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  1. The Verge7/28/1511 min
    6 reads7 comments
    9.5
    The Verge
    6 reads
    9.5
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    • jbuchana4 years ago

      They almost made it,almost became legit. The primary lesson was that going up against huge established industries, such as the record companies will be easy at first with no rules to follow and free content. But in the end, the traditional power will likely win and companies that cooperated (and kept good books) will have a huge advantage. They may survive.

      I don't think Readup is in the same class as GrooveShark, there is nothing illegal about sharing links to content and discussing the material. Is there enough profit to stay above water though? I hope so.

      • jeff4 years ago

        Nothing illegal, but our long term goal is to be able to give paying customers access to premium, pay-walled content by sharing revenue with publishers on a per-read basis. Also we do remove ads from articles which is not looked upon kindly by publishers. We think we have a better way to actually incentivize quality journalism, but it's going to be a long road to get there.

        • jbuchana4 years ago

          I love your thinking!

      • bill
        Top reader of all time
        4 years ago

        Is there enough profit to stay above water though? I hope so.

        Me too! :)

        Everything unravels when they can’t get VC funding. The moral of this story is really loud: make sure you have the money you need to do what you need to do. (I’m on it!)

    • jeff4 years ago

      Lots of interesting history and lessons to be learned. We need to make sure Readup becomes the Spotify of stories and not the Grooveshark. I can't believe they had signed a contract with EMI but failed to make it work due to a lack of proper analytics and accounting.

      • bill
        Top reader of all time
        4 years ago

        Upvote. I remember when Grooveshark went down.

        You gotta play the game or get played. And there’s no shame in over-playing. But these guys just seemed messy about some things, which is not only a bad look, it’s bad for business.