a student and musician, and the more technical Josh Greenberg, Groovehark states to be an online ecosystem, bringing together fans, bands, labels and brands. It currently has over 30 millions users world-wide, and over 15 millions songs available [1].

So, what’s new in Grooveshark in comparison to all others? Grooveshark offers a range of possibilities, extending beyond most online streaming music services. First of all, the music that is available ranges from the current most popular songs (a top 500 is provided conveniently under ‘Popular’) to your personal band, looking for a broader fanbase. All available music is uploaded by the users, opening possibilities for bands with established fanbases and newly started musicians. Second of all, every user has the possiblity to create playlists, broadcasts or share music with your online community. Continue reading Grooveshark – Search. Play. Discover. →

On the night of 4 October 2013, SK Telecom T1 completed a rout of analyst’s favorites Chinese Royal Club to take home the whooping prize money of 1 million $ net, but more importantly the title and bragging rights of being the world champions 2013 of the multiplayer online game League of Legends.[1] It was a night in which SKT1’s  Lee Sang-Hyeok, better known as “Faker”, produced a performance of a lifetime that assures his position in the Hall of Fame of LoL with other midlaner greats such as former Taipei Assasin’s Toys. His expert Gragas play that helped secure the first Dragon in every game, coupled with excellent lane control and mind games lead the team to victory in the sold-out Staples Center Arena (Los Angeles Lakers NBA team Arena): “We put in so much work, and we really trained well […] We expected to win.” Faker said at the end of the match. [2]
For most people, all of the above still sound like an excerpt from a SF novel, but professional video-games streamed live for an extensive audience are gaining momentum and this is mostly due to Twitch.tv.

Twitch.tv is an active co-creation platform where amateur and professional video-gamers can stream the games they are playing live and interact with viewers. According to Qwilt (a broadband measuring tool), Twitch.tv “is driving more Web traffic than live videos from Major League Baseball, WWE’s popular wrestling matches, or even the news.” [3] What’s more, Twitch.tv attracts over 45 million unique visitors a month who watch an average of 100 minutes of livestream a day [2], numbers that seem unexplainable when we imagine the target is a niche. Beside individual broadcasters, the website has also made partnerships with Riot Games to stream the trending eSports championships and with Sony and Microsoft to bring Twitch.tv’s facilities to consoles, thus increasing their reach. The company earns money through personalized ads on the website and through add-free ‘partner program’ subscriptions. Through Twitch.tv, gamers also receive income through donations from their followers or brand sponsorships. The website provides the basis for what seems to be a future valuable area of business – the growing eSports scene. Through its innovative concept, the website created a new business world where passionate people without a traditional career path in sight can now have a proper ‘job’ by being professional gamers or eSports commentators. Continue reading Sports for the New Generation →

Kickstarter is a website that helps developers of a wide range of products get their project up and running. Whereas normally the producer would have to find (expensive) outside funding, by using Kickstarter the producer can reach out to its audience. Kickstarter provides a platform where producers can present their ideas and initial models to a large audience, providing them with a chance to ask people for a pledge of X amount of dollars to further develop their product. Popular products include documentaries, videogames, clothing, and tabletop boardgames, like one of the Kickstarter’s most popular projects, Dogs of War;

Those that pledge an amount of 50$ (or 45$ for those that acted quickly) get access to the game when it is fully developed and ready to be shipped. Mass market versions availabe in retail would cost more, in this case 60$, so there is a monetary incentive to pledge. Those that advertise their project on Kickstarter often include different amounts of money the consumer can pledge, which accordingly yield different exclusive extras that would not be made available to the public. Another feature on Kickstarter is that of “stretch goals”, these are added features of the product delivered only when the funds reach a particular level, in the case of Dogs of War the stretch goal is $50,000, at which point an additional character would be added. Continue reading Kickstarter; a better, more efficient way to fund projects →

Our houses are full of perfectly functioning objects that we do not use, cannot resell or give away as gifts. When something is not used and left in the basement or the storage closet it is automatically losing its value and will probably be thrown away. Of course there are many second-hand/swap stores and online platforms, but sometimes it might be difficult to place and sell an object and assess its market value.

Reoose is trying to solve these problems. This Italian online “eco-store” is based on what the funders call “asynchronic barter” to promote sustainable consumption and avoid waste. On this website it is possible to exchange items that have no value for the owner, even if new, and give them a “second life”, all without the use of money.

But what does “asynchronic barter” actually mean? And what is the difference with other second-hand websites?

Continue reading Reoose: give value to the objects you don’t use →

Etsy, in a nutshell is a website that connects sellers and buyers on the field of handmade products, vintage and crafts. A long time ago people who wanted to buy crafts had to go to markets there were held not that often and had to have the luck that someone was selling what they were looking for. These times are passed now that Etsy is online. On this platforms sellers can put their products on the website for $0,20 and only 3,5% of the selling price goes to Etsy. There are sellers who make crafts or vintage in a wide range, from jewels till special handmade cutting boards. The buyers are people who search for something special and find it here as all products are one of a kind and/or handmade.

– hipster behind a Macbook –

The search for something that is unique is something that a lot of people want these days, there are certain social groups where this is very important (of course the hipster community: http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Hipster). This is in line what Saarijärvi et al. (2013) wrote about value co-creation; customers demand a more active role in production. Buyers are proud of what they found via this website. Not only the big and well known artists are there to buy, but there is a lot of room for small sellers for example girls that make their own juwelery in their room sell their crafts here (very pretty: https://www.etsy.com/nl/shop/SpringToFall ). Continue reading Etsy – selling crafts online →