Napster On the Block

Ars Technica has a good wrap of Napster hanging out a "For Sale or Partner" sign. With half a million subscribers (down from the previous quarter) and $100M in annual revenue, the company is still bleeding cash. El Reg pinpoints the trouble: "The subscription crowd – and Apple via iTunes – must fight over a few pennies per song in profit. More from the Vulture: "You have to wonder if Napster's customer base is really worth the effort for a company such as Microsoft or even Real. The Napster brand has all the gravitas of a Che Guevara t-shirt."

Comments

Re:Unregulated Markets Poster Child

[stubear]

Their business model is not outdated and I really wish you stupid geeks would quit parroting this stupid mantra. I know you think if you say something over and over enough times you are bound to finally be right but it's not going to happen. There has been no conclusive proof that alternatives like distributing via P2P and selling concert tickets or merchandise is a legitimate business model. This also assumes that all businesses which rely on copyrights will be able to do the same. What are authors supposed to do? Go on reading tours? Until then our current system works just fine unless you simply want shit for free and are willing to illegally distribute intellectual property over the internet.