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> They were revolutionary as product genres, not necessary individual companies. Even then, they were evolutionary at best. Before Netflix and Spotify, stream
by rchaud 2y ago
> They were revolutionary as product genres, not necessary individual companies.
Even then, they were evolutionary at best.
Before Netflix and Spotify, streaming movies and music were already there as a technology, ask anybody with a Megaupload or Sopcast account. What changed was that DMCA acquired political muscle and cross-border reach, wiping out waves of torrent sites and P2P networks. That left a new generation of users with locked-down mobile devices no option but to use legitimate apps who had deals in place with the record labels and movie studios.
Even the concept of "downloading MP3s" disappeared because every mobile OS vendor hated the idea of giving their customers access to the filesystem, and iOS didn't even have a file manager app until well into the next decade (2017).
- _Algernon_ 2y ago>every mobile OS vendor Maybe half? Android has consistently had this capability since its inception.
- rchaud 2y agoYes, but Google left that functionality half baked intentionally, letting 3rd party developers fill the void. Even now the Google Files app feels like a toy compared to Fossify Explorer or Solid Explorer.
- jimbokun 2y ago> streaming movies and music were already there as a technology, ask anybody with a Megaupload or Sopcast account. You can't have a revolution without users. It's the ability to reach a large audience, through superior UX, superior business model, superior marketing, etc. which creates the possibility for revolutionary impact. Which is why Megaupload and Sopcast didn't revolutionize anything.
- rchaud 2y agoIs it a revolution if you needed millions of marketing dollars? How many ads did Napster have to run before the whole world knew what MP3s were?
- Izkata 2y ago> What changed was that DMCA acquired political muscle and cross-border reach, wiping out waves of torrent sites and P2P networks. Half true - that was happening some, but wasn't why music piracy mostly died out. DMCA worked on centralized platforms like YouTube, but the various avenues for downloading music people used back then still exist, they're just not used as much anymore. Spotify was proof that piracy is mostly a service problem: it was suddenly easier for most people to get the music they wanted through official channels than through piracy.
- rchaud 2y agoDMCA claims took out huge numbers of public torrent trackers which was how 99% of people accessed contraband media. All the way back in 2008, the loss of TorrentSpy.com probably shifted everybody to private trackers, but it's a whack-a-mole game there too and most people won't bother. DMCA also led to the development of ContentID and automated copyright strike system on Youtube, but it didn't block you from downloading the stream as a high bitrate MP3, which is possible even now.