The New Flatness

YouTube made it simple for the a la carte video watcher.

Its interesting that the BEST clips from TV shows or movies can be found there. Forget all the other stuff no one cares about. The user is so in control that she is essentially telling the content creator what is favored and what is not when she puts choice clips on YouTube.

NBC is getting smart.

Doing business with something as powerful as YouTube is the best move.

It makes sense that TV networks are adopting this easier and quicker than the music business has because TV is an ad based business model. YouTube can easily facilitate that.

The revenue stream for the music business comes from CD sales…or at least they want it to.

How can music be part of an ad based model?

Advertising creates a huge platform to work from.

How can the music business wrap its content with advertising. Its a much better, and easier way to pay the content creators.

To shareholders of major labels it makes the most sense to turn to ad revenue as the primary source of income.

More revenue=happy shareholders=an environment to create

Music giants bid over each other in what looks to be even more consolidating of the industry.  Its gonna be down to three major music entities trying to decide what is worth marketing to you and I.

Analysts on the street say “the combined entity could generate $200 million to $300 million in additional cash flow by laying off employees and reducing the number of artists…”

Rupert Murdoch had the forsight.

He made the decision to aquire what is obviously a power player in this new media landscape.

If other industries haven’t been making moves to cement themselves in this wave of new media innovation then…well.

Is it possible to run out of acts that draw big numbers to concerts?

What will happen in 10-15 years when the top grossing acts like U2, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Elton John aren’t touring anymore? Who is going to fill that hole? Are young acts today being sculpted into lifetime performers and entertainers? Some are, but most people don’t want to live in the margins.

This is not the end, its just the beginning of a change in how it works. Times change and this is the beginning of a time where people won’t pay insane amounts of money to see a rock show.

“The same show will be on the internet sooner or later, why not just watch it then?” Regardless if this attitude is good or bad, right or wrong, this is how younger generations think.

Know the customer.

Think like the customer.

This is the best time for a musician to create something that means anything.

And give it away. You gotta be smart today kids.

Think in the margins. Trying to mimic what your idols did on the surface doesn’t work. The idols that you look up to lived and created in the margins, and you should now.

If you think you can build something good, the internet will tell you how special it is.

Why the music business needs to realize that traditional distribution doesn’t exist anymore.

There are many better ways to make decisions on what music to buy than by listening to what the industry tells you to buy.

A lot of the time you don’t even have to buy it. Musicians today are giving away their music. To build something in this new world you have to dive in head first. Its hard to build when too much time is spent worrying.