Archive for April, 2008

The last nail in DRMs coffin

April 24, 2008

I have (as well as the whole industry at this point) rallying against DRM. I have NEVER bought a DRM track other then for test purposes. The logic, as my friend Elizabeth Brooks said eloquently years ago; ‘I can buy a CD, rip it, and have no DRM for the same price or less then a an album of music with crippled functionality (DRM).”

Today MSN announced that customers who bought music through their service will no longer be supported. What does that mean? After August 31st you will be able to have your songs playing on 5 devices and if you change devices, you can not take your music with you. So if you upgrade your operating system, change laptops/pc, get a new mp3 player, at some point (after 5 devices) you lose access to that music. If I got the details wrong my apologies. Regardless of the details - think abut the concept and what this means to the consumer (all 12 people that bought from MSN). I bought something, I am following the ridiculous rules that DRM forces on me and I still get screwed.

I assume MSN has the rights under there terms of service to do this - but I would be surprised if there is not a class action law-suit brewing. I almost wish I bought a track so I could participate.

Kudos to Bessemer

April 24, 2008

Bessemer Venture Partners released the ‘Anti Portfolio’ listing - which are the deals that they did not do but should have. The list can be found at http://www.bvp.com/Portfolio/AntiPortfolio.aspx. I have tremendous respect for Bessemer for rolling this out (not sure exactly when it went live). It is certainly in the ‘web 2.0′ perspective where information flow can not be stopped - but they took it a step further and named names and made fun of themselves.

Besides Bessemer though, there is a great lesson for entrepreneurs everywhere. The best deals have been turned down by the best VCs. That is a powerful statement and concept. When you are pitching a company and you get turned down - let it roll off your back - more people/VCs will say no then yes. It is the nature of the business.

Gracenote + Sony

April 23, 2008

I like the purchase by Sony though I am surprised it was not Sony music. Gracenote has a solid team - good technology, a commanding market share and is the only company I can think of that is at the absolute top of the value chain. That does not mean Gracenote was a good investment for their investors (they raised north of 50 million I believe) so maybe a 2 or 3x for them (guessing here).

As a company Gracenote has the opportunity to continue to push forward with some new tech (I like their ‘geo-locating feature) - I wonder if the Ps3 has some further designs on music that we are unaware of.

Funny - but maybe offensive

April 10, 2008

Sorry if this offends some - but this is just funny!