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Proto.in - a premier event to showcase new products, technologies and companies to a selected gathering in India (on the lines of DEMO in US) - held from Jan 20-21st, 2007 was a huge success and 27 companies were showcased out of the 40 that were shortlisted.

I am going to interview few companies from the shortlisted companies in this multi-post series.

The first in this series is SaffronConnect which is a South Asian social networking site focused on audio and video content sharing and download. It was officially launched in October 2006. SaffronConnect.com is funded by Duggal Dimensions, LLC., a New York based company providing Visual Solutions to the Image Makers. It is being managed by Divine Arts Inc., a California based company providing digital distribution services for content from the Indian subcontinent.

In an interview with SaffronConnect I asked Manu Kaushish (CEO, SaffronConnect) some basic questions and here are the answers to them (received via Alisa Patel, Public Relations, Saffron-Media LLC)

Q. What is SaffronConnect all about?

SaffronConnect.com is a social networking and music distribution portal that is centered around music from the Indian sub-continent. It allows content owners such as bands/musicians/artists/record labels to upload, distribute and monetize their content for downloads on sites such as iTunes, Real Networks, Yahoo Music, SaffronConnect and more and allows music fans to network and connect with their favorite bands/musicians/artists/record labels.

The portal also integrates social networking features such as web profiles,
blogs, instant messaging, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups,
chatrooms, and user forums to create a connected community of Indians.
SaffronConnect brings features of iTunes and MySpace into one platform -
targeted towards the market from the Indian sub-continent.

Q. How and what inspired this idea?

In 2004, Real Networks, Inc., looking for legal downloadable Indian music content, approached Divine Arts, Inc. that had recently started aggregating content from India. Divine Arts, Inc. struck a deal with Saregama India Limited (one of India’s oldest music companies) for digital content aggregation & distribution. Divine Arts, Inc. began providing music content to Real Networks. They went on further to signs distribution agreements with over 100 digital download stores. Independent artists begin contacting Divine Arts for Self-Distribution and users started demanding more Independent music content from the Indian Sub-continent. This led to the launch of SaffronConnect.

Q. What are the revenue streams?

• Online advertising sales, online content promotion sales.
• 30% of the revenue from all content sold on SaffronConnect or on all distribution channels including iTunes, Real Networks, Yahoo Music and more.
• SMS revenue from photo sharing mobile product (currently being tested)

Q. What technologies does SaffronConnect use?

PHP/MySQL/Integration APIs for music conversion and distribution.

Q. What are the future plans?

Our immediate plans are around adding mobile products such as uploading photos directly from mobile phones to the site. We are also working on adding television tie-ins for featuring content from our site.

I went ahead and played around with the site a little bit and would like to summarize the site features:

Music: Members can search, play, and download music based on albums, new releases, genres etc. Artists can upload music for sale and distribution.
Browse: Members can search for friends, update profiles, chat, and see who is online.
Gallery: Members can post photographs to be viewed by other members
Rate: Members can rate photographs and users.
Blogs: Members can post blogs as well as share thoughts and ideas.
Events: Members can post and browse city specific events.
Groups: Members can join different groups based on interests, etc…
Forum: Members can post questions and initiate discussions.
Poll: Members can post questions online and get feedback.

The site has a very user friendly interface and I liked the flash-based audio player. Their Alexa rank as of today stands at 79,367.

A report from Soundbuzz suggests that India will become the second market (after South Korea) where digital music sales overtake those of physical. Over-the-air will be the major driver as broadband uptake (currently around 2M subscribers) is low and the market is more culturally-focused on mobile. FiveEight magazine say that the value of the Indian music industry stood at $329M in 2005, but could leap almost threefold to $930M by 2009; of this, mobile will account for a staggering $810M (up from $102M in 2005). Physical sales, meanwhile, could slump from $22.7M to $11.36M over the same period. Beyond India, Soundbuzz is predicting that mobile sales across the Asia Pacific region will leap from $2.89B in 2005 to $8.57B by 2009.

The future looks bright for SaffronConnect as the digital media market is sure to grow exponentially. I anticipate lot of new site like this to spring up in near future.

SaffronConnect have received some decent press coverage and here are links to some of them:

The Economic Times
November 13, 2006 : Cashing in on community

DNA INDIA
October 24, 2006 : Desi tunes get wired

Yahoo News
October 17, 2006 : Launch of Premier Online Music and Social Networking Destination

WebYantra.com
October 12, 2006 : PROTO…showcasing the best Indian tech startups

WebYantra.com
October 3, 2006 : SaffronConnect..music centered social networking site for South Asians

IndianTelevision.com
October 3, 2006 : South Asian music & social networking portal SaffronConnect.com launched

IndiaPRWire
October 3, 2006 : Launch of the Premier Online South Asian Music & Social Networking Destination - SaffronConnect.com

I wish the very best to SaffronConnect.

 

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