Gateway as Content Distributor?

crovira writes "CNet has an article about Gateway testing the waters of the music business and using their retail stores as music outlets." crovira excerpts: "So far, Gateway executives have not specified exact plans that the company will pursue, but they have indicated that it could position itself as a conduit for content from established and new artists. Turner also indicated that Gateway is contemplating bypassing the titans of the music industry if necessary. 'We have retail stores that aren't beholden to the music industry,' Turner said. 'There are a lot of artists out there.'" Makes one wonder if the xxAAs will roll-over and take their tithe or if they'll try to find some anti-competitive legal maneuvering leverage to keep Gateway out? And can Apple be far behind with video services out of their own retail outlets?"

Comments

personally

[Jacer]

i'd much rather have good pirated music, than crappy legal music..... granted people have different tastes in music, but in all seriousness, some musicians just aren't talented, i guess it's really a moot point being as i have 30 gigs of mp3s....

Gateway often goes against the big guys

[zoombat]

I don't have many feelings (positive or negative) for Gateway's products, but I must say I've been rather impressed with Gateway's rebellion against some big players. They've gone against the DMCA before, and they testified against Microsoft...

I'm not trying to say that Gateway is some sort of Utopian selfless corporation or anything, but I just have to cheer when I see big-name companies taking on the big bullies.

Image Change for Gateway

[Mr.Sharpy]

This and the news of their plan to use the cow against the RIAA makes it appear to me that they are gravitating toward and image change to set them apart from the other computer makers. This sort of "anti-establishment" plan could be an attempt to get the attention of all those millions of pirateers the RIAA is so afraid of. Grabbing just a portion of that market would be a signifigant win for Gateway with its recent lackluster business.

It all makes me wonder how long it will be until Gateway sheds it's cowspots in favor of eye patches and parrots. But seriously, I wonder if we will see them installing Kazaa or Morpheus by default before too long.

This is exactly what we need!

[swordboy]

Why don't the big companies like McDonalds, Wal Mart, etc, etc realize the potential of developing their own Free music label? This would be GREAT advertising on their part. For example, Wal Mart or whoever could release songs in a digital format for Free. Perhaps they could release a special player that would not allow anyone to "share" the song until a specified date. In this respect, people would have to come into the store for downloading the new releases. I'd do this... and hell, I would definitely buy whatever I could along the way.

Hardware less profitable

[nucal]

I wonder if the "hidden" message here is that Gateway sees PC sales to continue to be weak and they are desperately looking to do something with all of those retail outlets ...

Bad Idea, but positive consequences

[Essron]

This strategy is clearly doomed. First, we have the fact that Gateway has NO knowledge of the entertainment industry or media distribution, and arguably little knowledge about making decent hardware.

Second, we have FuckedCompany. With all the casualties in the online music space, Gateway better have one hell of a secret weapon. Great customer service and brick-and-mortar stores full of low-tech heads-of-households looking to invest in a computer will not help them sell records.

Gateway is a crumbling company. A look at recent news shows that they are clearly in a state of panic. Last I remember reading was that they were closing European operations and trying to get into IT consulting. I repeat: state of panic.

In the wisest of possible strategies, this music ploy is just a publicity stunt to earn credibility with "all those crazy kids." In their more probable strategy, it is simply bad management making a poor investment outside of their core competencies.

On a positive note, any money they throw at this project will be applied to a full frontal attack of the entertainment media establishment (xxAA's), which in a moral sense may be an ideal use of funds. In an economic sense, it is a waste of precious resources.

Re:How The Music Industry Can Keep Gateway Out

[Thing 1]

With CD burners getting faster and cheaper all the time, on-demand CD production (whether it's mix and match or entire albums) has become reasonable; Perhaps someone will make it a reality.

You're not kidding. A small anecdote from today:

I just started working out again after a nasty shoulder injury (still hurts but I can avoid the exercises that abuse it). In the past, I had worked out to Jesus Jones' "Doubt" -- it's got a nice, moving beat and uplifting lyrics (for the most part).

So I set up my bench and dumbells in the garage, and went looking for the CD. I couldn't find it. But luckily I had started a project months ago to rip my CDs, and that was one I had ripped. 8 minutes later, I had burned it onto CD (at 12x), and had a good workout session.

If Gateway uses distribution methods that complement this type of behavior, they'll succeed. But if they follow the RIAA's stance (that anyone burning a CD is commiting a crime), then they won't get very far.

I'm very happy to see this development. Music makes a lot of money, and the barriers to entry keep falling. I would imagine that many, many companies (from various different fields) will jump on the music distribution bandwagon in the next couple years.