Thursday, September 18, 2003
RIAA in Abundance-land
Tim Oren's Due Diligence blog has one of the smartest critiques of how the recording industry is blowing its Internet opportunity.
Tim cites a previous rant on a similar subject by Kevin Marks, who's also wicked smart and seriously articulate.
"It's amazing that it's even a question that artificial scarcity is a stupid idea. How much more obvious should that be, when the customers already know there's an alternative, and have it in their hands?Tim clearly specifies some of the ways the Recording Industry can make a post-scarcity buck:
" . . . [N]o more stacks of polycarbonate discs, access to a world of choice instantly, removal of most of the risks of format obsolescence. Even from the selling side there are advantages: no more inventory holding costs, more packaging flexibility, no more takebacks on unsold product . . . Abundance presents its own opportunities to create customer value. Google, just to take an example, owns an insignificant amount of content, but is valuable because of the overwhelming abundance of it on the Internet. The music fan in a world of abundance has problems as well. How do I organize my songs? Is there new music I should know about? Are any of my favorite artists coming to town, and how do I get tickets? Are there new acts that I might like? Where can I find like-minded fans to hang out with? How do I make sure I can get the music I want anytime, anywhere, on any gadget, and don't lose it? All of these are opportunities to create value, and potential ways to extract revenue and rebuild a business model in a post-scarcity world."Tim has "this quaint idea that the idea of a business is to add value. And that the value is judged by the customer, not the seller." Golly, what a strange thought.
Tim cites a previous rant on a similar subject by Kevin Marks, who's also wicked smart and seriously articulate.
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