| dschumm said: #1. It was my understanding that NPD offered a much more sophisticated analysis than provided here. If not than their customers were being ripped off for the thousands of dollars they were paying. #2. I agree they are competitors. The internet economy is constantly bringing down archaic business models with user generated ad supported content. #3. Sales numbers are facts. Once they are out there anyone can use them for anything. They cannot be copyrighted or trademarked. This reminds me of Major League Baseball trying to sue media organizations for posting boxscores. Sorry no dice, new is news NPD is usefull because it provides a larger data set (3 sources-Companies, VGC, NPD) for us to base our analysis. But VGC is not doing anything more illicit than Reuturs and Google News.
Regarding #2. A better response would have been to try and form a working partnership with ioi to foster this site as homebase for ethusiest and provide a link to their services for professional analysis. The could have helped to grow interest in these kind of numbers and make it truly like the Neilsens or Billboard. Too bad. We see how stubborness against the new economy is working out for the RIAA. And they actually havea leg to stand on. |
#1: Maybe, I don't know, of course. But why are they getting so upset, then?
#2 & #3: You're right, there's a difference between facts and media (music or movies). And I also thought that a cooperation between NPD and VGChartz would have been a smart move.
(Getting a bit offtopic:)
But I think that a lot of those "archaic business models" that are going down the drain today will be sorely missed in the future. Take journalism, for example - traditional magazines are having a real hard time selling their quality work. This generation is getting used to the amateurish blog style of information instead: No separation between facts and opinion, moderators that heavily favor one side over the other, disrespectful language, poor fact-checking, dubious sources. What I'm trying to say is that some content is better if it's not user created.
You mentioned the RIAA - I can understand both sides, actually. It's useless working against the technological progress, the record industry should have started actively moving into the Internet business much earlier. On the other hand, it upsets me when I have to read that people don't appreciate the value of music at all. Recently I read on a forum: "Why do musicians still think they should be making money with their music? After all, even Mozart died pennyless." That's just fucked up, people don't realize they're sawing off the branch they're sitting on.
Currently playing: NSMB (Wii)
