Mashboxx wraps Sony BMG
p2pnet.net News:- Just two days after the US Supreme Court ruled on Grokster v MGM, Sony BMG has wrapped its deal with Mashboxx, the corporate p2p downloading service run by ex-Grokster president Wayne Rosso.
Yesterday, Rosso told p2pnet that although Mashboxx downloads will go out at the now standard $1 per song, he’s suggesting indies who want to use the service to market their music should be looking at between 50 and 60 cents wholesale per track.
“Wholesale prices vary with majors from anywhere from 65 to 80 cents,” he said. “But a garage band doesn’t have that kind of overhead and in our case, people can actually download your song and listen to it four or five times and decide whether they’ll buy it.
“The critical point there is pricing. They may listen to it and decide, ‘Hey that’s not to bad. But do I want to spend for 99 cents for it?’ Or they’ll listen to it and decide, ‘Hey! That’s not to bad. I will spend 49 cents for it.”
Mashboxx relies on Napster creator Shawn Fanning’s Content Identification Service (CIS) that uses audio fingerprinting technology licensed from Philips Royal Labs to identify, register and track music that’s available for licensing.
All four members of the Big Music record label cartel, Universal Music (France), Sony BMG (Japan, Germany), EMI (YK) and Warner Music (US) have deals in the works with Snocap, as has Mashboxx, Rosso told p2pnet.
“Everybody is on board and we’ll be announcing our first deal soon, maybe tomorrow, maybe by next Monday,” he said. “We’re at different stages in the process with each company. The i’s haven’t been dotted and the t’s crossed in every single case.
“We’ve got our software. We’re ready to go. We’re going to start with a small group of several thousand for beta testing. We’ve been collecting email addresses on our web site – people signing up to be beta testers.
“Right now we’re waiting for certain pieces of the actual files from record companies so we can do our encoding and load the content into our system.”
p2pnet asked Rosso if there was any chance of the 99 cent barrier being lowered to induce the millions of people who currently use the free p2p networks to sign up for corporate services such as Mashboxx.
“It’s really simple,” he said. “It’s transaction costs. Visa and MasterCard make more on the sale of a single than I do. And in all honestly, the margins are so thin —- The goal is not to lose money, let’s put it that way.”
p2pnet: If they’re so thin, why are you doing it in the first place?
Rosso: There are other ways to monetize, of course.
p2pnet: For example?
Rosso: It’s nothing nefarious – no spyware, no adware. I just don’t want to give away strategics just yet.
Stay tuned.
omething you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
See:-
track music – Fanning launches Snocap, p2pnet, June 13, 2005
beta testing – Wanted: MashBoxx testers, p2pnet, May 6, 2005
June 29th, 2005 at 3:32 pm
What an idiot. Hey Wayne, to avoid transaction fees why not let your users have the choice to buy in bulk for less? You know, like Emusic does? Twenty dollars up front for 25 cents a track means 80 downloads and you don’t have to deal with 80 transaction fees, just one. I imagine you’d do it, except you’re probably more interested in lining your pockets than you are with giving consumers a fair shake. If you could try and be a little less disingenious in the future, we’d all appreciate it.
June 29th, 2005 at 4:45 pm
so when does google announce their own “breakthrough” p2p app? they certainly have enough money for that now.
June 29th, 2005 at 5:01 pm
It’ll be interesting to see how prescient you are : )
Cheers!