Separate Nanomedia Attribution From Distribution
There’s an important element missing within the aggregation stack and music is the perfect example domain. It will be important to figure out how to separate fredwilson.fm the discovery filter/taste function from fredwilson.fm the streaming music delivery service. Attribution (metadata) should eventually be separate from distribution (audio stream).
Using your example, if your [posting of Velvet Underground’s] “Pale Blue Eyes” becomes popular by orders of magnitude [vs. normal traffic patterns] via multiple aggregated discovery channels (HypeM, etc.), there’s a point at which the serving of the audio stream should redirect from Tumblr’s CDN/cloud to scalable and legal rights holder like last.fm or YouTube. Don’t depend on “fair use” and “under the radar” protections. Transfer the liability and expense - but not the attribution - to the proper channels.
Originally posted as a comment by gbattle on A VC using Disqus.
