eBay’s online music store
p2pnet.net News:- On eBay’s thoughts of entering the Music Biz, a p2pnet Reader’s Write makes a couple of points.
The auction facilitator (it refuses to admit it’s an actual auction site: that way it has little or no responsibility towards its clients, otherwise known as ‘the community’) has started a 180-day pilot in its Music category with pre-approved sellers of downloadable digital music files.
At least one major label is among the "pre-approved sellers of downloadable digital music files," a company spokesman told p2pnet.
We asked eBay if indies would be included, and:
"What eBay does in general is make inefficient markets efficient. That could be in anything. If the market for finding indie bands and artist is inefficient, then eBay could certainly bring some efficiency to this market place."
OK. But would indies be included – ie, would an indie artist be able to offer a CD of his or her music as an eBay auction item?
"Whether that night happen down the road or not, it’s too early to say," said the spokesman. "But it wouldn’t be possible during the pilot project."
Tooth and nail
Big Music "has always been willing to fight tooth and nail any potential challenge to its monopoly on the *cough* legal distribution of music, and the only kind of system they will allow is one in which BM is in complete control of the process," says the Reader’s Write here, going on:
"Expect high prices and price-fixing.
"In addition, there’s bound to be some additional restrictive conditions – created by BM – that indies will be forced to operate under – that will put them at a competitive disadvantage.
"And it should be a no-brainer that digital download resales will of course be prohibited in the foreseeable future.
"Considering that a person can buy a used CD, keep it for awhile, and then resell it at close to the same cost, why would anyone want to buy pricier music downloads that cannot be resold?
"Ebay offers a great opportunity for the industry to probe the market for the price elasticity of digital downloads, but there’s little chance the music industry will be interested in exploring this avenue."
