Mercora

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Mercora, Inc.
URL www.mercora.com
Commercial? Private
Type of site Social Network
Owner Srivats Sampath
Created by Srivats Sampath
Launched 2003

Mercora is a free social music network based in Silicon Valley, California. Mercora allows Internet users to search and listen to a digital radio network of over three million songs, express their musical identity via a customizable profile page, and webcast music to other Mercora users.

Mercora's mission is to catalogue and organize the world's music and make it universally searchable and legally listenable.

Contents

[edit] Company history

Mercora was co-founded in 2003 by Srivats Sampath, president and CEO and Shahid Ali, VP of Engineering. Before founding Mercora, Srivats Sampath was co-founder and president of McAfee.com, vice president of server product marketing at Netscape, and president and CEO of Discussions Corporation.

Mercora Home Page
Mercora Home Page

[edit] How Mercora works

To listen to music, a user can search the Mercora network via a web browser and click a song link to listen. Optionally, a Mercora user can download a free software client that webcasts music from his personal music collection to other Mercora users worldwide.

[edit] Musical self-expression and discovery

Mercora allows music lovers to express their musical identity to friends and family via a customizable profile page. Users can create musical profiles, upload digital pictures, and listen to and webcast their favorite artists. By webcasting, users can share their music with friends, family, and other Mercora users worldwide.

A Mercora user can discover new music by viewing recent searches, listening to webcasts, exploring hot mixes, or browsing the profiles and collections of other Mercora users. A user can also search for artist biographies, discographies, reviews, images, and podcasts. Mercora users can also communicate and share their musical tastes via charts, messaging, and chat.

Mercora Search Results for Norah Jones
Mercora Search Results for Norah Jones

[edit] Music catalogue

At present, Mercora's catalogue contains over three million unique songs. The songs are streaming only (no downloads) and free. Mercora's catalogue includes over 200,000 individual artists across all music genres from alternative to dance, rock to hip hop, and classical to jazz.

Mercora Artist Biography for Mariah Carey
Mercora Artist Biography for Mariah Carey

[edit] Mercora M

The Mercora M mobile music service provides users with wireless access to the Mercora network. Mercora M users can search and listen to a digital radio network of over three million unique songs and 200,000 individual artists. Mercora M also provides:

  • 100,000 channels of digital radio
  • Over-the-air access to the music library on the PC
  • Access to friends' music collections
  • Streaming podcasts from leading media services
  • Stereo Bluetooth support via A2DP profiles

Mercora M offers support for any Windows Mobile 5.0-based Smartphone or Pocket PC phone with Wi-Fi, GSM or GPRS (3G) connectivity. Windows Mobile 5.0-certified devices include the Motorola Q, Palm Treo 700w and Smartphone and Pocket PC phones by Hewlett-Packard, HTC, i-mate, Siemens, Samsung, and Audiovox.

[edit] IM Artist Program

Mercora IM Artist Program is intended for independent artists and bands that want to increase promotion and publicity for their music. As a member of the IM Artist program, participating artists receive:

  • Five music channels webcasting to Mercora users worldwide
  • "Now Playing" profile with artist pictures, biography, and discography
  • Website links to purchase CDs, merchandise, tickets, and more
  • Communicate with fans and listeners via artist forums and chat

The IM Artist program is currently in beta and free.

[edit] Mercora Madwords

Mercora Madwords is a contextual advertising system that enables advertisers to target text placements by artist or music genre. The text placements are displayed in the "Sponsored Links" section of a webpage upon a search for artist or genre (such as "Coldplay" or "Alternative"). In some ways, this system is similar to Google AdWords.

Madwords enables advertisers to sign up directly via a credit card and is priced on a pay per click (PPC) basis. Advertisers can create and upload their text ads, select their targeting criteria, set their budget and PPCs, and view statistics and reports via a password-protected webpage.

[edit] Search boxes

Mercora search boxes enable consumers to search and listen to music from websites and blogs. Website and blog operators can customize the search box to incorporate their desired color scheme, size, logo, and preferred artists (such as "Radiohead"). Consumers can search for artists and listen from a separate browser window.

[edit] Music iFrames

Mercora Music iFrames enable consumers to view a subset of songs available from a particular artist and click a song to listen. The list of songs is dynamically generated and updated every 60 seconds. There is also a 'more' option if the consumer desires to listen to a song that is not currently displayed within the Music iFrame. Clicking the 'more' button displays a full list of songs available from a particular artist.

Similar to Mercora Search Boxes, website and blog operators can customize the Music iFrame to incorporate their desired color scheme, size, logo, and preferred artists.

[edit] System requirements

Mercora IMRadio v5 requires Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server and a broadband Internet connection. To support webcasting, audio files must be in Vorbis, MP3, or WMA formats. In 2006, Mercora expects to migrate to a browser-based model which will enable support for the Mac and Linux platforms.

[edit] See also

[edit] Press

[edit] Awards

[edit] External links

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