Independent Band Creates StopNapster.com
from the silly-band dept
In a great publicity move for itself, Bay Area band Tabloid, created an anti-Napster website called StopNapster.com. They encourage people to sabotage Napster by putting up MP3 tracks with misleading titles. So, instead of downloading a popular music track you may, instead, download a speech from someone about the evils of Napster. The site is pretty funny. They say that "no one" has the right to set the price of music, not even rock stars (unless, apparently, they're anti-Napster). Okay... um... then how does the price get set? The market is a wonderful thing, and in this case the market has clearly set the price at zero for MP3s... In reality, what the band is saying is that people should be punished for paying market price, when really they deserve to pay a premium. Thus, they're saying that, as a band, they don't know how to make themselves any money, and thus need to unfairly force it out of consumers.
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Calm down, Mike
This process will continue until we reach the maximum number of characters allowed in a domain name....
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Napster<->gnutella<->LOCKSS???
http://lockss.stanford.edu/projectdescbrief.htm
people are already figuring out how to distribute copies of digital stuff, keep them securely, and do it for free... Copyrights will give way to services, I predict. (Or at least, I hope....)
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Re: Napster economics
Napster took search costs down substantially. StopNapster absolutely raises them again. But creativity always rises to lower search costs time and time again. Look for certified Napster tracks or certification filters in the near future.
The cost of music will still be associated with the cost of bandwidth. Bandwidth isn't free, unless your telco doesn't charge you for the line. Patience isn't free, either... There will always be some costs associated with gathering music online.
Price is another matter -- who said that price is even remotely related to cost? COGS on a music CD (with packaging) was reported to be 55 cents in 1995 (CNBC report). With distribution costs and inventory holding costs, the cost was estimated to be only $1.35. Yet, as we know, prices were 10x that.
Monopoly pricing? Absolutely. Collusion? Sure. But now, what price given that the monopoly on distribution is effectively gone, the costs are exposed, and collusion has been litigated away? The price could be below costs if the labels realize the value of music in bringing customers to a site.
I do find it funny that the artists are complaining -- they make the thinnest of slices of the margin on any incremental CD sold. They used to argue about their slice of the pie, which would be a logical tact to continue given that fewer pies are being sold. That way they too force the record industry to change the economics of distribution toward they who generate the value of music. Those who complain about fewer pies are arguing over a battle that has been lost.
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It will depend on the fans
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