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Project MAY : Myspace, Artistshare & Youtube

Every once in a while, the right actors are in the right place and at the right time. And that time was but a few years ago. ArtistShare was the first crowdfunding website, while also serving as a record label and business model for artists which enables them to fund their projects by allowing the general public to directly finance, watch the creative process, and in most cases gain access to extra material from an artist. It was also relatively the most obscure of the three, at least in comparison to Myspace, which was a dominant force along with Youtube experiencing intense growth. Representatives from the three companies met up in one of the gatherings hosted by the Gore Administration. Taking inspiration from his Digital Cabinet, Al Gore would hold gatherings at the White House involving some of the newest and biggest websites and services, namely so the government can remain on top of opportunities and see how promotion and adoption could be done. Given the fame and seniority of the three websites, they would unsurprisingly meet up and a fascinating idea began developing between the three. From speaking with users and gathering data, they realized that there was a great deal of overlap and the possibility for them to benefit from cooperating with one another.

Thus began, Project MAY in 2006.

ArtistShare's crowdfunding alone provided a unique opportunity for Myspace and Youtube to earn income for website maintanance and development without having to rely excessively on ads. Take in the busienss model and record label approach to music, both of whom Myspace and Youtube have vested interests in, it seemed like a good opportunity. ArtistShare meanwhile saw Myspace as the perfect opportunity to expand their consumer base and even as a good way to have their artists interact with their fans on a platform that everyone uses and not feel excluded. Youtube obviously saw a way to deal with potential copyright problems and their financial woes along with getting a large deal of content for them. At the same time, all the companies knew they did not want to exclude themselves to working with them, namely since it could cause trouble for them in the long run or if something else came by. Nevertheless, they did come together for their project.

They worked to promote synergy with one another with the various users invited to partake in Project MAY. Youtube accounts could be linked to Myspace and ArtistShare accounts for example. It was not an exclusive contract since ArtistShare artists could still share their videos on other websites, but rules and stipulations were put in place to give Youtube preferential treatment over the other websites (such as the artists putting their stuff out in public on Youtube months before on other websites.) Additionally, ArtistShare would promote artists on Myspace and their artists would promote their music, concerts and eventually merchandise while encouraging their audience to partake in donations to help keep Myspace and Youtube ad-free. The latter case became more important when stories noting how big companies could influence websites in the future ended up on Youtube. Project MAY was to go on for 5 years with the possibility to renew the development.

Unsurprisingly, this would have a massive impact. This unique alliance would influence various other social media and video-sharing websites to get in on the act to try and find similar websites to form partnerships with. It would start a trend in collaboration and synergy within various websites to benefit each other. Additionally, it would bring a new idea for the internet bigwigs to consider. Crowdfunding. After all, it would be a way to rely on their userbase and promise better experiences without being beholdened to unscrupulous advertisers. If they they wanted to advertise, it would be by choice. There would be other rammifications as well. ArtistShare would end up expanding after some of their employees noted the popularity of video game soundtracks (shared through Fair Use) and began broadening their range there. Youtube would become a large hub for music, but also inspire other content creators and the potential of creating stuff that people would like enough to provide steady income for. Two of the big figureheads for this would be none other than Fred Rogers and Hunter S Thompson. The former saw Youtube and other sites like it in a similar way he saw television and he would work with old friends and crewmembers on his own Youtube channel, creating a spiritual sequel to his neighborhood in this strange world wide web... the new wild west. Hunter S Thompson meanwhile saw the website as an opportunity to try and report on news and would thus begin hosting an irregular form of news show and began spreading a new form of gonzo journalism while also relying on old fans and new to assist with paying. Though he made it clear there's a difference in his way of journalism and just being a flat-out lying fruad.

The idea of crowdfunding began to spread and many would see potential possibilities to raise income and money based on their work and do it steadily. While it was like paying for a product or a commission, here, there was a possibility for steadiness.You donate money to a person of your choosing because of the work they are doing, regardless of what that work was. It meant someone could do something just for parody and entertainment and people would have the option to support them finacially.

Project MAY's launch changed the landscape of the Internet forever.