Zune
I just sent this letter to Microsoft. It was a very difficult thing to do: — Sunday November 11, 2006 — Hey Paul, we are going to back out of the Zune.net promo that is supposed to launch [deleted date]. — I have been losing sleep over it and decided this is just not going to be right for Rocketboom.
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft put the Zune on shelves this week, and the rollout came pre-loaded with an unusual concession: a confirmed revenue-sharing deal paying Universal Music Group a cut of every player sold. The launch marketing machine was in motion, with a Zune.net promotion from Rocketboom booked to run.
Then on November 11, 2006, Rocketboom's Andrew Baron published the letter he sent to back out of that promo, writing that he had been losing sleep over it and that the deal was 'just not going to be right for Rocketboom.' A launch partner publicly walking away three days into a marquee hardware debut is a small dollar event and a loud signal event — it puts Microsoft's courtship of the independent web under scrutiny at exactly the moment it wanted attention on the product.
First-order effects
- Microsoft loses a booked Zune.net promotional slot mid-launch, forcing it to fill or absorb the gap during the player's most visible week.
- Rocketboom converts a paid sponsorship into foregone revenue and a public statement of editorial independence, staking its credibility on the refusal.
Second-order effects
- Other independent publishers weighing Zune launch money now hold a visible precedent for saying no, which raises the price — in cash or creative control — Microsoft must pay for the next partnership.
- With a per-player royalty already flowing to Universal, Microsoft's launch economics get squeezed from both sides: thinner margins on devices and costlier, more fragile marketing channels.
Third-order effects
- If flat-fee promos prove this brittle, device makers may drift toward structures creators can publicly defend — revenue sharing or deeper integration — rather than straightforward sponsored placements.
- Independent creators become de facto vetoes on a hardware launch narrative: whether they attach their names to a product turns into part of how the product itself gets judged.
The trend: Consumer-electronics launches are increasingly contested not just in retail channels but over whether independent creators will lend their names to the product at all.