Taltopia Rap Contest!

Hey Taltopia, we just posted a new premium contest with prizes valued at over 600 dollars!

So submit your best beats and rhymes. Please enter an audio or video file of yourself rapping. An iPod Touch, professional Sony headphones, and a professional recording microphone are up for grabs! Enter now!

Up, Up, and Away! (Alexa Rank)

For those of you who may not be familiar with Alexa, here is a brief intro: Alexa.com ranks websites based on a number of factors, the most important of which is a site's traffic. This widely accepted ranking helps give a general idea of how one site's traffic compares to another site's traffic.

Now that we have had this lesson in Alexa Rankings, we are very excited to see that Taltopia's Alexa Rank has recently pulled way ahead of our competitors. Take a look at the screen shot below (the dark blue line is Taltopia). As of yesterday (May 20, 2009), our Alexa rank was 22,722. Our 3-month average has increased by over 33,000 ranks, and we are confident that this trend will continue.



We want to thank all of our loyal members and supporters for their role in helping us reach this milestone!

Can I upload documents?

Yes! Move over scribd and docstoc, taltopia's coming to town. We just finished our new writing section where you can upload your poetry, short stories, novels, scripts or anything else you feel relates to talent and is a document or pdf.


For now we placed writing in our "Other" category until it picks up some steam; so be sure to upload your stuff to make it a mainstream section!

Click here for an example.

Super Duper Search Now Available

We've just upgraded our search...and what an upgrade!


The entire site is now indexed and broken up by category. Everything is now searchable and results show up fast, really fast. For you techies out there, we utilized Lucene.net to help us query our database, and it is awesome. When the results appear, we made sure that the search terms found are highlighted and easy to spot. So search away!

Also as you can see in the picture above, if you are a premium member on the site your media/profile shows up before everyone, and is in a handy dandy yellow box, so consider upgrading if you'd like the attention!

Upgrade link if you have a membership:
https://www.taltopia.com/members/premium/join.aspx

Join as a premium member:
https://www.taltopia.com/premiumjoin.aspx

New Message System - Threaded Messaging

We recently upgraded our messaging system to what is called "threaded" messaging. "Threaded" is just a fancy term used to describe the way your messages work: when you message someone on Taltopia, you are starting a new "thread" and when the other person responds, your full conversation will be displayed in a single, organized manner. You may already be familiar with this system if you are a member on Facebook. Here is an example of what it looks like:

Enjoy!

Guitar Center Music Contest - $300!

Description **This contest is limited to Premium Members only** Being a musician is tough. Making money as a musician is even more difficult...until now. Enter your best music into this contest for a chance to win $300 to Guitar Center! Note: This prize will only be awarded if a minimum of 15 entries are submitted. Requirements There is no entrance fee for this sponsored contest, but entry is limited to premium members. All types of music are accepted in this contest, whether it be classical, rap, rock, a cappella...you name it. Video and Audio uploads only please (no pics). All entries will be considered, but more attention will be given to the top 5. Winner to be chosen by Taltopia Staff. Taltopia.com has no affiliation with Guitar Center.

Taltopia now on Twitter

Taltopia.com is proud to announce that we are now on Twitter!

We figured if the world is doing it, why shouldn't we.

You can now follow the happenings of Taltopia.com here: http://twitter.com/claimyourfame

Don't miss out, become a follower today!

Best Original Oil Painting

Best Original Oil Painting

Description
Enter your best original oil painting for a chance to win an Oil Painting Set in a Wooden Box with 3 Canvas Panels! You can upload your best artwork in any picture format, however all work must be paintings no digital artwork will be considered. All designs MUST be original and created by you.

Requirements
This contest prize is only available for United States residents. Get as many votes as you can. All entries will be considered, but more attention will be given to the top 5. Winner to be chosen by Taltopia Staff.

Best Short Film Contest

Best Short Film Contest

Description
This contest is for all you filmmakers out there - we are looking for you to upload your best short film! Enter your best short film for a chance to win a Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder (30-minuites).

Requirements
Upload your best short film, try to keep it under 10 minutes. The short film must be yours, and only yours. Good luck!
All entries will be considered, but more attention will be given to the top 5. Winner to be chosen by Taltopia Staff.

Taltopia.com Passes 100,000 Users, Proves Artists Value "Free" In This Economy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Taltopia.com Passes 100,000 Users, Proves Artists Value "Free" In This Economy

Los Angeles, CA

Taltopia.com, a platform that connects aspiring talent with fans and entertainment industry professionals, announced today that their membership had just passed 100,000 registered users. “We couldn’t be happier,” said co-founder Anthony Zanontian, referring to the site’s membership, ”it’s great too see how users are responding. We really do everything for them.”

Taltopia differs from most talent-themed websites by allowing its members to upload an unlimited amount of media, apply to casting calls, and enter sponsored contests where they can win prizes – all for free. Taltopia also offers a number of free articles to its members, thereby helping aspiring artists on their path to success. It’s no wonder the site’s membership continues to grow rapidly in a slumping economy.

Another competitive advantage for Taltopia.com can be found in their new “Offers Section,” an area of the site which allows members to complete incentivized offers from advertisers in return for Famebucks, the pseudo-currency used on the popular website. Members can then redeem these Famebucks at Taltopia's Store to purchase gift cards and merchandise from retailers such as Amazon, Apple’s iTunes, and Guitar Center.

Most of these offers simply require members to enter an email address or answer survey questions, resulting in free Famebucks to the user and income to Taltopia from the advertiser. “Our new Famebucks Offers Section is one way we have had to adjust our revenue model to accommodate the economic downturn” said co-founder Allen Vartazarian. “It’s been great to see these free features gain traction with our members,” he added.


About Taltopia.com:
Taltopia.com is a platform that connects aspiring talent with fans and entertainment industry professionals. Members can create free profiles, upload media, join fan clubs, enter contests, and submit to casting calls. Categories include music, art, acting, dance, comedy, and modeling. Taltopia.com received $800,000 in angel funding in March of 2008 and is based in Los Angeles, California.

Contacts:
Allen Vartazarian, allen@taltopia.com
Anthony Zanontian, anthony@taltopia.com
(818) 763-1065
http://www.taltopia.com

Bulk Uploader!

The moment you have all been waiting for...the Bulk Uploader is here! That means that you can upload or embed multiple images, songs, and videos all at the same time! It's super easy to use this bulk uploader. Click on "Browse" to add a file from your computer...if you want to add more files, click on the "Add" button, and repeat as necessary.

You can also embed multiple files by pasting the "Embed" code from your favorite media sharing website (YouTube, MySpace, DeviantArt, Slide, and Flickr are a few of the many places that offer embed codes). Click on the "Add More" button if you want to...add more. Pretty simple, right?

Once you are done, click the "Upload" button, wait for you files to upload, and then you will be prompted to enter more details for each media you have uploaded. Click here to take our new bulk uploader for a spin!

Complete Offers - Earn Famebucks!

We just finished adding a cool new feature to the site that lets you earn Famebucks just by completing offers here (you need to be logged in, so be sure to create an account if you don't have one yet).

Here is how it works:
1) Find an offer: Each offer states how many Famebucks (F$) you can earn for completing the offer. The description will tell you exactly what you need to do to earn the Famebucks.

2) Complete the offer: Click on the image of the offer you would like to complete. This will link you to the offer page where you can complete the requested information. Some offers are free and only request information or a download, while other offers may require you to purchase a product or subscribe to a service.

3) Wait : After you have completed the offer, it may take a few hours for our system to be alerted of its completion. Please be patient during this process. If you have completed an offer, and still have not seen the appropriate deposit in your famebucks account, then please contact us.

It's as easy as 1, 2, 3!

Taltopia.com Introduces RSS Feeds

What is RSS?

RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.

Why RSS? Benefits and Reasons for using RSS

RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. You ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each site's email newsletter.

Where can I find the RSS Feed for Taltopia?

We have added numerous RSS Feeds for the various different categories on Taltopia. You can subscribe to any one of the following feeds (or all of them if you prefer!)

Featured Talent
Wall of Fame
Top Media
New Media
Recently Popular Media
The Blog

Enjoy!

Premium Membership

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Now that we got that out of the way, lets move on to some more important Taltopia-related news...Premium Membership!

As a Premium Member, you will gain access to many new features that are not available with a basic membership. Here is a breakdown of what you get:

Premium Contests: Only Premium members will be able to enter premium contests which offer bigger and better prize packages.

Featured in Searches: When anyone does a search on Taltopia, Premium members will be featured at the top, resulting in much more exposure.

Apply to Castings First: Premium members will be able to apply to casting calls within the first 24 hours of posting!

FREE Famebucks: We will deposit 5 free Famebucks into your account for each month of Premium Membership. If you prepay for 6 months or 1 year, you will get even more Famebucks up-front! You can use these Famebucks to promote yourself or buy stuff from our new and improved Famebucks Store.

Directory Access: As a Premium member, you will have exclusive access to our new directory section with over 2,000 valuable listings of Talent Agencies, Modeling Agencies, Record Labels, Dance Studios, and Acting Schools.

Profile Badge: Premium members will have an exclusive badge on their public profiles which let's others know just how cool you are! Check out my profile here to see what I mean.

No Ads: As a kind gesture to Premium members, we will block all ads from showing up when you are logged in.

You are probably thinking to yourself, "Wow, these are some really great features...I wonder how much this costs?" Log-in and find out here: http://www.taltopia.com/members/premium/join.aspx

Have a wonderful holiday season and happy new year!

Just Launched: Taltopia Famebucks Store

The moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived...Taltopia.com is proud to announce the launch of the new Famebucks Store! Woo Hoo!

Previously, you could use Famebucks to donate to artists you admire, bid for a spot on the almighty Wall of Fame, enter user-generated contests, and buy a Taltopia T-shirt. But now you can spend those hard-earned Famebucks to buy just about anything! Currently, our store selection includes gift cards to Guitar Center, Amazon.com, Michael's, and iTunes (don't worry, you can also still buy a Taltopia T-shirt, the hottest trend in fashion). Look out for more great items coming soon to the official Famebucks store!

It's super-easy to use the Famebucks store. If you see an item you would like to purchase, click on the "add to cart" link and you will see it show up in your shopping cart on the right. Once your all done, click on the "checkout now" button. What are you waiting for? Click here to check it out!

Press Release: Casting Calls

Now that we have had a few weeks to fill up our casting call section, we thought it was the right time to announce it to the world. So, we made a press release:

Taltopia.com Launches Casting Call Section

Taltopia.com, a platform that connects aspiring talent with fans and entertainment industry professionals, announced today the launch of a new casting calls section on their talent website. The addition of this feature has brought Taltopia.com one step closer to becoming a true utopia for talent.

Taltopia’s new casting calls section is designed to accommodate various types of talent-seeking professionals including casting directors, photographers, filmmakers, choreographers, talent agents, and music producers. The painstaking task of finding models for a photo shoot, recruiting actors for a film, discovering unsigned bands, and other casting needs have all been simplified by this new feature. Unlike other casting and audition websites, Taltopia.com does not charge industry professionals a fee to post their casting calls and projects. Taltopia’s user-friendly interface makes it easy to post projects, define specific roles, and conveniently manage the selection process from start to finish.

Another valuable tool only available to industry professionals is the advanced search engine which allows professionals to tap into Taltopia’s vast database of unsigned artists to find talent that meet their specific criteria. Searchable characteristics include gender, hair color, eye color, height, weight, age, ethnicity, and geographic location.

Casting agents for popular television networks such as MTV and VH1 have started flocking to the site to take advantage of the huge pool of undiscovered talent. “Our new casting calls section has helped Taltopia’s members find relevant opportunities in the entertainment industry while providing industry professionals with the tools they need to discover the talent they seek,” said co-founder Anthony Zanontian. “We are really excited to see our casting call section taking off,” he added.

Due to a lack of suitable alternatives, most talent seekers have been forced to use unfocused website’s to satisfy their needs. “Our new casting calls feature has liberated people from using general classified site’s like Craigslist.com to discover talent,” said co-founder Allen Vartazarian. “Our focus is talent. This is what we do best.”

About Taltopia.com: Taltopia.com is a platform that connects aspiring talent with fans and entertainment industry professionals. Members can create free profiles, upload media, join fan clubs, enter contest, and submit to casting calls. Categories include music, art, acting, dance, comedy, and modeling. Taltopia.com received $800,000 in angel funding in March of 2008 and is based in Los Angeles, California.

http://www.taltopia.com

Taltopia's Holiday Photo Contest

Photo Contest

In the spirit of the Holidays we are giving away a Cannon "Elph" digital camera! We are looking for holiday themed photography. Be sure to submit your best stuff! Good luck!

Click here to enter (or vote) now!

RocaWear Rap Contest

Rap Contest!

Think you got the best rhymes around? Prove it in the RocaWear Rap Contest. The rules are simple: upload a video or audio track of your best rap, then invite all your friends to come vote for you. The winner will get $50 to RocaWear and an iPod Shuffle!

Click here to enter now!

Taltopia's Best Comedian Contest!

Comedian Contest

We are looking to discover the best comedian on Taltopia.com! Submit your funniest skit, prank, or stand-up routine for a chance to win two tickets to the Improv Comedy Club at a location near you.

Submit the funniest VIDEO or AUDIO clip of yourself doing a skit, prank, or stan-up routine. The top 5 entries will be judged by Taltopia's staff.

Click here to enter: http://www.taltopia.com/contest/40096/Taltopias_Best_Comedian

Win a brand new Canon PowerShot SD1100IS 8MP Digital Camera!

We have a new contest for a chance to win a Canon PowerShot SD1100IS 8MP Digital Camera!

We are looking for Taltopia's photographers to show us their best macro shot! For amateur photographers this just means very close-up photography. Be sure to submit your best stuff! Good luck!

Here is the link: http://www.taltopia.com/contests/contest.aspx?cid=40097

Thumbnails

Many users have been asking us to create a way for embedded media to show thumbnails (instead of our generic TV icon). The moment you have all been waiting for has now arrived! Although we already do pull thumbnail images for videos from YouTube, Revver, ClipShack, starting today we will also pull thumbnail images from embedded images on Photobucket, Snapfish, Webshots, and Flickr.

Thumbnails help our members get an idea of what a media might be about before they click on it. Don't worry if you have already embedded media from these other sites, since our top notch programmers have set up our system to go back and automatically pull the thumbnails for you ;)

Stay tuned for more updates...

Album Art Contest: Lunar Sway

Art Contest

Lunar Sway, an L.A. based rock band, is looking for artwork to be considered for the cover of their upcoming CD!

Click on he following link (or the image above) to check out the contest on Taltopia.com:
http://www.taltopia.com/contests/contest.aspx?cid=40045

Lunar Sway is on track to become the breakthrough band of 2009. This band embraces new models of creation, promotion, and distribution of their music, including the release of a new song on every full moon.

To learn more about Lunar Sway be sure to visit their site here:
http://www.lunarsway.com

and join their fan club here:
http://www.taltopia.com/lunarsway

*Prize Description: Your artwork to be considered for their next CD, CD autographed by the whole band, 2 Tickets to their next show (date to be announced), 5 free mp3 downloads of their tracks! less

Requirements
Upload any artwork that you feel represents what Lunar Sways stands for. Your entry must incorporate the moon. Photography, art, photoshops, etc., are all acceptable!

The top 5 entries will be considered by Lunar Sway for the prize.

Contests! Yeah Baby!

Contests galore. That's the word around our water cooler here. What contests can we create to keep our awesome users happy. We keep trying to come up with cool and original contests for you guys. Hope you like what we conjured up this month!

Contests currently running:

Breakdance Battle - Win tickets to a live show of Randy Jackson's Americas Best Dance Crew

Tiffany & Co. *Bling* *Bling* Jewelry Contest - Win a $100 dollar gift certificate to Tiffany & Co.

Taltopia Rap Off - Win an Ipod Shuffle and one year subscription to Source Magazine!

Taltopia's Take Your Best Nature Shot! - Win a Canon Powershot A590 8.0 Megapixel Digital Camera

Also we want to congratulate our winners from last months contests:

Congrats to GH05T for winning the Guitar Center Jam Session Contest!
Congrats to Jessica for winning the Victoria's Secret Contest!
Congrats to Viv for winning the Art Contest!
Congrats to Jandri for winning the All Time Low Contest!

Keep entering to win...and remember Claim Your Fame!

Breakdancing Battle!

Are you a hip/hop or break dancer? Show off what you got to win 2 tickets to see America's Best Dance Crew LIVE in a city near you. The show will be touring major cities this September and October (2008) .

Requirements
Submit a PICTURE or VIDEO of you and/or your crew showing of your best hip/hop or breakdancing moves.

Taltopia's judges will chose a winner from the top 5 entries, so be sure to get your friends, family, and fans to vote you up!

Click here to vote or enter the contest:
http://www.taltopia.com/contest/40018/Breakdance_Battle

Headshot Envelopes

Anthony and I were traveling to a conference a few weeks ago, and when we arrived to the security check area at the airport. As we proceeded to take off our shoes and place them in the bin for the x-ray machine, we noticed a clever ad from zappos.com, the site that sell shoes online. The ad was inside the shoe bin and read "Looks like you need some new shoes...visit Zappos.com"

We felt that this was some really great advertising - everyone who was boarding a flight could relate to the ad - thats some good targeting. We needed to come up with something like that for Taltopia.

Here is what we came up with: Pretty much all aspiring talent need professional headshots if they want to be considered for a gig. Actors need headshots, models need headshots, comedians need headshots...everyone in the entertainment industry needs headshots. Why don't we provide headshot studios with FREE (branded) envelopes!?!? Genius!

We picked up a few hundred 9x12 envelopes, printed our quirky message on them, and started distributing them to local photographers. The photographers loved the idea of getting free envelopes (lower overhead costs for them) and they felt that Taltopia would be a great resource for their clients.

Here is what they look like:




If you are a photographer who would like some free envelopes, be sure to contact us.

Taltopia.com Party - A Night To Remember

So we've been getting a lot of requests for pictures and video of the event. Allen and I thought we'd structure this blog in such a way so people that attended could view the awesome pics from the event and those that didn't could get a taste of what went down.

For those of you that attended and are dying to see the pics here is the link:

Click Here For Pics We really want to thank Wm. Marc Salsberry for taking these great shots.

Also, we wanted to thank our sponsors Pink, Fashion Tv, Red Agency as well as the great charity that we worked with at the event Reality Cares.

After the break, you can see some select pictures from the event and a play by play from Allen explaining what happened. (Also, a picture of us with our "Serious" faces, I swear the photographer told us to do it)

It was 6:30pm on Friday, May 16th when Anthony and I arrived at Boulevard3. The Tainted Angels were rehearsing on stage, bartenders were stocking up their shelves, the art exhibit in the courtyard was already set-up, models were downstairs prepping for the fashion show...lets just say there was a certain buzz in the air.Lights, camera, ACTION! The doors opened at about 8:40 to a line of guests that had been waiting patiently outside. The first thing that people noticed as they walked in was the Taltopia.com logo projected on the side of the Boulevard3 building...jaws dropped.



While the crowd started growing in the courtyard, the red carpet became the place to be seen. Special red carpet appearances were made by: Golden Brooks (Beauty Shop), Jai Rodriguez (Bravo’s Queer Eye For The Straight Guy), Shana Wall & Tian Kitchen (The Amazing Race), Rebecca Cardon, Brian Peeler & JD Jordan (Bravo’s Work Out), Dominique Sharpe (Oxygen’s The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency), Jeff Pickel & Brett Novek (America’s Most Smartest Model), James Rhine (Big Brother), Model Verina Marcel (Model), Rib Hillis (Extreme Home Makeover), Diego Currier (Love Test), Summer Altice (Playboy Playmate), Enrique Sapena, Alexcy Aranguren, Janet Michel, Gisel Saumat & Roseny Carrero (VH1’s Viva Hollywood), Tony Duran (Celebrated Photographer), and Orna Etkovich Gusinski (VP of Fashion TV), among others…












After a few poses on the red carpet, we headed over to meet with our friends from TechZulu for a follow-up interview - we were very honored to have had them cover our event.





By 10pm the courtyard was packed and people started to fill up the main area inside, where the fashion show was taking place. Our Taltopia.com video montage was playing on the main projector screen as DJ Cash should the crowd what real music is. Contrary to popular belief, at Taltopia.com money does in fact grow on trees...Famebucks that is.



We got up on stage, introduced ourselves, and then showed the audience what Taltopia.com is all about:

Click Here To View





Then it was time for the main event...The Tainted Angels! This upcoming group sang their hearts out on stage while putting on an amazing dance performance. Just when you thought it was all over, a group of professional breakdancers pounced on stage and put the icing on the cake. All in all, one hell of a show.






Once the stage was cleared the pumped-up crowd kept the party going. People rushed the stage and danced the night away...this was a night to remember.

Look Ma'...we're on TV!

In our efforts to brand the hell out of Taltopia, we have decided to enter the world of Television advertising. We have considered doing this for some time now, but really had no clue where to begin. Google has started offering a TV Ad marketplace which is pretty cool, but currently only offers national advertising campaigns. Since we want to ensure that our ads are being shown to the most relevant audience, we decided to research the ad marketplace in Los Angeles.

So, Anthony and I got on the phones and started contacting Los Angeles cable television networks which include Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast. We also had the option of using Spotrunner.com, but found it to be too expensive. We found it was muuuuuch cheaper to work directly with the cable networks - cut out the middleman.

Time Warner had a pretty sweet deal that we couldn't pass by. Our TV commercials are going to be aired 600 times a month in each of 3 major metro areas of LA for about 3 months on networks which include MTV, VH1, BET, ComedyCentral, and E!. Be sure to let us know if you see our commercial while watching!

With a little help...ok ALOT of help...from our editor friends, we were able to make two 15 second spots which will begin airing next week. Here is a sneak peak:

LA Business Journal - "20 in their 20's"

We are honored to announce that we have been featured in the April 7, 2008 issue of the respected Los Angeles Business Journal. Not only are our pictures on the front page, but we were lucky enough to get the centerfold placement! Here is a link where you can check out the digital "clippings" that Anthony put together for you all: http://www.taltopia.com/press/labusinessjournal.pdf

The special report is about 20 people in their 20's who are doing big things in Los Angeles.

This is probably the best print coverage we have received so far, and we want to thank our families, friends, and fans for all of their love and support.

2 New Features

Although it might seem impossible, things just got even MORE exciting here at Taltopia. We would like to officially announce the release of two new subtle, yet very cool "refinements" to the site. Many of you have seen the cool way that pictures expand when you click on them; if you don't know what I am talking about, load the following link and then click on the picture: http://www.taltopia.com/view/14678&s=browse&c=newmedia&cur=85/Macro.

...well, now you can do the same with every single profile picture on the site! To see an example, click on my profile picture here: http://www.taltopia.com/allen

NOTE: If you would like your profile picture to expand to a larger size, you will need to re-upload your profile picture by logging in and visiting your "Edit Profile" page here: http://www.taltopia.com/members/editprofile.aspx

Another great feature that we have released this week is the "Previous/Next" feature on all media pages. You will notice that this helps you browse more easily on the site, making your visit to Taltopia a bit more enjoyable (and time-consuming).

Big News...

So we've dawned on a new chapter of our lives as the co-founders of Taltopia. You might have heard the rumors circling around your office water coolers, or should we say our office water cooler.

That's right taltopia-ites, don't let your eyes deceive you, I just said our office water cooler. Unknown to many, for the past year and a half, Allen and I have been working out of the following:

1) Starbucks

2) Allen's House

Pretty much in that order. Our running joke was that we had 6,000 offices all over the world. Let's just say we're happy that joke went out of style...really happy.

So, here are some pictures of the Talopia office with more to come as things develop. But before the break I just wanted to share some thoughts...I'm sure many of you have read these great tips on how to save money as a startup. Just to address a few of his points based on our experience:

For #2 and #10: Lots of people have their own computers. Especially if you are an online company. Although second monitors are great and buying people computers who work from home seems practical, you can just ask that people bring their own computers. I know this one's really cheap. But everyone here has their own computer and has no problem working on it. Yearly savings...lots.

#3: Don't buy people lunch. People need time away from each other, and lunch 4 days a week starts to add up.

#4: Bring whatever you can from home. We brought work tables and chairs from home and family members who were more than willing to give it away. What you don't have, buy cheap. I'm blogging right now on a $50 dollar Ikea desk, 4 legs and a flat surface, thats really all you need. Also, 600 dollar chairs are a bit much, don't skimp out on the chair, but 600 dollars, cmon. What it comes down to is that it's just a desk and chair.

#12: Do not buy a 5,000 dollar expresso machine. No explanation needed. It's freakin 5,000 dollars.

#13: Do put sodas and juice in your fridge. It keeps people happy and costs you almost nothing.

Our own few tips:

1)Hire people who have their own companies. 1099's are the entrepreneurs best friend.

2) Lots of whiteboards.

Here are the pictures I promised....


Doing some "filing":

Our first office visitor (we were lacking some chairs):

Allen's desk (did you notice the spotlight rugs?):

The Conference Room (excuse the mess):


Anthony's Desk:

Our first dinner in the office (Carl's Junior served on cardboard boxes...classy):

WE GOT FUNDED!!!

So, we don't know if you've noticed yet, but after putting in a lot of hard work into Fames...I mean Taltopia.com, we got funding! We just closed the deal late last week, and in celebration we donated 5 Famebucks to all of our current members! Also, as a promotion we are also giving away 5 Famebucks to the next 2,500 people who sign up, starting right now! So be sure to tell all of your friends and family!

We are very excited to use this money to help you, our loyal and dedicated users. Look forward to new and exciting features (trust us they are coming) and new opportunities for members to get connected with industry professionals.

That being said, we owe it all to you, our Taltopia-ites!



You can see the press release below, and download the pdf here. Be sure to give it a read because we were up until 4:30am this morning making sure it was distributed properly.


Taltopia.com™ Announces $800,000 Series “A” Funding to Connect Talent with Fans

Los Angeles, CA – March 5, 2008 – Taltopia.com™, LLC (www.taltopia.com), a free online platform which connects aspiring talent with fans and industry professionals, announced today that it has completed a Series “A” round of funding in the sum of $800,000. The financing was led by a single Angel Investor from Go4Funding, a site whose goal is to unite entrepreneurs, business owners, and investors.

The young entrepreneurs who started Taltopia.com™, formerly Famesource.com, have completely self-funded the project up until this point. Allen Vartazarian and Anthony Zanontian, now 24 and 22 years old, plan to use the funds primarily to broaden Taltopia’s reach and to further develop appealing features on the site.

“Taltopia is about empowering fans to decide who gets exposure,” said Allen Vartazarian, referring to the “fame” and “shame” voting system. By focusing on this unique niche, Taltopia™ has distinguished itself from other general social networking sites where aspiring artists typically get lost in the clutter.

For users who are not getting the exposure they crave, the site boasts a “Wall of Fame” which grants users the opportunity to “buy” their fame with Famebucks™, the virtual currency used on the site. Users bid for the limited number of spots available on the page, with outbid users being bumped down to subordinate positions. To kick things off, Taltopia.com™ is giving away $5 worth of Famebucks™ to the next 2,500 members that join the free site.

“Taltopia is going to modernize the way artists get the recognition they deserve by providing the tools they need to promote themselves,” said Anthony Zanontian. “We hope to further expand our relationships with talent industry professionals, which are an essential part of this equation,” he added.

For users who are not getting the exposure they crave, the site boasts a “Wall of Fame” which grants users the opportunity to “buy” their fame with Famebucks™, the virtual currency used on the site. Users bid for the limited number of spots available on the page, with outbid users being bumped down to subordinate positions.

Anyone can upload or embed audio, video, or images of their talent to Taltopia.com™, in the hopes of becoming the world’s next “web-celeb.” Even if you do not have a talent, you can join as a fan and become a critic.


About Taltopia.com:

Taltopia, LLC (www.taltopia.com) is an online media distribution and social networking destination whose aim is to provide aspiring and professional talent with a world-wide stage to share their abilities across the web. The site also rewards its members with Famebucks™ for simply using the site’s features, giving users an incentive to find and recommend good artists, while giving artists a platform to promote themselves online. Categories include Music, Art, Acting, Dance, Comedy, and Modeling. Taltopia.com™ is based in Los Angeles, California.

CONTACTS:
Allen Vartazarian, allen@taltopia.com (818) 438-4656
Anthony Zanontian, anthony@taltopia.com (559) 906-2050

http://www.taltopia.com

Famesource is now....Taltopia!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are very excited to announce that Famesource has a new name…Taltopia! The new and improved name was created from “talent” and “utopia” – it’s our own little perfect place for talent. We wanted something completely original that would differentiate us from other websites out there.

Don’t worry, your lovable co-founders Allen and Anthony are still running the show, and all of your profiles and media will seamlessly be moved over to Taltopia.com. Along with this change, we are officially coming out of beta testing. This means we think we have worked out all the remaining bugs on the site, but be sure to let us know if you come across anything we may have overlooked.

Be sure to look out for new features and exciting contests in the near future.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Claim your fame!

- The Taltopia (formerly Famesource) Team

Mini-features Released: Filter by Media & Pagination

Hey Folks,

We just wanted to give you a all little heads up about two new "mini-features" that we have released on Famesource: filter by media type and paging. We are calling these "mini-features" because they are quite subtle...also, its just cute to call it "mini-. "


1) Filter by media type: This feature makes it easy to filter any category you are browsing by media type: video, audio, and images. When on a browse category page you will see 3 check boxes at the top and can uncheck any media type that you do not want to be shown. Take it for a spin:
http://www.taltopia.com/browsecats.aspx?c=12



2) Paging: We have also made it easier to flip through the different pages of content that we have thanks to a little thing called "pagination." This is just a fancy word meaning you can click on any page # shown and be taken directly to that page. This really helps when browsing through one of our bigger categories, such as photography:
http://www.taltopia.com/browsecats.aspx?c=65

Also, the entertainment community lost a great friend last week. All of us here at Famesource extend our deepest condolences to Heath Ledger's close circle of friends and family. We highly respect and value the contributions he made as an actor. May he rest in peace.

Articles Galore!!

To those of you who haven't noticed, we've made a small addition to the bottom of our front page. It's an articles section! Well now you are probably asking "Anthony, How does that help me, your average joe actor who has an audition and wants some advise on how to ace it?" Humm, I don't know, but we do have an article titled: Making the Cut - an Actor’s Guide to Acing the Audition

Besides some unnecessary sarcasm, we are very excited and are really trying to build a solid repository of helpful articles for up and coming talent. So if you have any good articles you've written on the topic feel free to Contact Us and we will post if it meets our guidelines.

Besides that, be sure to start browsing our limited, but constantly updating, Articles Section and as always be sure to let us know what you think!

New Feature: Job Board!

Want to know when the next big auditions are coming to town? How about a role as an actor in a film? Or what about posing as a model for a new magazine?

We are very proud to announce the implementation of our first major feature of 2008...the Taltopia Job Board! The job board is one more step that we have taken to help you, or beloved member, claim your fame.

Follow this link to check it out:
http://jobs.taltopia.com/

The all new Taltopia job board will constantly be updated with new listings from all around the country. You can use the filter on the left side of the job board to find results that meet your specific criteria.

Need a band for a special event? Looking for back-up dancers for your next music video? How about some models for a photo-shoot? Well, you can take advantage of our job board to recruit the specific talent you are looking for.

Happy New Year!

Well it's that time of year again, where we reflect on the old and prepare for the new. We just wanted to wish all of our members health and happiness for '08!

In the last year we have had our ups and downs, and just wanted to let you know how much it's meant that you were all there with us (tear... sniffle ...tear). Allen and I think, correction, know, that '08 is going to be a huge year for Taltopia. We are going to pull out all of the stops so keep your eyes peeled. Believe me when I say we are working on additions that are going to be a huge resource for our members, and they are coming soon.

So with that, I wish you all a Happy New Year. Here is to a fantastic 2008!

Allen Vartazarian and Anthony Zanontian: The Truth Behind the Valleywag Article

On December 29, 2oo7 Valleywag.com posted a misleading article regarding Famesource, stating that we have been paying people to register as members on our site. If you have not yet seen this post, you can find it here:
http://valleywag.com/338952/meet-the-guys-trying-to-buy-users-in-india

They also tried to take a stab at our lovely CNN host Nicole Lapin:
http://valleywag.com/338980/internet-tv-even-dumber-than-the-real-thing

In response to these false and misleading posts, we emailed the editors demanding clarification. Here is the original email we sent to Valleywag (sent 12/30/07 at 1:53 AM)

" Dear Mr. Nicholas Carlson,

Thank you for taking the time to write about Famesource on Valleywag and, more importantly, for giving us this opportunity to respond. After reading this post, it is very clear that your “tipster” miscommunicated an offer we have in place to drive traffic to Famesource.com. We are not offering any monetary incentive for people to sign-up, as your article suggests. Like any Cost Per Action (CPA) offer, we are looking to work with a person and/or company that can drive US traffic to our site and we are willing to pay for every new member that registers as a result of this traffic.

This is no different than advertising on Google Adwords, Azoogle, or Hydramedia, all of which offer a CPA service. After dealing with a number of these CPA companies, we found that many of the campaigns were being managed by people in India. Since Famesource has been completely self-funded by the two of us, we made the choice to try and cut out the middleman. We want to emphasize that we are not paying any individuals (from India or anywhere else in the world) to join Famesource; we are only trying to strike a more affordable CPA deal.

The funniest part of all this is that we have not even found a qualified party to work with overseas, not even a single sign-up! We would appreciate if you could clarify these points in your title and article because it wrongfully tarnishes Famesource’s wholesome nature, which we have worked so hard to maintain. In the future, we encourage you to contact us before making any claims about Famesource or ourselves as we are more than happy to discuss any matters in more detail.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best,

Allen Vartazarian & Anthony Zanontian
Co-Founders, Famesource.com
Allen@famesource.com
Anthony@famesource.com "



and the response from Owen Thomas (Managing Editor, received 12/30/07 at 7:00AM) was...



" Allen,
Thanks for writing in. You're welcome to leave a comment on the post.
- Owen "


So, we attempted to leave a comment on the post only to find that it was never published. The comment that we attempted to post was the email seen above, which clearly describes our situation.

After we saw that our comment was not being published, we sent them the following email (sent 12/30/07 at 11:02 AM):

" Owen,
Between 9:30AM and 10AM, we attempted to leave a comment on the three postings regarding Famesource, clarifying the false information presented in the posts. As of 10:53AM, none of these comments have been published.
We are more than willing to provide statistics from Google Analytics proving that our membership is not coming from India. As stated in our previous email, we are not paying anyone to join Famesource.com, we are simply looking for an affordable affiliate partnership.
Please understand that if you don't correct these false and misleading statements, we will have to seek legal counsel.
Feel free to contact us directly to discuss this matter.

Allen Vartazarian & Anthony Zanontian
Co-Founders, Famesource.com
Allen@famesource.com
Anthony@famesource.com "

As of the time of this post, we have not yet heard back from Valleywag and, as a result, we wanted to make this clarification before anything gets out of hand.

Included below is a snapshot of our Google Analytics which proves that only 1.2% of traffic to Famesource is from India. Furthermore, if you search the word "India" in the search box on our site, you will find that only 63 out of approximately 10,000 profiles contain the word India.




What we are offering is no different than an affiliate program, where people/companies get paid for directing traffic that converts to membership. Furthermore, if Valleywag had taken a moment to do some research before blindly and maliciously posting about Famesource, they would find that we specify in our responses to all potential online marketers that all traffic must be from the US.

If anyone wishes discuss this in more detail, we are both very accessible.

We encourage you to share your thoughts by commenting on this blog post, as well as on the Valleywag post. Thank you for your understanding and continued support.


Allen Vartazarian & Anthony Zanontian
Co-founders, Famesource.com
allen@famesource.com
anthony@famesource.com

UPDATE: Our comments have been "approved" and posted on the Valleywag posts, about 4 hrs after we submitted them. We also received an email today (January 2, 2008) from "Gaby Darbyshire" the VP of Finance and Legal at Gawker Media (Valleywag's parent company) defending the blog posts. After a few minutes of discussion and debate, Gaby agreed to change the title of the blog posts to something they feel is more accurate. It is important to note, however, that a subtle change in the title does not correct the false information being presented within the post.

Happy Holidays!

We want to wish everyone out there a very healthy and happy holiday season! To show off our holiday spirit, we added a cute little wreath to our logo...but the holiday spirit doesn't stop there! We are also offering 2 Famebucks for the price of 1!

That's right folks, for a limited time, when you make a Famebucks purchase we will credit your account twice as much. So, if you purchase $20 worth, you will get $40 Famebucks deposited into your account! Famebucks make a great holiday gift, since you can donate them to other members you admire.

Follow this link to get started:

http://www.taltopia.com/members/deposit.aspx

In the Works

Just to let you guys know, we have a bunch of features in the works for Taltopia. We have been working non-stop, with schematics, in laboratories, tinkering around with ideas, thinking about what we can add to make your lives(as taltopiaees) better. We found it; Block this User. What does that mean? If someone is annoying you this allows you to completely block all interaction with the annoyer. I know, it's a big one...but seriously, id say a good 10 or 15 more features besides that one, but we can't let it all out of the bag can we? Most importantly, it's all for you, our users.

So get excited, continue using Talopia, ummm avidly, invite your friends, tell your family and keep your eyes peeled for more to come. Also, be sure to be claimin' that fame.

Charity Event: Hollywood Cure For Pain

Philanthropy is an important part of any organization, and what better way to show Famesource cares about our community than to attend the Hollywood Cure for Pain charity event!



The first annual Hollywood Cure for Pain event was organized to raise awareness and collect donations for chronic pain diseases. One of our lovely Famesource users (Cher from The Big Girls Show) invited us to become a sponsor of the event - how could we refuse!



When we showed up, we found that we were on the VIP list and were invited to take a few pictures on the proverbial "red carpet." After a couple interviews we made our way to our seats, had a few drinks, and started chatting with people about...what else...Famesource!

Interns aka Slave Labor

I'm totally kidding about the title. We love interns, looooove em, heck we've even been unpaid interns at one point in our lives. But this is different because we are getting interns!! You heard right, Famesource is acquiring a few, we'll keep you updated with who, so you can drop them a line and bug em, but our interns are gonna be the coolest.

We laid out a 12 week schedule for them, and are including them in every facet of our operations. They even get to hang out on conference calls with us and sit in on meetings we have with industry professionals. We really don't want them to have the same experiences we did when we interned, and want them to take away something valuable from their time with us.

So, drum roll please, say hello to our first interns:

http://famesource.com/racdyn




http://famesource.com/kkamjou



http://famesource.com/andrewmark

If any of our readers have an interest in learning more about how you can be an intern as a resume builder or for school credit don't be afraid to drop us a line.

New Feature: Post to Blogs and Profiles

Have you ever come across an interesting talent on Famesource that you were dying to share on your blog or other profile? Well, now you can!

We have decided to add a new widget to our media pages provided by our friends at Gigya. This new widget lets you conveniently post whatever media you come across on Famesource to your profiles and blogs. It's super easy to use...you just click on whichever site you want to post on, fill-out a bit of info, and you're done!

You can find this new widget in the "Promote This Media" section of any media page:

http://famesource.com/view.aspx?m=7082&?r=1

Take it for a spin!

Tech Coast Venture Network: Survivor 3 Event

On September 27 we went to the Tech Coast Venture Network event in Irvine. We decided to take some time away from Famesource so we could mingle with other entrepreneurs who are experiencing similar challenges and hardships of "starting up their own startup"(coined by me). The event was awesome and really gave us a lot of feedback as well as giving us the opportunity to meet some really great people.

We heard a lot of companies pitch there and were really happy with the winners. We were so excited about all the fresh ideas out there, and drove home even more motivated than we had arrived.

5998...5999...6000!!

Well we did it everyone, we cracked the 6,000 member mark. Thank you for all of your support, we couldn't have done it with out you...literally, we couldn't have. Just making it clear that you guys make up that number, membership is a reference to members, which is a reference to you, so way to go. Excuse my sense of humor, but it took us a lot of hard work to get here, and we really want to thank everyone who supported and continues to support us. Cheers!

If you STILL have not created a FREE account, please follow this link to sign up...remember, you don't have to have a talent to sign up as a fan!

http://famesource.com/join.aspx



We are growing rapidly, so here is to 10K! See you soon...very soon!

I'm Bleu da de dee da de dam

Great news for you Famesourcee's (especially those in the modeling category). We have teamed up with Bleu Model Management, one of the West Coast's largest and most prosperous modeling agencies, to give our users gigs. Shabi Shahryar, our contact there, is super excited to be on board with us and will be scouting the site looking for stuff she likes, so don't be surprised if you get a message from Shabi offering you a shot at fame. This is just some of the things we are doing to help you guys make it to the top. We really want to see our members succeed!



Check out Shabi's profile here:

Shabi's Famesource Page

Facelift - Step #1 Editor's Pick

As many of you may have already noticed, we are trying to add some more variation to the Famesource.com home page. We have a few ideas in the works, but our first step (as many of you may have already noticed) is the creation of the "Editor's Pick." The Famesource team has come across a plethora of great talent that we feel deserves to be on the front page for at least a day or two. We hope that you find the editor's pick as interesting or entertaining as we did.

If you have a talent that you feel deserves to be highlighted as the editor's pick, feel free to message us - we are here to support you!

UPDATE: Famesource Featured on CNN

Update: Our previous blog entry was about Famesource being featured on CNN's Young People Who Rock...here is the much anticipated video! Thanks for all of your support!

http://famesource.com/view.aspx?m=8469

CNN - Young People Who Rock

Thats right...we rock! We were recently featured on CNN.com's segment titled "Young People Who Rock" which highlights people under the age of 30 who are doing big things. Nicole Lapin, the host of the show, contacted us after someone had anonymously suggested we be on the program.

We set the date. We set the time. We made it happen. I drove out the CNN headquarters on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles, parked the car, and approached the security desk. The gentleman at the desk asked for my ID and then said "Mr. Vartazarian, they are waiting for you in make-up." He escorted me to the make-up room where I got to meet the lovely Nicole Lapin. She invited me to in the chair next to her and we started chit-chatting about Famesource and its recent success. The make-up artist then brushed some of the magic tv make-up on me, and we were off to the studio...Larry King's studio that is.

It was truly an amazing experience to be in that studio. The lights, the cameras, the crew...it was awesome. I remember staring off to the side of the studio where I saw Larry's desk and his famous desktop microphone. After a few camera adjustments and a sound-check, we were ready to roll. The interview lasted about 10 minutes and was over as quickly as it began.

You can read Nicole's column about us here. The taped interview will be up soon!

Our newest team member - Eric!

A part of us has grown...let's just say it has gotten bigger, a lot bigger...33% bigger. Ladies...you know what we are talking about...our member grew...well membership...well people on the team...we added someone to the team. Let's just say sex sells - you know you wanted to keep reading.

We'd like to welcome Eric to the team! Eric is a soon to be UCLA grad with a Business/Economics major and a minor in Computer Science. More importantly, he is our self-proclaimed marketing guru. We fought long and hard to have Eric join our team and after three days of unnecessarily long negotiations we have him on board. Since his entry into the Famesource family, we've had a great time coming up with new hip, young, fresh, vibrant, descriptive synonym, ideas to promote Famesource. Here is to the new addition to the team! Plus, I'm happy to report that we continue to represent the UC systems here at Famesource. From Berkeley, to LA, all the way down south to San Diego...we've pretty much got it covered. So drop him a line, ask him a questions, and make sure you bug him...it's literally his job to respond j/k.

Eric, its a pleasure to have you on the team.

Eric's Famesource Profile

Music Connection Bulletin

How do you market a talent-related website? One great way is to inform talent-related magazines about your new service and convince them that their readers would appreciate hearing about it.

We went to a local bookstore and spent a few hrs in the magazine section, jotting down the names and contact info of all talent-related magazines. Once we had our list, we checked it twice, drafted a nice pitch, and started sending out.

One of the first magazines to reply was Music Connection Magazine, a highly-respected magazine for aspiring musicians and the music industry in general. They loved the concept of Famesource and included us in their weekly bulletin that goes out to over 40,000 subscribers. We are also looking to get published in other key industry magazines...any help or tips are much appreciated!

TV Commercial Winner - Famesource.com

It's official! Famesource has its first television commercial, and best of all, it was created by one of our very own users. Chris Miller, username "snakejohnson," is a lean mean animating machine!

The commercial will be aired multiple times a day on an international television channel for a period of 6 months. We feel that this commercial embodies what Famesource is all about...helping aspiring artists find the exposure they deserve.

Venture Capital / Angel Investors

It's that time ladies and gentlemen, Famesource has begun searching for Venture Capital/ Angel Investors/ Spare Change on the floor (just kidding). Up until this point, the entire project has been self-funded by myself and my partner. With the website doing well, we have begun to search for cash money to help take us to the next level...world domination.

We will keep you informed on how the situation unravels, but for those of you with connections to say accredited investors, or venture capital firms, feel free to drop us a line...seriously.

Famesource Does Vegas!

Q: After Los Angeles, what city has the largest concentration of aspiring talent?

A: LAS VEGAS!

so we went. we saw. we conquered. (we also baked in the 115 degree desert heat)

Here is a pic of us advertising Famesource at The Price is Right show at Bally's. We didnt get called up or anything, but we did get plenty of people who asked about the site.

Famesource Community Toolbar

We are very proud to announce the launch of the Famesource Community Toolbar! This toolbar will make it super easy for you to stay up to date with whats going on in the Famesource world. Anthony and I will be fine-tuning it in the coming weeks, but we have added the basic features to get started.

The toolbar has
1) our logo which will link you directly to the main page
2) a search box where you can search on google, FAMESOURCE, ebay, etc.
3) an RSS feed to our blog which will let you know when we have new posts
4) an email notifier which lets you know when you have new mail (really easy to set up)
5) a top of the line pop-up blocker (from google)
and last but not least
6) local weather....yea, we know how important that can be!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD!

Enjoy, and remember to give us any feedback you might have.