Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. isn't happy with free music streaming services. Shocking, right? Coming out yesterday with a barrage of disparagement for online streamers like
Spotify and
Last.fm, Bronfman Jr. made it clear that they do not represent "the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future." Why is that, Eddie? The man in charge seems to think that
paid subscription models are the future, because "the number of potential subscribers dwarfs the number of people who are actually purchasing music" online. That's wonderful and all, but he neglects to tell us the specifics of how and why Warner will succeed at something that every publisher would love to have, but none have managed to translate into reality yet. Additionally, WMG is not withdrawing its music library for the moment -- something a lot of publications seem to have erroneously reported (see Spotify tweet below) -- which leads us to believe the entire spiel is more of a renegotiating ploy than a concrete statement of intent.
[Thanks, Wiggy Fuzz]
posted February 11th 2010 5:38AM
These people don't give two shits about music, seriously. If it was up to them, today we would have a credit card slot bult-in in any device capable of playing music.
@bureX
They have seen the writing on the wall but just cant go down w/o bitching.
@bureX
BREAKING NEWS!
WMG also continues to censor Youtube videos and delete audio tracks until the cows come home.
The idea of people not making profit off something, nor being able to save music streams to their computer must really terrify the human excement known as Edgar Bronfman Jr.
@bureX Seriously Jr., how is this any different than listening to FM radio with ads? It's just a different platform but the idea is the same.
I think all these music companies are sh****** in their pants since they have lost control of their evil model of selling music.
It would be a shame if they left Spotify, I use it almost daily now and would hate to cancel my subscription and go back to using .torrent files. (-;
Users love them though.
I have to pay to use Last.FM anyway because I live in Australia. He shouldn't be complaining.
Edgar Bronfman Jr. isn't happy with anything
Well that sounds good for the Zune Pass
I don't think WMG get it. I mean, fine you don't think free streaming is something you want to be associated with, but at the moment it's the most popular solution. Spotify, for instance, use their ad-supported streaming as a way to entice people to upgrade to subscription models, is that not what WMG want in the long run?
On a side note, every time I see WMG all I can think of is the missing WMDs. Maybe Blair's got something to do with it.
"That's wonderful and all, but he neglects to tell us the specifics of how and why Warner will succeed at something that every publisher would love to have, but none have managed to translate into reality yet."
Rhapsody?I know they're not HUGE, but they're pretty big and their collection is fantastic. I use them, especially with the new Android app for my Droid.
I think spotify has launched in an advertising downturn due to the recession. I thank Edgar is being very short-sighted about the potential for the advertising / subscription model. Everything takes time Eddie boy! Cable was not an overnight success.. It takes time to build trust for consumers and overall market conditions need to improve (i.e ad rates pick up, which they seem to be doing now).
I think spotify is in the unique position of having built a lot of trust with music lovers. Just like apple did with itunes. Build the trust, build the service, the money will come later. Look at youtube for an example of google long term vision bearing fruit.
Music will be subscription / advertising based in the next 10 yrs. It will be the TV model. Those are now facts. Eddie needs to handle it like a man!
@albsure Brilliantly put.
Spotify will kill the itunes music store. Using itunes to purchase songs and storing the media in the hard drive is old fashion and unreliable.
@Spoter but what if there's no internet connection (3G, 4G or Wi-Fi) where you are?
@Viakenny
You can always use the offline mode if you are a premium user.
@hank Thanks for your response.
He better help streaming services instead of trash talking them because the alternative (pirating) does not look much better...
The problem is that those guys still have their heads(i mean pockets) in 1990's... That time is long gone and if he thinks that he can still rape me to buy an entire CD to enjoy 3 songs he is very wrong...
Spotify FTW!
I think paid media of any sort is an outdated model. Look at a program like Photoshop. Millions of people use a pirated version of that software daily. Why don't they scrap the price and add a web streaming banner ad to the top of the screen. The revenue would be huge!
Hell it's the same for all media. I would rather sit through five minutes of ads before watching a movie I downloaded than pay for it, or pirate it.
I love spotify, so much that i subscribe and because of this i spend nearly 60 of me english pounds a year on music, i never used to spend anywhere near that amount on music.
Free streaming is great for gettin u hooked on new bands, or as in my case hooked on the service itself. I rarely use anything but spotify these days
while i do like spotify and am listening with it right now, i can't really applaud them atm
they've had massive problems for ages and don't seem to be doing anything about them
it's been well over a year since they said they'd get a feedback system up to report broken/mistagged tracks
it's also been well over a year since they said they'd implement targeted adverts
a simple thing like the play queue is made incredibly unintuitive and straight up impossible to have any serious control over - why deviate from something like this when every other media player on the planet does it just fine?
not to mention it's only available in a handful of countries and i can't find half the stuff i search for available - i've even emailed a couple of labels/artists and got a response of "spotify? never heard of it"
*yeah, i know it's slightly off topic, but i just felt the need to vent
I actually agree with them here.
I would much rather pay a monthly fee for all of my media. It would have to be DRM-free so I could use it anywhere, and in HD. But yeah, I'm on board with a subscription model. I already pay for cable, rhapsody and netflix, why not just make it one subscription for everything?
@Ozymandias
I wont be DRM-free because they have to have some way to cut you off if you don't pay the bill. If you buy something, no doubt should it be DRM-free but if it's subscription I can't argue and that's something I accept with my Zune Pass downloads. Maybe loosen some of the limits though.
@WixosTrix
For me its about the mobility and portability of the media. I want to use it everywhere, be it streamed, downloaded, etc. If they can find a way to DRM it while giving me unlimited transfers to all of my devices, then I'm ok with it. Otherwise, its not going to work.
Current Live TV is DRM free. I can record it to a DVD and distribute it, yet people still pay for cable. Torrent sites are out there, media is being shared. That will never change. That doesn't mean that people won't pay for the convenience of not navigating virus and porn-riddled torrent sites.
WMG blows, I remember that evil name showing up on YT with "Copyright infringment" following it.
I'll stick with Pandora, thanks. Warner can keep their garbage, free or not free. Also, if a service requires a subscription it better be streaming from a satellite for me to pick up in my car.
Well, Werner, ya'll can go fuck yerselves 'cuz I ain't gonna "support" your "approach to business" at all in the future.
Keep yourselves clean: http://www.riaaradar.com/
I actually prefer Magnatune's method. Personal preference, though, and since it's actually a record label rather than "just another music store", they only sell music from bands that sign up to them...
/waiting for, "Magnatune? What's that?"
Hmmm, would I pay for Last.fm?
I don't think so. I really do love the service, and it's especially cool to have seen an independent company come up with it. Certainly that's the type of idea the recording industry SHOULD have been spending its money to come up with.
But, if I pay for Last.fm, then why not for YouTube? Perhaps Facebook. Engadget?
Even if all these places I go on the internet decided to charge even just a buck a month it isn't long before the internet costs me as much as cable does, except that I've already got an internet bill. I won't even pay for porn sites anymore; I'm not going to pay for anything else on the internet.
Read Daniel Ek CEO of Spotifys Tweet: http://twitter.com/eldsjal/status/8917518338
And he says:
I'm in US atmo. To be clear; WMG are not pulling out of Spotify. Media is taken things out of context. So don't worry - be happy :)