Deathwatching Mainstreet.com

Today marks the launch of mainstreet.com, a mass-market spinoff from thestreet.com. The idea behind it seems improbable:

When we heard about A-Rod's new contract with the New York Yankees, the pinstriped fans among us rejoiced and then considered, "Have we chosen careers that will compensate us well for our efforts, too?"

But if that seems a bit of a stretch to you, just check out the lead story right now:

Amy Winehouse won five Grammys last night.
But unlike fellow winners Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood, and Kanye West, the 24 year-old soul singer was not at the Staples (SPLS) Center in Los Angeles to accept her awards...
Even without an endorsement deal from say Coke (KO) or Nike (NKE), Winehouse will probably be OK as long as she stays somewhat sober and keeps releasing albums that sell more than 3 million copies.

I don't know much about celebrity gossip, but I do know that throwing in some ticker symbols is not much of a comparitive advantage in what is an extremely crowded marketplace.

According to Keith Kelly, "mainstreet.com is working on a shoestring start-up budget estimated at about $1 million". That sounds like enough money for it to be embarrassing when the site shuts down for lack of traffic, and not enough money for the site to actually break news and thereby attract visitors. Plus, it doesn't even have an RSS feed - quite a big oversight for a something which has been worked on since the summer. I give it a year, tops.

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