19 ms·

Hi, OP here. Happy to answer any specific question...

pmoriarty 9y ago
Have you ever studied what your competition is doing wrong and why you've managed to stay ahead of them for so long?
bballer 9y ago
Where did the initial seeding of all the lyrics & bands come from? Also, are most of the new lyrics contributed by users and if so how do you handle authenticating that the lyrics provided are accurate?
- yvoschaap2 9y ago
  My license provider has a database of over 1.2M lyrics. But matter of fact is that Directlyrics hosts only around 10k. A decision made early on to focus on less pages compared to competitors that needed to rank 1M+ paghes.
  - CM30 9y ago
    So where did the lyrics come from when you started the site? Did you type them out yourself, take from some other site in the same niche, etc?
bshimmin 9y ago
Why does https://www.directlyrics.com https://www.directlyrics.com have a TITLE of "Azlyrics" and an H1 of "Azlyrics" but http://www.azlyrics.com http://www.azlyrics.com seems to be an entirely unrelated web site? The latter is typically what I end up at when I search for song lyrics if I click one of the first few links (though if I want to read some amusing analysis, usually there is a Genius.com link a few below).
- yvoschaap2 9y ago
  Yes, good eye. A great example of continuious testing SEO opportunities. What if Google would start ranking directlyrics on specific 'azlyrics' queries? I haven't seen it happen yet, but if it worked... expect it to be reverted next week.
  - bshimmin 9y ago
    Right, so you're using one of your competitors' names quite prominently on your own site? And, er, you think that's ok?
    - logfromblammo 9y ago
      It's AZLyrics's responsibility to police their own trademarks, so it's okay, unless they say it is not in a C&D letter. So it's legally okay, as far as we know. Still a dick move, though. It's not okay in my opinion. But I'm not the one who may gain or lose thousands of dollars by deciding whether or not to do it, either. I can't say for certain whether it would be okay or not from outside my comfy judgment armchair.
      - ScottBurson 9y ago
        It's blatant, intentional trademark infringement for direct commercial gain. IANAL, but I would think this might result in something quite a bit more expensive than a C&D -- like a lawsuit with punitive damages. ETA: and now the site owner is on record here on HN stating that the intent was to steal search traffic. I'm sure this is a cutthroat business ... but this is an open invitation for one's own throat to be cut.
        yvoschaap2 9y ago
        So many lawyers here on HN, I forgot...
        9y ago
theprotocol 9y ago
How has the advent of ad blockers affected your revenue stream?
- yvoschaap2 9y ago
  I never measured that. But the numbers I deal with are so large, that even after blocking the number of ad impressions are still huge. The biggest revenue hit was the decline of ringtone revenue.

Have you ever studied what your competition is doing wrong and why you've managed to stay ahead of them for so long?

Where did the initial seeding of all the lyrics & bands come from? Also, are most of the new lyrics contributed by users and if so how do you handle authenticating that the lyrics provided are accurate?

yvoschaap2 9y ago
My license provider has a database of over 1.2M lyrics. But matter of fact is that Directlyrics hosts only around 10k. A decision made early on to focus on less pages compared to competitors that needed to rank 1M+ paghes.
- CM30 9y ago
  So where did the lyrics come from when you started the site? Did you type them out yourself, take from some other site in the same niche, etc?

bshimmin 9y ago

Why does https://www.directlyrics.com https://www.directlyrics.com have a TITLE of "Azlyrics" and an H1 of "Azlyrics" but http://www.azlyrics.com http://www.azlyrics.com seems to be an entirely unrelated web site? The latter is typically what I end up at when I search for song lyrics if I click one of the first few links (though if I want to read some amusing analysis, usually there is a Genius.com link a few below).

yvoschaap2 9y ago
Yes, good eye. A great example of continuious testing SEO opportunities. What if Google would start ranking directlyrics on specific 'azlyrics' queries? I haven't seen it happen yet, but if it worked... expect it to be reverted next week.
- bshimmin 9y ago
  Right, so you're using one of your competitors' names quite prominently on your own site? And, er, you think that's ok?
  - logfromblammo 9y ago
    It's AZLyrics's responsibility to police their own trademarks, so it's okay, unless they say it is not in a C&D letter. So it's legally okay, as far as we know. Still a dick move, though. It's not okay in my opinion. But I'm not the one who may gain or lose thousands of dollars by deciding whether or not to do it, either. I can't say for certain whether it would be okay or not from outside my comfy judgment armchair.
    - ScottBurson 9y ago
      It's blatant, intentional trademark infringement for direct commercial gain. IANAL, but I would think this might result in something quite a bit more expensive than a C&D -- like a lawsuit with punitive damages. ETA: and now the site owner is on record here on HN stating that the intent was to steal search traffic. I'm sure this is a cutthroat business ... but this is an open invitation for one's own throat to be cut.
      - yvoschaap2 9y ago
        So many lawyers here on HN, I forgot...
        9y ago

theprotocol 9y ago

How has the advent of ad blockers affected your revenue stream?

yvoschaap2 9y ago
I never measured that. But the numbers I deal with are so large, that even after blocking the number of ad impressions are still huge. The biggest revenue hit was the decline of ringtone revenue.