HotListMaker.com Lets MySpace Users Easily Share their Music Interests

November 15, 2006; 07:21 AM

TruePath Technology, a leading provider of managed services for Consumer Generated Promotion (CGP), today launches HotListMaker.com. Geared to social networking consumers where music is widely recognized as a social catalyst, HotListMaker adds the cool factor to an individual's personal online page, such as MySpace, or blog, by enabling users to easily and legally create and share lists of their favorite music with their friends.

"HotListMaker is a musician's best friend, easy to use with a slick design for any site," says Jonathan Tafoya, musician and HotListMaker user with a MySpace profile at http://www.myspace.com/baptist from Portland, Oregon. "It's more than just music, it's an expression of who you are. Share with the world what makes you move and meet others who step to the same beat."

TruePath Technology recognizes that music plays a big part in people's lives and is a powerful expression of identity, which is reflected in how and what individuals publish on the Internet. On MySpace alone nearly three million bands showcase their music and music features heavily among the 106 million users. HotListMaker helps people who want to express their music interests with their existing friends and make new connections through music in three easy steps:
1.   Select your tracks
2.   Personalize your HotList
3.   Publish your HotList

Users have many options to share a HotList: on a MySpace, blog or similar personal page, by e-mailing friends directing them to the HotList URL or by sending friends an RSS link.

Online Music Promotion Happens Between Friends

Jupiter Research claims that 48% of music discovery happens between friends and Gartner Research predicts that by 2010 25% of online music store purchases will be driven by consumer-to-consumer recommendations. "We recognized an opportunity to connect people through music while also tapping into the huge potential that communities like MySpace represent for music promotion. HotListMaker.com is the realization of this opportunity," says Lennox Ong, COO and Founder of TruePath Technology. "We have built out our platform using Web 2.0 technologies, such as AJAX, tagging and RSS to provide a rich user experience."

Puretracks.com has partnered with TruePath to provide legitimate access to a catalogue over 1 million tracks for users of HotListMaker.com. "The majority of music buyers still rely on their friends for music recommendations, and combining user self-expression of their music favourites and links to legitimate music vendors is a clever way to capitalize on this," says Alistair Mitchell, CEO, Puretracks.com. "We were excited to partner with TruePath to link these lists of favourite tracks to our digital music storefront."

HotListMaker Users See Their Music Community Grow

Once posted on a social networking site, HotListMaker users can watch the list gather an audience. Tools are included to stimulate the sharing of the HotList and users can track their HotList statistics to see how many people have viewed or posted the HotList to their sites.

Industry has also seen an opportunity to leverage this hosted CGP platform. "NewMusicWest has been a hub for finding new music for 16 years, and we feel that HotListMaker is an essential new tool for the music industry and especially its "undiscovered" artists. NewMusicWest plans to use this technology to help promote new artists and album sales," says Jory Groberman, CEO of 29Productions Inc. and NewMusicWest.

About TruePath Technology

TruePath Technology has created the industry's first hosted platform for Consumer Generated Promotion - a technology platform designed to manage media content and control how it is presented, viewed and transacted. The platform is capable of syndicating content using Web 2.0 technologies to leverage the power of Consumer Generated Promotion within blogging and social networking communities. HotListMaker.com makes use of these technologies to enable consumers to showcase their favourite music and engage with current and new friends in social networking communities, such as MySpace.