This guest post on the struggles of online music services to reach profitability is written by Michael Robertson, the founder of music sites MP3.com and MP3Tunes, as well as a number of non-music related startups like Gizmo andDealipedia. As one of the first entrepreneurs to battle the music labels over an online service, he has a unique perspective on the scene.
A new music service called Spotify has attracted millions of users in a short time with the enticing lure of listening to any common song on your computer free. Meanwhile, the digital music grandpa Napster has quietly launched a $5 service that offers unlimited streaming plus free MP3 files.
A closer examination reveals that Spotify has raised tens of millions of dollars, given equity to the record labels, is under constant attack by hackers, uses clever P2P technology, is accruing enormous per song royalty obligations and has the seemingly impossible task of figuring out how to generate enough money from a free ad model to satisfy the music companies.
Here’s my admittedly biased look at both companies:
Click here to read more…
Author: Anonymous Guest Author
Source: Techcrunch
hello,
thanks for the great quality of your blog, each time i come here, i’m amazed.
black hattitude.