When the world is changing so quickly some organisations will survive and some not. The difference will be in how well you prepare and how good is your solution. Here are three examples of three different industries going through changes. These are my observations and I will love to hear your thoughts:
1.MUSIC: Artists are doing it for themselves – Superstar artists are now using social media to launch their new video/show/single using Ustream.tv and facebook: That’s right both Shakira and Chamillionaire did this in the last week against their record label’s advice and I expect to see many more artists doing this “social media” thing in the near future. So if you’re a record label or a music related business this act represent both threat and opportunity. When your artists know better than you how to reach their audience, there is a problem. It’s up to you to keep up.
2.NEWSPAPERS: What will be the new model? Rupert Murdoch continues his war against google and wants to charge for online content. That’s great. Now he’s saying that without eTablets, “Newspapers Will Go Out Of Business.” Do you actually know anyone who owns an e-tablet? Any way you look at it, the newspaper model is broken (now they might charge you for a day pass?) . People are getting their news from other sources for free. Will people pay to get the same content on an e-paper? I don’t believe quality journalism is broken but I feel the delivery mechanism is. In a world where everything is shared by niches what’s the role social media and crowds can play within a publication? I’m sure Murdoch is working on it but if I was working for a newspaper or a magazine I’ll be thinking about it too.
3.ADVERTISING: The rise of the consumer-ambassador – When Coca-cola is doing it you know it’s real but they are not the only ones. More and more brands are using reality type “social” campaigns featuring real people to earn brand recognition, more fans/followers and the holy grail: organic google juice. Think about how many mentions your brand can get when people are constantly adding content, twittering and blogging about it, sharing the content with their friends and their friends friends. When the consumer journey starts with a google search, your first page is the most valued property you have. In this kind of world you need to be sure of what happens when someone is googling you.
Maybe Youtube Direct is the future of news? : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgGxi3hiOnY&feature=player_embedded
by Tamir on November 18th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Or maybe it’s about print holding hands with augmented reality: http://threeminds.organic.com/2009/11/esquires_augmented_reality_iss.html
by Tamir on November 18th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
the Youtube direct model of ‘citizen stringers’ certainly puts the traditional media proposition into question. There is a new generation of media consumers coming through who are unfettered by constraints on consumption, creation and distribution of content….which many of us have. They will have a fresh take on media content and we can be sure that it will inevitably be unpredictable.
by martyn thomas on November 19th, 2009 at 11:29 am
This isn’t a new thing … generally artists have always known how to reach their core audience and artists have been “doing it for themselves” for the better part of the last 50 years … the job of the label generally is reaching new audiences and distribution that requires large scale/resource
by Ben on November 23rd, 2009 at 8:26 am
Ben, always good to hear from you. I don’t think that artists (also brands) ever had such exclusive tools to communicate directly with their followers. Earned media is now helping artists to reach old and new audiences. Large scale distribution… fair enough but don’t you see itunes as such?
by tamir on November 28th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
bands have always had methods of communicating direct with their fans though … at gigs primarily. plus things like street teams, fanzines, fan clubs, in store performances.
sure, maybe megastars lack this but most musicians and bands aren’t megastars.
re itunes – yes you can have distribution through itunes as an indie artist but distro is nothing without promotion … and you’d find most of the key promo modules on itunes and similar services are driven by labels either through marketing or product managers.
not saying i don’t agree with some of what you’re saying – it’s just more an evolution not a revolution.
Would also be absolutely great to see some real metrics around some of these initiatives to back up whether the artists do know how to market their product better than the label – ie revenue, especially for pop artists. I noticed the shakira LP isn’t in the US top 200 and is in the 40’s in Europe. Pretty limp sales for an artist of this size.
by Ben on November 30th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Agree that it’s an evolution and about playing with these tools together with bought and owned media. Not sure about the Shakira case and who to blame for the limp sales tough. The social play, the label or maybe the album.
by Tamir on December 2nd, 2009 at 12:02 pm