An interview with Kerchoonz co-founder and Scotland-based, singer-
songwriter Indiana Gregg (part 2 of 2)
In part 2 of MusicDish e-Journal's interview with Indiana Gregg, we
learn more about Kerchoonz, the site's multiple features and it's
Choonz origins.
[Eric de Fontenay] The site is jam-packed with features and
interactive areas. What other ways will you be attracting fans to the
site?
[Indiana Gregg] There is a big online gaming area, video, live chat,
TV, radio, news dig, and a lot of other stuff to have fun and be
creative with. There will be a music discovery and recommendation
engine to help fans find new music as well as a chart system for the
various genres.
Hopefully, a lot of people will benefit from the free & legal model.
Our focus is on helping artists get compensated for their work. But,
we've made it fun for fans too. In fact, you don't even need to be a
fan to find your "niche" at Kerchoonz. And fans are actually
financially sup****ting their favorite artists without it costing them
a dime.
Artists can track downloads and streams of their music. They will know
what region or even city their fans are coming from. So, it can help
to better target their audiences and plan their gigs. We're hoping
that artists and labels potentially earn more through Kerchoonz than
they may have done with traditional CD sales in recent years.
[de Fontenay] Word-of-mouth marketing is today's holy grail. What
tools does the site provide to empower fans to sup****t their favorite
artists?
[Gregg] One way is through the use of "KWIDGET," interactive widgets
that help spread the word. The "referral KWIDGET" promotes the site by
allowing users to paste a banner on forums, other sites and in emails.
For every band or pro member that joins the site through one of these
referral kwidgets, the user who pasted it receives $5.
Users can help sup****t their favourite musicians too. If a user from
our site pastes an artist's music elsewhere on the internet by
embedding one of our music players, the artist still gets paid for
their streams when other user's click and listen or download a song
through a kwidget. If they login and register for a band or pro
account, the user who pasted the kwidget again gets $5. So, even the
public can earn real money by referring bands and creative people to
Kerchoonz. It's spreading the word with a fun and financially
interesting motivation.
[de Fontenay] What role will the Industry Pros play on the site?
[Gregg] As we are going to be adding two additional "User Types" -
Label & DJ - Industry Pro type users will be expected to be
Publishers, Management Co's, Music & Media law firms, Engineers,
Producers, Video Production Co's, Hire Co's, Accountants, Design Co's,
etc.
[de Fontenay] Do you handle differently artists with a large
discography or labels with a catalogue?
[Gregg] Yes, labels will be allowed to upload more media and create
more Sub-Profiles than a regular 'Artist/band' profile. Also, there
are Gold and Platinum upgrade packages available to all users types
offering more facilities relevant to each user type.
[de Fontenay] What role does video play in Kerchoonz? Will video
creators also be compensated for the use of their works?
[Gregg] Yes, if it is a music video and the video ISRC is entered into
the Video ISRC field, the play counts and revenue will be re****ted
back to the Video Performance Limited (VPL) body in the UK or local
equivalent.
As the site develops, it is our intent to include licences with non-
music genre broadcasters for their content.
[de Fontenay] How will Kerchoonz attract artists who currently sell on
retailers such as Amazon or iTunes? More im****tantly, how will it
attract fans that love music but are primarily using file sharing to
acquire music?
[Gregg] We aren't competing with Amazon or iTunes. So, if an artist
doesn't want to give the music away as a free download, they can
simply turn that function off. They can direct their fans to any
online store they choose. However, they will still get paid if someone
listens to their music through Kerchoonz. The streams are encrypted,
so they can upload the full song without worrying about someone simply
"stealing" it. If they change their mind or just want to give away a
few tracks, they can do that too. Kerchoonz is flexible this way. We
want to give artists, musicians, labels, bands and filmmakers
interactive tools and let them choose how they want to use them.
People who use file sharing to acquire music may want to listen to the
music before they download it. So, by listening to the music on
Kerchoonz, they will have helped benefit the band/artists before they
decide whether they want to download it or not. We hope that if they
like the music, they might go ahead and sup****t the band by
downloading it either through Kerchoonz or going ahead and buying it
elsewhere. If they don't like it, well, they might not want to
download it anyway. But, at least they have a safe and legal way of
accessing it that helps the artists and the people who were involved
in creating it. This helps give bands and artists and even labels the
finances that they need to continue creating. And that's what
Kerchoonz is all about.
[de Fontenay] Since you mention "what Kerchoonz is all about," where
does the name come from?
[Gregg] Well, the name of the site came from the Choonz. Choonz are
little purple people from a far off land who frequent the earth and
bring us 'ideas'. The Choonz wanted to help us find a solution to the
recent crises that the music and film industries have been facing on
the blue planet. On their visit, the Choonz told us that they know
music makers and filmmakers have been getting ripped-off and that we
must do something about it for the sake of future creativity. To avoid
wars and crusades, they were able to find a peaceful solution several
thousand years ago on their own planet, Kerchoonz.
Choonz believe music should be free and accessible to everyone, and so
they showed us the light and helped us create a way where music can be
free to the public while enabling musicians and creative people to
earn a living from their streams and downloads. We wanted to help out,
so, out of respect for their wisdom, we named our social networking
site after them: "Kerchoonz." At Kerchoonz, we think that the future
of music won't work if musicians aren't compensated for their work.
So, that's us, the purple website called Kerchoonz.
Go Choonz!
http://www.kerchoonz.com
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