A refreshingly 'heart on sleeve' and poignant piece - and totally empathised with.
Having worked in music for over 12 years as a Manager of some 'household names' and also of some who should have been, followed by a migration via parenthood to becoming an online entrepreneur, I have both a subjective and objective view on this. In my humble opinion the music industry's cup could actually be half full...it's all a question of perspective!
Even before the advent of social networking and recent moves towards DRM free and ad-revenue based models, the dumbing down and lack of investment in long term sustainable artists, not to mention the heavy working of back catalogue to satisfy shareholders has left us with acts like Aretha Franklin, Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Genesis, etc. as a memory of the good times, instead of as a handful of acts in a continuous line of iconic lasting 'brands'.
The latter is of course at the heart of the matter! An artist is just an artist until a huge amount of exposure and financing establishes them as a 'brand'. Now more than ever the need to deliver brands which can live up to the sheer scale and scope of new delivery platforms will in my opinion, ultimately bring out the best in the real media men and women around the world.
As sure as no teenager will aspire to be famous for the sake of a few thousand a year in CPM based advertising dollars, we as an audience will continue to desire universally accepted and adored brands, which are concomitant with the very best of the best. The majority of the worlds populations, will continue to want to watch TV shows that all their friends are also watching and go to see films with their favourite movie stars in. The same applies to the music that we enjoy and so the idea that this is all sustainable for free is as ludicrous to me as the thought that Google can manage the whole world's advertising or Time Warner or Sony BMG can dominate social networking.
I want a front window to my media consumption and within that front window, I want to access to old and new brands and where appropriate want that to be portable wherever I go. If I hear a song on a celebrity's current favourite playlist within say www.famebook.com as I'm browsing that site, I'll happily pay to have it portable and embellished by imagery and video as say with iTunes or similar and would expect for it to be delivered alongside relevant quality brand advertising. The moment that window is surrounded entirely by Google adwords, it would no longer possess the cache I deserve and would not be my window of choice anymore. The same applies to news and magazine content as well of course.
Google, AOL, Microsoft, Facebook, My Space etc. all need to collectively engage with the media giants who understand better than anyone how to create brands as much as they themselves need to integrate with the former. Create something of value and people will pay for it. Dilute it to random user-generated and asinine content and noone will in the end be paying anything and people will find other places to source their music, news, films etc. The advertisers haven't stopped wanting to pay the right price to reach decent audiences, but until the two world's come together properly, they must be tearing their hair out.
I personally happen to have an iGoogle homepage with about thirty or so feeds and expect Famebook to be alongside Facebook, and further indulging my desire for the top news, TV, blogs, and of course music. My long term loyalty to that window, could be greatly enhanced by allowing me to have an iTunes feed or equivalent, instant ability to hear someone's favourite song, read a description of and perhaps buy their favourite book or watch trailers for movies, and all of course tailored to my own tastes.
This is the new world order for the music industry and traditional media conglomerates. They now have a chance to go back to the roots of what they are are founded on and make sure that content is not only reaching me through old established routes, but is where of course I am now much more likely to buy it. Most importantly, make it brilliant, so I'll pay to keep it coming. Honour the brands they still own and stress to Google et al that owning the ad model around search is fine, but trying to permeate their business model with CPC ads doesn't serve them or the consumer. Together however, they could provide an unprecedented level of audience access which could lead rise to a whole host of globally viral sensations equivalent to The Beatles et al, and which could then underpin future investment into even bigger and better things when the PC and TV are one and the same.
The thought of an A&R guy working at Microsoft is as crazy as my buying a PC from Clive Davis or Motown...I still want to own music, go to gigs, get caught up in the excitement of a breaking act and let advertising tell me what the best mobile or breakfast cereal is. So does everyone I know.
Just hope these guys can work out why all the above, should be stating the obvious!
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