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Reserve Not Reached

Highest Bid: $8,000.00

The bidding on this auction did not reach the seller's reserve price.

Bid History

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timeline (0%)
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Dance Music MP3 Download Store For Sale

Online 4+ years, 10,000+ Registered Users. Operating at break-even.

  • URL: http://www.playittonight.com/
  • Established: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 13:00:00 GMT
  • Uniques/Month: 13,500
  • Page views/month: 90,500
  • Monthly Revenue (USD): 3,100
  • Google Pagerank: 5
  • Listed: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:03:00 GMT

Description:

Dance Music Website Business for Sale  

Overview

Play It Tonight (playittonight.com) is an online music retailer specializing in the sale of Dance Music MP3s. Songs are encoded at 320kbps, the highest quality available and are all DRM free. The songs that users buy will play on any MP3 player including the iPod. Songs start at $1.48 (USD) and can be purchased with Visa, MasterCard and Pay Pal.  

The site has been online since November 2003.  

Statistics  

Site Statistics Total songs on site:   100,500+

Record labels on site:  3,100+  

User Statistics Users who made 1 or more orders: 4,000

Registered Users:  9,400

Newsletter Subscribers: 10,100

Average order size: $10.00

Average sales per member with at least 1 purchase:  $20.06   

Traffic

Play It Tonight receives an average of 13,500 visitors a month. 

Primary traffic comes from the US, Canada and the UK.   Average users time on website:  4.38 minutes

Average page views per user: 6.7

Google page rank:  5    

Assets  

Proprietary Software

We have developed software that does the work of dozens of full time staff.  While the competition pays up to 80 workers to encode music, Play It Tonight has the capacity to encode the same amount of music with only 1 part time employee.      

Contracts

Play It Tonight has active contracts in place with distributors and record labels, totaling content from over 3000 record labels.  

Affiliates

Play It Tonight has an affiliate program with 100+ active affiliates.  

Store Fronts

Play It Tonight creates storefronts for record labels to sell their music through their own website.  We charge between $20-$30 per store / month.  

$9,000 Server

Play It Tonight owns a server that is co-located at Harbour Center in Vancouver, BC. 3U chasis, capable of holding 16 drives, currently populated with 8x 750 Gig drives. Dual Dual-Core Opteron 2210 CPU's, so basically this is a quad CPU beast, with 4gb of high performance RAM and about 4tb [terabytes] of usable storage. The disks are RAID-ed in RAID 5 configuration with a hot spare drive for automatically rebuilding the array    

Financial  

Revenue

Last 12 Months:   $43,067

Last Month: $3,152  

Overhead (monthly)

Site Hosting / bandwidth $530

Internet Connect (office)  $150

Merchant Account: $50

Bank Fees:  $50  

Gross Margin

The site operates on a 30% gross margin.  A song sold for $2.00 results in average net revenue of $0.60  

With sales of $3,100 / month, the net profit after expenses is:  $155.00.  

This company is operating in the black… but is not paying a salary.

Revenue Details:

Playittonight.com earns revenue from:

Direct MP3 Sales to users

Monthly rate for labels that have store fronts ($20-$40/month)

Affiliates - Users sell music through links on their websites

Label advertising - Labels buy advertising on the site (via our auction)

Partner stores (music.clubvibes.com) High traffic site sells MP3's (50% revenue share)

Corporate advertising - None on site now, but did have ad for $750 / month for 3 months.

Traffic Details:

Play It Tonight receives an average of 13,500 visitors a month.
Primary traffic comes from the US, Canada and the UK.
Mostly Male, age 16-30
Average users time on website: 4.38 minutes
Average page views per user: 6.7

Attachments

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Questions to the Seller

  1. Posted date:
    Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:21:20 GMT
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    Comment ID:
    #1

    Hi Timeline.

    Tell us, $25,000 highest bid didn't meet your reserve from the last auction so please do give us some help and to save us wasting our time.

    Firstly, what's your reserve. Secondly, between your two auctions there are some, shall we say, small discrepancies that need ironing out. Mainly the NET from each mp3 sale seems to have dropped and your PR's raised from 4 to 5. Did this happen in the last Google PR update? Thirdly, I actually encourage anyone here interested to READ the previous auction as there's a whole load of info. in it that doesn't appear here this time around.

    My lasting thoughts are I'm trying to assist you in selling your site (hopefully you see it this way) - there's a fair amount of redesign I would say for your site to keep up with the BeatSources' of today..

    Best of luck.

    Regards,

    Rich.

    Posted by:
    rich_uk (60%)
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  2. Posted date:
    Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:27:28 GMT
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    #2

    please post link to last auction.

    Posted by:
    Triumph3000 (60%)
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  3. Posted date:
    Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:06:34 GMT
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    #3

    Hi Rich,

    To answer your questions...

    The reserve is set at $80,000. All reasonable offers are considered.

    The net dropped a bit due to new (and bigger) distributors coming on board at a slightly (35%) higher rate.

    Google rank is at 5 now. Not totally sure the date it improved. http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php

    The last auction can be seen here: http://marketplace.sitepoint.com/auctions/19442

    Please feel free to ask me any more questions.

    Posted by:
    timeline (0%) (seller)
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  4. Posted date:
    Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:06:53 GMT
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    #4

    $80,000 and the net after expenses is $155/month (43x annual profits)?!? Why wouldn't I buy my own iMusic Tools license and line up my own distributors?... serious question...

    Posted by:
    JABevan (0%)
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  5. Posted date:
    Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:02:51 GMT
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    #5

    There is a lot of value to the business, in the right hands it could make money. And distributors don't sign up with just anyone... and most aren't free. We have spent 4 years and thousands of dollars obtaining the distributors we work with.

    The buyer gets a lot more than just a small profit from day 1.
    They get:
    13,500 visitors a month
    $9000 Server
    Domain name
    4,000 customers
    9,400 Registered Users
    100,000+ encoded songs
    10,100 Newsletter Subscribers
    Proprietary Software
    Agreements with 12 distributors
    100+ active affiliates
    Store Fronts

    plus everything else listed above.

    To create a similar site, obtain the distribution agreements, buy a server, and develop the encoding software would cost around $40,000-$50,000... and take time.

    Posted by:
    timeline (0%) (seller)
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  6. Posted date:
    Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:57:06 GMT
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    #6

    Sorry but your site is worth 12 times net income which makes 1800 US.
    Always the same story here at sitepoint...

    Posted by:
    Dber (0%)
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  7. Posted date:
    Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:33:50 GMT
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    #7

    Have to agree that you BIN is way off the mark!

    Posted by:
    pokerdave (60%)
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  8. Posted date:
    Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:05:52 GMT
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    #8

    Interesting site...Price is definitely WAY to high. You make only $155 profit each month after 5 years of business? At this rate; if someone purchased the site at your reserve it would take 43 years to start making any kind of profit.

    Why would a person spend $80,000 or even $2,000 on a business that only generates $150 profit per month after 5 years of business?

    I think you need to take another look at your site, and work on pricing if you actually wish to sell.

    Best of luck.

    Posted by:
    troygrimm (0%)
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  9. Posted date:
    Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:46:49 GMT
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    #9

    Hi Timeline,

    Im intrested in your site, I also know where your comming from with your price as you have done alot of the hard work and obviouslly put alot of time and money into this project over the years, however sadly most part of the sale will be influenced on the profit margin which sadly in this case is low, however in the right hands and the right promotion the site could do well.

    I have a DJ / Music social network that I could utilise to help market this site, But I cannot justify your BIN or near it to that matter,

    Also 1 thing,

    I will not be needing your server as I have a large server cluster setup that cost me a few quid so maybe you could keep that and sell it to recupe some of the money you have invested.

    Please could you also explain further on the following

    Software
    is this custom software or does the site use iMusicTools?
    you also speak about software that makes the encoding process easier...?

    Affiliate
    how many of these are active?
    what rate / % do you offer them?
    is the software for the affiliate built on? or standalone? and is it custom if not what does it use?

    I will be making a bid.
    Thanks

    Posted by:
    fortecfiles (100%)
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  10. Posted date:
    Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:48:26 GMT
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    #10

    If you only look at the site as being worth X times net income, then you probably won't be making an offer.

    Anyone who has started a business knows how long it takes to get a company to the break even point.

    Again, the value in this may not be running the business as is... for example there is interest from a ring tone company who could make great use out of the existing content and distributor agreements.

    Of course, there are examples of people who can take a company that loses money every month and turn it around to be a successful operation.

    This isn't a simple turn key site... you need vision and ingenuity and passion to make this work.

    Posted by:
    timeline (0%) (seller)
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  11. Posted date:
    Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:55:26 GMT
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    #11

    Fortecfiles:

    SOFTWARE
    The website was coded in php, and is completely custom.

    The encoding process is incredibly simple. The competition employs upwards of 100 people to do the work of this software. A batch of new releases is delivered to us, the software encodes the mp3, cuts and encodes the sample clip, creates the album page, resizes the artwork, creates the artist page (if it doesn't exist), adds the id3 tags to the mp3, and puts it all live. Batches come anywhere from 5 - 1000 songs in size. Total human time to encode and get songs live : 20 seconds.

    AFFILIATES
    Approx 110 are active
    They get 25% of net
    Software for this is custom built.

    Posted by:
    timeline (0%) (seller)
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  12. Posted date:
    Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:41:17 GMT
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    #12

    Timeline is absolutely right. There are just one too many amatuers here that value a business in the following way: 12 x net profit = price of business. Whoever values an online asset in this way, doesn't have the slightest inclination on how web businesses are valuated!

    Timeline's internet property has excellent value (although the $80K mark may be a little higher)...for those who are already established and operate on the MP3, Ringtones and Music niches. Only those guys can see the value in such a business! So timeline, ignore these kinds here trying to scrutinze you over the sale of this asset!

    All the best!

    Posted by:
    j.cardell01 (0%)
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  13. Posted date:
    Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:44:15 GMT
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    #13

    While I think this is a good opportunity, and throw my hat in the ring... I would have to agree that $80k in this asking price is way off.

    I concede you make some good points and there is some serious growth potential. That said, I have recently sold off a site on SP for $70k. That site had 200+ recurring billing members, and was bringing in $3000.00-4000.00 a month PROFIT consistently.

    While I also agree that SP, and DP has a lot of low ballers and jokers with no money. Even on an excellent site like this, you are looking at 18-24 months revenue after expenses. Maybe a little extra for the software. The traffic number is not that magical. But taken as a whole, this is a solid investment for growth.

    If you really think the site is going to get close to the $80,000. You are going to have to build it up more in traffic, and sales to justify that.

    Posted by:
    Barefootsies (60%) (bidder)
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  14. Posted date:
    Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:44:31 GMT
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    #14

    While I think this is a good opportunity, and throw my hat in the ring... I would have to agree that $80k in this asking price is way off.

    I concede you make some good points and there is some serious growth potential. That said, I have recently sold off a site on SP for $70k. That site had 200+ recurring billing members, and was bringing in $3000.00-4000.00 a month PROFIT consistently.

    While I also agree that SP, and DP has a lot of low ballers and jokers with no money. Even on an excellent site like this, you are looking at 18-24 months revenue after expenses. Maybe a little extra for the software. The traffic number is not that magical. But taken as a whole, this is a solid investment for growth.

    If you really think the site is going to get close to the $80,000. You are going to have to build it up more in traffic, and sales to justify that.

    Posted by:
    Barefootsies (60%) (bidder)
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  15. Posted date:
    Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:59:26 GMT
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    #15

    One more thing, and you can reject my offer based on this but, a site like this will require a review. So you would need to do escrow.com for payment processing. On a transaction of this size, there is no way I would do Paypal. That goes for both buyer, and seller.

    Posted by:
    Barefootsies (60%) (bidder)
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  16. Posted date:
    Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:45:50 GMT
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    #16

    This music, has it been purchased legally? how does it work that you can sell them?

    Posted by:
    chris07 (100%)
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  17. Posted date:
    Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:34:42 GMT
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    #17

    Quick tip for the seller - once you have an offer that you are happy with, you can declare a winner by clicking on the "End Auction Early" link in the left hand sidebar.

    -- SITEPOINT ADMIN

    Posted by:
    Matt Mickiewicz (100%)
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    Vancouver, Canada
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  18. Posted date:
    Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:56:25 GMT
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    #18

    Barefootsies.... yes escrow.com would be fine to work with.

    chris07 - we have agreements with the distributors that allow us to legally sell the labels music that they represent. Most of these agreements cost money to obtain, some did not. (there are some direct deals with labels as well, contracts are in place)

    Posted by:
    timeline (0%) (seller)
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  19. Posted date:
    Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:03:48 GMT
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    #19

    I think most of the guys here do not consider that YouTube is not even cutting break even and is still constantly in the top 5. You did build a great web site and business. I run my own web site and know how much time, effort and money goes in it. Good luck. Hope you will come close to your $80k

    Posted by:
    orces (0%)
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