Napster posts $19.9m loss
p2pnet.net News:- “Online music service Napster has seen heavy first-quarter losses” posting a net decline of $19.9 million compared to $2.6 million in 2004, says the BBC.
And, “The company has been burning through a lot of cash, though it expects to be profitable in a couple of years,” said the Chicago Tribune’s Leon Lazaroff recently.
“Of course, a bunch of Internet-based companies said the same thing, and they went bankrupt. They had no underlying business, and all the venture capital in the world wasn’t going to save a financial phantom.”
Napster, dragged from the dead by Roxio which was, and still is, hoping the familiar name would be enough to make it stand above the other venal corporate music ‘services,’ has yet to make any kind of meaningful impact.
However, it’s now hoping a deal it’s made with Tower Records Japan will get something happening.
“We look forward to announcing a number of new strategic initiatives later this calendar year designed to create new revenue streams, improve margins and accelerate our path to profitability,” the BBC has Napster boss Chris Gorog saying, adding:
“Our partnership with Tower Records Japan represents a significant development in the globalization of the digital music industry and one which will take Napster to a new level.”
This would be, to all lintents and purposes, from rock bottom to somewhere else.
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
See:-
BBC – Japan boost after Napster losses, August 3, 2005
burning through – Fall of the House of Napster, p2pnet, July 30, 2005
August 4th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
Napster and all “legitimate” P2P wannabees (with the exception of only 1 company) have not been able to appeal to the masses.
The only company that has made inroads into the consumer’s pocket book, is Apple — But, they have done so through the ignorance and “sheep-minded” weakness of a large proportion of society.
For a Litigation-trigger-happy, DRM-encumbered, selection-limited, anglo-saxon-biased, technology-copycat, company to achieve such a task is remarkable.
But it is not remarkable, if you observe the larger picture. America (USA), while having a disproportionately large share of crimes against humanity, had also made some memorable ‘positive’ contributions to the world stage.
This was ‘once’ a country envied for its technological prowness and strength and leadership in science. But, somewhere along the way, and new ‘revolution’ has emerge in FULL force. No, this is not a ‘color revolution’ (i.e. the artificial Orange Revolution, sweeping several countries such as Ukraine). It is a revolution that preys on the citizen’s desperate emotions. Emotions that arise due to the uncertainty of THEIR future
– the uncertainty of the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, that continues to rage on
– the uncertainty of ‘unstability’ in countries such as Haiti, Sudan, Palestine/Israel
– the uncertainty of the (fabricated) threat by Iran & Korea (which would not exist were it not for the very real war-mongering)
– the uncertainty of job security, with offshoring an important issue with labour
– the uncertainty of retirement pensions being ’siphoned’ through ‘ingenious’ scam mechanisms, and money laundering to ‘protected’ overseas Countries
– the uncertainty of the nation’s spiraling crime rates, with morality at a low, detentions/prisons over crowded
– the uncertainty of the economy
– the uncertainty of the future of the internet, with censorship from the Patriot Act and DMCA and the RIAA / MPAA / BSA going on a ’shopping spree’ at the expense of the American people
– the uncertainty of a good, secure future as a result of the rampant government-sponsored corporate corruption (Enron, Halliburton, etc, etc, etc)
– the uncertainty of the looming (Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rice, and company) “nuclear” confrontation
– and now the the uncertainty of the Education System. It is agreed that for the US of A to regain it’s competitive lead in the technological field, education is the key. But WHOSE education should be indoctrinated, I mean forced, I mean “taught” to those young and impressionable minds.
The answer is glaringly obvious — the dogma of the New Age Christian Fundamentalists of America!
Who needs Evolution, when “Intelligent Design” (R) (which is merely a dressed-up ‘Creationist’ propaganda) will suffice. I think back to my Christian education of up-bringing, and I can honestly say that what is being peddled around these days is horrific and ominous.
Ominous in that it is forshadowing what is to come.
America is losing its senses, it is becoming a basket case. Meanwhile, those who work in the shadows are laughing all the way to the bank! Remember that during times of chaos and destruction, SOMEONE always find a way to benefit from other people’s ill-fortune.
>>>>>>>>>> Here’s how this fits in the the ‘Napter’s case’. Napster is a prime example of a Bubble about to burst. Those people in the ‘know’ through conscious, pre-mediated calculations, have taken YOUR freedoms and rights away, and are ’silently’ siphoning money out of YOUR pockets into their own.
These people are extremely sly, and their methods are not obvious to the common person. Napster, is but one of many ‘distractions.’
Good word of advice, keep a watchful eye on your daily/weekly/monthly/yearly expenses. Do not invest in “hyped” stocks and security. But, instead, start an EMERGENCY savings now! — you will need it very soon. Don’t “leverage” your mortgage, because keep in mind it is a ‘zero-sum’ game.
And always fight for your rights and freedom — no person, organization, or government — not even the RIAA / MPAA have the right to take from you which does not belong to them.
August 4th, 2005 at 6:39 pm
Napster is a wannabe. Who in their right mind wants to downloan? The price is enought to own what you pay for. Yet what do you own when it is all said and done?
If Napster closes its doors to business, going bankrupt, those folks that downloaned from them will find out just what their purchases are worth. Can’t stay afloat losing money. They can say what they will about a rosy future (heck, anyone can predict what they wish but it doesn’t make it true) but losses are losses and in my book 19.9 Mil isn’t chump change.