QLoud gets a face lift
Social music site QLoud has been redone - greatly simplifying the site. You can read about all the changes on the QLoud blog.
They've
also added Flickr images and YouTube videos that are related to
the artist. It is interesting to see Qloud doing this sort of
thing considering the recent post at Net, Blogs and Rock and Roll on Second Generation Websites
and the problems these sites have finding a viable business model when
the terms-of-service such as Flickr's do not allow for commercial
exploitation. At least in this iteration, QLoud seems to be saying
F.U. to the Flickr terms-of-service
- they don't give the photographers credit - they don't have the
required links back to the flickr photo page and they violate licenses
by showing 'all rights reserved' photos. I don't think Qloud is
willfully violating the TOS, I think it is just part of the web 2.0
model of 'get things out the door as fast as you can', and worry
about the legalities later. This model certainly worked for
YouTube - I don't know if it will work for QLoud - it certainly did not
work for the original Napster.