imeem
imeem
 |
| Commercial? |
Mixed |
| Type of site |
Viral content sharing, social network service |
| Registration |
free, required to play many full-length songs |
| Owner |
News Corp. |
| Created by |
Community |
| Current status |
Defunct | | | |
The online service
imeem was a
social media web site where users interacted with each other by
streaming, uploading and sharing music and music videos. However, after
MySpace acquired the service, it was shut down, in 2009.
The company was founded in 2003 by
Dalton Caldwell (formerly of
VA Linux) and Jan Jannink (formerly of
Napster), and many of its core engineering team came from the original
Napster file-sharing service. The company takes its name from "
meme", a term coined by biologist
Richard Dawkins to describe the ideas and cultural phenomena that spread as if they had a life of their own.
Helping to pioneer the free, advertising-supported model for online
music, imeem permitted consumers to legally upload, stream and share
music and music playlists for free with the costs supported by
advertising. In 2007, imeem became the first-ever online music site to
secure licenses from all four U.S. major music labels to offer their
music catalogs for free streaming and sharing on the web.
The company also created the web's first embeddable music and video
playlists. People could use imeem's widgets to embed songs and playlists
from imeem virtually anywhere on the web, including on their
MySpace and
Facebook profiles or on their personal blogs.
Headquartered in San Francisco's
South of Market district (SoMa), imeem had additional offices in
New York and
Los Angeles. The company's investors included
Morgenthaler Ventures and
Warner Music Group.
On December 8, 2009, imeem was bought out by
MySpace Music in a
firesale for an undisclosed amount. However, it is stated to have been less than $1 million.
Business model
d
Revenue generation at imeem was through a combination of direct and
indirect advertising sales, sales of MP3 downloads, ringtones and
concert tickets, and subscription revenue from premium services. The
bulk of its revenue came from advertising; advertisers who ran direct
campaigns with imeem included
TheTruth.com/American Legacy Foundation,
Kia Motors, and
Dr Pepper,
among others.
The company was one of the pioneers of the ad-supported streaming music model.
In 2007, imeem became the first-ever online music site to secure
licenses from all 4 major music labels to offer their music catalogs for
free streaming and sharing on the web.
Under this model, artists and labels were paid a share of imeem's ad
revenue in proportion to the popularity of their music on imeem, and had
the right to register their content and determine how (or whether) that
content is available on the site or through its embeddable widgets.
This business model was made possible by imeem's proprietary content
fingerprinting and digital registry technology. Initially, imeem
licensed this technology from
SNOCAP, the digital rights and content management startup founded by
Napster creator
Shawn Fanning. In 2008, imeem acquired SNOCAP and its technology outright.
imeem continued to operate the SNOCAP digital registry, and used the
technology acquired from SNOCAP to power its ad-supported streaming
music service.
Products
The company provided two main services:
imeem.com, where people could discover, stream and share music and music videos for free, and
imeem Mobile, an
Internet radio
service for mobile devices. In addition, the company offered a premium
service, imeem VIP, that gave people access to additional features on
the imeem site.
imeem.com
Registered users of the site could stream and share millions of songs
and tens of thousands of music videos free of charge, with the costs
for licensing and streaming supported by advertising on the site and on
imeem Mobile.
One of imeem's key features was the
playlist.
Users could create personal playlists, via a "Create Music Playlist"
page, with music they had uploaded themselves or with music and video
already available on the site. They could publish and share these
playlists on imeem, where they could be played by, shared with,
commented on, or tagged by other users.
Visitors could also share music, videos and playlists beyond imeem,
either by embedding imeem players into external sites.
imeem Mobile
With the free cell phone application imeem Mobile, users could
discover, purchase and enjoy music on their mobile device. It was
available as a free download to users on the
Android and
iPhone/
iPod touch platforms.
Users could create custom Internet radio stations based on their
favorite artists, discover new music through personalized
recommendations and buy DRM-free MP3 downloads directly onto their
mobile device (on Android, downloads are from the Amazon MP3
application; on the iPhone and iPod touch, downloads are from the iTunes
Store.
The app also enabled people to browse and stream their personal imeem
music libraries to their mobile device. People could upload up to
20,000 songs of the music they own directly to imeem.com, and then
access that music through their mobile devices.To upload more than 100 songs, users had to subscribe to one of imeem's premium services.
The company introduced imeem Mobile on the Android platform in October 2008,
and launched it for iPhone and iPod touch users in May 2009. At launch,
it was the only streaming music application on the Android platform,
which in turn led to it being one of the most popular applications
installed on Android devices. In June 2009, imeem Mobile crossed a milestone of over 1 million installs on the Android and iPhone platforms.
The application received several awards, including a 2009 Crunchie Award for Best Mobile Application, the Editor's Choice award from the blog AndroidGuys,
and an award for 'Best Streaming Music App' in the 2009 Android Network Awards.
imeem VIP
In 2008, imeem launched a premium
imeem VIP service that gave
subscribers access to additional site features, most prominently the
ability to upload more music (over 100 songs), and to watch videos up to
1080p in resolution. There were three imeem VIP subscription tiers. * The imeem "VIP" plans started at
US$$9.99
per year for the "VIP Lite" plan, which gave subscribers access to
streaming songs through the VIP Player, and 480p video (up from 360p for
basic users). The "VIP" subscription option allowed uploading of up to
1,000 songs and viewing of 720p video, for $29.99 per year. And the "VIP
Plus" subscription allowed uploading of up to 20,000 songs and viewing
of 1080p video, for $99.99 per year
Early history: 2003-2005
The imeem service has changed drastically since its original
inception as a messaging application that let people communicate by
online chat,
blogging,
instant messaging and
file sharing. The service was billed as a "
distributed,
peer-to-peer,
social network".
Founder
Dalton Caldwell
began working on what would become the imeem messaging application
during Thanksgiving weekend in 2003. Initially, he worked on the
software from his home. In 2004, imeem moved into offices in downtown
Palo Alto's 285 Hamilton building with Caldwell, Jannink and a small team of engineers continuing work on the software.
The company first unveiled its software in February 2005 at the
DEMO conference and formally launched it that August.
When imeem first launched, to use the service, users were required to
download and install the desktop messaging and file-sharing software;
the imeem Web site merely existed as a means for users to register and
download the client. Though originally designed for messaging, it was
the file-sharing function that took off. The client software supported
the service's distributed database model: Every imeem client on the
network had a database that would generate and store references to media
content shared on the network; this system would accelerate access to
content deemed to be close to the user. The service's media-sharing was
peer-to-peer – if a user shared photos or a podcast, then the data would
only exist on the client database network; users who wanted to view the
actual content would access it by peering directly with the publisher.
2006
In March 2006, imeem re-launched at the
South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in
Austin, Texas,
with a new focus on enabling people to interact through the imeem.com
website, using media (photos, videos, music) to express their
personalities and interests. Timed to coincide with the re-launch, imeem
introduced new features enabling users to upload and play music and
video on the site.
In September 2006, imeem introduced embeddable
Adobe Flash-based
playlists that gave people the ability to take music and video
playlists they created (or found) on the site and embed them virtually
anywhere on the web. The company's players quickly became popular with
consumers using MySpace and other social networks, giving them a way to
customize & personalize their profiles with music.
As a result, imeem quickly gained traction, with the site's traffic
growing to 10 million unique monthly users by the end of 2006. By March
2007, imeem's monthly traffic reached over 16 million unique monthly
users.
2007
In February 2007,
MySpace
took steps to limit the posting of imeem content on its site: any
updates or comments with "imeem" even mentioned in them were removed
upon posting. However, MySpace stopped blocking imeem in 2008.
In March 2007, imeem announced it was partnering with
SNOCAP,
the digital rights and content management startup founded by Napster
creator Shawn Fanning, to enable legal uploading, streaming and sharing
of music on imeem, utilizing SNOCAP's content fingerprinting and digital
registry technology. The goal was to provide a way for consumers to
upload and share music with their friends, for free, and to do so in a
way where label and artists can both make money and have greater control
over where and how their music was available.
The partnership marked imeem's move to an ad-supported model, in
which consumers could freely stream and share music and video content
with the costs supported by advertising. Under this model, artists and
labels are paid a share of the site's ad revenue in proportion to the
popularity of their music on imeem, and have the right to register their
content and determine whether that content is available on the site or
through its embeddable widgets.
Ultimately, the imeem messaging and file-sharing application had
proven to be something of a resource hog for power-users, since the
database could grow to large proportions just by associating with a few
individuals who were sharing a lot of content. This messaging product
was ultimately phased out; the site became entirely Web-based beginning
in June 2007. While this distributed model was interesting and received
positive press,
it proved to be difficult to attract many users since the only way to
participate was to download the imeem client software. Over time, imeem
integrated many of the client's features into its website and the
innovative distributed database model was centralized.
Throughout the first half of 2007, imeem had negotiated with the major labels to secure licenses for this new model.
Warner Music Group and imeem announced a licensing agreement for imeem's new Web-based service in July 2007, followed by
Sony Music Entertainment and
EMI Music in September. In December 2007, imeem signed a licensing agreement with
Universal Music Group,
becoming the first online music service to partner with all four major
music labels to let people legally stream and share music for free
online.
2008
On January 28, 2008, imeem announced that it was acquiring the music locker service Anywhere.FM
On February 1, 2008, imeem acquired SNOCAP. It had already been
making extensive use of SNOCAP's audio fingerprinting technology and
music database. As part of the acquisition, SNOCAP's chief operating officer,
Ali Aydar (ex-
Napster), joined imeem.
On March 24, 2008 imeem announced the launch of a developer's platform that will permit third-party developers to interact with imeem data.
In April 2008, imeem received a new round of funding from
Sequoia Capital.
In October 2008, imeem launched imeem Mobile, a free mobile music application. However, on the 22nd of that month, the company
laid off 25% of its staff.
2009
The company's troubles continued into 2009, as Warner Music wrote off
its entire $15 million dollar investment in imeem in anticipation that
no return would come of it and at the same time Warner didn't extend
their licensensing with Imeem.
It seemed possible the company could close in April 2009, but it was able to renegotiate deals with its major label partners,
and subsequently found enough new investors to continue service.
Sources told TechCrunch that imeem raised $6 million in this most recent funding round, with Morgenthaler Ventures and Warner Music Group among those investing.
The company launched imeem Mobile for the iPhone and iPod touch in May 2009. In June 2009, imeem Mobile crossed a milestone of over 1 million installs on the Android and iPhone platforms.
On June 25, 2009, imeem announced that it was removing all user-uploaded video and photos from the site.
This move, and the lack of advance notice, was unpopular with many users.
In October 2009, imeem and Google announced the integration of links
to music on imeem within Google search results; imeem was one of several
online music companies involved in such efforts.
Closure
On December 8, 2009, MySpace (owned by
News Corporation)
acquired imeem, and angered many imeem users when the new parent
company closed down the beleaguered service on the same day, redirecting
all imeem traffic to MySpace Music. Furthermore, MySpace social network
did not pay artists or labels the money still owed to them by imeem for
music streaming.
The controversial closure was criticized as a sign that MySpace was out
of touch with the times. MySpace, on December 22, 2009, assured
imeem.com users that their playlists are safe and that they are
currently duplicating every users' playlist and will migrate them on to
MySpace Music as soon as possible.
MySpace assured that features and functionality that users were used to
at imeem would soon find their way onto MySpace, and complement the
existing platform alongside free full-song streaming, artist profiles,
music videos, and more. MySpace will email imeem users the instructions on how to claim their playlists.
On January 15, 2010, MySpace began allowing users to import imeem playlists.
However, songs that are currently not available via MySpace Music were
not converted over, and there was no means provided to even recover the
names of the missing tracks. Additionally, user "favorites" metadata was
not able to be carried over, with the result that users who depended
upon their favorites lists instead of normal playlists were unable to
retrieve their music. Other complaints include incorrect artist info,
garbled tracks, and an increase in between-songs advertising.
Technology
The back-end software for imeem's services was primarily written in
C#. While most of the front-end Web servers ran under
Microsoft Windows, some used the
Linux operating system. The Web site heavily used
Ajax programming and
Flash animation.
Audio streams were delivered as 128
kbps-quality
MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3) format. Video was encoded in the
Sorenson Video codec at >700kbit/s, in the
Flash Video (FLV)
container format,
with resolution resized to 400 pixels wide and preserving its aspect
ratio, and with embedded mp3 audio at 96 kbit/s. While the video quality
and resolution was significantly better
than other video sites at that time (YouTube, for example, used 300kbit/s video) the late-arriving video sharing aspect of imeem was largely eclipsed by the original audio sharing component.
In 2008 imeem upgraded the video quality further and became one of the
first media sharing sites to offer video encoded with the
MPEG 4 H.264 codec and at the original source resolution.
The original imeem client software conducted most of its network activity using an
encrypted
protocol, making it difficult to monitor user activity. Thus,
conversations via the client's IM functionality and group chats were
encrypted and only visible to participants. On startup, the application
validated with a central server. This ensured that unauthorized clients
could not connect and run malicious exploits (such as for monitoring
network traffic or spoofing identities) against the network. Software
updates were also delivered via the client and authenticated before they
were installed. The company's move to a Web-based file-sharing business
model in 2007 made most of these considerations moot.
Meems (groups)
Users of imeem could link to each other through topic groups (which were originally called
meems),
based on common interests. Some meems were created by imeem itself,
while others were user-generated. Media content could be placed in
custom profile pages and topic groups, as well as in browseable content
channels and charts. Meems could serve as basic
online communities
for artists, bands, clubs, films, schools, festivals, concert tours,
friends, and sports enthusiasts. A late redesign of the site replaced
most of the "meem" references with the familiar word "group". Early on,
it had been possible for links to be made between groups which had
related subject matter, but this feature had only been implemented in
the original client software. After the transition to the Web-only
service model, it became impossible for users to add (or even remove)
such links, although official imeem-created groups sometimes had links
added at creation time, by an administrative means not available to
subscribers.
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