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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?"
- Listen to music geared toward the Lowest Common Denominator
- on a machine geared toward the Lowest Common Denominator.
Neat."What is the sound of one belly slapping?"
the great thing is Gateway has enough clout to pull this off. And the more holes Gateway puts in the wall the more cracks smaller guys can squeese through.
If I were only smart enough to accomplish the things I dream about.. Or maybe too dumb to care.
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....
--fetch daddy's blue fright wig, i must be handsome when i release my rage
Bet then perhaps we'd see a rise in people getting computers from little companies no one has ever heard of.
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.
Ted Waitt's brother Norm started Samson Music back in 1997. They signed a bunch of new artists, but then dropped them, changed their name to Gold Circle Records and signed a bunch of 80's leftovers.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
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.
I don't see how they're doing anything that exposes them to a lawsuit. From what I read of the article, they're only distributing music that they can legally distribute. It sounds like they're essentially a more commercialized version of mp3.com's regular service (not to be confused with the lawsuit-ridden BeamIT service).
I suspect many artists will use this system as a way to promote their work without giving up all of their work. They could create a few freely distributable singles and allow those to help drive album sales. It would be similar in nature to one of the big pro-P2P arguments (exposure to artists/sample before you buy), but it would be done with the full consent of the copyright holder and it wouldn't necessarily result in the entire album being available.
IIRC, Apple are legally unable to sell music due to a deal with Apple Music (of Beatles fame) way back when. Not sure if this still applies. IANAL
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.
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
Apple Records sued Apple Inc. in 1989 over a secret agreement the two had in 1981. Apple Records allowed Apple Inc. to keep their nifty little apple logo as long as they stayed out of the music industry. This came up again recently with the release of the iPod, although I don't know the outcome of the suit.
When my parents got a computer a few years ago from Gateway, they got their ISP service from Gateway.net . It was truly awful. The folks at Gateway obviously didn't have a clue as to how to run an ISP, but were just trying to jump on the internet bandwagon. Now my father is on Earthlink, and my mother on AOL, and Gateway.net has apparently become part of CompuServe.
I have a feeling that this is another attempt by Gateway to experiment with the latest trendy thing. They should just stick with what they know.
The big players in the music industry don't have a monopoly on talent. Just look at the crap-slingers on the Billboard Top 40, and tell me nobody else has this type of "star power", and I won't listen to you anymore, because it would waste my precious time.
Now Gateway comes along, trying to salvage getting its butt whooped by Dell in the home pc market, thinking it can capitalize on this fact.
Here's the problem, if you want to make stars (like the music industry most certainly does), than you need to get them exposure. The web isn't bad for distribution, but promotion is tough. The simple reason is there is just too much out there for people to focus in on a group or two and make superstars out of them. In the music business, people are spoon-fed the next big thing; they make a selection from a limited pool of applicants.
Now, if the music industry tells the radio conglomerates not to air artist so-and-so, you can bet your arse you won't be hearing them. If Bobby and Sally Teen USA don't see your awesome band on MTV, then they could only ever be "a great underground band". To Gateway's dismay, great underground bands don't usually make top dollar like the industry puppets do [save your counter-examples, I speak in the general sense].
So, the music industry can easily prevent Gateway from impinging on their turf by leveraging their might concerning radio and television against Gateway. Without these conduits of distribution, Gateway's plan is more hype than hope, I'm afraid.
To quote the article:
And can Apple be far behind with video services out of their own retail outlets?
I think anyone who follows Apple knows about the whole Apple Records thing...
But, last I checked, Apple Records didn't have a problem with them distributing video content.
They have already set precedent, because...
We've got QuickTime and all of those related products...
And, we've got Apple Distributing Movie Trailers on their web site...
If they were going to persue Apple on the video front, I'ld figure it would have already been done.
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 ...
they are the same as the RIAA/MPAA they just don't have the $$ yet to buy the political muscle. Look at their PC agreements. Open the box void the warranty, it MUST be serviced at Gateway.
I would not buy a computer from them what makes you think I'd buy music from them ? Just because someone is competing with the Music Behemoths does not make them our friend, probably the exact opposite.
Stand up for yourselves, you are NOT consumers, you are CUSTOMERS, and need to be treated with some respect.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
yeah its called streaming
wake up Video + music will be on a server and you select what you want when you want it
the tradtional ISP is gone as soon as the Mobile networks have enough bandwidth to do Video
that way if you have a TV/STB then you put in SIM chip and recive what you want paying for rentels via sim(what we think of as the phone)
and if you want music plug in you earjacks into phone and away you go
I have not seen a single new phone (based on OMAP) that cant do streaming MP3
its only a matter of time until the networks (mobile) work out this revenue generator and kick the cable co/baby bel/incumbant ARSE
muh hahaha
regards
john jones
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.
Let's say a customer lives near a Gateway Country Store, and doesn't have broadband Internet access. Said customer could use MP3.com to mix-and-match an album, then pick an option to have it burned to CD at the Gateway store. Assuming that each Gateway store has a pipe with halfway-decent bandwidth, and assuming that some of their demo models have CD burners, the disk can be waiting for the customer by the time they drive to the store.
If Gateway allows users to surf to the site from the stores' demo machines, then Gateway can even generate impulse-driven sales. The "netCDs" at MP3.com are $4-6 each, Gateway would buy blank CD-R in bulk (less than $1 per), toss in one dollar for bandwidth/employees/profits, and Gateway can charge $6-8 per CD, undercutting MP3.com (because there's no shipping) and RIAA (because their not evil, price-gouging control freaks).
What do you think?
Here's the problem, if you want to make stars (like the music industry most certainly does), than you need to get them exposure. The web isn't bad for distribution, but promotion is tough.
Now, if the music industry tells the radio conglomerates not to air artist so-and-so, you can bet your arse you won't be hearing them. If Bobby and Sally Teen USA don't see your awesome band on MTV, then they could only ever be "a great underground band".
That's the way it WAS.
But we're on the Internet now.
The Mainstream Media is getting CREAMED by the Internet, in one venue after another: news, content, and and exposure to name just three.
To paraphraise the way my wife puts it:
"Word of Mouth" takes on a whole new meaning when you can get on your computer and recommend an artist you like to "a couple million of your closest friends".
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way