July 27, 2004
Playlist Sharing v. Weed, Wippit
Interesting new feature from a Music Store: MusicMatch now allows people to share songs with friends for up to three playbacks. Features like this certainly add value and help differentiate the Stores. But, with these limited sharing features, I wonder why the industry does not more aggressively pursue models like Wippit and Weed. I know that, with Altnet, there’s plenty of legitimate bad business blood. But Wippit and Weed are intriguing ways of linking the selling copies biz model with P2P.
People are always talking about how P2P is used for sampling. People hear a song for free there, then go buy the artists songs. Well, if they like the sample, why not allow them to buy it right there in the P2P environment? With Weed, you can do that. Plus, people get bonuses for sharing with their friends – it works with the mechanics of the environment. You take the biz model to the consumers, not the other way around.
With Wippit, you do have to transplant consumers a bit more. But you get to replicate the environment along with a feels free subscription service. Plus, if done right, you get some cost savings by using your customers as servers.
Filed by Derek Slater at 10:59 pm under General news
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