PeopleSound
PeopleSound was a British audio streaming platform founded on 22 June 1999 by Ernesto Schmitt. Going live in October 1999, it was the first European music streaming platform and the most visited. At peak, it was amongst the top ten most visited entertainment websites in Europe, with millions of registered users, and one of the highest profile new-age internet startups.
Type of site
June 1999
2008
Great Britain
6 locations (peak)
Vitaminic
Audio streaming
85 (2000)
peoplesound.com (archived)
October 1999
PeopleSound combined new media reach with old media music publishing to create a platform where users could search for music by artist or category and discover new recommended music. Unlike music distribution before, which had been managed exclusively by record labels, PeopleSound signed unsigned artists, notably offering £100 to artists per song they sent in. These artists earned 50 per cent royalties on physical copies sold, but music on the site was available free.
With offices in London, Paris and Munich, PeopleSound raised at a valuation of $200 million (£70m in 1999) and reached a valuation of $280 million (£100m in 1999). Post dot-com bubble, PeopleSound was sold to Vitaminic, and the combined entity was listed on the Italian Stock Exchange. The New York Times called PeopleSound "the leader for European-based downloadable music sites", as well as the first pioneer of music streaming on mobile, and it set the basis for later companies like Spotify and Apple Music.
Business model[edit]
PeopleSound operated under a freemium model, under which music on the site was free but artists could opt to sell physical copies. The website allowed artists to send their finished product to PeopleSound and then granted them a non-exclusive world-wide licence for £100.[50] At the time, this promotion received significant coverage. In exchange, artists were given a page on the PeopleSound website, and were free to choose a price to sell their music. These artists earned 50 per cent royalties – the market average was 17–20 per cent – on physical copies sold, but music on the site was available free.[51]
PeopleSound was said to only reject 20 per cent of the music offered to them, aiming to create a democratised music platform, and offered customers two free songs from every band.[52][53] It aimed to differentiate itself by filtering out poor quality artist submissions, and both it and MP3.com were seen as good examples of 're-intermediating' companies, combining elements of both traditional retail and record companies functions.[54][50]
Later history[edit]
In 2004, it was understood that PeopleSound.com was set to be relaunched, and the site had begun operating on a limited basis. Sources said the launch would reposition PeopleSound as an advertising-funded community web site for labels and other content providers.[55] Although the domain name for the relaunched PeopleSound kept being renewed until the end of 2008, the site itself stopped received updates in 2006, with the most recent release listed on their site being Billy Bragg's Volume 1 (2006) box set.[56]