Why I FAILED

Give What Away for Free?

In the past two days, I’ve come across four articles about giving away digital content for free. Most are, somewhat understandably, bemoaning the idea. This post quotes Esther Dyson as saying “that the ease with which digital content can be copied and disseminated would eventually force businesses to sell the results of creative activity cheaply, or even give it away. Whatever the product — software, books, music, movies — the cost of creation would have to be recouped indirectly: businesses would have to “distribute intellectual property free in order to sell services and relationships.” It then goes on to describe all the problems - for artists and consumers - that this will cause.

On the other side, is this post from Joe Wikert about his excitement and ideas after reading Adam Engst’s point of view. I love Joe and Adam’s enthusiasm and want to encourage the same in you. They are looking for opportunities to succeed in the midst of changes by introducing new concepts that bring benefits to their customers. Ideas like this will always win. Starbucks is not about coffee, it’s about a “second home.” Disney is about dreams coming true.

All of the negative reminds me of this speech from Other People’s Money where Danny Devito’s character speaks about the mistakes of the buggy whip makers at the dawn of the automobile. Instead of involvement in the biggest opportunity of their lifetimes, they put more effort into creating better buggy whips. Make sure you don’t do the same.

I’m Not Worried

Beyond considerations about terrorists, the mentally unstable and other rational fears, I’m simply not worried about the technological and environmental challenges of today.

Developments like CamTrax are the reason why.

Though it doesn’t solve any major world issues, check out this piece of code that recreates the Wii without anything more than a webcam. It will have ramifications far beyond gaming and I figure that with leaps like this taking place - capabilities vs. cost - it’s reasonable to expect most problems can be solved.

Even some of the major world ones.

I’m Not Worried

Beyond considerations about terrorists, the mentally unstable and other rational fears, I’m simply not worried about the technological and environmental challenges of today.

Companies like CamTrax are the reason why.

Though it doesn’t solve any major world issues, check out this piece of code that recreates the Wii without anything more than a webcam. It will have ramifications far beyond gaming and I figure that with leaps like this taking place - capabilities vs. cost - it’s reasonable to expect most problems can be solved.

Even some of the major world ones.

ALERT - Music Business Alive and Well

“In today’s globalised, digitised music industry, record companies may be on the run, but the enterprising individual artist has never had it so good.” That’s the quote beginning Robert Plummer’s story on BBC News about Ahmed Fakron’s blossoming music career.

Fakron is a Libyan born artist seeminly doomed to “international isolation” until about a year ago when a “New York-based DJ known as Prince Language unearthed an old Ahmed Fakroun track called Soleil Soleil, re-edited it and put it out on a 12-inch single, renamed Yo Son.” But that’s not the cool part, or the part of interest to you.

“Since April this year, Ahmed Fakroun has had 20 of his songs available for download from 7digital’s indiestore - an offshoot of the firm’s main site that allows singers and bands to create their own digital music shop.

“It happened through a fingertip. I happened to find [the store] while I was surfing and I tell you, I am happy to find them. It wasn’t too complicated, my fans started to know about it and others discovered it,” he says.”

Still not convinced?

DubMC has an in depth interview with Kenyan band Yunasi. You think you have it tough in the music business? Read this. The live in a country with no music industry. None. The radio stations mostly play western music and they earn all the money they make through live performances. Again and again, they mention how they long for the structure and mechanisms of the music businesses we take for granted in the west. Mechanisms that are still valuable btw.

But then, near the end of the article, the band mates say this:

“The internet has been a God-send to Yunasi. It allows us a window to the whole world and different demographics that despite geographical positioning can be exposed to our music conveniently. We have a website making our info available 24-hours a day, social networks like Myspace accounts allowing interaction with potential fans, YouTube allowing our videos to be available, music available for purchase directly for download from our website, on Itunes, Amazon and so forth. We are able to get useful contacts of world music professionals, media, festivals and organizations just at the click of a button that allows networking opportunities. We even can send our music to anyone in the world and use the available learning opportunities to make us better musicians. We were even invited to two festivals in Thailand festival thanks solely to our website and the availability of our video on the internet. People are also able to contact us easily after listening to our music from whatever sources. The internet offers us numerous opportunities to better ourselves as a band and further our careers.”

Take a look at what’s going on in the GLOBAL and internet linked music business and you’ll find endless opportunities.

Four Business Trends

Check out Dominic Basulto’s slide deck on four business trends:

(1) Social Data
(2) Micro-Payments for Online Social Experiences
(3) Content Mashups
(4) “Live” experiences (that really aren’t “live”)

What’s interesting to me is that they are all related to Social Networking, which I believe to be the big mega-trend today. They also fit squarely into any business model a musician or artist should have today.

Don’t let the doom-n-gloom of the industry news fool you, people want to be entertained. It may appear that the “hows” of entertainment are a mess right now, but I would argue that they’re not. As I’ve said before, I argue that the selling of products that contained music was the anomaly - what we’re seeing now is a return to normal. For thousands of years, people went somewhere to hear music and probably paid to do it. For the past 100 years, people bought music and took it home. That’s not going last - at least not the same way.

Which is why I like this list as a guide for musicians and artists. Are you doing something in or with or creating or manipulating or sending social data? Are you offering stuff cheaply - micropayments - that give people experiences? How ’bout mashups? Could you create or offer pieces of stuff and let your fans go nuts with it? Where could that lead? Lastly, what are doing about “live”?

Back to my point, isn’t music ultimately about live? Even “fake” live?

Biting The Hand That Feeds You?

The owner of NYC indie record shop Rockit Scientist Records is quoted as saying:

“Anybody who legally downloads music is an idiot! You can get it for
free, why pay for it? Download it illegally, who’s going to catch you?
Legal or illegal, they sound the same.”

Hmmm, interesting. But as this article says, perhaps “he seems to recognize that there’s still plenty of value in the physical product: the CD or vinyl for those who want it.”

And the CD is just the beginning of related stuff people will - still - pay money for.

As Simple as it Gets

Logic + Emotion brings us a simple little graphic to get what it takes to build our brand through our heads.

Check out Stairway to Brand Heaven & Hell.

It’ll take two seconds unless you print it out and stick it on your wall. Which is what I’m doing.

Jermaine Dupri’s Opinion

Just passing this along. I suspect there’s some good stuff in it. If nothing else, it’s always good to get multiple perspectives.

Tunecore

I don’t know much about it, but Tunecore came to my attention today and it looks like a viable tool for artists. They seem to be a distributer of sorts, one that has the arrangements in place to get your music up on iTunes, Amazon, etc., while allowing you to reap the benefits. They also link to products and services such as mastering, jewel boxes, mixing, etc.

Less Than Shoestring

Don’t say can’t, ask how can I?

What do I mean? Well, check out this story about a band called The Get Out Clause that used the United Kingdom to make their video. Really.

The used eighty CCTV (security) cameras, requested the footage and edited together a video.

Brilliant.