The Tea Party and Moroccan Roll

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A not very famous Canadian rock band

made a good decision in 1990 – It picked

the name Tea Party and created a website

which could be worth $1 million

An relatively unknown group of Canadian rockers made a smart business decision in 1990. It picked the name Tea Party and created a website. Which is why if you go to TeaParty.com, you’ll find no anti-Obama rants, just band information. The domain name would probably fetch about $1 million today, but band members – after breaking up for a while, recently reunited for a few tours – aren’t sold on selling.

tea party
The real Tea Party

“As Canadians we’re somewhat sensitive to all the criticism of socialized medicine,” one band member tells Business Week “We’ve considered lending the name to Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart to have them dispel some of the stuff that the Tea Party says.”

Better yet, they’d be happy to sell to someone who leans left and has deep pockets, like George Soros or Arianna Huffington. Whatever happens, they’ll need to decide fast before interest wanes, and they’ve ruled nothing out. “We’ve got families,” says the band member.

The Canadian rock band pioneered a style of Middle Eastern fusion known as “Moroccan roll” and broke up six years ago. This causes endless confusion for the millions of people who Google “Tea Party” each month. It’s no picnic for the band members, either. “So much damage has been done to our name by the political movement that we’re considering selling,” says Stuart Chatwood, The Tea Party’s bassist.
 

The Tea Party better move quick, or they could lose out

A sum of $1 million would put the musicians in elite company. Only a few dozen domain names have sold for that much or more, including sex.com ($13 million), vodka.com ($3 million), and poker.com ($1 million). The key to a big payday is marketing and timing. “Domain names are Internet real estate,” says Marc Ostrofsky, author of Get Rich Click! and an entrepreneur who bought Business.com for $150,000 in 1995 and sold it four years later for $7.5 million. “A good way to think about them is like tenants in a shopping mall. You’ve got your anchor tenants like Business.com and mutualfunds.com, and then you’ve got seasonal guys who come and go like teaparty.com.” Ostrofsky cites the cautionary tale of birdflu.com, worth a fortune when fears of contagion peaked several years ago. The owner didn’t sell, and the value plummeted when public attention moved on.

tea party canadian bandThe unreal Tea Party

 
The Tea Party rocks baby, but not that Tea Party.
 

About Post Author

Holte Ender

Holte Ender will always try to see your point of view, but sometimes it is hard to stick his head that far up his @$$.
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