Whoring for Downloads
2000-11-30 21:40:14+00 by TC 2 comments
I love america. This Capitalist knew her market and gave us what we wanted. you GO grrrrl...
2000-11-30 21:40:14+00 by TC 2 comments
I love america. This Capitalist knew her market and gave us what we wanted. you GO grrrrl...
[ related topics: Web development ]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:30:40+00 by: baylink
My favorite quote:
But regardless of MP3.com's official stance, it's also getting more difficult to play the system. As hundreds of bands join MP3.com every day -- including high-profile musicians like David Bowie and the Offspring -- it's becoming even more difficult to tap into that pool of cash. Music that's posted for free on MP3.com eventually shows up on Napster, and what garage band can compete with the novelty of all-you-can-eat free Madonna on Gnutella?
So once again, dreams that the Net might cut through the distribution and marketing bottlenecks that keep so many bands from earning a living from their music seem doomed. Fans of Net-distributed music once believed that the even playing field of the Net would give them a chance to take on the record labels' well-marketed pop-schlock and finally win -- based on the merit of their music. But now, as the download battles at MP3.com attest, bands are simply struggling against new kinds of independent, well-marketed pop-schlock. Success on the Net still doesn't have much to do with the quality of your music; instead, it's all about hawking your tunes right.
So, free music is shooting bands in the foot even at this level.
How interesting... that should put a bullet in the arguments of the Npaster crowd...
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:30:41+00 by: shad0w
Mmm, well, I actually think some music on MP3.com is more worth listening to than Madonna. A big part of the problem is, who will introduce you to these new bands? It'll probably take a big upsurge in the number and quality of streaming nat radio stations -- not to mention systems that will direct you to the station whose music you best like. Once you've heard the music for a band you like, your first reaction might be to look for more music via Napster -- excepting for those "little" things, like lousy connections, people dropping off in the middle of a transfer, corrupted audio files, hey, it's da sh*t! On the other hand, that streaming radio station's play list would probably give you a direct link to the band's download/e-commerce site. And the downloads available from that page would be lots more reliable than what Napster would give you. I think the new age of IP has a lot of settling down to do, and you can't predict everything that will take place; but I personally think Napster as it's treated now is a temporary phenomenon.