MLB.com Wants To Rock 'N Roll -- But Is That Good Or Bad For Musicians?
from the taking-on-the-recording-industry dept
Major League Baseball's online arm, MLB Advanced Media (or just MLB.com) has always been fairly aggressive in trying to stretch out beyond just running a bunch of official baseball websites. The company, which apparently recently scrapped IPO plans over questions about who would get a cut, has tried in the past to run websites for other sports as well. Last year, they also bought Tickets.com so they could sell tickets to both sporting and concert events. However, now it appears they're branching out even further, doing a deal to help run the websites for various musicians -- including big names like The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West and Coldplay. From the perspective of MLB.com, this makes a tremendous amount of sense. While the record labels continue to stumble about as their traditional model is cut out from beneath it, the real money is going to be in selling other things around the content -- and an artist's website is going to be a key part of that. Many musicians realize this already, as the money they make from selling albums is tiny compared to everything else (concerts, merchandise, promotions, sponsorships, etc.). It always seemed logical for the record labels to get into the business of providing support for all those other things as well, but general musician distrust of record labels clearly has them looking at other options -- including Signatures Network, with whom MLB.com has done this deal. Of course, where this could get troublesome is that MLB.com often seems to have an even more draconian view of copyrights than the recording industry. After all, they've been claiming for a while now that the facts of a baseball game are owned by them -- even though you cannot copyright facts.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Re: MLB.com Wants To Rock 'N Roll
MLB, NFL, NHL, RIAA, MPAA these are all dinosaur oligopolies of a past era who refuse to acknowledge change and adapt to it. How evil is it when a working class couple can no longer afford to bring their kids to a ball game? How evil is it when these kids hit the net to download a concert they couldn't afford to attend?
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Re: Re: MLB.com Wants To Rock 'N Roll
But anyways, the step by MLB is the news here, not the business practice they'll be following... anyone with half a brain figured out in the late 90's that money wasn't going to be coming from album or ticket sales anymore... the licensing is what pays the bills.
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Re: Re: MLB.com Wants To Rock 'N Roll
Now: "Gee honey, do you think we can afford to take the kids to a ballgame this year?"
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Re: Re: Re: MLB.com Wants To Rock 'N Roll
If you are a baseball fan, you already know that the folks who do the MLB websites have put together a decent platform where fans can buy team merchandise and pay to watch or listen to games (archived or live). Since there are a finite number of MLB teams, they could either expand into other sports or take this step.
In three years you'll be able to go to www.coldplay.com and find data about the band (tour schedules, historical info, etc), buy merchandise and pay to watch streaming video from their last concert.
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Re: Re: Re: MLB.com Wants To Rock 'N Roll
Are you out of your fricking mind? In which better half of society do you live, get real pal...The poster Galley has got it DEAD on.
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MLB
Like Hell, i took my kids to a braves game recently, it wasnt very expensive, just $15 for my 2 yr old, 15 for my 4 yr old, 20 for me, 20 for my wife, 8.50 for 2 hot dogs, 8.50 for 2 nachos, 14.50 for drinks. Here I am at 101.00. But wait, the only tickets I could afford were orange, er skyscraper, spire seats. Ive seen a baseball game before, its not all that amazing, However my son has not, to this day. He could not see a think and got very bored very quick. I sadly will not ever attend a sports function again, i could have spent far less cash and had much more fun.
I was actually giving a breakdown of the "poor" family trying to see a ball game, and how affordable it ISNT.
Also, in addition to this bullshit, the teams wanted a seperate paycheck to allow their fans to "mingle" before the game.....
Does anyone remember when the athletes enjoyed their fans, signed an autograph for a kid, took a picture and didnt charge a second admission. I do.
I give todays athletes a clean warm FUCK YOU, for their disassociation with the fans that made them who they are...
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MLB.com Wants To Rock 'N Roll
Amen, they also eat at home rather than bitch about the price of food at the park.
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What? The last concert I went to was Steve Earle and it cost me $78 for 2 tickets. Only tickets I find costing $20 or less are for bands that play clubs or government sponsor shows. Arena tours? I think it is rarer to see a decent band for under $20.
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Scarcity
If you really are on a tight budget, then be financially responsible and choose the expenditures that make sense for you. If you want to take your kids to a baseball game, then save up. But don't complain when you are also wanting to have everything else that society tells you you must have as well.
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Baseball Ticket Prices
Now don't get me started on Football.
As for MLB.com... it knows marketing so they have that going for them. But as has been meantioned they may the RIAA and MPAA look like lightweights in comparison.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: MLB.com Wants To Rock 'N Roll
In 3 years? You can already get all of that now on many artist websites. MLB.com is going to have think outside of what is already being done.
One big hurdle is still overcoming the rights to the artists recording and performances. Those are the two things fans want most, and those are often the things still controlled by the label or a publishing company.
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Re: Re: Re: MLB.com Wants To Rock 'N Roll
AG
http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tex/ballpark/seatingchart.jsp
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