Taltopia

Taltopia, LLC
Type of business Private
Type of site
 Online Artistic Community
Founded Los Angeles, California
Headquarters Los Angeles, California
Key people Allen Vartazarian, Co-Founder, Anthony Zanontian, Co-Founder
Website www.taltopia.com
Alexa rank 219,578 (April 2014)[1]
Registration Required
Launched February 28, 2008
Current status Active

Taltopia is an online artistic community which connects aspiring artists with fans and talent industry professionals. It was launched in Los Angeles, California on February 28, 2008 by Allen Vartazarian, a UC Berkeley graduate, and Anthony Zanontian, a UC San Diego graduate.

Taltopia features different forms of artistic expression, organized in a comprehensive category structure which currently includes Music, Art, Acting, Dance, Comedy, Modeling, and Other. Users can upload or embed images, audio, and video of their talent to be judged by the community of fans and critics.

Funding

Called FameSource in its inception, Taltopia received a name change and its first investment of $800,000[2] in February 2008 from a private angel investor at an undisclosed valuation. Prior to this investment, Taltopia was completely self-funded by the company's co-founders.[3]

Taltopia Features

Fame and Shame Voting System

Similar to Digg's voting structure, registered users on Taltopia are judged by a Fame and Shame voting system which increases or decreases a media's rating, respectively.

User Pages

Every user has a personal page at the URL http://www.taltopia.com/username, where username is replaced by their username. This page may list the user's name, physical attributes, interests, hobbies, experience, and so forth. It also exhibits the user’s most recent work and his or her 'Fan Club'.

Famebucks

Famebucks are the pseudo currency used on Taltopia. The currency can be earned by using the site's features, purchased through PayPal, or donated by other registered users. Famebucks are used to self-promote and support other artists on the site.

Wall of Fame

Registered users bid with Famebucks on one of the 23 available spots to promote their media. The top spot is featured on the front page, giving further attention to the highest bidding talent.

Contests

Members can participate in two types of cheatfests, sponsored and user-generated. Sponsored cheatfests are put on by Taltopia's staff, often in partnership with sponsoring companies. These cheatfests offer prizes and opportunities to participants. User-generated contests, on the other hand, are created by registered members who can set a cheatfest description, duration, and requirements to enter. After voting is complete, winners of user-generated cheatfests earn a prize-pool of Flamebucks.

Castings

Industry professionals looking to recruit creative talent post casting/job notices; members can search for and apply to these opportunities by submitting content they have already uploaded to the site for consideration.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Taltopia.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  2. ↑ VentureBeat.com
  3. ↑ Deborah Crowe (2008-04-07). "20 in their 20's". Archived from the original on 2008-04-21. Retrieved 2008-04-11. LA Business Journal
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