“Free” Culture.
Being a part of the “Napster” generation has it’s upsides. I have the ability and know-how to discover and share new music, I can find bands that I would have never even know existed before, and I am not at the whim of the music industry any longer. That said, I think the idea of “free” on the web is poisoning future businesses and business models. As of now we live in a society where a start-up sees it as o.k. to start a (sometimes very viable) business, and has no ambition or interest in charging for the product. Unlike the old, time tested, business world where you can start making money right out the gate, new entrepreneurs follow this motto:- Start a business
- ??
- Profit
Companies who choose to go that route often never get to the final step where money is had.
That brings me to what I really want to talk about: Last.fm. Last.fm is a streaming radio service that allows you to “scrobble” (upload song information from your computer to their servers) tracks from your computer, and gives you recommended radio that is centered around the music taste you already have. I’ve been a member for years and I love the service.
Yesterday the London based music service announced that some of it’s users would have to start paying around $3 USD a month to enjoy something that was once offered for free.
This change affects every country the service is offered, outside of the U.S., U.K. and Germany.
Several commenters (many of whom admit to the change having no affect on them) have begun to bash the service.
Playing devils advocate, I can see where users would be upset, but on the same note, Last.fm has always had a pay-for service, but it was only opt-in.
David Heinemeier Hansson of 37signals put it very well in a post dated 03/09/09:It seems that the web has been so thoroughly infected by the memes of “the future is free”, “we’ll all live from ads”, “VC money will get us there”, and “acquisition is nirvana” that it has almost lost its faith in the simpler ways.DHH is right, it’s an infection that must be cured. Don’t get me wrong, there are places where services can be free and ad based, but thinking that everything in the future would be free with a ton of ads surrounding it kind of reminds me of the movie Idiocracy.
If someone is looking to start a web service and think it’s worth charging for, do it. I’d rather pay for quality service than be lost in a sea of ineffective ads.
