“A Refreshing Online Distribution Process,” or “(RED) Is The New iTunes”

I never thought I would see the day that I would be praising Bono for anything music-related, let alone Paul McGuinness (even tangentially) for efforts in the digital music space. But the new (RED) product — actually a service — seems to be the best step in the right direction since iTunes launched, 5 billion songs ago.

“Each week (RED)’s service will deliver two songs in MP3 format, one from a superstar act like U2, whose frontman, Bono, was a co-founder of (RED), and one from a less established artist. The third piece of content will be a “crackerjack surprise,” a song, video or short story.” — (source: NY Times, from paidContent.org; hat tip to Gerd Leonhard’s Daily Wisdoms)

While I probably wouldn’t like most of the tracks they promote (I’m only an actual fan of one of U2, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Emmylou Harris, and Death Cab For Cutie… and it’s not Death Cab), the regularly updated and new content is definitely going to attract plenty of attention.

I can’t wait to see this for more styles of music… to see this in niches other than a very broad sweep through “adult contemporary” would be incredible.

And to think, the $5/month subscription prices tracks at 63 cents or less.

“The New Release Date,” or “Drop It Like It’s Hot”

I came across this video a little while ago, and I’ve been intending to post it for a while now. Jay Smooth hits the nail on the head: the 2000s’ “album launch” is really just the leak date.

(WordPress isn’t letting me embed the video, called “Why Albums Used To Matter.” Click here to watch it.)

Can you tell me, without cheating, when the new Girl Talk CD is supposed to be mailed out? Probably not. But there was plenty of talk about which week (and, once that was decided, which day), Feed The Animals was being “released.”

What does your band (or brand) want people to talk about: the package or the product?

More on Girl Talk’s latest coming soon…

“How Metallica Got Its Cred Back,” or “A Look Into The Near Future”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

In a swift and genius move, Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield have embarked on a journey to “set things right.”

“I woke up the other morning and just, you know, knew it was time to set things straight,” said Ulrich in an interview early this morning. I called up James [Hetfield] and we spent a couple of hours trying to find the list, knowing that it’s about time we apologized to our fans.”

Citing enlightenment as the cause of the project, Ulrich and Hetfield have realized that they were wrong to fight the technological revolution 8 years ago, when they printed out the names of every Napster user sharing their songs and sued the file-sharing software’s makers.

The duo are preparing to board their private airplane — sponsored by Myspace — this Thursday. The plane will be taking them around the world, allowing them to give a personal, heartfelt apology to each of the Napster-using Metallica fans… and maybe share a pint with their fans along the way.

“I really appreciate what they’re doing,” said James McWilliamson, an Irish fan of theirs who remembers the torment their actions put him through. “It was hard for me to listen to their music after the incident. I mean, knowing that they were condemning my decision to allow others to share in my love of their music really confused me. I’m glad they’ve seen the light that technology brings, and I can’t wait to see them on my porch. I think I might even hug them, but it will be the manliest hug known to man.”

Whether you love or hate their “music,” one thing is certain: Metallica’s leaders are finally embracing the power that new technologies are bringing to the table, and no longer resent their fans for wanting to spread the Metalli-camaraderie.

“Music Like Wine” or “Hugh Macleod’s Wisdom, Applied To The Music World”

Continuing from the last post, I decide to compare music to another fluid often spoken about in conjunction with water: wine.

Hugh Macleod, of GapingVoid, says a lot of smart things in his post wine as commodity (as he often does in others too). The most interesting (and useful, for my purposes) point was about what he thinks of Stormhoek, the wine company he works for: they’re not in the wine business; they’re in the decommodification business.

Now, take a look at the music industry: anyone and their great-aunt can record a half-decent track, production-wise. A certain brand of computers comes with its own recording software included with the OS, other recording apps exist for free. Music recordings have become commodities.

The sooner labels realize that their recorded music is just as special as others’ recorded music (answer: not very), the sooner they can start taking Macleod’s advice: “be interested in the actual people [listening to] it.”

The first label to win will be the first that gets its own anti-Christ.

“Music Like Oil,” or “Similarities Between Two Necessary-Yet-Backwards Industries”

Like I mentioned yesterday, there were two big things that jumped out at me during my interview with Gerd. First, I spoke about how Amazon has the chance to rule the new music world. Second, and today’s topic: the music industry’s similarities to another hated-yet-necessary industry that’s facing huge change — the energy sector.

A few days ago, Dim Bulb had a great little post about a failed attempt to shift Exxon Mobil’s focus from oil to clean and renewable energy, preparing the company for the future. It stuck with me, and I only realized why while talking to Gerd: the music industry is pretty much the same.

In fact, the only difference between the music industry and the oil industry at the moment is elasticity: because of the (realistic-yet-often-illegal) alternative options available to music consumers, people can easily stop buying CDs to satisfy their inelastic demand for “aural pleasure.” Big Oil is lucky, though: they don’t have to worry about that just yet.

A couple of the “fun” similarities I noticed:

• Oil and water don’t mix — at all. If the future of music is truly “Music Like Water,” the “Oil” isn’t going to want to partake.
• Both industries talk a lot about their promises for the future, but rarely act on them.
• Oil relies on non-renewable energy sources; Music is slowly realizing that their talent is often non-renewable

Leave a comment and add your own!

“Why Amazon Would Reign Supreme In A Music-As-Service World,” or “Thinking Outside The Box”

Since Wednesday’s interview with Gerd Leonhard, two major realizations have struck me. I think I’ve finally been able to put the first one into words for today’s post; tomorrow, you’ll see the second.

One of the big things that Gerd writes about (and which I omitted from my cost-analysis) is that a flat-rate, music-as-service (or “Music Like Water”) system might not even have to cost the user anything: it can be totally ad-supported.

This notion, of course, shifts the whole perspective from music-industry feasibility to marketing. And, of course, Seth Godin’s refrain of “effective marketing needs to get permission from the receiver, be targeted and be relevant” began to ring in my ears. The permission part is easy: either pay the flat-fee yourself, or let our advertisers pay it for you, your choice. But what about the targeting and relevance? That’s where Amazon comes in…

Bezos’ web-based store has the potential to make a killing in a world with legalized P2P: since 1995, Amazon has been collecting loads of information about consumers’ buying patterns across media. This information, of course, can help them build credibility as the choice ad-serving network for the all-music-is-free system.

Think about it: Google’s AdWords go for anywhere from 5 cents to $100; the actual costs are based on information from their giant data vaults. Amazon already has their recommendation service working pretty well… Why don’t Bezos & Co. start looking at individual users’ consumption patterns across media? I mean, if I’m downloading a lot of Britney Spears and Nelly Furtado, would I be likely to buy the new book from Dan Brown? I don’t know, but I’m sure they do.

Alex Mohr wrote a great piece the other day about the biggest problem with recommendation systems: their cold, hard, “fact-based” (read: not an actual recommendation) approach to what they suggest. Amazon, with their well-known and widely-used user-review system, even has the potential to integrate the social and personable recommendations, winning over the anti-logarithm crowd.

Let’s not stop here: while they’re hard at work developing these small changes, Amazon can sign on and be proponents of flat-fee music. That might do better for both their bottom line and their public image than their current approach to digital music: a simple wannabe iTunes-overthrower.

In any case, I’m reserving all rights to this business model I’ve developed for Amazon. Until flat-fee music becomes a reality, I’m expecting my royalty cheques every month, Jeff.

“Two Notes Ahead Interviews Gerd Leonhard,” or “The Man, The Entrepreneur, The Futurist”

Earlier today (really yesterday, if you’re counting), I had the opportunity to sit down and chat over VoIP with the one and only Gerd Leonhard. While the interview clocked in between 15 and 20 minutes, a lot was said; here are three key insights and/or memorable quotes that Gerd offered.

1. When asked what he deems as the most important piece of advice he’s ever received:

“Meg Whitman said: ‘It’s better to put something out there, see the reaction, and then fix it than to make it perfect.’ I think the bottom line is that perfect is the enemy of good enough.”

2. While talking about his new book, tentatively titled The End of Control, and the expansion of its subject matter from music to all media:

“I think in 2 or 3 years, there won’t be a music industry, so there’s no point in doing something that’s all about music because it doesn’t exist by itself”

3. He responded with this gem while talking about what’s preventing music companies from evolving:

“It’s all about control: they want to control the business, they want to control the user, they want to control the creator… They want to be in charge. And as long as they want to be in charge without any restrictions, then it’s not going to move”

If you want more, I put up a PDF transcript of the interview — that way, the content is available, but this post stays brief. There’s more in the PDF about where he is when he’s at his most creative/insightful, how he thinks users will react to a Music Like Water model, and even a couple of hints about the future of Sonific.

Once again, the link to the PDF. Enjoy!

—

Gerd is “a Futurist in the Media, Technology and Communication Industries,” an author, an entrepreneur, a strategic advisor, a Keynote speaker and a presenter. You can follow his latest on his blog, his Gerdtube video channel, or his Daily Wisdoms Twitter feed.

“Pork And Beans Isn’t For Everyone,” or “New Insights, Late On The Bandwagon”

Have you seen Weezer’s new video yet? Chances are you have, but if not, please watch to understand what I’m about to say:

Borrowing a favourite theme of a certain very well-known marketer, it takes a certain kind of band to be able to do this. You would be getting what Seth Godin calls a Meatball Sundae if you tried to mix a conventional, made-for-the-masses band name (Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, Coldplay) with an innovative, obviously niche video like Pork & Beans’.

Yeah, people have said that this video is great with a number of “reasons” and “tactics” to explain its success. Here’s one that I haven’t seen mentioned:

This video works because it’s very “Weezer.”

Weezer is known for being an oddball nerd-rock band that is tapped into (but not enshrined in) popular culture and who love to reference things they like (Happy Days and The Muppets, for example).

Obvious, yes. But incredibly important.

When is the last time your band (or your favourite band) used its own image as promotional materials?

“Some Major Shifts,” or “Another Very-Delayed Post”

I’m sorry about all of these delays. I wish I could be writing right now, but between moving from Toronto to Montreal for the summer (and the packing/unpacking that goes with it) and my little brother’s high school graduation, I haven’t even had a good half-hour or so behind the QWERTY keys.

Expect me to go back to my somewhat predictable, fairly regular posting very soon! Monday’s a safe bet, but I’ll try to get something original up this weekend.

“Music Like People,” or “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Band”

If you’re reading this, I’m going to assume you’re a person. Fair enough?

Whether you’re trying to expand your network or sell a new product, who do you speak to first: a bunch of strangers who may or may not have heard of you… or your close contacts, good friends, and family?

Your close contacts, your good friends, and your family are always the biggest and best source to turn to for help; they’re the ones who have something invested in you. Whether it’s time, money, or memories, these people are the ones who want to see you succeed. Why should you be approaching anyone else before them?

I don’t see why your band (or your favourite band) is different.