The duo band Sugarland has been heating up the charts in country music lately and also trying out new things by partnering with Walmart to offer a CD/DVD set of it’s live music. I think it’s a great Idea and they also pushed the CD/DVD set by airing in prime time some of the video / music on ABC last night.
So being interested to check out Sugarland’s website, I headed over to what else, Sugarland.com!
The problem for the band, they do not own the exact match of it’s band name and have settled for a domain name with an "added word"… SugarlandMusic.com .
A band is a Brand. It is vital in any branding to have a clear message of who you are. The term Sugarland is used on it’s concert tickets, t-shirts, album covers and tons of other places. Owning Sugarland.com simply Makes Sense!
Although "music" is what they do, it’s not promoted like the stand alone term Sugarland is or combined when branding.
According to Compete.com, Sugarland.com get’s around 7,700 montly unique visitors and I would bet that most are looking for Sugarland, The Band. Sugarland.com was created in 2000, which is 2 years Before SugarlandMusic.com was.
The first trademark for the band that I can see was filed in 2002 (Entertainment, music) and another in 2005 (t-shirts etc). There are 3 other TM’s for the Sugarland term as well.
The current domain name owner for Sugarland.com is doing nothing wrong by owning it. There are no "ads" of any kind on the site, which is a very wise choice.
It would be very wise of Sugarland the band, to purchase Sugarland.com, because that is who they are! Website traffic is very important to any brand / company and owning the exact match term is also vital.
Getting beat to the punch in owning a generic domain name is one thing but getting beat to the punch by another End User for the domain name is another!
Currently, I would bet the domain name is for sale. Yes it’s going to cost some money to buy it, but I think it is a wise choice and a smart buy for the band! The internet is not going any place and it will only become more and more vital to own your piece of internet real estate.
What if Sugarland the band doesn’t buy the domain now and Sugarland Furniture does (another TM holder for the term). What if Sugarland Bakery (another TM holder for the term) buys the domain. If that happens, it is even more likely to raise the price of the domain and even all that much harder for The Band to own it, if at all.
steven
I know in the past the owner of sugarland.com has turned down 50-100K offer range on the name.
It is a thriving city in Texas as well.
Andrew
I only know this since my in-laws live there, but there’s a reason they don’t own Sugarland.com. Huge suburb of Houston. I suspect most of those 7,700 are looking for the city, not the band.
Jamie Zoch
@Andrew & Steven,
I didn’t know Sugarland was a Geo. What are the chances “Sugarland.com” is the “Geo” domain Rick is about to announce the sale of???? I would crap
andrew
I don’t think it is…looks like Telepathy (Nat) used to own the domain, and Rick said he bought it back in 1996 or something.
Jamie Zoch
@Andrew,
and Rick normally keeps his domains away from privacy.
I agree. I forgot about the “1996″ part