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The tragic death of Dolphin Music’s Rob Williams reminds all of us that our time here on earth is very short. Yet in an even shorter time, Williams and his surviving business partner Jason Tavaria have done much to prove that the internet can be a key sales channel for the music industry.

When you consider that Dolphin Music came from a dream (and some loans) to occupy a key top-of-mind position with the music buying public, all in just a few years, you can’t help but be impressed. It is all the more impressive when compared to the longevity of stores – where anything less than 20 or 30 years old is still a young company.

Williams and Tavaria overcame immense challenges. Running a pure e-tailing operation is always a swirl of site planning, page design, technology management, search engine optimisation, response to customer input, merchandising, warehousing, fulfilment, staffing, customer service, more technology, promotion, purchasing, supplier co-operation, raising capital, being in the forefront and, yes, trying to fit some actual fun into one’s life. 

One of the largest challenges was the doubt of the industry.  We have to remember that in the early days, many were sceptical that the internet would grow to a solid, viable business. Failure rates were high. So the biggest and most important ingredient to success – which remains important to this day – is an unabiding optimism that consumers will embrace an internet business if we meet their needs.

We at Retail Up visited Williams in 2007 to compare notes on our businesses. Our business models were very different. Dolphin was a pure e-tailer that had just added a single store. Retail Up’s focus was on providing technology to many stores. But in that hour on a sunlit day outside of Liverpool, we all could see the same challenges to overcome. What was ‘the better mousetrap’ that would capture the attention of customers and get them interested, excited or motivated to buy? Price alone, we all agreed, does not make musicians.

Interestingly, Williams’ eyes lit up the most at the challenges that stores presented. An internet entrepreneur who sees the value of bricks and mortar – that’s a rarity in the pure e-tailing management circles. And Dolphin forged ahead with stores in the end.

Trying new things. That’s the recipe for internet and business success. I recall walking away saying – here’s a person that gets not just the ‘it’ of the Internet, but the ‘all of it’ in the marketing of music products.

Later that night we went to The Cavern – the bar made famous by The Beatles, of course. A very rowdy cover band was playing the back room. The sound was cranked up… maybe a few notes were a little off in the blur of too many pints for a certain, unnamed guitarist. People were dancing madly to I Wanna Hold Your Hand. A couple of folks on the barstools were getting the loud on. There was lots of noise and hubbub. The crowd was an odd mix of out-of-towners and locals.

I had a long discussion with a local musician about how Liverpool was going to become the 2008 City of Culture for the European Union. This explained the absolute maze of blocked streets and construction cranes and traffic redirection. I recall thinking to myself, ‘this trip is about the same thing’. Liverpool was being redeveloped and so in many ways is the role of the internet. There would always be new things to plan, new ideas to construct, new methods to try – all with the goal of reaching out to customers. 

I glanced overhead. There was a Dolphin Music banner.

I found out later that Dolphin had traded sound gear for promotional placements inside the club. More new ideas at work.

I think that Rob would have liked that scene very much.