CNET to buy, retune MP3.com

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Dear CNET

People want MP3s. To setup an online music distributor all you need is a website, some bandwidth and a trusted brandname delivering MP3s.

Only thing stopping you right now, is the RIAA demands DRM.

But thats OK, next years hot acts won't be with the RIAA CD companies if the CD companies can't deliver the online customers. They are stuck with their existing delivery system, you have an advantage over them.

None of these heavy DRM doodahs sells, Apple for all its success should have sold 20 times that number if the success of the Mac scaled up to the Windows market - it didn't. Apple showed you the direction, but didn't go there themselves.

Promotion of new boy bands is often done by outside promoters & producers now. Not the big 5 themselves, so even promotion isn't as big a problem as you think it is.

So can I suggest:

1. Collect underpants

2. Sell albums at reasonable prices.
Choose some tracks off the album as promotional material.
Give those tracks away free.
Sell the rest of the tracks in the album as an album so you're not messing with micro payments.
Sell in the format the customer wants.
Tag the files you sell (or fingerprint if you want to) so if they are pirated you can trace the original buyer, but not DRM, it just puts people off.

You can also make personalized radio too as a promotional tool. Make playlists for customer X consisting of tracks customer X bought mixed with the free promotional tracks from albums bought by customers with similar tastes.
You can tell similar tastes by comparing their 'buy lists' up and looking for overlaps.

Charge the artists a small fee to list albums, so you can verify their identity and price out SPAM.

Don't judge, allow ANY artists to sell ANY music without quality judgement from you.

Rank artists by user buying or voting.
User rank artists not record companies.

Plough money back into real world promotion of the top acts.

3. Profit.

Posted by: Nigel Johnstone   Posted on: 11/14/03 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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