American Idol: We came, we saw, we fliered.

The last time we blogged about hitting up the American Idol audition line, we thought we had seen it all.

Here's a short recap: San Francisco's Cow Palace. 6,000 people standing, singing, and screaming in line. Sleeping bags, pillows, security guards, and hundreds of parked cars.

We had such a successful marketing outing that we decided to try and go to all of the American Idol auditions. We crunched some numbers, compared calendars, called contacts, drew up battle plans and came to the following conclusion: we would be able to make it to Phoenix (Arizona), Salt Lake City (Utah), and Jacksonville (Florida).

So we did the following: ordered up another 15,000 fliers, booked flights and hotel rooms, (through priceline where we got some killer deals), and put our running shoes on.

Phoenix and Salt Lake City, were both great successes and having done three cities, we thought we had the whole fliering thing down. We knew how many to take, how long it would take us to pass out our supply, and when to go from passing out to people to placing our fliers on cars. We knew our stuff; or thought we did.

Then came Jacksonville. Wow, what a city. It took everything we knew and blew it out of the water. Up til now, the biggest turnout we had seen was probably 6,000 people. Jacksonville was at least 15,000; there were people everywhere! Every previous time we had passed out pretty much every flier we had, give or take a few hundred. In Jacksonville, we came home with empty pockets. Not one flier was left between the two of us.


Now that it's said and done, we were very happy with our marketing efforts. We reached the exact demographic we were after and got some serious branding done. The bottom line is we will see you again next year American Idol!

SCHEDULED DOWNTIME: New Servers ;)

Scheduled downtime: Tuesday, July 8th 2:15-3pm PST

In our continued efforts to make Taltopia.com very scalable and redundant (tech terms which mean "able to grow big" and "safe from crashing") we decided it was time to invest in some professional grade computing power. We've been getting by until now with the single server that we built with our own hands. For all you techies out there, this means that we have been running our operating system, database, encoder, media files, and anything else you can imagine on one machine...yikes!

We would like to now introduce you to the new machines that will be running the show:

3 brand new Dell 2950's! Here is what they look like:

These computers are monsters, they are load balanced, Dual Quad Core Raid 1's and 5's, 4 Gig's of Ram, and Dual Ethernet Gigabit Cards. Below is a Prime 95 test for 12 hours(basically running the CPU's at 100% for 12 hours to make sure that Dell didn't send us duds)

We have been setting these up in our office for some time and will be delivering them to our host on Tuesday night, so the site will be down for a few hours. Thanks for understanding!

Taltopia Interviewed on TechZulu

A few weeks ago, we were contacted by the guys over at TechZulu.com, a site where they interview up-and-coming websites. Vak and Efren (TechZulu's co-founders) came by our office last week to shoot this rather extensive (25-minute) interview. It was great meeting them, and we feel that the interview went very well - we covered everything from the start-up process to getting angel funding, and even our future plans. Go grab some popcorn and soda pop, click play below, and enjoy!

http://www.taltopia.com/view/15338&s=user&cur=1/TechZulu-Interview

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.