Snocap is Melting

Snocap, a online music sales and distribution engine looks like it's heading for rough times-- or a buyout, whichever comes first. According to a Wired.com article a few days ago 60 percent of the staff were given pink slips.

Snocap is Shawn Fanning's second attempt at fameand fortune after his innovative.. but not so ethical attempt at music sharing online after founding Napster. Snocap is a ecommerce solution for independent record labels looking for a fast and easy way to license and distribute music online. Their digital music players are easy to embed into MySpace pages and web pages alike, and the players are dynamic, allowing listeners to select music to purchase before being brought to a registration and checkout page. This functionality also means no more intricate shopping carts or e commerce solutions that are tough on the budgets of small independent labels.

Here's a few reasons why I think Snocap failed (or is failing):

• A lack of bargaining power against iTunes
• Failure to work with sites like Rhapsody, Imeem and Last.fm where a brand presence could have been established to not only sell but also recommend music.
  
• Even though the core functionality of the site is similar to competitors the 'check out' model is difficult to follow, as far as I am concerned, filling out yet another registration for a site to download a song wasn't really worth it when I could use existing accounts on iTunes, Beatport and Traxsource.
• Margins are small for both Snocap and Labels. Artists and labels are given the chance to set their own prices with Snocap, but you've got to think that conversion rates of viewers to sales is small...even though I admittedly have no data. If a website is estactic to see a 3 percent conversion rate, I'd be surprised to expect much from a model like Snocap.
• The player looks like just that, a player, not a way to purchase-- therefore, no brand identity or hint at functionality within the palyer --no sales.

I'm no expert, but the above are pretty common sense from a consumer trying to use the service a few times for more of my own obscure music download needs.