Calif. startup targets music fans |
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Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:57
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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Being a groupie can be as easy as picking up the phone.'I love you, Tyrese!' a female caller shouts in a message to the R&B singer.'Yo, Rihanna, I just wanted to say thank you for the good work. I love ya,' a male caller from Conyers, Ga., tells the pop star.With Web sites, blogs, social networks and text-messaging services, musicians have plenty of ways to connect with fans. SayNow is adding to the mix an older form of communication -- voice messages.SayNow's service, slated to formally launch next month, lets celebrities receive voice messages and send ones en masse to those who have subscribed to be a part of their fan community. Each celebrity gets a phone number that fans can call to either record a message or listen to one left by the artist.The service is free; SayNow is relying on advertising for revenue.The Jonas Brothers, a young rock band among more than 250 musicians testing the service, records several messages a day for fans.Last month, while en route to New Jersey for a concert, they called in a message to tell fans they were looking forward to picking up some bagels while in town. Girls toting hundreds of bagels showed up at the concert that night.'It's great that a single call could become a mass phone call,' said 19-year-old Kevin Jonas, the oldest of the three brothers. 'We use MySpace and blogs to communicate, but that's just text on screens. This is a way for us to speak right to them and for them to speak right back to us. There's nothing like hearing someone screaming on the phone they like the songs or the video.'SayNow, a startup based in Palo Alto, says it has signed more than 870,000 fans and secured $7.5 million in venture funding. The voice-messaging service is also available for use by other groups.'It's a very hot idea right now -- social marketing using the cell phone,' said Jupiter Research analyst Julie Ask.Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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