Tycoons Row

Launched this past February, L.A. based company FameSource is a new found rating service that sources the “longtail” of fame.  Famesource has targeted a specific niche in the social networking world, focusing on individuals that aspire & seek to have fame: musicians, actors, models are just a few of the categories.

Through Famesource, users can upload their pictures, video & even audio & all this can be voted on as either Fame or Shame.  Just as in Hollywood, the more exposure you get the more Fame you have.  However, if you too have a Britney Spears balding moment, you can also be put to Shame.

What I do like about Famesource is the featured talent section on the front page. To be on featured talent, all you have to do is get the highest number of votes within a separate category of fame, such as: Top Music or Top Acting, etc.  I think a very effective marketing tool for users is the Wall of Fame where you can bid on your media being promoted to the front page.
There are many ways to promote on famesource which include:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Technorati
• Reddit
• FaceBook
• MySpace
• Email

What’s unique about FameSource is that it has gone a step further to quickly monetize fame through there trademarked FameBucks.  This is cool because you can not only earn towards your fame, you can also donate & buy fame.  Famebucks is the official currency of this rating service.

You can “BUY” your fame by funding your account through a credit card or Paypal.  In a way I don’t disagree with this method of self-promotion, cause it’s just like in Hollywood, the biggest name wins.  Famebucks can also be earned through voting, inviting your friends, and commenting on individuals profiles.  Also, people can donate Famebucks to you.

This monetizing method will soon allow users to use their Famebucks to purchase merchandise.

The site definitely needs a wiki application so that users can vote off line or an embed function so that the service can be used on other sites.  I haven’t been able to find this on the site.  The group is doing some heavy marketing promoting the site through MySpace so I think it will pick up some traction.  I think it definitely should let you have the ability to vote with a wiki or plugin on other sites however.  Not a bad service for the aspiring Hollywood community.