Ringbacktones have made snippets of music into status messages on your phone. Don't blame the technology.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
RBT as a commercial business can exist as a viable music revenue channel alongside other more traditional methods.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
if someone says RBT is a degradation of music; well does music have to be enjoyed by only traditional methods, and traditional durations?
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
and if someone is tying the alleged "degradation of music" to RBT, well that's just being snobbish.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
RBT just enabled us to know how many music fans there are, and what kind of music they like. Market realities.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
and RBT has its own segment that enjoys it. So do CDs, digital downloads, and so on. It's still a recorded music product.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
it's never been a secret that music tastes vary, and that the majority of people will look for easily accessible music. RBT is no different.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
for instance: generally, more people would like Westlife rather than Herbert von Karajan. Unfortunate (for some) fact of life.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
the pop music phenomenon will not go away, catering music to the masses. RBT is yet but one medium of delivering that music.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
This weekend, telcos, CPs and labels are working hard to save the RBT industry they had built, from an ignorant Indonesian government.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
Yesterday BRTI issued a letter that all premium SMS services, most likely including RBT, must be shut down.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
But BRTI also said that all services may resume; subscribers can re-register to the services they want with no additional cost. RBT also.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
Think of it as a "system reboot": getting rid of users that may have inadvertently subscribed to a service, but keeping the 'real' customers
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
the premium SMS and RBT industry is not dead just yet - but they'll have to work hard on getting back those customers again.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
the premium SMS & RBT industry is not without its own 'bad boys'; the guys behind the recent 'stolen phone credit' fiasco.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
and the order to shutdown all premium SMS services, will cost millions of $ in loss of customers, definitely.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
here's the tough question: how many are real customers, and how many were "trapped" via marketing/technology methods?
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
my opinion: if customers love any service, they will keep using it. If they don't, they won't. Right, @yonan32 ? :D
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
and the funny thing about selling any service, is that you'd hear the complaints more often than you hear the praises. Same applies here.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
but in all fairness, Indonesia's troubled SMS industry has had more than its share of bad press. Time for a reset.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
BUT - the commoditization of recorded music - RBT, MP3, CD - is only one aspect of the music industry.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
Recorded music as a commodity is also one of the reasons the music industry has grown so much over the years.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
sure there are many ways for musicians to make music, but that also means, if the RBT industry were to stop, it's a big problem.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
the SMS/RBT industry is not without problems. But doesn't mean an industrywide shutdown is necessary.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
the government is taking the easy way out with the "system reboot". We'll just have to see on whether they will support the industry itself
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
the SMS/RBT industry was self-regulated by the telcos. It should have been regulated (and incentivized) by the government.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
so we'll just have to see, how things play out next week. We'll see, eventually, how many people actually do use RBT.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
the approximately IDR 60 billion/week RBT industry will most likely shrink. Will it follow the fate of the premium number?
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
the 'premium call' industry virtually died when 10 years ago after similar outrages from consumers regarding overcharging.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
The fear is that the RBT industry will be a casualty of war, of a battle that is actually from overcharging premium SMS services.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
so if the SMS/RBT industry were to die a slow death starting today, there are real casualties: the employees of these companies. I was one.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
for better or worse, I played a very small part building the RBT industry in Indonesia, so it is sad to see things the way they are today.
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
the only problem is, with this imminent SMS/RBT industry shutdown, why aren't we hearing the consumers complaining about the shutdown?
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com
we'll see, if the shutdown happens, if whether there will be consumers complaining that their services have been involuntarily shut down
Ario Tamat - KaryaKarsa.com