New Digital Media Brands Focus on Curatorial Experience

In a digital world where the audiences for media content are fragmenting and advertising spends are declining, some media brands are unfortunately dying. That’s what recently happened to R&B / Hip Hop leader Vibe Magazine.
Does that mean magazines or the companion web sites for those music publications are any less relevant in today’s environment? Of course not!
But imagine you were just starting a music oriented publishing brand today - starting with a physical magazine would not necessarily be the best vehicle to introduce your content to an audience.
So how are new media brands being built in a digital age?
(Since this blog post first published - we have now learned that the Vibe Magazine brand will relaunch as a digital publishing outfit - read - http://bit.ly/viberelaunch at Wall Street Journal. And that makes sense and speaks to the rest of this post. Read on ...)
Following in the post I examine a recently built media brand that found success with its audience: the Swedish based music site Discobelle.net. The site now attracts about 75,000 unique visitors and registers about 250,000 page views on a monthly basis. As Bjorn Jeffery, one of the co-founders points out, “our blog isn’t really tailored to generate major page views, and that’s not the metric we use to sell our ads.” Point taken, and granted Discobelle.net is not a major magazine publisher. Regardless there are some key takeaways in Discobelle’s path to building a modest and very engaged and targeted media audience.
Background
‘Belle’ was actually a dance music theme night at a Swedish night club. Then the founders of the ‘Belle’ night decided to build an online guide to night clubs in Sweden, and the URL they nabbed for the guide actually turned out to be a lengthened name - ‘Discobelle’. From there, the founders decided to add audio content to their initial web site, including exclusive mixes from the world’s top DJs. The site was a success especially because of the special DJ mixes they posted. Discobelle quickly turned from a night club guide into a global hub for some the most cutting edge music on the web. Now Discobelle is more than just a web site, it’s a well regarded music content brand.
Lessons Learned
The founders of Discobelle.net, Niklas Mijdema, Martin Andersson, and Bjorn Jeffery discuss how the site and the brand grew in a video interview that follows in the post. I summarized some of the key messages from the Discobelle founders case you don’t have time to watch it.
I think the video speaks volumes about how websites that curate quality content can quickly grow their own media brand. And when I say “brand”, Discobelle is more than just an audio blog. The Discobelle founders occasionally tour as DJ’s and now have their own music compilation of tunes it put together from songs featured on the site, plus other exclusives.
The Discobelle compilation is available as a CD or an online stream over at ScionAV.com.
(Side note - Yes, I said Scion - it’s the auto maker Toyota Scion. Toyota’s Scion brand offers a myriad of sponsored entertainment web sites with music and culture offerings. The Scion sites are great examples of branded entertainment. I blogged about the Scion site and other branded entertainment offerings in a previous post linked here.)
Key takeaways from the video interview following, regarding media brand building
Exclusivity, and letting the artist speak directly - A big part of Discobelle’s success is due to its direct relationships with artists. These relationships allow Discobelle access to never before heard songs from popular artists and exclusive artist videos. Discobelle also does a good job in letting the artists tell their stories directly through the posts.
Agility, and ‘Curatorial’ over ‘Editorial’ - Another part of Discobelle’s formula is to make sure they are the first to the web with new songs that could be potential hits. We’ve all read for instance how the multi platform media brand TMZ heated up internet traffic through it’s agility in covering the Michael Jackson news (related story - how TMZ innovates with its online content).
With its music content, Discobelle operates in a ‘agile’ mode very similar to TMZ.com.The founders of Discobelle realized early on, that to be first to the web with quality content, they have to discard lengthy editorial reviews of the music. Discobelle fans appreciate the site for it’s ability to curate a ton of a quality content on a daily or hourly basis versus offering reviews which would take much longer to get to the web.
International Audiences around Specific Content - Interest in niche or specific content types knows no international bounds. Discobelle launched in Sweden but has a global audience because its music content appeals to a particular type of music fan you can find just as easily in the U.S. or the U.K. Also Discobelle posts its content in English.
Element of surprise - Offer posts your readers may not be expecting.
Here’s the full interview with the founders of Discobelle.net

Related - Interesting Digital Ventures of Magazine Publishers and Resources
Ok I admit it - I may have unfairly started this article by citing the demise of Vibe Magazine to set up the Discobelle interview. It was only a plot device, I promise
So let’s back up a bit. I still enjoy my physically published music magazine titles. Interestingly enough, many of them offer full Adobe PDF versions of their publications for download. Two examples are The Fader and XLR8R. And these titles I read include multi platform content for sure - whether its magazine branded real world events or fully featured web sites with video and music offerings.
Does your favorite magazine do something interesting or engaging with digital media? Let us know what you are enjoying online with your favorite mag titles below in the comments section.
A great place to catch up with all of the digital ventures of the magazine industry is the Magazine Publisher Association (MPA).
MPA Overview of 2009 Digital Ventures of Major Magazine Publications:
http://www.magazine.org/digital/14321.aspx
The MPA also offers a daily digest of the latest digital efforts of magazines:
http://www.magazine.org/news/mpa-daily-news-roundup.aspx
PaidContent.org news stories on magazine publishers:
http://bit.ly/publication_news_on_PaidContentdotorg
Mediaweek coverage of the magazine industry:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/magazines-newspapers/index.jsp