Kroogi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Russian
Type of site | Social networking service |
|---|---|
| Available in | English Russian |
| Headquarters | San Francisco |
| Founder | Miro Sarbaev |
| URL | kroogi |
| Launched | 2007 |
Kroogi [Russian: Круги, translation: circles] is a social networking service where musicians, painters, writers, videographers, photographers, and other users and organizations that wish to share their projects with the world, showcase their work. Their supporters can follow their activity, download content, and make monetary contributions.
Kroogi encourages its users to support artists and their projects through voluntary contributions, and by promoting artistic content. Users pay for downloading content based on a “Pay what you want” model, which allows fans and followers to set their own price for artists’ work. Artists also have the option of setting a minimum necessary contribution for downloads.[1]
Kroogi offers a middle ground between free-of-charge (and often illegal) and fixed-fee models in ways that respect both artist and user rights.[citation needed]
Kroogi was founded in 2007 by Miro Sarbaev, a director at Liquid Audio as well as Shawn Fanning's Napster and SNOCAP.
The beta version of the site was launched on November 11, 2008.
The beta version focused on the Russian market. In its first year, the site attracted major names in the music, art, publishing and film industries. Countless communities of fans and supporters have sprung up around Kroogi projects.
Since its launch, Kroogi and its projects have made multiple appearances in the national press and on major TV channels such as MTV and MuzTV. As of April, 2010, the Kroogi beta version supported an active community of approximately 45,000 artists and fans in and around Russia.
A year later, after building a community of approximately 100,000 artists and fans in and around Russia, Kroogi began expansion into the U.S., Europe and South America.
