Death of the Music Industry A Suicide?

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Silicon Alley Insider released a “Chart of the Day” this week showing the “death of the music industry”.   The chart shows the rise in recorded music sales from 1973 through 2001.  It also shows how digital music sales sort of took over CD sales around 2005 then both fell through the floor after 2006.

Many are interpreting this as the death of music.  Not the case.  I believe this is just the evolution from recorded music being controlled by four rather large corporations to recorded music being controlled by the artists.  This is not a bad thing.

In the past a musician (or group) had to prove themselves to the gatekeeper of a record company.   (I personally like the story of 50′s disk jockey Alan Freed in the movie “American Hot Wax”.)  If you were discovered, you’d quickly be signed to a record company contract then whisked off to a million dollar recording studio, where your material would be saved to tape (and later digital recording), then engineered and tweaked for the perfect radio debut.  Then if you were lucky enough (and later beautiful enough) to get airplay on the radio (and later cable music TV), the record company would send you on tour.  Maybe you’d earn a Gold or Platinum record for selling millions of copies.  Payday would hit and you’d be take home 3-5% of the gross.  Maybe more if you had a good agent.

But then radio stopped playing new music.  Music TV started running reality shows rather than new music.  People began sharing much music via the “inter-web” and not buying music.  A whole new generation had a whole new view of recorded music.  The Old School Music Industry declared, “Music is dead!  No one wants to pay for the talent”.

But the music artists discovered they could produce music with “million dollar” quality on their home computer and a few good quality mics.  They could then share their music over this Internet with people around the world.  The only element missing was the promotion element the record labels could provide.  Then social media came about.  MySpace, YouTube, then FaceBook, Vevo, Twitter and more.

The top four record companies, Universal Music Group, Sony, Warner and EMI have tried their best to hold onto the past (much like some traditional newspaper companies, but that’s another story); but to their dismay the current generation has invented a new business model.

Music is now shared and sold online with most artists receiving at least 70% of the gross.  Most artists now use music sales as a stepping stone to making money on tour.  Recording is simple. Distribution is simple.  Promotion is somewhat simple.

Of course there is a lot more music to sift through for the consumer.  This was a nice feature of radio.  The DJ (and Program/Music Director) became our filter.  This was somewhat good, but I often wonder how many really great groups or soloists never got the exposure needed.  We now find our own filters today through people we respect on Twitter and within other social media.  We’ll see how this works.

Music is not dead, just reinvented.

New iPad App “The Daily” Launches With Subscription

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Is it time for a subscription service news app for the iPad?  News DP Holdings, Inc and owner Rupert Murdoch seem to think so.  But doesn’t Rupert Murdoch and his News Corporation newspaper holdings really represent old media thinking?

As you recall, in the good old days you would subscribe to a printed newspaper.  This paper had a ton of overhead.  Large printing presses, ink, paper and an impressive newspaper delivery system.  Not to mention all of the office space needed for all of the newspaper support staff.   We would pay a certain amount per month to receive this newspaper in our homes and offices.  When we opened the paper we would find 60 – 90% of the space filled with advertising!

Is News DP Holdings trying to recapture the “Golden” days of the newspaper in an iPad app?  Today for 99 cents a week ($39.99 a year), you can receive The Daily on your iPad.  This is a much talked about release in tech circles because of Apples incredible support and interest in this new “subscription based” app.  (Remember Apple receives 30% of all app sales through the iTunes store.)  Furthermore News DP plans on aggressively selling pages of advertising.

Don’t get me wrong.  I think electronic/tablet distribution of newspapers and magazines is our future.  But old media (without the expensive overhead) can’t expect the consumer to pay $5 for their electronic version of the same magazine or 99 cents a week for an electronic newspaper filled with ads.

I think USA TODAY has a much better grasp of what electronic news will look like.  Their free app typically has one small box ad in the upper corner that your can click through for more information.  There app is easy to browse by clicking on their USA TODAY icon to get to the various sections.  Full articles by skimming pages up and down with your finger.  Embedded video and high quality photos.

For the first day, The Daily is a very impressive app while I find it very difficult to navigate.  (Kind of like the ABC News app).  It looks pretty but not real intuitive.  Using it in the Landscape mode of your iPad you can go to a story, but to actually read the article you need to turn your iPad to the Portrait mode.  It’s the first day though and I’m sure there will be positive changes.

For two weeks, you will receive the app free (thanks to Verizon Wireless).  After that you will pay 99 cents a week.  I still don’t know how to cancel my subscription in two weeks…  Guess we’ll find out.  I hope.

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Windows 7

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I’m a Mac user.  I’m also a Windows user.  I really don’t think this is too unusual in this day and age, especially for we “geeks”.  I like Windows 7.  I’ve been using it in the Beta format for about 7 months and already own 3 copies.  It’s a great operating system.

I don’t mean for this to be another tech review in how great Windows 7 is as windows7MicroSoft’s new OS.  The reviews are right in saying that Windows 7 is the best OS MicroSoft has come out with.  Could it be better?  Could Mac OS X be better?  For that matter could Umbuntu Linux be better?

Well anyone who enjoys technology would have to say all three could be better, however they would also have to say that all three are also more similar than ever.  Isn’t that really the neat thing about what is really happening with computers?  And who’s to say that your computer’s operating system is going really be that important in the future.

The average computer user is getting a taste of the future of computing right now.  Does your neighbor’s FaceBook account look any differently on his Windows 7 machine than on your Mac?  Mac LogoBTW – Nielson Online ratings tell us that the average Facebook user spends 5 hours 46 minutes a month on FB.  Does Google Docs look any different on your best friends Linux web-browser than the Safari web-browser you use?  We are rapidly becoming a community of “cloud computing” experts and don’t even realize it.

Rumors suggest that Microsoft may release their next copy of “Office” online only.  Does MS see the writing on the wall.  The Windows email program was not included in Windows 7 but as a Live download.

I’m playing with a Beta version of JoliCloud (linux based) designed for net book computing.  It’s not the world’s most incredible operating system, but it’s creators “get it”.  It’s interface is fluid for “cloud computing” users.  This I believe is the future, and I know both Microsoft and Apple (and Google for that matter) realize it too.

Sure we can say we like attributes of one operating system over another, but I think we’re really just nit-picking. Do you really care whether you close a window by clicking an “X” in the upper right hand corner of a window or a red dot in the upper left hand corner of a window.

I teach a class to new Mac users (mostly switchers from Windows) a couple of Saturdays a month.  The first class or two each sessions I may teach on some of the differences between Mac OS X and Windows.  But most of the time I’m teaching about the cool ways to use a Mac.  How much fun it is to edit video using iMovie.  What a neat photo program iPhoto really is.  How to make DVD’s to send grandma using iDVD.  But it’s the uniqueness of the programs that make the class, not the supposed big differences in the operating systems.

I like using a Mac because of the superior quality of the hardware and the really neat software available for the Mac.  The Mac is easy for people to use.  But Windows 7 has gotten a lot easier too.  It’ll be very interesting to see where we are five years from now.  Even two years from now!

Obama Asks For Delay In Digital TV Transition

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President Elect Barack Obama, through his Presidential Transition Team spokesman, has stated that the scheduled transition to digital television event occuring February 17th be delayed, because the Commerce Department has run out of $40 coupons.  I can’t believe this is even being considered!

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If your part of the country is anything like our part of the country, television has been bombarding us with “Digital Transition” Public Service Announcements for the last year or better, with increasing frequency as we draw closer to the change date.  Between national networks passing on the reminder and local stations all hosting “countdowns to digital” campaigns, I believe most Americans are more than ready for the big event on February 17th.

Why then would our future president, who many would consider to be one of the most influential people of today, even consider delaying this transition?  Has Obama’s transition team even considered what kind of confusion this could cause among the general population.  When this date was decided upon (over 2 years ago), broadcasters, the federal government and equipment manufacturers all committed to promote and publicize the transition period as heavily as they possibly could so as few people would be left out as possible.  I think all involved have done an incredible job.

Obama’s team says that since the Commerce Department can’t provide the additional $40 credit coupons toward the purchase of the digital to analog converter boxes, this will affect the poor and disadvantaged in not being able to transition to digital TV.  A better question for the Obama team would be “why was there not enough coupons allotted for the transition to begin with”?  Rather than creating mass confusion by putting on the brakes, find a way to fund the short comings of poorly planned budgeting.

One point that I have not seen come out yet is that the Federal Communications Commission has already auctioned off a good chunk of the frequency spectrum that the analog broadcast TV stations have been using.  Billions of dollars have already been committed towards purchase of this spectrum by such companies as Verizon and A.T.&T.  If need be, why can’t some of these “spectrum auction” fees be quickly diverted toward converter box coupons?

President elect Obama is being suggested as one of the most technologically minded presidents to come along.  I hope he is.  But to reccomend delaying the transistion, is pure politics and lacking in consideration of advancing technology.

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Digital Radio

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AM and FM broadcasters have been working almost 20 years now on “Digital Radio”.  As many of you may already know, radio was created and gained wide acceptance back in the 1920′s. It all began with AM radio, later FM radio and then FM “stereo” radio. And sadly to date, this has been the technical evolution of radio broadcast medium.

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The hurdles radio has encountered in moving into new technologicals have been many. Existing equipment, governmental regulation, lack of vision and creativity amongst owners and corporate competitiveness have been a few.

Naturally, existing equipment has been a problem as a few years ago it was estimated that each American owns an average of 3 radios. I believe that would make it close to a billion existing radios in America. TV though has had the same obstacle in converting to Digital TV and they seem to be on a pretty good track.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the governmental body that regulates radio and TV. Years ago (30+) the FCC was great at making technical decisions. (TV line resolution, FM Stereo Parameters, Emergency Broadcast System, etc.) While the decisions made weren’t always the best technology, it was a decision everybody (broadcasters) had to live with and technology progressed. It seems that in the 1970′s when the FCC had to make a decision about AM Stereo, that they began to “wimp out”. They decided to leave it up to the “marketplace” and hence AM stereo died a slow and painful death. I don’t know if it was pressure from congressmen or lawsuits from broadcasters that caused the FCC to become so indecisive, but this attitude continues today within the FCC. The FCC’s major objective today seems to be to generate revenue for the Department of Treasury, however that’s another story.

Broadcasters are much to blame for today’s digital radio situation. We just have not been able to act quickly enough! It’s that simple. Had digital radio began to roll out 15 years ago when it should have, it would not be competing with satellite radio, iPods, digital TV, smart phones and a myriad of other devices that are looking for the consumers dollars. A recent Edison Media Research study showed that consumer awareness of Digital Radio availability has actually dropped in 2008!

If I has as a consumer have “X” dollars to spend on new technology, would I spend it on a a) new wide screen TV, b) a new iPhone, c) a new Slingbox, d) a new XM/Sirrus portable radio or a e) new HD Digital radio. I think we are fooling ourselves to think there is really a large market of people wanting to switch to Digital Radio.

The best thing broadcasters can do to keep over the air broadcast alive is to consider subsidizing digital radio sales. The goals needs to be to get the delivery system into customers hands. (Look what this has done for satellite TV.) The lowest price I’ve seen for an HD Radio has been about $99. This is still too much when I can get a pretty good MP3 player for much less. I saw an ad for a Sirrus Satellite radio this weekend for $19.99 after rebates. Making radios available for free or for very little money is radio’s last hope for digital.

At this point things are looking pretty bleak for Digital Radio. I love radio.  I hope that doesn’t translate to things being pretty bleak for radio in general.

Not another Blog…

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My first post. I know you’ve heard it before, from many different people, but I’ll try to be dilligent about updating this blog. (Yea, right…)

I’m going to try to update you on things going on in my and Lynn’s (my wife) life, but I also want to use this blog to try to comment on things going on in the world. Maybe no one will every read this but I’m really writing this blog as good mental therapy for myself, rather than a social commentary. I will never (hopefully) try to sway anyone’s opinion, rather give my view on things I try to stay familiar with. Like I said… it’s therapy.

I will definitely allow comments. I will screen them first to keep the spam down, but I really look forward to any dialog that is offered.

My background is in technical, especially radio and computers. I am a Christ Follower but not a soap box preacher. I’m a Republican and conservative, but as I have grown older (and gotten to know many wonderful democrats) I have really soften my outlook on politics. Over the last year I have been building a new house that will be a Bed and Breakfast Lynn and I will run. So lately I have been immersed in the world of construction.

I turned 50 a few weeks ago and really feel it is a good time to try new things, like blogging. I hope this is a long and successful journey.