Leap forward or jump over the cliff?
Op-Ed: Alec von Tavel believes that ad-supported free music downloads should have come much sooner.
Guest commentary Ad-financed free music downloads should have come much earlier, says Alec von Tavel Rarely has an announcement caused so much excitement in the music industry: Universal, the world's largest music producer, wants to make its music available online "for free" via Spiralfrog. In return, the music consumer must consume advertising during the download. Unlike many of my colleagues in the industry, this news neither shocked me nor restored my faith in the future of the music industry. It's been about five years since I presented the Spiralfrog business model to my colleagues on the board of IFPI Switzerland (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), with no hope that the idea would find favor with the IFPI board, which is dominated by the major companies. In the minds of most music managers, free downloads are still the reason why the music industry is doing so badly today. The merger between Universal and Spiralfrog could be a solution. But the right approach is also crucial here.
Music companies and advertisers are now facing new challenges. The question is, which products can be advertised with which music? Which audience can be reached with ad-financed free music from the web? Surely there are also artists who don't want to be paid by McDonald's and Toyota. Whoever has the right answers to these questions will be just as successful with the new model as the free newspaper 20 Minuten has been. I dare say that 20 Minuten is not a worse newspaper than Blick, just because 20 Minuten is free and Blick costs something. And that doesn't make 20 Minuten any less profitable.
Music producers, advertisers and advertisers have a new playing field with Spiralfrog. We don't yet know the rules of the game in detail. In any case, it is a game in which everyone can win, but everyone can also lose. The important thing is that, in addition to the rules of the game, we also understand the tactics and strategy that lead to victory. Google, MySpace and YouTube are business models that show how good money can be earned with free services on the web.
But the news also had a moment of surprise for me. When I visited the Spiralfrog website, one name caught my eye: Jay Berman. He is the first director of Spiralfrog, just behind the chairman. This very Jay Berman used to be Chairman of the IFPI in London and in this function was virtually the world's top music pirate and peer-to-peer hunter. Has he now changed sides because he has realized that the music industry's battle against free downloads is lost, or is it the realization of where the music industry's income could come from in the future?
Alec von Tavel is the founder and head of the independent music label Disctrade.
Music companies and advertisers are now facing new challenges. The question is, which products can be advertised with which music? Which audience can be reached with ad-financed free music from the web? Surely there are also artists who don't want to be paid by McDonald's and Toyota. Whoever has the right answers to these questions will be just as successful with the new model as the free newspaper 20 Minuten has been. I dare say that 20 Minuten is not a worse newspaper than Blick, just because 20 Minuten is free and Blick costs something. And that doesn't make 20 Minuten any less profitable.
Music producers, advertisers and advertisers have a new playing field with Spiralfrog. We don't yet know the rules of the game in detail. In any case, it is a game in which everyone can win, but everyone can also lose. The important thing is that, in addition to the rules of the game, we also understand the tactics and strategy that lead to victory. Google, MySpace and YouTube are business models that show how good money can be earned with free services on the web.
But the news also had a moment of surprise for me. When I visited the Spiralfrog website, one name caught my eye: Jay Berman. He is the first director of Spiralfrog, just behind the chairman. This very Jay Berman used to be Chairman of the IFPI in London and in this function was virtually the world's top music pirate and peer-to-peer hunter. Has he now changed sides because he has realized that the music industry's battle against free downloads is lost, or is it the realization of where the music industry's income could come from in the future?
Alec von Tavel is the founder and head of the independent music label Disctrade.
