Though this has been quoted as an example of the expanding reach of Bollywood in the global music landscape, I see this as another case in the move to "virtual" which is a norm in the new digital age. Today most of the music is heard in "virtual" format. I dont remember the last time i bought a CD including a MP3 Cd. Most music I have heard or owned by me and people around me is virtual. BY virtual i mean that its not purchased in the "physical" form of CDs. It is either downloaded on a cellphone or on an iPod or downloaded from the net (either P2P or purchased) or perhaps obtained from a peer from one device to another via bluetooth.According to this press release, last Saturday, Don became the first Bollywood movie whose music has been released on iTunes even before its CD’s hit the stores.
Hungama Mobile, which focuses on marketing Bollywood content in the form of images, videos, games and applications, has made the Don music available on iTunes.
The Don soundtrack has been featured on the ‘World’ music page of iTunes. Six reviews so far, and a rating of 4.5 out of five. Not bad, over four days.
This points to the increasing trend of virtualisation catching up with the Indian pschye. However not long ago I remember people rubbishing the concept of "pay-per-download' for music in India. The general logic was why would someone pay when the net offered tools for piracy to any soul who could use Google search. However the early piracy and non-copyright sites like Napster have infact laid the foundation for the "Pay" concept. They accustomed the user to listening to music on "downloadable" devices. And now the iTunes and other pay sites of the world enable the users to move to the next level of "customising" the music to be played on their download compatible devices. You no longer need to download or buy the entire album ut can download a single song and make your own CD's. And are we ready to pay 10 Rs for it.....Yes of course !!!!!!!!! After all, you would have spend 4 times that just to get a good quality song from a CD.
The move to virtual shall have a bigger impact on the current Microsoft models of the world. With Google office informal tie-up with Apple we could gradullay see people downloading replacements to the CD's of Microsoft office. And knowing gGoogle they would cookup an Advertisement based model to make the downloadable software free or extremely cheap for users. Also this "virtual' world could lend to an open source nature of softwares open to upgrades and useful additions by users. An exampleof this is the Zimbra mail which is an open source email platform. Its as good as the microsoft office and has a far better GUI than any of the existing biggies of the mail world like Yahoo and Gmail. And being open source, it just keeps on improving...... I am not sure if they have a commercial arrangement but the new Rediffmail Beta seems to be based on Zimbra.
Well maybe one day people would be downloading "Orgasms" tooo to get rid of the physical wife/husbands :-) ......!!!!!
Long live the New Age of "Virtualisation"
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
The new age a move from "Physical to Virtual "
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2 comments:
Virtualization breeds piracy. What’s more, there is no longer a need to “copy” disks or “burn” DVDs. Just stream!
Everything is not just free; it is now “streaming free” as well. No download; no disk space – all you need is bandwidth.
Maybe that is why bandwidth is not being increased in India – whatever little is being earned by way of DVDs, CDs and the like will also disappear.
Add to that, if streaming goes full steam, say bye to your NRI money. The family in the US who goes to watch your movie and earn you precious NRI dollars will now get a home theatre system, connect it to the Internet and watch your movie “streaming live”!
Virtualization breeds piracy.
I agree that NRI would watch movies in their home theatre streaming.. but does that mean bye to NRI money..NO.. beacuse someone has to pay for the streaming.. either the ISP or the NRI himself..and maybe its better if they watch in their home theatre as the producer will retain his pie even at low ticket prices as there will not be the fixed costs of a theatre infrastructure.
As far as the b/w not increasing in India...its an issue of regulatory taxation. But let me assure u by end 2008 u shall have a 2 mbps pipe in your home @ sub $20.....
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