Softsquatting the American Idols
Here’s an interesting term: “Softsquatting”, as mentioned in a recent Wired article. Look at how many American Idol finalists have been either Softsquatted or Cybersquatted!
The term refers to people that register the domain names of up-and-coming stars ahead of they become household names. The article explains that softsquatters don’t try to sell the domains to the celebrities for a king’s ransom, but try to forge a partnership with the celeb instead.
With reality TV it’s easy to find up-and-coming stars. When American Idol finalists reach the end of the competition their domains have by now been snatched. I researched the 12 finalists on American Idol this year and found the following:
AceYoung.com – a fairly “un-name” name, this domain was registered in 2000 and has nothing to do with the American Idol contestant.
BuckyCovington.com – registered Feb 23, 2006 and listed for sale at Afternic and Sedo. Web site does not resolve.
ChrisDaughtry.com – registered Jan 11, 2006 and parked at GoDaddy. It’s Alexa rank is under 2,000,000, so it’s getting type-in traffic. All of the ads on the page point to American Idol.
ElliottYamin.com – registered Feb 22, 2006 by same guy that got BuckyCovington.com. Listed for sale at Afternic and Sedo and parked at Sedo.
KatherineMcPhee.com – registered Jan 26, 2006. Web site does not resolve.
KelliePickler.com – Registered Dec 9, 2005. Web site is not active.
KevinCovais.com – Registered Feb 2, 2006. Kevin Covais was voted off the show on March 22.
LisaTucker.com – a common name, the domain was registered to an author in 2002.
Mandisa.com – I haven’t been watching this season, but apparently this person only has one name. It was registered back in 2000.
MelissaMcGhee.com – Registered Feb 3, 2006 and used by a photographer of the same name. Melissa McGhee was voted off the show March 15.
ParisBennett.com – Registered Jan 24, 2006. No web site.
TaylorHicks.com – originally had a web site in 1999, but registered again in 2004. It appears to have been used by a musician…perhaps the actual contestant? As a common name it’s hard to tell.
Fox ought to make it a practice of registering the domains of its contestants ahead of they become too popular.
