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MP3.com Hastily Re-launches -- But Will It Fly?
macdaddypunk writes "Today CNET Networks unveiled the service that has taken them five months to build: the new (but not-necessarily-improved) MP3.com. The site offers free downloads and a place to upload music, but it lacks the extra features of the original MP3.com, and it has a meager selection of barely 2,000 artists. The best part: their charts are literally random (songs are sorted by number of downloads, currently zero for all songs!). Smells like a hasty launch, perhaps rushed by last week's news that the original MP3.com archive (1.7 million songs) has been resurrected by another free MP3 download site, GarageBand.com."
It was http://www.mp3isback.com, which redirects, but they obviosuly though better of using it...
I am very pleased to hear that mp3.com's archive of songs has been resurrected by another site. I was blown away when I read that the mp3s were being deleted. It reminds me of those Dr. Who episodes that are forever lost because the BBC didn't think it important to archive them.
I am completely in support of any system that supports local and independant artits. That is where the real musical soul of America is. (apologies to international users) I'm tired of just accepting what ever the industry decides is worth of my attention. Not that there is not talent in the industry. I just feel the industry squashes artistic development. Welcome back MP3.com. There is ALWAYS room to grow.
Yeah, I guess I'm funny like that.
Ye olde mp3.com was cluttered up with all of these stupid free songs from big commercial artists. While that was sort of good, it skewed all of the rankings and pushed all of the undiscovered talent down. Thats what used to be good about mp3.com back in the day. I think it would be a much better idea to seprerate the big well known groups from the indipendents. Hopefully, because MP3.com is nolonger owned by a record label it will just be a venue for discovering new independant artists. And that would make me happy.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Even though you have to pay to get it back, Garageband has the old material. Mp3.com got 99% of their old hits from artists like me doing stuff with their pages from their houses. Without that bedroom industry support, they will be lost in the sea of half-RIAA-sponsored shelac. Might as well use live365.com to listen to mp3 radio of whatever you want -- at least then you don't have to pay too much to get commercial-free radio in your favorite genre. I will continue to make music, but I will only link to it from sites like this (back to my own site)... i'm not paying money so that my hard work gets lost in a sea of RIAA red tape.
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Try other sites like www.myglobalsound.com instead. Everything MP3.com should have been the first time around. It was created by a couple geeks and runs on Linux, too! Think MP3.com value plus ITMS ease-of-use plus Google variety. I'm filling up my third custom music disc as I type. Always find something good (and new!) there.
Being a musician in my own right, I've been considering the idea of using a P2P client for distribution of my music. Since *I* would be the copyright holder, it would be completely legitimate and get my music heard. In the effort to destroy the RIAA's stranglehold over the music business, I would encourage any of you with a creative bent to distribute your works via P2P. After all, fame is worth a lot more than money because fame can get you places that money can't. I have been experimenting with P2P clients like MUTE and the interesting new file sharing pardigm Konspire. Konspire has the interesting side effect of turning P2P around into something like what Usenet used to be, only it's a LOT cooler.
My suggestions:
-Try out MUTE
-Try out Konspire
-If you are creative, focus on getting your name known via P2P
-Once you have an established reputation, you can keep your fans happy with some free tracks/videos/writing and some exclusive stuff that they would happily pay for. It's the best of both worlds.
Who is Twirlip of the Mists?
Screw CNet. Sure, they've resurrected the concept, but I'm guessing they'll also resurrect the idea of paying 20 dollars to be permitted to show more than 3 songs. And maybe they'll even invent their own format, maybe CNP3, that will require you to download the appropriate codecs and maybe a player program from them. Remember, it's all "Free to Try, $99.99 to Buy!"
*****
Dear Mary,
I yearn for you tragically,
A.T. Tappman, Chaplain, U.S. Army.
Worked at MP3.com from the IPO until the beginning of 2003- nearly four years. Others were there longer and knew more, but some of my observations:
* Too much crap. Free uploading means that anyone who thought they were an artist could upload music. No business model can support this. MP3 really needed to charge artists a few dollars a month. That wouldn't limit a real artist, but it might limit the guys that churned out crap.
* No way to find good music. There were "top 100" charts, but that's about it. How about Amazon-style relevance? Michael Robertson hated anything that forced a listener to listen to something- why wouldn't people want to choose each and every track? Well, some people don't care, or don't want to take the time. Give me a stream and leave me alone.
* No business model. Can't make money giving free uploads and free downloads. Subscriptions were ineffective, artist subscriptions pissed off the artists, and giving away hundreds of thousands per month was just silly.
* CEOs that didn't care. Michael Robertson had some vision and enthusiasm, but couldn't save it.
On the other hand, there were some great people and ideas at MP3.com. Trusonic is one of those- I'm sure they will continue to be successful.
I believe mp3.com will become a "Music Portal" for info about digital music -- without acctually hosting any music. Where as music.download.com will be a place to download music other people have uploaded (much as download.com is a place to download software, yad, yada...)
-- The Hoss Man