JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Brian Austin Whitney Blog Tuesday, May 16th, 2006

Brian,
Excellent concept & direction to develop something like a specialized JPF "Better Business Bureau meets the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval."

It appears like there could be a strong need and appreciation for a "rating system" that would be fair and easy to monitor. In my opinion, perhaps it could work best if more companies and services could be included that are providing the same type of service. This gives buyers more choices to "shop around" and compare features, benefits and pricing, etc. Also, it gives buyers more choices on locations, for example, helping them find services closer to their home town, etc.

Perhaps you could work out a simple rating system so that good companies & services could be rated on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, five being the best. They do this now for various online services such as general hosting services, software and online computer sales, etc.

If you give businesses an exclusivity, it's nice for them, but it would limit the buyer's choices (or knowledge of other options) and could also appear to be "biased" which creates a kind of monopoly rather than a "free market" (everyone's included) environment.

When I say "everyone's included", I mean all that are on the "white" list. Obviously there's always going to be services that are based on a scamming concept, so those will have to be weeded out and tossed on the "black list" pile.

From the start I admired your JPF philosophy of making all feel welcome and included within the general music community. It would be great if the same philosophy could be extended to all honest and capable service providers, as long as it's obvious that they are providing services that will benefit the average artist or band, etc.

One more thing. I've seen new services that are similar to the CD Baby retail store or digital distribution concept. Sure, they're not as "big" or "famous" because they are just starting, but what if they're doing a great job at a competitive price? What if they are being 100% honest and as hard working with their service is Derek is? Just because they're smaller (and all would be to start), does that mean they wouldn't be honored at JPF with an equal opportunity to serve the same indie market?

Regarding these questions, you would have to come up with an approach that either includes everyone fairly, or otherwise, it's "first come first serve" and the rest would be excluded. I'm sure there are pros & cons either way, but the question is what would provide the greatest benefit to the global music community in the long run?

Personally, I would vote for a "free market" solution and I'm sure you would too. But the challenge is in how to best implement that.

My hope is that JPF could build a model that would be at least as fair and open as the best of the "Better Business Bureau" services that exist today. Maybe you can check out their constitution and list of principals. It might give you a good "blueprint" (template) to go by.

By the way, your idea that these businesses then "share some of that extra business profit with JPF to help us do the work we've been doing" sounds feasible. The key will be to have a "flat fee" approach that all can afford, or otherwise, set up JPF as an affiliate so that JPF can earn a reasonable commission from all new referred customers.
This feature alone could develop some nice income for JPF to continue it's great work!

Cheers!
Michael

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The OUTLOOK may often appear bleak, but the UPLOOK is always bright!
Michael Borges
Praiseworthy Productions


[This message has been edited by Michael Borges (edited 05-16-2006).]