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Sunday, August 19 09:20 PM |
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No More Grapes of Wrath. TheSource Fires Whole Online Staff.
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TheSource fired its 8-person online division last week in a vote of no confidence from David Mays. TheSource.com, which was supposed to debut the same day as the televised Source Awards, launched late without much fanfare. Even after showing the uncensored fight scenes from the Source Awards via the site response was at best lukewarm. How come the number one hip-hop magazine was not able to translate its success online?
Name that tune.
TheSource.com online presence was originally part of the self-proclaimed online music giant Tunes.com. It was rolled up into the network of sites, which included Rolling Stone and Downbeat Jazz. The deal was structured such that Tunes paid TheSource to be associated with their brand and would shoulder the cost of developing and maintaining the site. They also paid the now defunct marketing arm of TheSource to market and promote the site. Mays appointed Jeff Jones, former director of marketing at the magazine in charge of the website. This allowed TheSource to defray costs by having Tunes produce an anemic site that cannibalized small news bits from the magazine and did nothing to drive subscriptions. At the time, the deal certainly seemed to favor TheSource heavily.
Adoy
With the explosion of funding for the hip-hop themed sites, and the launch of 360hiphop looming, Mays took a chance and parted ways with Tunes in order to develop a stronger online presence that they could leverage the powerful brand with. Tunes.com is now a subsidiary of the even more embarrassing ailing digital music giant Emusic, who bought Tunes rollup strategy for $130 million dollars. Mays’ quick trigger finger effectively made them miss their large stake in the deal. TheSource then hired Etensity to design a site that would capture the lucrative hip-hop market that was online. Etensity delivered a frame-based monster that had everything but the kitchen sink stuffed into it. It looks like a poor man’s 360hiphop as they are cut from the same cloth. We think their side of the cloth may have been a bit frayed though.
| 360hiphop.com | | TheSource.com | | Run by embittered Former Source editor | | Run by embittered wanna-be Source editor | | Features music on entry to site, empty chat rooms, and spare bulletin boards | | Features music on entry to site, empty chat rooms, and spare bulletin boards | | Has long wordy articles that have panache | | Has short articles rewritten from press releases | | Has a bizarrely named link to a online store that has never worked (Buy Shit) | | Has a bizarrely named link to a online store that does work if you can find it (The One Stop) | | Both sites require every plugin known in the current iteration of the universe. | | Ditto | | * Please do not attempt this comparison at home. Loading both sites simultaneous is asking for trouble. |
Topol
Jeff Jones found it difficult to come up with new ways to spray paint vans with loud audio systems to promote their product while in marketing so he wound up in charge of the website. While TheSource was under Tunes, executives there thought it would be nice if Mr. Jones looked at the website he managed at some point, so they purchased him a computer. It remained packed in the box in a corner of his office for the next year. Mr. Jones’ workload consisted of habitually smoking cigarettes and placing ashes in strategic places throughout the office. Considering he rarely if ever looked at the site, it’s no surprise it launched without absolutely any coherent strategy. Jeff Jones’ whole crew has been shown the door. Jones’ severance package from the web division includes a box of Pall Malls.
Urban Chic
 Tracii McGregor, a former music publicist turned hip-hop journalist, has been put in charge of the website. After waiting patiently in the wings for 3 years at TheSource for the editor-in-chief slot of the magazine, she has assumed control of the web property. The site features her online show, curiously named One Nation. Only time will tell if Tracii can even deliver content effectively with the current site.
Open Source
The notoriously frugal David Mays currently doesn’t put much stock in the Internet in general, less more his own web property. The average salary for production staff at TheSource.com is under $20,000. It was a short-term play for the lucrative online hip-hop market in hopes of generating some funding after pulling out of the e-music structure. TheSource’s ambivalence to the Internet leaves a large opportunity open for a site to become the definitive site online for hip-hop. Get your business plans ready.
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