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Why AnywhereCD Failed

Posted by kdawson on from the unblinking-look-at-the-business dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In an obituary for AnywhereCD, which closes in one week, founder (and MP3.com founder) Michael Robertson chronicles how at least one record label wanted him to embed credit card numbers of buyers into songs. A fascinating story about how at least some of the labels still don't get it and why AnywhereCD is about to be buried."

11 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. FTA by MyLongNickName · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Here is the real reason the business model failed:

    "I believe that if you give people real value (music or anything else) they are happy to pay."

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  2. All about control by Major+Blud · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The reason that Robertson' business didn't succeed is that the record companies are getting tired of dealing with third-party vendors selling their music. They want total control over their content, whether it be distribution, payment methods, and DRM. They want to decide how you buy it, how much it cost, and what you can do with your purchased music. We're seeing this come to light now, with Universal and others pulling out of iTunes and controlling distribution internally.

    --
    If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
    1. Re:All about control by Gr8Apes · · Score: 5, Interesting

      And this is where the music industry as it stands fails to see the logical end to their model: If it is more profitable for them to pull out of an aggregating portal site and run their own, then what's to prevent artists from doing the same? Why should artists remain with them in this scenario? Artists could, gasp, make their own deals with iTunes or the like. Odds are that artists will wind up with agents that manage that for them in return for a fee.

      I would not be surprised to see this develop to their logical conclusion where there are distribution sites that offer a range of services to artists to distribute their work but do not "own" the distribution or copyrights to those works. This can only help artists in the long run, although the conversion to that environment will mostly likely have some short-term hiccups as marketing etc is worked out.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  3. Another shining example of failure to adapt by LoadWB · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have to agree with his biggest point, that people WANT the music, but they also insist on value. This is an area where The Labels have failed to grasp onto the idea of adapting to the medium of the day: the Internet.

    Isn't there a theory about failing to adapt and thus failing to survive? Sounds familiar for some reason. (Though, in this unfortunate case, failing to adapt to lack of adaptation lead to demise. Sounds soooo bass akwards!)

    1. Re:Another shining example of failure to adapt by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is an area where The Labels have failed to grasp onto the idea of adapting to the medium of the day: the Internet.

      Isn't there a theory about failing to adapt and thus failing to survive? Sounds familiar for some reason.

      Well, the Labels want to make sure that they get paid every time you listen. If they can't do that, they'll try to ensure you only get to play it if you have the original CD (or if they can install a rootkit on your machine, or what have you).

      See, you only have to adapt to survive when you can't have the environment around you modified. When you can get laws passed like the DMCA which allow you to make it a crime to do things that used to be covered under fair use (or, indeed, try to legally remove the concept of fair use altogether), you don't need to adapt.

      In their current business model, they can change the reality around them. I'm with you, hopefully "adapt or die" will have to apply to them. But, I'm not holding out any belief that they're willing to accept any scenario in which I buy music, digitize it, and then listen to it on any device I want to when I want to without further requirements imposed by them. To them, they want complete control of how I use it once it's in my hands.

      Cheers
      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  4. Seemed like a good idea... by bteeter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd never heard of them until today - and I practically live online. They must not have been marketing all that much for me to have not even heard of them.

    In any event, it sounds like AnywhereCD had a pretty decent business idea, except maybe that it should be the CD as the "addon" instead of the downloads.

    I wonder if Apple or any of the other major retailers will ever offer an option like "buy this digital album for $x and for $y more get a CD copy". I don't see why not. CD's are so cheap you could sell them as add ons for say $5 dollars more than the download and make a nice profit. Plus the buyer will have the permanency of the CD.

  5. Not even /. covered it by Alizarin+Erythrosin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sadly, few press outlets covered our grand opening. Looking back I suspect there were probably many contributing factors.

    I did a search for anything here on the /. and, other than this article, nothing came up. I guess that not even /. wanted to cover a new (and rather interesting) online music store.
    --
    There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
    1. Re:Not even /. covered it by jandrese · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Probably he never submitted it anywhere. Even Google doesn't know much about this site; the first page is all new articles about how it is shutting down. I'm wondering if he did any advertising at all (even free advertising by submitting articles to Slashdot and the like)?

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
  6. Embedding credit card numbers???? by Iphtashu+Fitz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Am I the only one whose jaw just about hit the floor when reading this asinine comment? It absolutely amazes me that ANYBODY would make such a suggestion. I could see identity thieves salivating at the thought of this. (Yes, I know you would need more than just the number to really do anything with it)

    That guy should see if the job of CEO at Sony is available...

  7. The Whole Enchilada by daskrabs · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The only way the labels can make a profit off of digital downloads is to offer a subscription to their entire library, with on-demand access to any album, available at home and on the road, without any restrictions. That way, you eliminate the need for illegal downloads and file sharing. People will gladly pay for that. I would. And this, of course, does not apply to people who still want to buy CD's for the sake of an official tangible package from the artist. The day this happens, we all win.

  8. Thanks for all the feedback by Lindows.com+Michael · · Score: 5, Interesting
    A couple points I might add:

    - Until 9/30 most all of the CDs are $7 which includes a physical CD and 192K MP3 files loaded nicely and permanently into your locker.

    - One poster complained you can't download the MP3 file without installing an application. That's inaccurate. You can download all the tracks individually directly from the locker - no application install required. Just click on the triangle in the flash UI and select "download".

    - We do provide several different applications for your convenience all of which work on Linux as well as the other PC OSes. There's an Album Downloader which will with one click download any new purchases and load into iTunes or your fave media player. There's also Locker Sync 3.0 which will sync your entire music library from locker to PC. So lots of different options.

    - Slashdotters might be interested in our API (see: http://mp3tunes.com/api). My vision is all your music goes into your personal locker and then with a click can be streamed or synced to ANY device in the world. It's a very open view of the world and of your media. We have 100,000 lockers and a great list of devices coming by this holiday season all of which talk directly to a locker. We're even having a contest to spur developers for $10,000 to come up with new music devices/interfaces: See http://mp3tunes.com/contest

    -- MR