Un sondaj realizat de curând în Marea Britanie arată că internauţii ar cumpăra muzică online, legal, dacă aceasta ar fi mai ieftină. Nu e mare surpriză pentru mine, având în vedere modelul “pay-what-you-like” propus de Radiohead şi monetizat cu succes apoi. Dar se pare că încă este de necrezut pentru casele de discuri.

The survey showed 56% of young UK consumers would rather buy legal content, if it was at a reduced price, than download illegally. That compared well with the 27% who refused to pay for content, and the 17% who said they might pay, but could continue to download illegal content as well. Much piracy, this would suggest, is fed by the lack of a legal online alternative.

Aşadar, pentru a mia oară: oamenii nu sunt “piraţi” prin definiţie, ci doar fani care nu au alternativă legală!

Articolul lui Peter Kafka se încheie cu o concluzie: internetul a “democratizat” consumul de muzică, fiecare fan căutându-şi nişa preferată, în detrimentul hiturilor. Aşadar “Long Tail”, pe care până şi Bogdana îl lăuda la IMTO :-)

The bigger problem for the music business: There just may not be that many music lovers. Recall that Radiohead, perhaps the world’s best-loved tech-savvy band, offered to let their fans pay whatever they’d like for their new album last fall — and most chose not to pay a penny. If that’s at all indicative of bigger trends — and we think it is — then the music industry’s future is clear: A modest, niche business supported by a handful of passionate consumers, and ignored by most others. And no PR agency will be able to fix that.

Ai cumpăra MP3-uri dacă ar costa 60 cenţi? Dar 40 de cenţi?

[tags]Music, mp3, online, digital[/tags]