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Hipset, an online entertainment company that makes the Facebook music app Tracks.by, is formally unveiling a YouTube network to monetize video content by partner artists, including Soulja Boy, 3 Doors Down and Daughtry.
“Artists are really good at building up fans on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but they’re not that great, to date, getting people to subscribe to them on YouTube,” says Matt Schlicht, the co-founder and CEO of Hipset, to The Hollywood Reporter.
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While musicians may partner with Vevo to monetize their album’s music videos, the Hipset Network’s aim is to create revenue streams for other types of video content, Schlicht, formerly a product manager at Ustream, describes.
“What we’re helping [artists and celebrities] do is develop more behind the scenes content and then helping them monetize that,” he says. Behind the scenes content means any video posted by an artist, whether its backstage before a concert, performing a skit or talking with fans.
Hipset was previously named Tracksby, Inc., and counts Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Wordpress founding developer Matt Mullenweg and Menlo Ventures, among others, as investors.
The company is also launching a product called Boost on Tuesday. Boost allows artists to prompt fans who want to watch their YouTube videos to subscribe to their social network platforms prior to viewing a video.
In addition to Soulja Boy and 3 Doors Down, the Hipset YouTube network also includes musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie, American Idol winner Kris Allen and rapper Tyga as partners.
“We partner with artists and are paid with a percentage of the revenue generated from YouTube. This keeps us aligned with the artists in our networks,” the Hipset co-founder explains. “If they succeed we succeed.”
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