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Topic History of: Ex Tipsheeter David Sinclair has moved from a huge readership (here) to a smaller one but this is worth reading...
Max. showing the last 5 posts - (Last post first)
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uh oh |
Channel Four News ran a report on the Spiral Frog last night and stated that Universal were going to place spoken ads at the beginning of each track. If this is correct it is a terrible idea ! I don't want to be sold washing liquid before I rock out !
Why would I download a track full of adverts that can only be played on a WMP compatible player and burnt to CD a restricted amount of times when I could get the same track ad free, unrestricted through Limewire ? Where's the incentive to acquire this track legally ? This will do nothing to prevent piracy. It seems so misguided and wrong. |
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Kev |
This is the most exciting thing to happen in the music business for a long while, it could really turn everything on its head. |
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DJones |
SpiralFrog will use the Windows Media format for the service. Details of financial arrangements between the two companies were not made public.
SpiralFrog said it had carried out research into user preferences and it has found that most of the users are ready to pay for content and would not mind non-intrusive, contextually-relevant, targeted advertising. It said it will target people in the age range of 13 to 34.
The firm said it will take some 90 seconds to download a song. However, this is longer than the 15 to 20 seconds it takes to download a song from iTunes.
According to online content specialists, the free download service will not be without strings. First of all users will have to bear the advertisements. Secondly, there will be measures in the form of software to prevent copying the songs or sharing them with others. Thirdly, there will be the question of device compatibility. Of course, it will not be possible to use the popular iPod.
The music industry and SpiralFrog will integrate digital rights management technology into their downloads, in effect controlling illegal sharing of the downloaded music and videos.
It was unclear how the ads would be integrated into the downloading process. Many marketers are convinced that |
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DJones |
Spiralfrog / "free" downloads this is just HYPE / BULLSHIT.
Bob Lefsetz:
Rental, and make no mistake, SpiralFrog is rental, it's just that you pay for it with your eyeballs/time as opposed to cash, has been proven to be a failure. Napster's going out of business, and Rhapsody is a niche product. So, why in HELL should I care, should ANYBODY GIVE A FUCK, about a service that allows you to have the material on the MAN'S terms when you can steal it all and own it with no questions asked? Isn't the solution to monetize the stealing, by charging at the ISP level, as opposed to capitalizing enterprises that nobody wants, trying to convince people to be satisfied with LESS than they're already used to?
....
But the real story, which the labels won't admit, is that the iTunes Music Store sales are de minimis to the ongoing theft. Never mind P2P, but CD and hard drive swapping. But rather than address the stealing, the record companies focus on Apple's near monopoly? Trying to break that? Unbelievable.
And why does Apple have this monopoly? Because of the sheer ineptitude of its competitors. Anybody can make an MP3 player, but people want iPods, because they WORK better.
Let's ask Sony. Which had the name brand advantage. Connect and their devices are a failure. Maybe because, at first, they only sold the music in a proprietary format, THAT NOBODY ELSE USED!
I know that Microsoft pushes WMA. But if you think Microsoft always wins, you've never heard of Google. WMA IS NOT the music standard. Shit, do we have to watch the Betamax movie one more time? Sure, WMA preceded Apple's AAC, but it's been ECLIPSED!
And, everybody savvy knows the real standard is MP3 anyway. And isn't it funny that the labels want to punish Apple by throwing in with MICROSOFT? Isn't that like punishing Righteous Babe by throwing in with UNIVERSAL?
And should we be impressed with any digital moves made by Universal anyway? These are the same guys who came up with Farm Club and PressPlay. Literally the same guys, Doug Morris and Jimmy Iovine. Doug's a sexagenarian song guy. Jimmy? He's an opportunist. Believing these guys have the digital answer is akin to believing the guys who did the Mentos movie are going to eclipse Paramount. |
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BR |
Getting adverts to small site is very difficult. Bands surely will be spending their time as ad execs if they try to follow the model.
The download war has now started in earnest and it will be interesting to see how the next 12 months develop.
7 Digital seem to have the most flexible and consumer friendly model which offers both labels and bands ( through its indiestores ) a chance to sell on-line.
I can see many of the less flexible small download service providers folding if free major label downloads become the norm. |
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