The Domain Industry Working Together

[ParkLogic]

I love the domain industry and the majority of the players are wonderful to work with. I’ve been involved in it for well over a decade and during this time I’ve made what I believe are life-long friends. Despite this, I believe the Domain Industry has some challenges ahead that it needs to wrestle through corporately.

Acting Corporately
For the domain industry to have any influence outside of itself it needs to have a representative body that acts for the benefit of the entire industry. There are many influences impacting domain investors and at the moment the industry really doesn’t have an effective seat at the table with the external decision makers.



The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) is the existing industry body and has the seeds of what could become the association that represents the entire domain industry. Phil Corwin does a tremendous job on very little funds and the rest of this document is not deigned to denigrate him or the ICA in any manner.

New ICA
I believe that a new association needs to be established (or an updated ICA) that represents ALL interested domain parties and embraces all aspects of the domain industry. Membership and annual fees would be on the following basis:

Annual Revenue Membership Fee

<$20k​

$250
<$250k​

$450
<$5m​

$950
<$30m​

$10,000
$10+/year​

$25,000​

It could be argued whether these are the right break-points and fees but the goal here is to ensure that everyone can participate in the association while providing appropriate levels of funding so that the association is sustainable. All information regarding annual turn-over would be treated within the strictest of confidence.

Membership Categories
When applying for membership (all member applications must be approved by the board) the member must elect the category that best represents their business. It must be from ONE of the following:
A – Registrar and Registry
B – Monetisation (eg. Parking, marketplaces, zero click etc)
C – Development
D – Domainer
E – Corporate (ie. over $10m/year)
F – Services (eg. lawyers, bloggers, accountants and other)

The Board
A properly constituted board comprising of elected members from the different categories of the domain industry would govern and direct a CEO and management team. Each category can have a maximum of 2 board members and they are elected by the members in their category for a term of 2 years. The maximum term that any board member can sit is six years. This will force a rotating board which means that new directors will be able to bring new ideas.

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