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MySpace Teams With Record Companies To Create Music Site
Posted by
Soulskill
on Thu Apr 03, 2008 08:31 PM
from the competition-is-a-good-thing dept.
from the competition-is-a-good-thing dept.
The New York Times reports on a deal between MySpace and three of the four major music labels to develop a new music website. Users will be able to stream songs for free, purchase downloadable tracks, and (possibly) pay a flat monthly fee for unlimited access. From the Times:
"Exact terms of the deal and details about the new site, like prices for downloaded music tracks, were not disclosed. But MySpace did say the site would offer songs free of digital rights management software or D.R.M., which is used to prevent illicit copying but can create technical hurdles for buyers. The songs would be playable on any portable music device, including Apple's iPod. For the music industry, the deal is partly born of desperation. In the face of widespread, escalating online piracy, music sales dropped to $11.5 billion in 2006 from a peak in 1999 of nearly $15 billion."
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More power to them (Score:2, Insightful)
I think the falling sales are the industry's fault (Score:5, Insightful)
Quote from the Slashdot story: "In the face of widespread, escalating online piracy, music sales dropped..."
To me, that sounds like the music industry saying, "If something bad happens, it must be someone else's fault."
I think the falling sales are the industry's fault. I was supposed to by a Britney Spears CD to hear her singing something about abusing men? If the music industry wants strong sales, it can be kind to the customer and produce something valuable.
Parent
Re:I think the falling sales are the industry's fa (Score:5, Funny)
This has got less to do with piracy and more to do with Amy Winehouse's crack bill.
Parent
Re:I think the falling sales are the industry's fa (Score:2)
I'm sure the femanazis are pleased.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Because of iTunes? (Score:5, Interesting)
I think its sort of awesome; we're seeing more variety and more competition in the market now than ever before. Of course that's not saying much when before was more or less == 0, but hey - it's a start.
While I have long been skeptical of the record industries ability to do anything other than try to ream consumers, the fact that they seem finally willing to ditch DRM en masse is certainly giving me some hope for the future.
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I just hope they don't stick glittery shit all over my MP3's.
Re:Because of iTunes? (Score:5, Funny)
Unfortunately, I am not looking forward to the auditory equivalent of MySpace.
Parent
Re:Because of iTunes? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Because of iTunes? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Because of iTunes? (Score:5, Insightful)
The competition between itunes and myspace is not for the consumer dollar, it is for the music industry's product. If myspace gets enough traction with consumers the MAFIAA can tell Jobs to stick that 99 cents up his ass, because they are going to stop supplying music to itunes for sale - instead they will switch over all of their product to myspace and it's $2.99 prices.
Apple is left with no songs to sell, and the music industry gets to start raping and pillaging again with the help of their old buddy, Rupert Murdoch.
Parent
Re:Because of iTunes? (Score:5, Interesting)
2) RIAA licenses MySpace/Amazon/Microsoft/etc to also provide the same or a wider selection of music. (This is where we are now.)
2a) If [New Competitor] has more restrictive DRM or offers a worse deal, or more likely when it doesn't work with their iPods, it fails to gain traction and eventually closes shop. (This has happened several times.)
3) Consumers flock to [new competitor] thanks to their clear advantage over the iTunes store. (warning: entering extremely hypothetical territory)
4) Record companies "tell Jobs where he can stick that 99 cents," call up [new competitor] and tell them its time to up the price to 2.99 a track!
4a) If [new competitor] complies, consumers flock out in droves quicker then they came in, [new competitor] closes up shop. Record companies better renegotiate to (1) before things get even worse for them.
5) More likely, [new competitor] realizes that a price hike of just about any size (let alone a 200% increase) will cause (4a) and tells the record companies where it can stick it's 2.99.
Record companies decision time:
Deal with the new monopoly and it's improved (from a consumer perspective) standards: goto (1), replacing iTunes with [new competitor].
Attempt to break the new monopoly by driving consumers to a new store, where prices can be raised: goto (2), and probably to (2a) not long after.
Seriously, consumers have had $.99 songs for too long now to accept a price hike with no justification. This theory someone always pops up when a new store is announced, that once they get a big enough market share iTunes will get the boot and prices will go through the roof. It's crazier than the RIAA litigation strategy.
We've seen countless new online music stores fail to grab more then a tiny segment of the market from Apple. This one doesn't seem to offer much that hasn't been tried better before, including name-brand recognition.
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Though personally I'd still take the extra competition, the RIAA is going under no matter what, and I'm willing to put up with a bit more trashing if it means we won't end up with another Microsoft.
This could be kind of cool (Score:2, Interesting)
last.fm? (Score:3, Interesting)
Now if they'd just get the prices down (Score:4, Interesting)
Who wants to keep track of all this crap on your hard drive? I'll pay four cents every time I want to hear most songs.
And if, for some reason, I want to save it as an mp3, I expect to be able to do so, with no arguments.
You serve me, RIAA bitches, not the other way around. Maybe you're starting to understand this you stupid fucking bastards.
Re:Now if they'd just get the prices down (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
You work for Verizon? (Score:3, Funny)
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Anyway, I've always said $0.25 per song, and no damn DRM, is my sweet spot. Apple's $1 per track can blow me.. that's basically what I was paying the music industry for albums, back when I gave a shit about buying music.
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I'm sorry, but I just can't buy into the argument that $1 per-track is too expensive or that CDs in general are overpriced. Not when video games are $60 each.
Starbucks charges more than $1.50 for a plain cup of coffee.
At the Ralphs Grocery Store down the street (they are an average, Kroger owned supermarket), the generic loaf of white bread cost $2.00.
At the pump, regular unleaded gasoline was $3.69 a gallon two days ago.
Mass Market Paperback books range from $5.99 to $9.99.
New Release DVDs have been between $2.00 to $6.00 for several years now...to RENT
At this point, you can have most songs a la carte, without the baggage of songs you dislike. If w
Prices of other things (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm sure that the cost of gasoline doubling in that same time had nothing to do with people buying fewer CDs.
Re: (Score:2)
Just think of how well Britney Spears was doing at that time, then look now. That is the look of the recoding industry.
Re:Prices of other things (Score:5, Insightful)
From the inception of vinyl until the turn of the century, most people just bought pop music, because that was the only music they could hear at the time. There was nothing to compare contemporary music to, so people bought it out of ignorance. Generation gaps, outdated and worn out audio formats, scarcity due to albums going out of print, and a general lack of interest or time/money to sample, kept the majority of listeners from experiencing music's rich history.
Once Napster came about, people suddenly had instantaneous access to almost the entire back catalog of all prerecorded music (or at least all music that was released on CDs). This allowed for a rebirth of older music and genres that hadn't seen as many fans since their industry-granted 15 minutes of fame expired, as well as the diversification and maturing of musical taste in the majority of listeners. Lots of people I know like older music as well as new music, and have a far more diverse set of musical ascetics than any of the generations past. The success of the Guitar Hero franchise is an excellent example of this. Most of the soundtrack is either indie music or music that's at least 20 years old, yet it sells because people have heard a decent amount of the soundtrack before and found that they liked it much better than what plays on today's top 40 radio or what's in the CD racks at Wal-Mart.
The industry is dying primarily because their business model relied on music being disposable and the audience being fickle and spontaneous. Since P2P emerged, tastes have become more engraved in the general populace, and it's usually difficult to get people to stop liking the really good artists just because something new has come out. Now that they can't get people to throw out their old albums anymore for new ones, the industry has lost its moneymaker. Yes, people are now more used to the idea of music being "free," but the real cause of sales slippage is because the industry has failed to diversify as fast as its populace has. It's still trying to market pop idols as if these were the days of old. Not anymore.
Parent
Let me fix that for you ... (Score:5, Insightful)
There, fixed it for you.
Re: (Score:3)
There was at least as much crap music in the 90s as there is now. And the 80s. And the 70s.
I have my theories, but I don't really know the reason for declining album sales, save that poor music isn't it. It appears the RIAA doesn't know the reason either.
Hopefully With The Same Great Quality of Service (Score:2, Insightful)
Piracy's Not to Blame (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Of course there's a chance none of it will be your cup of tea.
Just sayin'
Screw that. (Score:5, Interesting)
Cry me a river 'industry'. If there was an objective way to measure the quality of music coming from the big labels, I'm sure it would be would be in the red as well. The only good music I'm hearing is odd little acts going it alone, and mostly by choice.
The new indie is no record. Just free tracks, and an invitation to come to a show. Sadly, even doing this is a incredible money sink. Driving an hour to shows is ridiculously spendy; my drummer lives over one hundred miles away as well! Since we don't play covers, we draw less than your AC/DC/Zepplin/80's/Classic/Rock band. A crap economy, DVDs, PS3s, and other distractions don't help either.
I say, ignore this site - why again would I make someone buy a track, or put any obstacle in the way of more people hearing my music? Since it's a label partnership, the 'names' are going to get pushed, and get preferential placement anyway.
Support your local band [www.theschmoejoes] and buy a t-shirt! It's pretty much the only business model left.
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Here they are! The Schmoejoes Shirts! [theschmoejoes.com] Don't forget to come to small town Minnesota and see us - or use the tubes!
youtube.com/theschmoejoes [youtube.com]
myspace.com/theschmoejoes [myspace.com]
(I obviously need the link-makin' practice)
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I disagree. I know a couple of emerging (and kick ass) bands in the Phoenix area, and I always tell them to have at least one or two free tracks (as in downloadable) so people can put them on their iPods or such. It keeps things fresh between shows (especially if they tour), and reminds them that the band exists as more than an anomalous myspace friend or such. Say you have 5 recorded tracks, that one you give away isn't going to harm you, but will be a nice
Last.fm Beat Tom To The Punch (Score:4, Insightful)
I think this is too little, too late on the part of MySpace. Their site fell out of fad (in favor for Facebook, but Facebook will eventually be a fad too), and was and still has a terrible site design.
Last.Fm will be a tough competitor to face off against, especially if the same "brilliant" minds behind the MySpace site layout try to crack Last.Fm's bread & butter.
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Dude, that site is repulsive... it's plagued by those annoying scamvertisements disguised as system windows, "You have one message, click the OK button before time runs out!"
I can't wait for ad-block to be updated to FF3b5 :'(
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Myspace has one important asset to this: Eyes. Teen eyes.
Piracy caused billions in damage? (Score:4, Interesting)
When the industry thinks of the billions lost do they even take into account the amount of independent artists that are booming right now? Their website says "RIAA members create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 90% of all legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States" which is pure malarkey. Independents have a bigger slice of the pie and this also doesn't take into account many international artists. These self-produced, sometimes even self distributed, artists gain respect all around because they know some jerk with a ponytail didn't tamper with the creative talent that makes good bands, amazing. This is the age where you can spend a couple thousands of dollars or less, in recording equipment, to produce a semi-professional album. Kids don't need to beg Record companies to back them financially for studio recording sessions, they do it themselves, drop $900 to manufacture 1000 professional CDs, and sell em for $8-$10.
Maybe the fact that MP3's are cheaper than CD's period? iTunes has destroyed the album, people only spend $3 for 3 songs instead of $13 for the album. Maybe they'd buy the whole album if many mainstreams bands sucked at creating strong albums. No one wants to pay $17 for a brand new CD anymore because the scam has gone on far too long, everyone knows better, produce a bad album iTunes enforces it and makes you pay.
I'm sure there's a lot of discrepancy in those numbers because of the declining Used CD market as well.
More money is thrown around nowadays but the music market is complicated compared to yesterday. RIAA is just getting hammered because people are spending their money elsewhere and many artists can survive without standing under the RIAA umbrella.
INTERESTING FACTS:
If you are not an artist that pays royalties to the RIAA your money from records sold is not counted in this figure AND if you do not join the RIAA you are incapable of obtaining a Gold or Platinum record, true story.
-AKA
Whoever came up with that idea... (Score:3, Insightful)
3 of the 4 major music labels? Make your own!
And give us some GOOD music, ferchrissake!
In the face of piracy? (Score:2, Informative)
Misleading at best. Why are we supposed to automatically assume that piracy is the sole cause of the flatlining record industry profits? Digital distribution methods have increased exponentially, and they offer music at a far greater convenience and far cheaper price than physical media. Perhaps the mass exodus to cheaper digital downloads -- rather than ponying up
Consumers are escaping traditional boundries (Score:2, Interesting)
If you include sales from independent entities distributing by themselves for themselves (i.e. ignore the vacuous wailing of sidestepped middlemen) overall music sales where actually up 14%
Real figures would be nice (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd love to know how much of the drop in sales is due to "escalating on-line piracy", and how much is due to the fact that people no longer have to accept a bunch of crap being shoved down their throats so they can get the one or two songs on a CD that are worth listening to. If I like even three songs, it's a pretty safe bet that I'll be forking out the cash. One or two songs? Not so much.
Wouldn't it be interesting to have every song on a particular CD available on a site like this, then track how much money each had made after a year, or how many times it had been downloaded. There'd certainly be some tunes that caught on slowly and eventually overtook the initial hit tune. "Ball and a Biscuit" off the same White Stripes CD as "Seven Nation Army" would be an example in my particular case. But those are the exception. Finally, we'd finally get a chance to see objective proof of just how much filler there is on your basic $20 CD.
Some Eeerie Similarity With imeem.com (Score:4, Insightful)
So now you have imeem as this monster service where you can essentially listen to any tune ever recorded, and it's all paid for by advertising.
Similarly, myspace has been in litigation with the record labels and has taken a page from the imeem playbook, copying the deal making, the business model and everything else. Only this isn't some tiny startup, this is Fox Interactive with it's massive pockets.
I really hope myspace loses this time.
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I tried it out on your recommendation, and I'm not impressed. I've been meaning to buy Nick Cave's album "Henry's Dream", so I searched for tracks. Only 3, and none of them the well known songs of the album.
I hope to god it's set up and coded better... (Score:2)
What about uploading our own tracks? (Score:2)
Elvis Presley is dead, please let him rot (Score:2, Interesting)
This is hardly progress. This is just another attempt to keep alive one of the most archaic and outdated marketing models still in widespread use. They say "before anyone did anything, Elvis Presley did everything" but in reality his unprecidented success screwed everything. Music marketeers have been blindly flogging the same horse ever since, despite the endless painfully obvious indicators that a paradigm shift is imperative to their survival.
The fundamental flaw in the Elvis marketing model is that
Have you no faith? (Score:2, Insightful)
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