
Autopsy of a failed side project - subimage
http://subimage.com/blog/2013/10/06/autopsy-of-a-failed-side-project/#.UlImAmHds25.hackernews
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dolphenstein
Has the site been put down? Why didn't you keep it as a fun little side
project? I don't understand why the goal has to always be a $17 million exit.
I've built things like facetache.com and openingthemes.tv cause I thought they
were fun, not for some massive financial windfall.

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subimage
It was impossible to afford licenses for the lyrics our site contained. You
can go two ways...fly illegally (which most of these sites do) and risk
getting sued, or pay an outrageous copyright fee yearly to license tracks for
display.

For a "fun side project" I wasn't willing to accept that risk.

[http://subimage.com/blog/2012/12/15/lyricful-looking-for-
inv...](http://subimage.com/blog/2012/12/15/lyricful-looking-for-
investors/#.UlJf52TXS89)

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dolphenstein
Aah, ok. Seems stupid to sue as the site promotes the songs (via iTunes,
etc...) but the music industry aren't exactly known for rational decision
making.

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smackfu
If you are successfully charging some people for a license, you really have to
sue the people who don't get a license. Otherwise your licensees will stop
paying.

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contextual
SEO is a war of attrition more than anything. Unless you're working the blue
ocean strategy, it takes up to two years to get sustained top search rankings
(using legitimate SEO methods and best practices).

By the looks of it, Lyricful deserved better. Hopefully someone with deeper
pockets can bring it back.

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thenomad
Blue ocean strategy?

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contextual
Blue Ocean Strategy: Creating new demand in an uncontested market space[1].
Summon the Warrior[2] was my attempt at this.

Red Ocean Strategy is a highly competitive market space, and what Lyricful
were engaged in.

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ocean_Strategy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ocean_Strategy)
[2][http://summonthewarrior.com/](http://summonthewarrior.com/)

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justincormack
I thought it was kind of obvious that all the sites are spammy because they
are illegal anyway. Its just lazy to set up a content based business model
without owning any content. Now a service to people who do own the content,
that might have been worthwhile, monetise your lyrics.

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ashray
Sad to see this site go. Looked like a great project. So just out of pure
curiosity, where would someone go to legally acquire lyrics for a particular
song ? (sorry to say this but this sounds absolutely retarded to me.. what
exactly are you damaging by publishing lyrics to songs ? I don't see the
copyright argument at all.. it's not like someone will not buy a song because
they can access the lyrics for free online ?)

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subimage
We didn't see a problem with it (and neither did our lawyers) until that $6.6M
judgement played out against another lyric site with similar "user
contributed" content.

There are a couple of routes to go legal - one being Musixmatch, which charges
at minimum $20k per year for a blanket license.

An email straight from them:

"We offer data licensing packages, through our scalable Lyrics API, that are
customized to meet your needs with annual fees ranging from USD $20,000 to
higher depending on the audience for the data and which data are being
licensed. We are not able to offer any sort of data license for less than USD
$20,000."

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martinml
It was a good try. Sometimes it works:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/dpndp/i_run_one_of_tho...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/dpndp/i_run_one_of_those_god_damned_awful_music_lyrics/)

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sideproject
is it ok if I suggest
"[http://sideprojectors.com"](http://sideprojectors.com")? Might be able to
find others who might want to take over. :)

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mintplant
Fixed link: [https://www.sideprojectors.com/](https://www.sideprojectors.com/)

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subimage
Interesting site. Thanks

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ninetax
Neat, but without the ads what was your plan for making money?

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subimage
We had song players for iTunes / Amazon for each song displayed, links for
concert tickets, and ringtones.

Ads, but tastefully done I think. Definitely not any popups, no Google
Adwords, etc.

