I got an email from Larry Schneiderman, the VP of the media buying company I work for, with a newsletter from the Wolfgang Vault.
Larry just about invented selling rock albums on television, selling over a million copies of a Presley greatest hits package and opening the floodgates for rock music being merchandized directly on TV to the consumer. In the early nineties I worked on a Led Zeppelin greatest hits package with Larry and the results were ridiculous. 200,000 units sold at $49.99 and for those who don’t believe in the residual effect of advertising on TV? Another 200,000 units shifted in the store at $59.99. “These guys are sitting on a goldmine” Larry said of the vaults. Thousands of live performances available for streaming. Most of the performances date from the late sixties to mid seventies at the Winterland in San Francisco
Here is a list of some of the acts available live off the soundboard:
Aerosmith The Allman Brothers Band The Band The Beach Boys The Beatles Black Sabbath Bob Dylan Bob Marley Bruce Springsteen The Doors Elton John Eric Clapton Fleetwood Mac Frank Zappa Genesis Grateful Dead Jeff Beck Jefferson Airplane Jethro Tull Jimi Hendrix Jimmy Buffett Journey Led Zeppelin Little Feat Lynyrd Skynyrd Mahavishnu Orchestra MC5 Metallica Miles Davis Neil Young Pink Floyd The Police Queen Quicksilver Messenger… The Red Hot Chili Peppers Rod Stewart The Rolling Stones Santana Steve Miller Band Tom Petty The Tubes U2 Van Morrison The Who
There is also top notch merchandize -everything from tees to posters.
There is a pay to play premium VIP membership but otherwise i am guessing they make their bucks from merchandize and advertising. And I went on Quandcast and checked their numbers -around 19,000 hits a day. Not bad but not where it could be. I’m in the impressions business and 19K is not gonna make you a rich man.
All of which is a pity because it is an outrageously great website and if they hooked up with some different content provider, or somebody to handle distribution of their mp3s… or even advertise em in the right place, these guys could be huge. The Apple app is a first not a last step.
Here is their url:
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/?utm_source=NL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=100202