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to have and to hoard, part two

May 18th, 2009 • posts i've written

I thought it pertinent to follow up to my earlier post on music collecting with the news of Napster’s newest offering.

Napster is taking a page from Microsoft’s playbook (specifically their Zune pass) by offering 5 DRM free mp3 downloads per month along with unlimited streaming for $5/month. The Zune pass is $15/month and 10 mp3s. In essence, Napster (now owned by Best Buy) is offering free streaming along with the purchase of 5 mp3s. It’s quite a tempting offer.

It’s interesting to think that all of these services: iTunes, Napster, Microsoft, and iMeem have all had to revise their models to ensure users could walk away with actual mp3s. The have-to-have-it-in-my-hand model trumps even the best anything-I-want-anywhere-I-want-it model.

UPDATE: I’m totally wrong!

Ha, about an hour after posting this, I received Bob Lefsetz’s latest diatribe… all about Napster and their new offering, “MySpace inured listeners to streaming. YouTube seconded the effort. How many clips consist of just the song? While rights holders were debating the future, it was already happening. Mind-sets have changed. Ownership is HISTORY!” Bob predicts that single sales will ultimately dive, and streaming will be the only way to monetize music. He’s probably right on that one, but I still question the idea that ownership is history – users seem to be challenging that assertion left and right.

What do you think? Will ownership be required in most paid models to entice users?

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3 Responses (add your comment)

Matt Gierhart May 19, 2009
at 5:14 am

I do think ownership is on it’s last throws. Esp. with platforms like Hulu and in the U.K. Spotify. I wonder if the future of artist and creative type lies more in licensing rather than consumer markets.

I think you should really take a look at Spotify and factor that into this post. It’s a game changer. I’ll email you how to login.
Dan May 21, 2009
at 12:25 pm

Good point about Spotify from Matt. It’s pretty much revolutionising the way we listen to music in the UK, through being able to create and share playlists, and stream full tracks or albums at leisure. And apparently an app is being developed for the iPhone, which means listeners will be able to use it on the move. It’s only a matter of time until a pocket Spotify player (or something similar) is created, which will mean constant streaming – leaving downloads redundant. Which is a scary proposition for an industry that’s only a few years old!
Bob June 6, 2009
at 1:10 pm

Please note that such luxuries as ‘streaming’ music and videos anytime you want to watch/listen to them applies in a select few delightful first world countries.

1) The rest of the world, where internet/bandwidth charges are ludicrously high and you pay through your nose to simply browse
2) When the first world decides to go on holiday to the third world and would like something on their iPods (rather than have to pay exorbitant 3rd world + hotel rates in order to listen to music)