Sobre os modelos de negócio para os canais musicais de streaming

«Several companies, including LastFM and Imeem, are attempting to build ad-supported music services. I'm a fan of most of these, especially for the service they provide for independent artists. But lets be clear about one thing… these companies are not offering "free music." They’re offering free on-demand radio. There’s a big distinction. SpiralFrog and Qtrax are building a reputation for delivering free, downloaded tracks, with the cost recouped through advertising revenues. I've had some previous thoughts on the subject. It would take more than traditional ad revenues to support the cost of music given the price points set by labels. But the MySpace story is different, and raises two questions. Can MySpace actually provide even a streaming service supported by advertising when great services like Pandora and Live365 have stumbled. And even if MySpace can, who cares? (...)

As you might imagine, the difference in the cost of broadcasting a song on-demand and downloading the same song is striking. The RIAA recently increased the fee for online broadcasts to $.0019 per performance of a song. Compare this with an estimated $.75 that labels are receiving from iTunes for a download. Now I know broadcast music licenses are a complicated business, and the fee structures are never as simple as they appear. No doubt News Corp has been negotiating the finer points of their deal directly with labels, and we have no way of knowing what the final number is. But regardless, the big picture is clear… streaming a song is relatively cheap compared to downloading.»

fonte: MySpace Ad-Supported Music: Feasible or Fiasco?, 22/02/08, Theseminal.com