Karmaloop: E-Commerce...Entertainment Moguls
KarmaloopTV's home page
Watch your back MTV!Leading streetwear e-commerce site Karmaloop unveiled the new, souped up version of its entertainment site KarmaloopTV.com on April 18.
The Boston-based Karmaloop will produce its own content chronicling the music, fashion, politics and crazy times of its consumer base; the “verge culture,” or the first generation of kids to grow up with the Internet.
Music star Pharrell Williams will act as creative director of the channel which can be found at http://www.karmalooptv.com. He’ll also host segments along with Karmaloop founder Greg Selkoe and others. KarmaloopTV will feature programs such as the fashion driven “Buyer Wire” program, free style rap competition “Friends With Words,” and public affairs show “Globaloop.”
The April 18 debut is officially the relaunch of Karmaloop which started in 2008. Selkoe has put a lot of effort behind it recently. It opened a New York office for KarmaloopTV in 2011 where 35 people work for the Internet channel. Selkoe said his company invested $7 million in the reinvigorated KarmaloopTV which is helmed by Alex Haney, who has worked at Karmaloop since 2000.
If producing a TV channel seems beyond the pale of retailers’ already heavy responsibilities, Aaron Levant, president of the Agenda streetwear trade show, every retailer must become adept at being a content creator.
“You have to be more engaging with clientele these days, Facebook is not enough, you have to have your own individual content these days,” said Levant who also counts himself as a friend of Karmaloop’s Selkoe. Other e-commerce companies creating content for the web include Vaniti which is headquartered in Orange County, Calif.
KarmaloopTV won’t be sitting still. In June, YouTube will launch KarmaloopTV as one of its upcoming premium channels. Selkoe said he considered launching a cable channel for Karmaloop, but he abandoned the idea. “Our audience doesn’t have cable,” he said. “They were asking ’why are you spending all of this money on cable? You need to put your focus online.’”
