Dotmusic
Encyclopedia
Dotmusic was a music website
that existed as a standalone website from June 1995 to December 2003. Initially intended as the web complement to the UK music industry trade magazine Music Week
, the site was relaunched in December 1998 as a website for music fans.
In addition to music news, reviews, and James Masterton
's chart commentary, Dotmusic included one of the earliest pay download music services, Dotmusic On Demand. It was also famous for its discussion forum, one of the most popular and active message boards in the UK. As well as forums devoted to various artists, there was a free-for-all, off-topic forum called Dotmusic Lite, known as DotLite for short. A number of DotCons - conventions for Dotmusic users - were held in cities around the UK from 1999 onwards.
There was a major online marketing campaign in 1999, followed by a TV press and online campaign in 2000. The site was regularly in the top ten sites for children.
Dotmusic was originally owned by Miller Freeman
, before being sold to BT in 2002. In 2003 the site was sold to Yahoo!
and subsequently incorporated into Yahoo!'s UK based music portal, UK Launch
; the main Dotmusic site shut down at the end of 2003. The regular forum posters created a number of replacement boards in an effort to retain the community that had grown up.
When DotMusic closed many of its members migrated to other sites such as HavenForum, Moopy, MadonnaNation and CoolClarity.
Sadly CoolClarity closed in March 2006 after a dispute between the two admins. One admin created Buzzjack which has gone on to be
more successful than CoolClarity and the other dot spin-offs thanks to the superb coding of Mr Philip Barnes.
Philip we salute you!
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
that existed as a standalone website from June 1995 to December 2003. Initially intended as the web complement to the UK music industry trade magazine Music Week
Music Week
Music Week is a trade paper for the UK record industry.Founded in 1959 as Record Retailer, it was relaunched on 18 March 1972 as Music Week . On 17 January 1981 the title was again changed, owing to the increasing importance of sell-through videos, to Music & Video Week...
, the site was relaunched in December 1998 as a website for music fans.
In addition to music news, reviews, and James Masterton
James Masterton
James Masterton is a headline columnist for the music website Yahoo! Launch. He writes a weekly column analysing new entries in the UK Singles Chart...
's chart commentary, Dotmusic included one of the earliest pay download music services, Dotmusic On Demand. It was also famous for its discussion forum, one of the most popular and active message boards in the UK. As well as forums devoted to various artists, there was a free-for-all, off-topic forum called Dotmusic Lite, known as DotLite for short. A number of DotCons - conventions for Dotmusic users - were held in cities around the UK from 1999 onwards.
There was a major online marketing campaign in 1999, followed by a TV press and online campaign in 2000. The site was regularly in the top ten sites for children.
Dotmusic was originally owned by Miller Freeman
Miller Freeman
Miller Freeman Inc. was a San Francisco based publisher of trade books and business magazines, as well as a manager of trade and industry expositions...
, before being sold to BT in 2002. In 2003 the site was sold to Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
and subsequently incorporated into Yahoo!'s UK based music portal, UK Launch
LAUNCHcast
Yahoo! Music Radio is an Internet radio service offered by CBS Radio through Yahoo! Music. The service, formerly offered by LAUNCH Media, and originally developed by Todd Beaupré and Jeff Boulter, debuted on November 11, 1999, and was purchased by Yahoo! in October, 2001...
; the main Dotmusic site shut down at the end of 2003. The regular forum posters created a number of replacement boards in an effort to retain the community that had grown up.
When DotMusic closed many of its members migrated to other sites such as HavenForum, Moopy, MadonnaNation and CoolClarity.
Sadly CoolClarity closed in March 2006 after a dispute between the two admins. One admin created Buzzjack which has gone on to be
more successful than CoolClarity and the other dot spin-offs thanks to the superb coding of Mr Philip Barnes.
Philip we salute you!
External links
- Archive of Dotmusic.co.uk - from the Wayback Machine.