Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Not nearly enough of a leap

The headline sounds good:

A new online music company said yesterday that it would make a huge catalog of songs from the world’s largest record company, the Universal Music Group, available for consumers to download free.

The company, called SpiralFrog, said its intention was to wean music fans, especially young people, away from illegal downloads and pirate music sites by offering a legitimate source, supported by advertising instead of download fees.

Ok, I’m listening. I Like the idea of making the ad deal explicit. I tune in to some advertising, I get some stuff. The trouble is the content industry thinks their stuff is worth a whole lot more advertising than we do:

For consumers, SpiralFrog’s free downloads will come with many more strings attached than Apple’s paid ones. Users of SpiralFrog will have to sit through advertisements and will be prevented by special software from making copies of the songs they download or from sharing them with other people.

They will have to revisit the SpiralFrog Web site regularly to keep access to the music they download. And the songs will be encoded in the Microsoft WMA format, meaning they will probably not work on Apple iPod portable music players.

Spiral Frog will spiral down the toilet if they think we’re going to like that. I think I hear one flushing:

“Offering young consumers an easy-to-use alternative to pirated music sites will be compelling,” Mr. Kent of SpiralFrog said in a statement. “SpiralFrog will offer those consumers a better experience and environment than they can get from any pirate site.”

The Listening Post suspects the Spiral Frog buzz is just Crazy Frog redux and none of us will be talking about it in a couple months. I concur.

Three Ways to Ride the Long Tail

Steve Rubel’s advice to advertisers:

Rethink reach

Reach metrics are the currency of the advertising community. We’re obsessed with eyeballs, gross ratings points and page views. But in a Long Tail world, reach has entirely new meaning. Many niche sites, for example, can’t hold a candle to the traffic at the head of the media curve. However, what they do have going for them is credibility. If your brand is mentioned five times on a site that your 20 most influential customers trust, that’s gold. Word of mouth will only ripple from there.

Fund niches

In the last few years, some niches have crystallized nicely. For example, it’s easy to find thriving communities obsessed with BlackBerries and other gadgetry. The same goes for political blogs. Whether you’re a Lefty or a Righty, you have a home. However, sometimes the Long Tail doesn’t flow down into the niches you care about most. Marketers should play a role in funding the development of communities that give these birds of a feather places to flock together.

Demand more from media

Big Media has done a nice job adapting in the Long Tail environment—editorially. For example, news sites regularly link to blog posts, photos or videos uploaded by citizens. However, where they’re just getting started is in the sales side of the house. The Washington Post took a big step recently when it launched a blog ad network. Demand that your media partners help you find ways to build your brand through niches like the Post does.

RELATED: Stephen Colbert gets it.

What OS would Jesus use?

Ubuntu Christian Edition comes free with porn blocker:

Along with the standard Ubuntu applications, Ubuntu Christian Edition includes the best available Christian software. The latest release contains GnomeSword, a top of the line Bible study program for Linux based on the Sword Project. There are several modules installed with GnomeSword including Bibles, Commentaries, and Dictionaries.

Ubuntu Christian Edition also includes fully integrated web content parental controls powered by Dansguardian. A graphical tool to adjust the parental control settings has also been developed specifically for Ubuntu Christian Edition. These features are truly what sets Ubuntu Christian Edition apart.

REALTED: This Ubuntu Q&A from Wired makes it sound more difficult than I would have thought. But then, I’ve been following their advice, “The best strategy for most people is to run Ubuntu on the side as a hobby, gradually learning its intricacies.”