Your partner makes the difference
It is no surprise that MTV recently announced it would be closing it's online music store, URGE. Why was MTV's store not able to capture a significant portion of the online music market? Of all entities, surely you would think that MTV would. Is iTunes just too big and powerful? I don't think so. I think that MTV's URGE had it wrong from the beginning, as soon as they decided to partner with Microsoft in the endeavor.
MTV's logic- The majority of people run Windows and have Windows Media Player. If we partner with Microsoft and put a little link in Windows Media Player so that people can go directly from that program and buy music, we will be huge. Everyone will see it, everyone will click on it and go there.
Why this logic does not work- MTV forgot something incredibly important: Microsoft's reputation in music downloads. While it's true that just about everyone has Windows Media Player, if you have ever used Windows Media Player to rip a CD, then you know the reputation that I'm talking about. It took me one CD to decide that I would never use Windows Media Player for my music organization again. The restrictions that were put on my music were ridiculous. It was my music, from a CD that I had purchased, and yet I basically could not use it. Couldn't even play it in many cases. Now, after all of that, if I see a link to a store in Windows Media Player, there is no way that I am going to trust it and buy anything from it. My first thoughts are, "Yeah right, buy from this store so that I can pay all of this money and then not even be able to play it on my other computer, move it to my MP3 player, or move it to my laptop." I really hope that Microsoft has actually fixed some of those problems since the last time I ripped a CD. I hope this still isn't the problem. But anytime a company drastically goes against a customer's expectations, they have years ahead of them of fixing that reputation they have created.
MTV lost the online music store battle because they partnered with a bad reputation company. They looked at it from the perspective of marketers and not users. Fatal flaw. No surprise, someone is getting it right. And of all those someones that could get it right, I am actually surprised that it was Walmart.
MTV's logic- The majority of people run Windows and have Windows Media Player. If we partner with Microsoft and put a little link in Windows Media Player so that people can go directly from that program and buy music, we will be huge. Everyone will see it, everyone will click on it and go there.
Why this logic does not work- MTV forgot something incredibly important: Microsoft's reputation in music downloads. While it's true that just about everyone has Windows Media Player, if you have ever used Windows Media Player to rip a CD, then you know the reputation that I'm talking about. It took me one CD to decide that I would never use Windows Media Player for my music organization again. The restrictions that were put on my music were ridiculous. It was my music, from a CD that I had purchased, and yet I basically could not use it. Couldn't even play it in many cases. Now, after all of that, if I see a link to a store in Windows Media Player, there is no way that I am going to trust it and buy anything from it. My first thoughts are, "Yeah right, buy from this store so that I can pay all of this money and then not even be able to play it on my other computer, move it to my MP3 player, or move it to my laptop." I really hope that Microsoft has actually fixed some of those problems since the last time I ripped a CD. I hope this still isn't the problem. But anytime a company drastically goes against a customer's expectations, they have years ahead of them of fixing that reputation they have created.
MTV lost the online music store battle because they partnered with a bad reputation company. They looked at it from the perspective of marketers and not users. Fatal flaw. No surprise, someone is getting it right. And of all those someones that could get it right, I am actually surprised that it was Walmart.
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posted by Dan at
9:04 AM
1 Comments:
Dan - good point on MTV's backfired approach. I'm a Mac addict with little direct insight but others have resonated your comment. Side note: I've enjoyed your comments on Dumb Little Man, on marriage most recently. They were apt & timely. --Looking forward to more posts...Jill at livingwithgeeks -and- housewifery.wordpress.com.
August 28, 2007 3:26 PM
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