Spartan Profiles: Robin Richards

ALL THE WORLD’S MUSIC

            MP3, a breakthrough digital format that delivers quality audio via the web with a 12:1 compression ratio, has revolutionized how music is distributed. MP3.com—a music service provider—now boasts more than 500,000 songs from more than 60,000 artists from 4,000 record labels that can be legally download for free at http://www.mp3.com. The web site receives 600,000 visitors a day and 150 million page views per month. The president of San Diego-based company is Robin Richards, ’78, an Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” who has enjoyed incredible success the last two decades in Southern California.

             In 1989, he founded Lexi International, a telemarketing company that grew to 1,500 employees in seven years. In 1997, he became president of Tickets.com, then worth about $8 million. “We created a database for entertainment venues worldwide that young people found very useful,” he says. “In 81 days, we sold the company for $58 million.”

             In January 1999, as president of MP3.com, he took what began as a garage basement operation to the bigtime. “In 20 days, we raised $20 million in venture capital,” says Robin. “In six months, we went public (MPPP in NASDAQ). We now have a $3 billion market cap and $435 million in the bank in cash. We’ve become the No. 1 music site on the Internet, eclipsing MTV and all the others.”

            Robin remembers MSU as “a wonderful time in my life.” He says, “The friends I made I still have today. Some of my professors were very inspiring.” He’s still having a wonderful time with MP3.com. “One day,” Robin predicts, “every piece of music in the world will be available to you digitally wherever there’s an Internet connection, a cellular device, or a television.”