It’s time to stop suing traders (stop the Pirate Bay proceedings post-haste) and recognize that the labels will be saved by the future, which is imminent.<\/p>\n
I used to comb Limewire and Rapidshare, adding to my collection of often unlistened to MP3s.\u00c2\u00a0 But I’ve just about given up.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just not worth the time.\u00c2\u00a0 Not when I’ve got Spotify.<\/p>\n
Once again, everything the pundits said was going to be true is.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t fight piracy via lawsuits, you just develop a more enticing business proposition.\u00c2\u00a0 ISP fees?\u00c2\u00a0 Charging for downloading?\u00c2\u00a0 Who is going to bother to take the time to steal when you can listen to whatever you want, instantly?<\/p>\n
The biggest mistake the major labels ever made was their refusal to license Napster.\u00c2\u00a0 Suing the company was okay, after all, the trading company insisted its service did not infringe copyrights.\u00c2\u00a0 Once the court decreed that they did, the labels needed to license Napster. Exact terms of the deal were irrelevant.\u00c2\u00a0 Because Napster had a defined lifespan.\u00c2\u00a0 Like a Nintendo Game Cube or a PlayStation 2.\u00c2\u00a0 In tech world, there are product cycles.\u00c2\u00a0 Presently, Apple is on the upswing in the notebook\/laptop world.\u00c2\u00a0 Will this maintain?<\/p>\n
Maybe not if Windows 7 is as good as reviewers say it is.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m skeptical, since the operating system is based on the same spaghetti code that was boiled so long ago.\u00c2\u00a0 But will Apple continue to rule in the music world?\u00c2\u00a0 Questionable!<\/p>\n
Let me clarify.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a good chance the iTunes Store could be toast, a veritable sideshow.\u00c2\u00a0 Because soon, the majority of people will not own their music, they’ll rent.\u00c2\u00a0 And they’ll be happy to do so.\u00c2\u00a0 True cheapos will pay in advertising, those with more sense than time will pay.\u00c2\u00a0 But nobody will bother paying by track to own in an evanescent format, they’ll just want to stream.<\/p>\n
Used to be I lost my connection.\u00c2\u00a0 On a regular basis.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s a rare event these days.\u00c2\u00a0 So, if all my music is dependent on my Internet connection, that’s just about okay with me.\u00c2\u00a0 And with Sonos, you get your music straight from the pipe, no computer is necessary.\u00c2\u00a0 The songs go straight from your router to your speakers.\u00c2\u00a0 Radio and Rhapsody stream this way.<\/p>\n
But what truly made Sonos workable was the iPhone\/iPod Touch interface.\u00c2\u00a0 And what truly makes an ad-supported streaming service viable is the interface of Spotify.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s iTunes.\u00c2\u00a0 Not on steroids, but just as clean and just about as easy to use.<\/p>\n
They tell me you can stream everything on MySpace.\u00c2\u00a0 But I can’t find the tracks on MySpace.\u00c2\u00a0 The company’s roots, which are based in raping and pillaging for profit, have hindered the enterprise’s development.\u00c2\u00a0 There were MP3 players before the iPod, but the iPod got the interface right and killed not only all its predecessors, but all its successors.\u00c2\u00a0 Furthermore, Spotify is a separate app, just like the iTunes Store.\u00c2\u00a0 So you’re not dependent on a slow-loading, sluggish Web browser.\u00c2\u00a0 Functionality is excellent.<\/p>\n
So what does all this mean?<\/p>\n
Rather than worrying about growing margins at the iTunes Store, blow out all your product for bupkes.\u00c2\u00a0 Are you aware of the Creedence Clearwater Revival story?\u00c2\u00a0 Greatest hits package selling 75 copies a week moves 20,000 units when the price drops by half.\u00c2\u00a0 Price does matter.\u00c2\u00a0 To argue about raising prices at the iTunes Store is futile.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d say lower them far below 69 cents a track.\u00c2\u00a0 Because soon, you’ll barely be able to sell them at all!\u00c2\u00a0 Selling MP3s\/AACs is like selling cassettes. The lifespan is limited.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m giving you a heads-up!\u00c2\u00a0 To fret about raising prices and lifting margins is akin to investing in Blockbuster, when what movie rental exists is controlled by Netflix, which delivers the DVD straight to your home or streams the movie to you via your computer.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t want to try and drag people into the past, you want to be one step ahead of them, greeting them in the future!<\/p>\n
Load up everyone with files.\u00c2\u00a0 Be my guest.\u00c2\u00a0 Own the history of recorded music on the equivalent of a wax cylinder.\u00c2\u00a0 Because we’re going to sell you everything once again in a better format, the same way the business blew up by getting people to replace LPs with "perfect", indestructible CDs.\u00c2\u00a0 CDs still work, but who wants them?<\/p>\n
I thought I didn’t need Spotify, I believed I had enough access to music.\u00c2\u00a0 But the interface was so good, the availability so perfect, that it’s all I use to listen to music on my computer.\u00c2\u00a0 I haven’t stolen a single track since I’ve installed Spotify.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just not worth it!<\/p>\n
If you license at the ISP level, are you going to have everyone pay or is it going to be opt-in?\u00c2\u00a0 If people pay for music, what about the now-impacted movie business and the publishing business thereafter? How is the money going to be divvied up?\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not against ISP licensing, I just think Spotify is a better way.<\/p>\n
Apple will have to immediately compete or soon be marginalized. You’ll have to be able to stream everything in the iTunes Store. Apple’s only advantage being portable streaming on the iPhone.<\/p>\n
That’s the one missing element, portability.\u00c2\u00a0 But the solution is in the offing.<\/p>\n
You can’t depend on Universal to come up with a solution.\u00c2\u00a0 Nokia Comes With Music?\u00c2\u00a0 People pay and they don’t even know the music is included!\u00c2\u00a0 Technologists deliver the solutions.\u00c2\u00a0 And they only work if licensed by the rights holders.\u00c2\u00a0 Swedish techies put up their own millions for Spotify, basing it upon proven P2P technology, and now they’re so far beyond MySpace and iMeem and everybody other than Apple that the labels will soon fear them, just like they’ve made Apple\/iTunes their whipping boy.<\/p>\n
But the rights holders have the surfboards.\u00c2\u00a0 The platforms are just the waves.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of them very big, but eventually they crash on shore and dissipate.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather than worrying about giving up the gold, just license everybody, because lifespans of platforms are barely longer than those of cell phones.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean would you be caught dead using a StarTac today?\u00c2\u00a0 Even a Treo?\u00c2\u00a0 Two years tops and you’re out, you’ve got to have the new thing, not only for hipness, but because of the new features!\u00c2\u00a0 Motorola tanked by depending on the RAZR.\u00c2\u00a0 The present iTunes is the RAZR, have no doubt.\u00c2\u00a0 As for CDs?\u00c2\u00a0 They’re the telegraph.<\/p>\n
Don’t debate rental versus ownership.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like people rented videotapes back in the eighties, they’ll rent music.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about philosophy so much as convenience.\u00c2\u00a0 DVDs became an ownership item because they were so cheap.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, regular viewers consider Netflix a better business proposition.\u00c2\u00a0 Then there are others, who don’t pay at all, and just use Hulu.<\/p>\n
People want what’s easiest.\u00c2\u00a0 They knew that files\/online\/computer music was much easier than buying and listening to CDs when label majordomos were still having their e-mail printed out by their assistants.\u00c2\u00a0 People want all the music all the time for a very low price. They just haven’t been offered it in a palatable, ubiquitous way prior to now.\u00c2\u00a0 When Spotify launches in America word will spread faster than news of Facebook’s heinous licensing practices.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you want to foresee what’s coming or be caught like a deer in the headlights, like ignorant Mark Zuckerberg?<\/p>\n
I’m telling you now.\u00c2\u00a0 Streaming on demand is much closer than you think.\u00c2\u00a0 Selling digital files, never mind physical media, is on its way out. Clear out your inventory and get ready for the new world!<\/p>\n
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It’s time to stop suing traders (stop the Pirate Bay proceedings post-haste) and recognize that the labels will be saved by the future, which is imminent. I used to comb Limewire and Rapidshare, adding to my collection of often unlistened to MP3s.\u00c2\u00a0 But I’ve just about given up.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just not worth the time.\u00c2\u00a0 Not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,2,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple","category-music-business","category-online"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s96vPs-spotify","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1709,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708\/revisions\/1709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}