MP3 Downloads - A Retrospective

I was cleaning up my Word folder, going through a bunch of old documents I had, making decisions about what I could trash, when I stumbled upon the following article. I vaguely remember writing it, but don't remember why or what it was for. It was dated 12/1/2000, so it's interesting to see my viewpoint on the subject of downloading music almost 5 yrs ago. I had completely forgotten about Scour altogether.

Here it is, pasted in it's entirety, typos and all. Enjoy....

Throughout this whole MP3 debacle, one thing can undoubtedly be surmised: People want digital music. The number of Napster, Scour, and other similar downloads are a testament to this, as is the volume of files that are being transferred. There is now talk of a subscription based service, a Napster with a fee. And companies like Listen.com (Scour's suitor) and Bertelsmann (Napster's) think that they can lead this movement. Debates exist about whether an a la carte or an all-you-eat model will be the most successful. The answer is neither.

The Internet-using public beat record companies to the chase. Had they released a subscription-based MP3 downloading service before all of this began, it would have been a great success. The clever executive who had spearheaded the project would have been applauded and rewarded handsomely. The reason is that this service would have had many great benefits over what consumers were used to. Before that, we had to go to record stores (or online stores) and purchase CD's in an attempt to get the music we wanted. More often than not, we had to purchase an entire album for only a handful of the tracks. I know I have rarely bought a CD because I had heard and wanted every track. This recording industry-friendly service would have been a great leap forward.

But this never happened. These companies were slow moving and paid the price. Now they are trying to mop up the mess they made, a futile effort. Some clever programmers got there first, and they enabled us to all enjoy sharing music for free. Now this is the standard. This is what we are used to. And we won't go back. Paying for this ability is a step we skipped and jumped right into getting it for free. There are arguments about the legality of this and the moral issues and our responsibility to the artists. Everyone has opposing views, but regardless of your personal beliefs or the beliefs of the involved judges, this has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen. The debate is pointless. Now matter how hard they try, this can't be reversed.

The only hope now is to offer some kind of service that is an improvement over what we currently have. Scour was on its way. The program offered more functionality than Napster and the ability to trade different types of media. They were also trying to work with the entertainment industry (it was backed by Hollywood Super Agent Michael Ovitz). But the threat of lawsuits squashed that step in the right direction.

The RIAA is in denial. They have to accept what technology is allowing users to do and find a way to fit in and capitalize on it. Not try to take a few steps backward. Technology and innovation is a way of life. It's an unstoppable force that needs to be embraced. Sometimes companies benefit from technology, sometimes they don't.

Take the Compact Disc for example. This new product was great for the recording industry. They were much cheaper to produce yet still collected a higher price in the market. They also sold CD's to the same consumers who had purchased the same music in tape format. They enjoyed the extra revenue brought in by everyone simply updating their music collections.

Now look at what the CD did to the encyclopedia business. Encyclopedias used to be a large investment that a family decided to make. They would purchase many volumes at a high price. But then the CD came along, and the entire encyclopedia could be put on one disc. The manufacturers could charge only a small fraction of the price of the original bound books. Eventually, the encyclopedia shifted to the web, available for free. Obviously, this industry had to change dramatically to adjust to technology. Have you seen an encyclopedia salesman at your door recently?

The recording industry gave us digital music and profited nicely from it. Then normal citizens allowed us to swap it. This is a given, an unchangeable fact. As they close down Napster and Scour, copycats have and will continue to appear. The market will not accept a subscription fee for something that is currently free. So the challenge goes out to the RIAA and their record company associates. Give us something different, something worth paying for, a reason to spend our hard earned dollars. Improve what we know, what we are used to, and we will gladly pay up. But try to charge us for what we already expect to be free, and we will rebel. We will dump your tea into the harbor. Everyone loves to hate a villain, and that is what you are becoming.

Change, or forever be on our bad side, like a despised ex-lover, desperately trying to win us back, regretting what you did and how you handled it, thinking about how it might have been.

Mark Webster is a Marketing Consultant at an Internet Strategy Consulting firm in New York City.