Universal buys MP3.com

Subject: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: SeanM
Date: 21 May 01 - 05:51 AM

Article is here.

For those without the inclination to go, Vivendi Universal purchased MP3.com for $372 million.

They claim that they are developing an 'online subscription music service', sounding similar to the supposed BMI/Napster pairing.

"MP3.com will be a likely candidate for Vivendi Universal's Duet, an online digital music subscription service it is developing jointly with Sony Corp, said Anita Larsen, a spokeswoman for Vivendi in New York.

The Duet service is expected to launch this summer with streaming music and plans to add downloads shortly thereafter. Vivendi said it will have thousands of songs on the Internet from Universal Music Group, a subsidiary, and Sony Music Entertainment available in a fee-based subscription model."

Interesting...

Here is the press release from MP3.com.

A lot of talk about maintaining the 'same level of service while developing new products'. Quite interesting after reading the comments of Hesperis and others on the latest moves they've made...

Any opinions from those most centrally interested, i.e., the artists who use the service?

M

Subject: RE: BS: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: Jande
Date: 21 May 01 - 11:21 AM

Oh! Perhaps that's why my total earnings amount jumped from 48.78 down to $45.35 over the weekend!! (No. Doesn't make any sense to ne either...)

Thanks for the "heads up".

~ Jande

Subject: RE: BS: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 May 01 - 11:26 AM

Hmmmm....I've still not had time to convert to wav and get my brother's stuff up...now I keep wondering if we should!

Subject: RE: BS: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: Jande
Date: 21 May 01 - 11:49 AM

I'm feeling a lot of indecision around this, too. Since MP3.com kept changing the rules after I signed up for the premium service, I have lost about $10 a month instead of earning anything, but with more plays and downloads of my music than ever.

I can't afford that. I really don't believe that money makes the world go round, either. I believe it is relationship/community that does that. If I do have something that people want I hope they will support me enough that I can continue to give it to them. If they don't want it... well... ::shrugs::

If the Big Business Money Machine is taking over then I want out. I'm flesh and blood. I don't want to get ground up in the machine.

Right now it's pretty tough coming to a decision about all this.

~ Jande

Subject: RE: BS: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: hesperis
Date: 21 May 01 - 01:20 PM

Yeah, I got an announcement email about that. I'm very glad that Between the Worlds took their stuff off, and that I have most of my stuff off.

Right now, musicbuilder looks pretty good. I had a slight problem with my page, but wrote to them about it, and it's fixed. However, they do want to be a major player in online music, and I'm beginning to think that's a bad thing... I would recommend them for a small showcase of your music, though.

So, after all this, I checked out the thread about indie CD distributors and CDBaby actually looks fairly good. Also, I was speaking to Mike Latter, and he gets 100 CDs for $65 Cdn, which could be better, but is reasonable. And that's local people, too.

So that would be good for CDs or for Compilation CDs.

So I am rehauling the main website.

Subject: RE: BS: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: Jande
Date: 21 May 01 - 04:00 PM

Way to go, Hes!

You might talk to Nick about a company he got me an indie CD from recently (Where the heck did that go to??) I haven't even heard the whole CD yet, but Nick was quite pleased with what he learned about the company.

Keep me informed, 'K?

I need to know what we'll do with my stuff from MP3.com. I'm pretty sure now that I'll be leaving at the end of this month, even if my earnings don't total enough for them to deign to send me a cheque($50).

~ Jande

Subject: RE: BS: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 May 01 - 04:13 PM

Jande and Sirepseh (hey! I can do that without looking to make sure, now!:-),

Thansk to both of you for keeping us informed on this. I know I've really dragged my feet on taking you up on your kind offer, Hesp, but now I don't feel as badly about it.

I will look at the other sites you've mentioned and look forward to reading more of your experiences and recommendations.

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: SeanM
Date: 21 May 01 - 07:59 PM

I'd be worried about ANY site that specializes in the MP3 market at the moment. With Napster/BMI and now MP3.com/Universal, I'd fully expect to see any music site with a decent following snapped up very quickly. It's kinda like watching little brothers and sisters fighting over toys... one of 'em gets one, and they ALL have to have one or they start whining.

M

Subject: RE: BS: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: hesperis
Date: 21 May 01 - 08:19 PM

Yeah, SeanM. Vitaminic acquired IUMA... which at least means that IUMA isn't going under... but it is still worrying, especially as Vitaminic's Artist Agreement is a lot worse for artists than IUMA's.

Kat - In a way it's a good thing that you didn't get it done, because now he isn't in the same boat the rest of us are. But still, at least make the music into wav files, and burn a CD... that way, he'll have something he can make samples from if he wants to show others his work. And it will be a physical REAL thing, not just thoughts on the computer.

The feeling of holding your own music, in your hand, that others can listen to, that you can listen to... is just incredible!

And even mp3.com can't take away that.

Subject: RE: BS: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 May 01 - 10:39 PM

Thanks, hesp...I think it's just as well we didn't, too, though I know he will be disappointed.

As far as having something physical, we produced two tapes years ago, one with a world premier of a symphonic tone poem, the Ode to the Rockies, with his original piano suite, Five Scenes of the American West on the other side; and, another live recording from a concert we put on in Providence, RI, when he performed a bunch of his piano works and had a classicaly trained singer did some of his Second Symphony songs.

Nothing on CD, yet, but we are looking at burners and my sister has one. I'd like to get the Ode digitally remastered and get it out, independently, as it has sold well over the years with our little bit of concertising, etc.

Hmmmm, this is really the first time in several years that I've even felt like talking about it or working on it. Got burned out working with a genius prima donna for free!**BG**

Thanks for listening.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: Chip2447
Date: 21 May 01 - 11:46 PM

I wonder how this is going to affect the Indie market that I prefer. I found Mp3.com and really enjoy the service most of the time, and it sounded like a better gig than that of Napster.
Big Business strikes again.
I guess I had better get busy downloading before I get shafted. Good Luck to all you Catters who deal with MP3.com.
Has anyone got any suggestions for a replacement service if it should come down to it?

Thanks...
Chip2447

Subject: RE: BS: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: SeanM
Date: 22 May 01 - 02:06 AM

Without dragging this down into the Napster argument again, I think that the 'replacements' will have to be Gnutella and the other copyright suspect Peer to Peer programs, at least until the current spate of buyouts are over.

Standard business practice in this climate is to do whatever it takes to make your business attractive to a buyer. In retrospect, it makes MP3.com's recent decisions a LOT more logical. The reason that people were getting the impression that they were making choices without considering the people they served is because they WEREN'T - they were maximizing potential profit so that their service would look the best it possibly could for a corporate buyout.

So, watch out for the other services out there. They're businesses, and they're entering a market period where the temptation to pump up the profits and sell out are obscene. As minimally effective as it is, if you're just starting out, the best choice may be to create a simple website and have your music available that way. Then, you already have it formatted and can just sit and observe a given service until you're certain you want to work with them...

My advice. Take it for what you feel it's worth.

M

Subject: RE: BS: Semi. Universal buys MP3.com
From: hesperis
Date: 22 May 01 - 05:08 PM

Yeah, SeanM.

Actually, if I had the money right now ($2000), I would start my own site for people to put up a few mp3s and link to places that sell their CDs.

But I can't think of a way to do it... still thinking, though.