Jon Stewart provides wisdom on the dimming future of print media
I didn’t realize that 50% of newpaper revenues often came from classified ads, which are now being replaced almost in their entirety by Craigslist and other services.
I believe there is a role for daily journalism by professionals. But maybe the kind of daily journalism that is printed on forests worth of paper, slow to move editorially, and which has expensive advertising space is not long for this world.
Digaband: Tools for young musicians
Man, growing up as a musician in rural Vermont, I would have LOVED to interface with creative musicians around the world. It would have been literally unthinkably cool. Just ran across this company/website/organization called Digaband, which claims to want to replace record companies. Great that they want to increase traffic and fanbase - everybody wants more exposure. But speaking as the former resident of a rural area, it would have been great to simply interact with other people trying to make their way as professional musicians.
In a world with some questionably depressing updates, these are the kinds of developments that tell you ever better stuff is on the way.
Gerd Leonhard interview on the future of media
More insightful stuff from Gerd Leonhard on the future of media, which is useful the day after the Tribune Company melts down.
Great point: water is technically “free” in the developed world, but the global water industry is worth $100 billion, four times the size of the music industry.
Just because a business model blows up doesn’t mean the service no longer has billions of dollars in value
Joe Satriani versus Coldplay: Copyright law in an age of limited Western harmony
It’s great timing to be discussing the age of copyright protection for creative works just as a “major” legal case arrives on the intergalactic scene.
The attorneys for Joe Satriani, one of the best guitarists in the world, have just filed a plagiarism suit against the band Coldplay for one of the songs on its new record, Viva la Vida.
You can judge for yourself below the claims of plagiarism. There are clearly some major similarities. The placement of the melody seems a bit too coincidental, at least to my ear.
Consider this: if you understand the diatonic Western harmony of pop music you realize VERY quickly that there are only so many combinations of rhythm, melody, and chord structure that will appeal to a mass market. The song structures of salsa are similar to 50s pop, related to John Phillip Sousa, related to Jimi Hendrix, and kinda similar to my music. Indonesia gamelan music, that stuff is different. Shamisen music in Japan, that’s divergent in a harmonic sense. But pop music designed for major audiences? All the same for around 400 years.
Since copyright is now meant to last decades, how long can pop music last going off the same old harmony, if artists want to avoid court battles?
Will this make more idiosyncratic music a better bet? Maybe in the future we’ll need to be more creative, so as to avoid lawsuits. Not such a bad thing.
The future of intellectual property: “Game over for protection”
As a creator of content, you wonder how you are going to get paid if you can’t control the rights to your output.
Gerd Leonhard is likely the world’s top “music futurist,” a job title that appeals to me in many, many ways. He says that control is overrated.
That, my friends, as the banks melt and industries scatter about as if you dropped a box of ball bearings from ten feet up, is the theme of the year.
Check out Gerd’s keynote for more thought provoking insight:
Diplomacy 2.0 - using Facebook and Twitter to tell America’s story
Steve Clemons runs The Washington Note, one of the truly essential blogs for anyone who has an interest in America’s foreign policy.
Clemons thinks like a natural futurist, always considering strategic trends in a holistic, intellectually honest manner. But he’s also is interested in new technologies like Facebook and Twitter that will connect people around the world in a way that impacts America’s diplomacy. Cutting edge stuff. Check out this speech on social media from the New America Foundation:
Telemarketers, death, and Anna Nicole Smith
Question: How will your business deliver its message to an overstimulated public?
A funny thing happened last week to my friend Bob, the CEO of an industrial instrumentation
company. He gets a call from a guy on his cell phone who’s selling insurance. Bob barks "Take me off your list. I’m not interested," and hangs up. The man calls back immediately. Bob really lets him have it, tells him that this is his cell phone, it’s harrassment, and never to call back again.
Bob arrives at his office, and his administrative assistant tells him "Mr. Jones from the Insurance Company called, the one you hung up on. You were looking for a policy, and he was just returning your call from yesterday."
You see, Bob’s not a barbarian, he just receives no less than 30 calls a day at his office, looking to sell him credit services, telephone services, investment opportunities, copier toner, and all kinds of crap. He’s totally overstimulated and just gets rid of the nuisances as quick as possible.
I think this has a lot to do with the media frenzy over Anna Nicole Smith. Hear me out.
Below is a screen capture from Fox News’ homepage from this past week. (Click)
Now, for topics of national discourse we’ve got death, destruction, and the death and destruction of a sexpot. CNN’s TV coverage is no different. A tornado hit, people are dead, we get 8 hours of non-stop coverage. A buxom blond celebrity dies, and Wolf Blitzer practically has an aneurysm.
How are these things connected?
I think that between telemarketers, pop-up adds, beepers, cell phones, BlackBerrys, and tons of embedded advertising, the American brain has had it. We’re in a state of perpetual distraction, and the only thing media can do to keep our attention is to bluster on about the most basic fears and desires. Sex and death, sex and death, SEX AND DEATH!!! This public that is so overstimulated only responds to the most basic messages.
Now, looking toward the future, this too will lose impact. For you marketers and public relations professionals, how will you speak to this public in the future?
- Social Networking?
- Permission marketing?
- More advertising?
Plan for the attention arms race.
-Garland
The News Conundrum — Do we give people what they want, or what they need?
Unless you have been in a coma this week, you’ve been unable to avoid the news of the untimely
death of Anna Nicole Smith and the media frenzy that would make a school of piranha look sedate by comparison. We’ve seen pictures of her fridge, discussions of the corpse and morbid analysis of the woman’s unusual family life.
Many of you will find this obvious, but this is as frivolous as celebrity coverage gets. This woman was a minor, C-class celebrity, whose talents were limited to a large bosom and the willingness to let us watch her emotional demise on reality television. This was not the demise of an elder statesman, nor an especially talented artist, nor anyone of note. It’s a sad story, and while America is at war, there are lots of those going around.
But celebrity sells, and so we’ve seen this story flogged to death. I guess there’s no reason to take hallucinogens when you get to watch CNBC actually try to assess the potential economic impact of her death during the run down of the New York Stock Exchange. Not E! the entertainment channel — but CNBC, the one with Maria Bartiromo and people talking about financial markets. Surreal doesn’t cover it.
Now, why is this happening? Have we lost our minds. Well, yes, but let’s dig in to the story. I had to quiz a close friend of mine who’s in the national media business. I said, "Are you guys feeling a little ashamed right now? How can you slime America with this kind of mindless garbage?" He clued me in on the economic reality of this kind of story.
"Eric, we ran a story on the 2008 budget the same day. It went from committee to subcommittee and there are all sorts of important changes. But right next to it, the Anna Nicole Smith story got 12 million hits on our website in one hour. For every story we do that matters, we have to ring the cash register too. "
We’ve heard this argument before — "We’re giving the public what it wants." And you know, I believe them. The fact is, the story about the budget is right there, for the taking. Next to the stories about the creation of Iraq war intelligence. And the next cure for diabetes. And the future. And all kinds of interesting stuff. But Jennifer Aniston’s putative nosejob will get more hits.
These are the economics of media in a world of six billion channels for six billion people. As we go forward, there are so many choices that people can choose to only be fed the tastiest, least meaningful tidbits of information. And it’s their right to do so. But collectively we have lots of decisions to make that will require an informed people. And perhaps if we are overwhelmed with coverage ever time a C-list celebrity dies, this is a threat to our future.
I’m not certain about any answers here. Thoughts?
-Garland
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