Analysing the genesis of online consumption
“Digital Wars” - Chapter Four Digital Music: Apple versus Microsoft page 96 - 99
“People are going to stop going to a lot of (physical) stores. And they’re going to buy stuff over the web,...,The best way to think of of the web is as a direct-to-customer distribution channel, wether it’s for information or commerce. It bypasses all middlemen.” - Steve Jobbs (p96)
Cutting out the middle man. Straight to consumer relationship.
This exemplifies the idea that Steve Jobbs identified the potential of bussiness via the intrnet, somethin that the big labels didn’t realise. If anything, I get the impression that Steve jobbs actually saved the music industry from total collapse
“The labels weren’t convinced. In January 2002 they had launched their own music subscription services, called PRessplay and MusicNet. Together they has the copyrights (and s permission to sell or license) 80 percent or recorded music. PressPlay was a joint venture between Sony and Universal/Vivendi. MusicNet had the backing of EMI, BMG, Time Warner and Real Networks. Some Record Labels, noteably Sony, also introduced DRM on music CD’s, which made ripping content Impossible” (p96)
DRM - Digital rights Management
is a term referring to various access control technologies that are used to restrict the usage of proprietary software, hardware, or content.[1] DRM includes technologies that control the use, modification, and distribution of copyrighted works, as well as systems within devices that enforce these policies. The term is also sometimes referred to as "copy protection", "technical protection measures", "copy prevention", or "copy control", although the correctness of doing so is disputed.[2]
On further reading this book it would seem that there was a big demand for being able to rip songs onto cd’s, however DRM made this impossible. DRM serves the record companies needs for securing copyright, however seems horrendously non consumer friendly:
“Both were nightmarish to use. PRessplay required a a 15 dollar per month subscription - equivalent to buying one one or two CD’s every month” (96)
“MusicNet demanded a 10 dollar per month payment for streaming and downloads. Not every Pressplay song could be downloaded; not every every download could be burnt to a CD; you couldn’t burn more than two tracks from a single artist each month. On MusicNet, you could play downloaded songs only on the PC that brought them; and you couldn’t burn to a CD.”
What i conclude from this is that the record labels tried to introduce a bussiness model to the intrnet age on their own dated terms and ideas and it didnt work on a consumer level, which of course fails as a bussiness model.
Further strenghtening my theory that Itunes perhaps savd the music ndustry from complete exctinction. I feel that the problem now is that the model hasn’t changed too much because the labels havn’t seen the need to change a model that works for them
perhaps too scared to change again?
food for thought
