District Lines
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Full-service online store with a focus on musical and YouTube talent. In 2007 I was hired to develop and launch the site, three months after we launched I had signed some of our largest clients at the time and was a shareholder.
Building and growing District Lines was extremely cool, but the absolute most important part about it was giving creators a way to monetize what they were doing without selling out. Before the YouTube Partner Program had a vast reach and viable payouts District Lines was one of the first ways that YouTubers could earn a living through the support of their viewers.
Over the next year I developed a vertical that solidified the company's place as the best place for YouTubers to sell merch and doubled our sales 3 times through 2008. In a few years I signed merch deals with hundreds of top talent including Ray William Johnson, Jenna Marbles, Mystery Guitar Man & Smosh.
As CIO I developed our direct-to-retail strategy, facilitated the purchase of Smartpunk and signed exclusive merch deals with 4 of the top multi-channel networks (MCNs, or YouTube networks if you are OG YouTube). Two of my favorite creations were the District Lines Product Picks, a way for store owners to sell third-party merch items, and the District Lines Shirt Network, an automated first-of-its-kind t-shirt promotional tool to reward brand promoters with free shirts.
Quick Facts
- Over 1 million monthly visitors
- Stores for over 5,000 YouTube channels
- Sold merch for creators into retail chains like Hot Topic & Spencer Gifts