Back in the 90s, we witnessed a revolution on how music was distributed. It was called the MP3. It was a digital copy of a song from a CD saved to a computer file. Internet servers popped up hosting these files. People downloaded them, traded them. Eventually a service called Napster came around and introduced decentralized person-to-person file trading. The music industry lost an estimated hundreds of billions.
They thought that the reason people did this was because they were cheap and didn't want to pay. But that really wasn't why. It was because it was just so damned convenient. Search for a song, download it, burn it to a CD. Boom, done. So much easier than going to FYE and buying the album. The record labels tried to fight this by releasing albums on their own services, but nobody used them. Why? Because, again, it was easier to just log onto Napster, Morpheus, Kazaa, etc. One stop shop.
How did the labels get it back under control? Apple Music. Spotify. Youtube Music. For one monthly fee, you can listen to whatever the hell you want to listen to. It became the most reliable and easy to use option. So now just about everybody has a subscription to one of them.
I have a theory that the same thing is happening to the video streaming space. There are too many individual services and people are getting sick of it. Just look at how subscriptions are plummeting.
cordcuttersnews.com
And you are wondering where these people are going? I think we are starting to witness the Napsterization of Streaming.
People are slowly starting to just pirate everything. You can already download just about any TV show for free on BitTorrent. And have been for over a decade. But that's not what people are doing. That takes effort. They want the easiest solution possible. And that solution is using pirate IPTV services. And it keeps getting cheaper and cheaper. A few years ago, a year of pirated cable cost like $150 a year. They'd be out of Eastern Europe somewhere typically. It would get you pretty much everything you'd want. Your US, Canadian, and UK channels. Now it's gone completely on steroids and you can get competing services out of Asia for like $30 a year. A freaking year. To compare, just Youtube TV alone is now $1000 a year. And you can watch channels from all over the planet. You can watch the Albanian evening news if you really wanted. It's seriously nuts. Use an offshore VPN and you are pretty much untraceable, too. We thought the dude in the neighborhoods with the cable descrambler that had everyone over to watch the latest PPV boxing match was cool. This stuff is next level. In addition to every channel, they have MASSIVE video on demand libraries. Want to watch the latest show on Netflix, Apple TV, Paramount, whatever else...guarantee you it's on their VOD server within 24 hours ready to watch in high def, straight to your TV.
I don't know how all these streaming services can compete with it. Is it illegal? Yes. But, again, that didn't stop everybody and their mother from using Napster. I already know dozens of people using these services. And it's because they are not only considerably cheaper. They are considerably easier to use.
I think that eventually, to compete, they will have to begin consolidating and offer a legal, easy to use singular product that offers the ease of use of the pirated options for a reasonable price.
And, yes, I already know what people are about to say. "So we're going to make cable again?" Not quite. Was Spotify "making radio and the CD store again?" No. It was simply the next evolution. As such cable never had the on demand potential that this replacement for compartmentalized streaming apps and live TV is going to have. We aren't going back to cable. Cable was a ridiculous sytem with 1/1000 the content we have available today for twice the price, completely controlled by local monopolies or duopolies if you were lucky. Thank God that era is done and dusted. We are going to evolve further to something else.
My fear is that there isn't going to be enough money going into "the system" to make big time epics like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad anymore. But I guess we'll see.
Thoughts?
They thought that the reason people did this was because they were cheap and didn't want to pay. But that really wasn't why. It was because it was just so damned convenient. Search for a song, download it, burn it to a CD. Boom, done. So much easier than going to FYE and buying the album. The record labels tried to fight this by releasing albums on their own services, but nobody used them. Why? Because, again, it was easier to just log onto Napster, Morpheus, Kazaa, etc. One stop shop.
How did the labels get it back under control? Apple Music. Spotify. Youtube Music. For one monthly fee, you can listen to whatever the hell you want to listen to. It became the most reliable and easy to use option. So now just about everybody has a subscription to one of them.
I have a theory that the same thing is happening to the video streaming space. There are too many individual services and people are getting sick of it. Just look at how subscriptions are plummeting.
Fox News, MSNBC, ESPN & More Are On Track to Lose 7 Million Subscribers in 2025 | Cord Cutters News
In a stunning blow to the live TV streaming industry, Fubo and Hulu + Live TV collectively lost 602,000 subscribers in the first three months of 2025, according to industry reports released this week. The steep decline reflects a broader trend of cord-cutting that shows no signs of slowing down...
cordcuttersnews.com
And you are wondering where these people are going? I think we are starting to witness the Napsterization of Streaming.
People are slowly starting to just pirate everything. You can already download just about any TV show for free on BitTorrent. And have been for over a decade. But that's not what people are doing. That takes effort. They want the easiest solution possible. And that solution is using pirate IPTV services. And it keeps getting cheaper and cheaper. A few years ago, a year of pirated cable cost like $150 a year. They'd be out of Eastern Europe somewhere typically. It would get you pretty much everything you'd want. Your US, Canadian, and UK channels. Now it's gone completely on steroids and you can get competing services out of Asia for like $30 a year. A freaking year. To compare, just Youtube TV alone is now $1000 a year. And you can watch channels from all over the planet. You can watch the Albanian evening news if you really wanted. It's seriously nuts. Use an offshore VPN and you are pretty much untraceable, too. We thought the dude in the neighborhoods with the cable descrambler that had everyone over to watch the latest PPV boxing match was cool. This stuff is next level. In addition to every channel, they have MASSIVE video on demand libraries. Want to watch the latest show on Netflix, Apple TV, Paramount, whatever else...guarantee you it's on their VOD server within 24 hours ready to watch in high def, straight to your TV.
I don't know how all these streaming services can compete with it. Is it illegal? Yes. But, again, that didn't stop everybody and their mother from using Napster. I already know dozens of people using these services. And it's because they are not only considerably cheaper. They are considerably easier to use.
I think that eventually, to compete, they will have to begin consolidating and offer a legal, easy to use singular product that offers the ease of use of the pirated options for a reasonable price.
And, yes, I already know what people are about to say. "So we're going to make cable again?" Not quite. Was Spotify "making radio and the CD store again?" No. It was simply the next evolution. As such cable never had the on demand potential that this replacement for compartmentalized streaming apps and live TV is going to have. We aren't going back to cable. Cable was a ridiculous sytem with 1/1000 the content we have available today for twice the price, completely controlled by local monopolies or duopolies if you were lucky. Thank God that era is done and dusted. We are going to evolve further to something else.
My fear is that there isn't going to be enough money going into "the system" to make big time epics like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad anymore. But I guess we'll see.
Thoughts?
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