“Why I’ve Been Gone,” or “We’re All Busy”

Noise, noise, noise; echo, echo, echo.

There’s too much of it in the blogging world. Music’s a hot topic, my friends, and I’m just one fish in an incredibly large pond. Alone, I’m never going to have the power to scoop Hypebot’s daily summaries or Listening Post’s variety. Without devoting 100% of my time to keeping up with trends, I’m not going to be as prolific as Gerd Leonhard with his constant tidings of the future, today.

What can I offer? My own spin on current stories, and fresh ideas.

Your RSS feed is probably already populated with enough talk about The Rolling Stones leaving EMI, or some promotion that’s heralding in the new age of music/slowing things down. I tend to skip over every second post about the same topic… and it’s never anything personal to the author.

I’m writing for myself, and I’m writing for you. When I have something truly unique (and coherent) to post, it’ll be here, promise. And if you want to hear my thoughts on something, email me (like Andrew did), and I’ll post a response. Until then, add my feed to your RSS reader (if you don’t have one, I recommend Google Reader); it’ll let you know when I’m back with a vengeance.

I, for one, am stepping out of the echo chamber.

“Web Done Right,” or “Web Done Wrong”

Andrew McMillen wrote me to make sure I saw his post about Cold War Kids’ latest offering (or preview thereof). After a number of good points, he ends with a question: “How do you capture the attention of a user who rarely voluntarily visits band websites?” Before I answer that, I’m going to take a look at the Cold War Kids’ site with regards to what they’ve done right and what they’ve done wrong. Good is in blue, bad is in red.

The Cold War Kids’ site

When you go to their site, you’re greeted with a beautiful single-page: a picture, a link to the song download (which is totally free and catch-less), and an “enter site” button. When you try to enter the site, though, you get greeted by a giant video, and another prompt to enter site.

[Come on, that's like opening a box, only to find another box. I can think of at least three tried-and-true methods to incorporate the video viewing (or prompt) onto the main page without clutter, and yet they go for something that makes their website less flow-able.]

After I enter the site, I get greeted by an extremely minimalist design featuring a long list of their upcoming shows. That’s fine… Does it have an RSS feed so I can be updated when they announce new ones, potentially in my area? Doesn’t look like it.

Their news section comes next: a blog, complete with a distinct photo style, short posts about the band’s comings and goings, and seemingly regularly updated… until Dec. 7, 2007.

Their music section looks cool: a bunch of downloadable, catchless MP3s, with “Buy” links integrated and unobtrusive; easy to spot, but not obnoxious. Cool.

Pictures. And Video. Why are these proprietary? Wouldn’t they be better suited using Flickr or Youtube’s bandwidth, and making their photos/videos easily shareable and embeddable?

Diary: an even older version of the News section.

Merch was a link to a third-party merch seller, and it had the same style and feel.

Art was coming soon. Was that in 2006? Maybe even 2005?

The contact section doesn’t let you know where to write just to tell the band how much you love them. Don’t kid yourselves, Cold War Kids; this isn’t how to contact you; it’s how to contact the people who make sure you’re making money. Not even a link to your Myspace.

And finally, Sign Up. This led to subscribing for Cold War Kids updates, powered by Fanscape. If they use it like most bands do, they’d be better off having a self-branded email list. It’s really simple to set up.

Conclusions

This post is about how to capture the attention of a user who rarely visits band sites. I’ve been not-so-subtly hinting at my answer for a bit: make the site dynamic, personal, and conversational… make the people who do come want to come back.

I rarely (if ever) visit Coke’s website to find out more about one of my favourite beverages, but I visit Seth’s blog and The Hype Machine every day to get something new.

This marketing campaign is the equivalent of a big launch party for an ugly new store that doesn’t replenish its stock: sure, it’s going to get a bit of publicity, but nobody’s going to be coming back for more on a regular basis.

“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!

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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?