Never afraid to ruffle feathers within the industry, MP3tunes boss Michael Robertson has published a blog post comparing digital music services’ partnerships with Facebook to artists who ‘sign away their souls’ to labels. Robertson claims that services were pressured to force their users to register through Facebook in the run-up to the social network’s f8 conference. “By agreeing to turn over their user data these companies effectively give Facebook complete control over their business. Facebook owns the user not the music company. Facebook owns the data. Facebook in fact controls the entire experience and can demand changes anytime they wish,” he writes. “Why would any digital music company agree to such onerous terms? Because they are chasing the dream. Just as the musician is enamored by the prospects of becoming the next Madonna or Lady Gaga, the tech CEO fantasizes about becoming the next multi-billion dollar Zynga. They think that if even a small percentage of Facebook millions experience their service and use/pay for it then stardom will be their destiny. The reality is that they have committed their future to a deal they can never escape.”
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…