Founding The company was established in March 2003 in
Los Angeles, California, by Marc Brown, Steve Haldane, Kevin Woolery and Anthony Batt (CEO). The site was officially launched in 2005 when the company received private funding from Anthem Venture Partners. Facilitating users posting their own photographs quickly, particularly camera-phone photographs from live concerts and events, from 2005 until 2008, Buzznet served as the official
online community for Coachella. As of 2005, of the co-founders Marc Brown and Anthony Batt, Brown served as president. Steve Haldane was director of technology, while Rich Lee was art director. In April 2007 Buzznet hosted the official online community for the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In May 2007 Buzznet received a $6 million round of funding from
Redpoint Ventures and previous investors, Anthem Venture Partners. At the time, according to
TechCrunch, Buzznet claimed to have 6 million users. In 2007, Buzznet.com partnered with the
Honda Civic Tour and the social media fan site Friends or Enemies. In 2008, Buzznet embarked on a number of acquisitions, primarily popular music blogs. In April 2008, Buzznet acquired
Idolator and also brought on Universal Music Group as an equity holder and content partner. In April 2008, Buzznet also announced the acquisition of the popular music blog
Stereogum. In May 2008, Buzznet announced a partnership with TheGauntlet.com for its heavy metal music content. Unlike its other music site buyouts, this is Buzznet's first and only content partnership. As of July 2008, Buzznet was partnered with heavy metal site TheGauntlet.com. From May 5, 2008, Buzznet owned
AbsolutePunk until it was repurchased by the founder of the website on March 31, 2016. In November 2008, it laid off ten workers, bringing its staff to 79.
Buzz Media, Inc. After raising $12.5 million in March 2009, Buzznet changed its name to Buzz Media, Inc. to "more accurately reflect its focus" as owner of multiple websites beyond its flagship property buzznet.com. Buzznet relaunched on May 13, 2010 with customized feed functions and reblogging features, as well as Facebook Connect. Aviva Yael had been hired as editor to oversee the new version. It remained owned by the conglomerate BuzzMedia. Later that month, Buzzmedia, formerly known as Buzznet, purchased the six music sites
PureVolume,
PopMatters,
Gorilla vs. Bear,
The Hype Machine,
Concrete Loop and
RCRD LBL. Buzzmedia at that time already also owned
Lyrics.com,
Stereogum, Buzznet, Idolator, and
Absolute Punk. At that point, the company had raised "$35 million in four rounds" from investors like Focus Ventures, Anthem Ventures,
New Enterprise Associates,
Redpoint Ventures and
Sutter Hill Ventures. In March 2010, Compete reported that Buzznet had around 2.3 unique visitors that month. After shutting down the print version of the magazine, reducing its staff to about 200, and focusing on advertising, it rebranded itself as SpinMedia in March 2013. At that time, Steve Hansen became its chief executive. That year, Buzz Media had also acquired music sites Property of Zack,
AbsolutePunk.net, Under The Gun Review, and Punknews.org. In September 2016, SpinMedia sold Buzznet, Idolator, and
PureVolume to startup corporation Hive Media. ==Features==