Gawker
The company that was supposed to replace YouTube is now for sale for $300-500k and the assumption of $1 million in debt. Revver promised big bucks to video creators who used the video sharing service. That money was supposed to come from lucrative video ads; that money apparently never came. The story of Revver's mindblowing incompetence (with exclusive cocaine anecdote) follows.
The reasons Revver failed are obvious. Its one advantage was that YouTube didn't pay creators. Then, well, YouTube started paying creators and sucked up all the low-level talent, and meanwhile sites like Superdeluxe topped Revver's "we'll pay you eventually" model with a "we'll actually give you a budget" model, luring away the pros.
But the reason Revver failed so spectacularly was that it tried so hard to go Hollywood. The LA-based, venture-capital-funded company acted fancy, unlike the lovably dorky people running competing sites like Blip.tv. They chased talent like Lonelygirl15, who later returned to YouTube. They offered vlogger Ze Frank cocaine at his first meeting (Ze doesn't do coke, he just looks like he does). It's like the whole company was imitating something they saw on TV.
And now they're worthless. Well, now they admit they're worthless. Which could seem bad for independent artists, except that Revver never came through anyway (they couldn't even tell Ze what they owed him), and YouTube really isn't that bad, and now there's one less awful company souring people to the idea of new media.
Comments
Can't wait for when vimeo gets sold for a kick to Lodwick's groin.
@flipper baby: I'll buy!
Maybe instead of money, they should pay vloggers in cocaine. Gawker Video?
Wow, somebody's really loving these photomosaics this week. Now all you need to do is miniaturize all your portraits of Julia Allison to create a composite image of Denton's face.
Actually, that would be kind of cool.
Startup lesson #1: Stay hungry.
If you're a nerd who can live on very little income for a couple of years and is happy to pull all-nighters doing what you love, then you've probably got a good shot at success. If you're already a success, and you have grown accustomed to glam parties and limosines, you should probably just invest and leave the heavy lifting to others.
@Hez: Ha! Also, the dog in that mosaic is saying something to me. How I wish the noises would stop so I could hear it better.
@Hez: What, you think I put work into a Gawker post? That's a direct screengrab from Revver.com. It's hard to make these stories look "human interest."
@Nick Douglas: Well, now that you mention it, the jury is kind of still out on that. (Winkyface!)
But back to my genius idea...
@Hez: Do it; Denton will probably give you an Amazon gift certificate. (This is a lie.)
@Nick Douglas: Gas, grass or ass, dear. (Although blow, dough and a show are now accepted at par.)
@Hez: and you can even offer tax breaks if he lets you film it in the hood. How could he resist?
Very Chuck Close.@Hez:
She dun did it, too. I'd leave a link to it, but you'll probably want to feature it when you wake up.
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