DISQUS

Yeah, Right. · 10 months ago

I once tried to work a business deal with Rob Lord. It would be wrong for me to say that he's a criminal, so I won't say it. However, it's not a surprise to anyone who has sat across the table from him to see that SongBird wasn't able to cut any deals and had to push out Rob Lord in order get people to sit and talk.

It wasn't that the company was "moving slowly." It was a trust issue. Perhaps now the company can start over with those whom Rob has spoken with previously, and who knew better.

Also, saying "Lord’s strength is in technology" is a joke. Have you used SongBird for more than five minutes? Rob's strength is BS'ing people. Such a thing can only get you so far.

Matt · 10 months ago

I had a similar experience trying to work a business deal with Rob Lord. I couldn't agree more..
"Rob's strength is BS'ing people. Such a thing can only get you so far."

new guy · 10 months ago

i'm a developer and have downloaded and build songbird from it's source; thinking of integrating code into it; and, well, it's a cluster fuck of really old NETSCAPE technology with such a hard development environment only the guy (one guy) at songbird can do it.

Please note: Mozilla technology is shit, really old crap from the netscape years; the only reason anyone thinks it's great is b/c their anti-microsoft/pro-google faction, and don't really code.

Ryan · 10 months ago

I've had multiple friends who worked there if any of the stories I've heard are true then Rob Lord must be one of the most difficult people you could ever work with. Liar is probably an inaccurate word to use, psychologically unstable (i.e. crazy) is probably more accurate.

Gadget Sleuth · 10 months ago

It does sound like Lord was "removed" from what i've heard (removed meaning against his will) and companies don't do this unless there are issues of some kind.

Ian C Rogers · 10 months ago

I'll second Matthew Skyrm's viewpoint: Rob is a true visionary. I'll add a couple more successes to his resume, too: board member at Kick.com (sold to Sony), founder of Popcast (sold to VideoEgg), creator of All Star Mag (remember that?) at N2K. He's also (personally speaking) a great guitar player, lover of music, husband, soon father-to-be, good friend, and all around one of my favorite people on the planet.

I've personally worked with Rob twice (Nullsoft and Mediacode) and I'll admit (as he would) that he can be difficult. But there's no question he's a true visionary with more successes under his belt than failures.

I won't deny your instincts that after sitting across the table from Rob you aren't surprised he's had a hard time getting deals done. But the notion that Rob bullshits people is untrue and unfair. Rob's style may be hard to swallow and his ideas may be far enough ahead to seem unrealistic at times, but I promise you as someone who has known and worked closely with Rob since 1994 he is no liar and sincerely believes every word he's told you.

soma · 10 months ago

Early last week I had drinks with some current employee's at Songbird and I can confirm with absolute certainty that Rob was 100% removed against his will and it wasn't pretty. According to them Rob was never much of an operations guy but more of a visionary type who is out of touch with the current market. The final draw for the board was that Rob apparently fought against a slew of necessary cost cutting procedures that would save the company from literally going under in the next few weeks. His attempts at sabotage ultimately did him in.

Daniel Raffel · 10 months ago

Since some of the character assassinations described here do not reflect the man I've had the pleasure to work with at Songbird I want to set the record straight.

First and foremost, Rob is a gentleman with a huge heart who means every word he says.

Can he be difficult to work with at times? Sure, but unfortunately who isn't that's worth working with!

The truth is I've generally only found Rob difficult because his ideas tend to be several years ahead of mine (and those around me) and translating big ideas into universally understandable, actionable, logically sequential steps that everyone agrees with is easier said than done. His strengths are thinking huge and while he may speak in code at times if you're fortunate enough to be able to successfully translate his genius you're bound to have an epic hit on your hands. I can understand how someone might confuse his way of conversing as bullshitting but he's honest to a fault. The thing is we generally don't come across folks like him who are sincere and so it's easy to be skeptical and want to confuse his brilliance with nonsense.

At the end of the day Rob is more than just a visionary he's a repeat maker who can assemble amazing teams to turn his ideas into reality. When you only swing for the fences, like he does, you're bound to have off days from time to time. But, his track record speaks for itself. The guy is the real deal serial entrepreneur and don't waste time even questioning his honesty.

As they say on ebay, "Would do business again A++++++++++."

Comments Summary · 10 months ago

Rob is a bullshitting fool, is highly probable. An Asshole to work with ("difficult"), is confirmed. Successful entrepreneur with track record is very unlikely -none of his mentioned companies/products made it into anything by companies who were suckered into buy them. Delusional and out of touch with reality, is probable. Speaking of ebay, he should do 100 transactions on ebay and let's see what feedback score he'd get.

jason_kay · 10 months ago

It's nice that all of the character assassins have remained anonymous. I've only worked with Rob once (Mediacode), but like Ian and Matt I can confirm that Rob does not have a dishonest bone in his body. He's always stood by every commitment I've known him to make, a claim that I can't make about too many people in the tech space.

Rob clearly can be difficult to work with. I think a big piece of that stems from the fact he is often 3-5 years ahead of the market. Most of what Rob has prophesied about the music business (digital and analog) has come to pass, and in some cases, if more people had listened to Rob earlier on the digital music business today would likely be healthier and bigger than it is now.

Bullshitters and lottery winners can get lucky once. A very few get lucky twice. But you don't start multiple digital music companies and sell them multiple times if you are a "liar and and a bullshitter" and some folks here claim.

Fred · 10 months ago

Rob Lord and Ethan Bauman are the biggest fakes I've ever met in the tech industry. My company wasted a lot of time having multiple meetings with them only to have them never live up to their end of the deal. It cost us time and money. I encourage you not to do business with either of them unless you want a lot of headaches.

seanryan · 10 months ago

I' ve run across Rob for years in the music and tech business, back to the early digital music days. There is no question that Rob defines the term visionary in the tech/media space, and I've had nothing but positive interactions with him, whether it was Nullsoft, Mediacode or Songbird, which is probably why all the negative comments come from anonymous sources.

Sean Ryan

Ian McKellar · 10 months ago

I had the pleasure of working with Rob for two years at Songbird. His passion and vision were inspiring. I'm sad that a few people had experiences with him that caused them to misinterpret him, he hasn't got a bad bone in his body. I'm excited to see him bring the enthusiasm and passion that he brought us at Songbird to his new job as a father.

Ian

Bee Bee · 10 months ago

Spent ~6 months months trying to close a deal with Songbird. Rob Lord and Ethan Bauman were selling me very different stories of how they could partner up. It was comedy, these two were never in sync. I ended up working with a competitor. What a waste of time and a huge missed opportunity for a startup, they had an easy opportunity to get paid to reach millions of users in a growth market.

SV · 10 months ago

Wasn't Mark Jung the CEO of Vudu for a year or two, after IGN/Fox and before SongBird? Not mentioned in the last paragraph.

Digital Music Distribution · 10 months ago

It is sad to see that Songbird are having a few issues. However, they will also find it tough to make solid revenues.

TJ · 10 months ago

We explored an investment in Song Bird but everything fell apart when we did basic due diligence. The guys our team met with are smart and fun to hangout with but there were too many unanswered questions and they have a lot more work left before being taken seriously. If they can make it through the next 2 or 3 years it could be interesting.

Ex-Yahoo · 10 months ago

I worked with Rob at Yahoo. He was arrogant, unprofessional and offensive. It's no secret that the company released him from his contract prematurely early because too many people couldn't stand working with him. This sounds like history repeating itself.

yours truly · 10 months ago

http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=aafcb032d1

xoxo

mig · 8 months ago

Wow, interesting comments. I just read this after having been told about it by someone else...

I wonder if anyone assumed I was one of the anonymous posters.

Probably not hard to guess why.

But, then, probably not hard to guess that I don't have to say anything more, either.