tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5640958827907358052024-03-13T19:23:33.609-07:00Just B MajorMusings on Music and MarketingDaniel Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11368314408793941810noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564095882790735805.post-27795318077324127752010-10-26T10:40:00.000-07:002010-10-26T10:57:36.535-07:00Off the Wall--Really<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSguzpGZ8uMEWbbAxFMWDjb634vclVGqtdNc7mX6UbgQLxSZCpcU_7_aeZhbco0UuaGhdq1Ila95pFXusMALYjTM3vkDtreBNveelwCb5JJALdcMjGhxbLHV8WlatrcOw-8Cim2wFIsWaK/s1600/a_human_robot.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSguzpGZ8uMEWbbAxFMWDjb634vclVGqtdNc7mX6UbgQLxSZCpcU_7_aeZhbco0UuaGhdq1Ila95pFXusMALYjTM3vkDtreBNveelwCb5JJALdcMjGhxbLHV8WlatrcOw-8Cim2wFIsWaK/s400/a_human_robot.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532414818335534818" /></a><br /><br /><br />OK, I like gadgets more than the average bear, but seriously, can't you just get off the couch and adjust your TV set? <a href="http://www.hemagazine.com/node/21998">This</a> just announced breakthrough is kinda kooky. As demonstrated above, I could think of so many better uses of technology to enable lazy behavior.Daniel Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11368314408793941810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564095882790735805.post-53087710321584030582010-03-05T12:08:00.000-08:002010-03-05T12:27:10.835-08:00The Name Game<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi98JWBfbn8l-ryCMc82XEMx56dzIUBCqJq5QsGxkepkkY0W6IZpywhXDfUyiG_FEkjUa64ie1OFPXmawFshhl-gCzkFQHrwffdscAAyGh5a9D5owbxYDb7qmGJo_eUkUt6VHy1ejbOJJ5q/s1600-h/2009+year+in+band+names.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 191px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi98JWBfbn8l-ryCMc82XEMx56dzIUBCqJq5QsGxkepkkY0W6IZpywhXDfUyiG_FEkjUa64ie1OFPXmawFshhl-gCzkFQHrwffdscAAyGh5a9D5owbxYDb7qmGJo_eUkUt6VHy1ejbOJJ5q/s400/2009+year+in+band+names.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445248857361781426" /></a><br /><br />Rememeber back in the day, when the biggest criteria for naming your band was how it would look on the marquee or "let's not give any ammo to a snarky rock critic by calling ourselves The Suck?" Well, life in the modern age has certainly complicated the process. <br /><br />Now you have to make sure that your name is easily searchable and that there aren't four other bands that share it. On the plus side, sometimes you can be in for a nice surprise when the digital stars align. Take this week's example of an otherwise obscure band called Me Without You which is benefiting from a Twitter trending topic phenomenon. I'll let Simon Dumenco of Ad Age explain:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"But my favorite Top 10 brand this week is MeWithoutYou, a crew of Philadelphia alt-rockers (you can listen to a bunch of their songs at their official MySpace page) who've been described as Bright-Eyes-plus-Neutral-Milk-Hotel (two of my all-time favorites, by the way). They're a great band, but the Twittersphere apparently misinterpreted #MeWithoutYou as one of those fill-in-the-blank Twitter self-amusements (which then morphed into its own hashtag, #MeWithoutYouIsLike). </span><br /><br />Well, it's definitiely better than sharing a name with a serial killer which is why I guess the authorities always include the perp's middle name.<br /><br />DSDaniel Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11368314408793941810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564095882790735805.post-19355907674796891462009-11-22T11:33:00.000-08:002009-11-22T12:38:44.481-08:00Sirius, Change Thyself<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGB46Ez_VFBtvnt_UcDiL2gNvfaRKojI4Nnec_zSbj1j2I7X6GZVYvRUhGEF-ZB4KxzxRm9TN28MlxGRU3LhGjojV4OoasDYTwf8ejDNay-wCbwW7yqv7xsnsrCtDz-Ob1TpuTDawrTzG5/s1600/satellite-radio-ad-campaign.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 291px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGB46Ez_VFBtvnt_UcDiL2gNvfaRKojI4Nnec_zSbj1j2I7X6GZVYvRUhGEF-ZB4KxzxRm9TN28MlxGRU3LhGjojV4OoasDYTwf8ejDNay-wCbwW7yqv7xsnsrCtDz-Ob1TpuTDawrTzG5/s400/satellite-radio-ad-campaign.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407024930239010322" /></a><br /><br />If you want a good stock tip, go short on Sirius XM because their new adveritsing campaign betrays their utter cluelessness. <br /><br />I'm not sure how much they're spending, but I've seen the TV spots a fair amount and a double truck ad in today's Los Angeles Times. It celebrates their own Mt. Rushmore of Change--Elvis, Michael Jordan, Richard Pryor and, of course, the increasingly irrelevant and polarizing Howard Stern--and implores us to "change the way we listen to radio." The muddled connection they try to make is that each of these figures changed the world in which they worked, and now Sirius is following suit. <br /><br />Unfortunately for them, No one, as far as I know, ever woke up saying, "You know, I really want to change the way I listen to radio." But they may have said, "I've got a long drive today, I wish I could listen to the Packer game." <br /><br />Years after the "breakthrough" of satellite radio, Sirius is hauling itself back up to the beginning of the product life cycle curve when it should be down where they're proving entertainment value. <br /><br />Those fantastic DirecTV ads with Ed Begley point out that they have a lot more HD channels than the cable company. IPhone ads talk about all the great apps you can get, not why you should have this great new thing called a cell phone. Viacom didn't push the message that Cable TV is going to change your life, but brainwashed a generation into thinking that they wanted to see music on television via "I want my MTV." <br /><br />People love listening to the radio. All you have to do is tell them that what they already like can be better--sound quality, variety of programming and fewer commercials. <br /><br />If you really want to talk about a company that's changing the way people listen to the radio, look at Slacker which deftly shifted from the hardware business, focused on their programming and is now experiencing explosive growth via deals with the new Blackberry devices, iPhones and soon, Blu-Ray players and TVs. <br /><br />The change that Sirius XM needs is their CMO.Daniel Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11368314408793941810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564095882790735805.post-52938073514396577662009-08-20T12:56:00.000-07:002009-08-20T13:15:30.765-07:00Stopping the Madness<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFoHNvQukxd52tH1ye5AQUxUq1ulTgUrJDpOZ3Qu347dQwfEX64HoYcTdQKBYWVnl7mhHVVCaAXsT3rmn1WZScQ2-zAMhSICRTwclrlOL-qbTQIfOjkDPQ7UvP9OLcraxq3vhRcs4E-Qc5/s1600-h/toomuchnoise.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFoHNvQukxd52tH1ye5AQUxUq1ulTgUrJDpOZ3Qu347dQwfEX64HoYcTdQKBYWVnl7mhHVVCaAXsT3rmn1WZScQ2-zAMhSICRTwclrlOL-qbTQIfOjkDPQ7UvP9OLcraxq3vhRcs4E-Qc5/s320/toomuchnoise.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372141944268452018" /></a><br />If it takes cost cutting to improve the user experience of MySpace Music then I say "hack away." The service recently announced that it would disable the autoplay feature that ensures that every time you go to an artist page you would automatically be assaulted by a song (usually the same one for weeks or months at a time). And it's really great if you're already listening to music on your computer and now you have the worst mash up ever. The service is reportedly burning through $10 million in streaming costs every month, so cutting the number of streams is money saved, right to the bottom line. Hooooray!<br /><br />So thanks, MySpace, and while we're at it, in addition to disabling auto play, just a few suggestions for all other music sites:<br /><br />Get rid of the flash--stop getting in your own way. No one's impressed. And enough with the annoying skins and widgets for your widgets. Just let me hear your music, learn more about you and find out when you're playing next.<br /><br />Instead of having to come up and remember user names, can't we use our email address?<br /><br />Why can't I see the password I'm typing? Are those asterisks supposed to protect me from someone lurking at Starbucks?<br /><br />Yeah, I'm cranky, but I'm also right. Let me know what you think.Daniel Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11368314408793941810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564095882790735805.post-42418641326035507682009-08-17T17:42:00.000-07:002009-08-21T12:39:08.375-07:00Back to the Future with Live Music?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQfQ-Kuvfeac7byFRi5APpD6YXMB6h-HF3DRx_jDffreZOa-6wXWLURTO1-PF6CUP_mF61BG0yra9yDoxFcmr9_IHtnBYV1RfXW_jVpyiGjMZ_xrqkUnNq1vE8qp1U5nQ3E9bgq8odLiXO/s1600-h/minstrel.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 274px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQfQ-Kuvfeac7byFRi5APpD6YXMB6h-HF3DRx_jDffreZOa-6wXWLURTO1-PF6CUP_mF61BG0yra9yDoxFcmr9_IHtnBYV1RfXW_jVpyiGjMZ_xrqkUnNq1vE8qp1U5nQ3E9bgq8odLiXO/s320/minstrel.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372499673481153266" /></a><br />It's easy to find doom and gloom when you get a bunch of people together to talk about the music business. But I maintain that there is hope--not in the form of the latest buzzwords--long tail, free, subscription--but in the "old fashioned" world of live music. Isn't that how this whole thing started, with minstrels getting paid for performing a song? Maybe part of the solution is right in front of us with the live music sector being the one to galvanize a whole new generation of music consumers.<br /><br />Last Sunday, 60 of us convened at the home of uber attorney Ken Hertz for a <a href="http://www.ted.com/tedx">TedX</a> Music Conference. It was an energizing and engaging event which included a moderated, free-spirited and free-flowing conversation about the state of the music (not record) business today and how to make things better. Many of the remarks centered on artists finding their audience and vice versa, in an increasingly fragmented media market. Sure, it was acknowleged that there are some acts like Lady Gaga which are built for major label, major budget, BROADcast driven marketing, but what about everyone else? <br /><br />Part of the present challenge is that the ability of Retail (where the rubber meets the road) to make connections has been severely compromised. One has to successfully marry the awareness generator/filter to a purchase decision. It's the classic model taught in any MBA Buyer Behavior class--awareness--intention--purchase. Good examples are independent record stores where the clerks or fellow shoppers can make recommendations, the original Hear Music/Starbucks model where the filter was applied at the head end in deciding what select titles to carry (<a href="http://justbmajor.blogspot.com/2008/06/32-flavors-but-more-is-less.html">see my previous post</a> on how they screwed that up)and iTunes which famously refuses record label money and instead decides itself what to promote on its heavily trafficked home page. Those entities succeed because they earn their customers' trust and make a connection. Amazon, on the other hand, touts its long tail product mix and is trying to buy market share (along with the desperate labels) by low ball pricing promotions in its MP3 stores where you can buy full albums for as low as $2.99. The Best Buy strategy of commoditazation vs. having a qualitative customer relationship, crushed indie retail 10 years ago and yet here we are again, except this time we're selling ones and zeros instead of shiny round things that you can hold. <br /><br />So as I sat on Ken's patio, I wondered if there wasn't one part of our business that is still relatively robust and could help save the day. The answer that came to me is live music, the most immediate way for an artist to connect to a consumer. The only problem is that the live business's mass aggregators--the festivals, have so far no stepped up to the plate.<br /><br />For example, Lollapalooza is a great brand but they could be doing so much more. I just came back from this year's event where I and 80,000 other people per day had a terrific time. My client, Tor Hyams, produces the <a href="http://www.kidzapalooza.com/chicago/index.html">Kidzapalooza</a> stage, so it's a great way of mixing business with pleasure. If you're a music geek like me, the buffet of musical styles that is laid out before you is daunting and thrilling at the same time.<br /><br />I love discovering new music and when I'm at Lolla, I'm particularly excited because I know that its curator, Perry Farrell, and the C3 team have picked things out for ME. It's gotten to the point where tickets sell out before the acts are even announced because after five years in Chicago, the festival has developed a reputation for delivering over 100 quality acts that are incredibly genre-diverse but all interesting and worthy in their own right. You might like Bat for Lashes better than Asher Roth, but, as a music fan, you respect that each has a particular point of view and individual sensibility. <br /><br />For three days, we're all music geek brothers-in-arms, getting Twitter feeds from Lolla HQ and comparing notes about what we've seen that day. And then you get home, snip off your wristband and it's over (until next year). What a missed opportunity! Why not keep the conversation going and, in the process, help musicians keep making connections and finding new and bigger audiences? Lolla has over 10,000 Twitter followers and since the festival ended, the only communications have been to plug a Fuse TV special and....wait for it....an announcement of early bird tickets for 2010!. <br /><br />HEY! You just turned me onto 100 acts in three days--you can't just cut me off now. Send me a tweet telling me about a cool band you just heard that I should check out. Offer me some deals on CDs or merch of bands that I saw in Chicago. Give me some recipes of some of the food vendors that were there like <a href="http://www.grahamelliot.com/">Graham Elliot's</a> Portobello Satay. Just don't stop calling me until next year when you again need a date for the prom! <br /><br />Now don't get me wrong, I'm not picking on Lolla--everything about the experience is first class and C3 is a great organization, I just think there's the potential for so much more. Lolla is one of a few entities, conveniently spread throughout the country, including Bonnaroo, Coachella and Austin City Limits that have the brand integrity/coherence and media reach to be able to pull this off. And I'm not naively suggesting that they NEED to do this--I get it; they sell out every year. But they do have the opportunity for incremental income for themselves and for artists and to be industry leaders. <br /><br />Why isn't there a Lolla label imprint, or a 10-song monthly MP3 collection that I can subscribe to? Why aren't there Lolla Jr. live shows with four acts in small theaters around the country? Why do I get the silent treatment for the next 10 months?<br /><br />We're running out of people who can help move the needle for the non-Lady Gaga's of the world. Why doesn't the live music sector figure out how to harness the passion of their product and expand the revenue for all involved. Save the Cheerleader--Save the World!Daniel Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11368314408793941810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564095882790735805.post-16785647625622063522009-06-28T19:36:00.000-07:002009-06-28T20:51:17.014-07:00I Want Therefore I Am<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSvEclefTWetmzeeBvm8QBjlrHebC1GwtyUL1cGgtCIGpjEpJF9hqRKSwMhmKazE54woyGl4k6gzjDnuWwmAuMQleJjPriblPymgGVemqGS78dzOKH0lLZcVi9jIy3EYBqyRnEa5MpPRcG/s1600-h/ari.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSvEclefTWetmzeeBvm8QBjlrHebC1GwtyUL1cGgtCIGpjEpJF9hqRKSwMhmKazE54woyGl4k6gzjDnuWwmAuMQleJjPriblPymgGVemqGS78dzOKH0lLZcVi9jIy3EYBqyRnEa5MpPRcG/s320/ari.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352584873369627634" /></a><br />The only kids I have have four legs and a tail so I don't claim to be an expert in child rearing. But I'm pretty sure that any parent is running into dangerous territory when their progeny decides they want something and Mom or Dad tell them they can't have it. "Why?" "Because" = Highly unsatisfying for all involved.<br /><br />The music biz has a rich history of such behavior. I've been in the meeting. "Let's be at Top 40 for 10 to 12 weeks before we put out the album, and let's not make anything available for sale. Let's tell the fans, "Listen, I know you like our artist, and apparently you like the new song, but we're not going to give you any opportunity to act on that until the album comes out in two months." If I were Lefsetz, here's where I would disolve into some sexual metaphor, but let's skip all that. "Seriously? You're not going to let me buy a single? Well, screw you, I'll just steal the album when it comes out. So there."<br /><br />You'd think the TV biz would learn something from this. And there <span style="font-weight:bold;">are</span> signs that they're getting it, like with Prime On Demand, which I just discovered on my Mother's Time Warner Cable box in New York. How cool. I missed "Rescue Me" and (like my mother) I don't have a DVR, but I can watch the latest episode whenever I want. So that's what makes my latest "Entourage" experience that much more confusing and maddening.<br /><br />I was hanging in my client's office in New York and talk turned to some scene from last season. I had to admit that while I had watched the first few seasons, I checked out on the latest season. I probably had too many "Numbers" episodes to watch. I was immediately upbraided and encouraged to go watch Season 5, especially as Season 6 was starting on July 12 (as the billboards and full page ads told me). Cut to my flying home on Virgin America and having the chance to watch two Season 5 episodes as part of their Premium TV offering. Turns out that I actually <span style="font-weight:bold;">do</span> like the show. I guess I need to catch up in the next two weeks. <br /><br />Upon coming home, after shaking off my Xanax hangover/jet lag, I go to the iTunes store. No Season 5. I got to my TIVO box. No episodes planned. Finally I go to Amazon. Sure there's Season 5 on DVD and it's on sale starting June 30. WTF?<br /><br />The last episode was six months ago. You couldn't make it available until now? Two weeks before the new season? We live in the digital age; what's with the wait? If I weren't such an industry icon (and, more importantly, afraid of computer viruses) I'd just get the whole season on a torrent site and leave it at that. HBO is leaving money on the table for reasons only know to those in that Wednesday marketing meeting. HBO, the company whose former head, the insufferable Michael Fuchs, thought he could run the Warner Music Group, only to run right into a brick wall of cultural and business operational differences. Hmmmmmm. <br /><br />This whole situation, has reinforced for me the need for the music business to honor the time-tested ethic. "Give people what they want when they want it." No more big windup, "we have to put out the image track first then we'll come with the <span style="font-style:italic;">real</span> first single and then the album 8 weeks later." When it's done, put it out. It's not about first week Soundscan, bought with $6.99 pricing at Best Buy. It's about PROFIT. And the more you match consumer desire with product, the more money you make. <br /><br />Contrary to what the content companies might think, the consumer is the only reason you're in business. Refuse to meet demand at your own peril.Daniel Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11368314408793941810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564095882790735805.post-26915171971353937902009-05-25T15:53:00.000-07:002009-05-25T17:57:41.688-07:00Idol Musings<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNy5LFfYIT1DV4ZuX-uy2zurjsVBborF6mjRUXci0L7MK6w-5SOnpCDJURKHo6xBBRepe55gKfGFbiFRxGTGVsmtNwc6Z6Ivp8-w2XkIfjs785CEUxkR8OBC6GJG4c7M7UPDEtw3VMuXYW/s1600-h/sanjaya.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 260px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNy5LFfYIT1DV4ZuX-uy2zurjsVBborF6mjRUXci0L7MK6w-5SOnpCDJURKHo6xBBRepe55gKfGFbiFRxGTGVsmtNwc6Z6Ivp8-w2XkIfjs785CEUxkR8OBC6GJG4c7M7UPDEtw3VMuXYW/s320/sanjaya.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339927194202200530" /></a><br />I've been a fan of American Idol since the Kelly & Justin era. I admit that I enjoy the show, and I also agree with my client Tor Hyams that if you're in the modern music business, and you don't watch, you're out to lunch. I've also had the opportunity to work with Season 6 runner up Melinda Doolittle for the past year, marketing her solo debut, "Coming Back to You." So over the years, I've had more than my share of exposure to Idolworld</span> and its artists, including last week when I spent a lot of time with many ex-Idols doing various promotional events.<br /><br />And guess what? The ones that are still at it are all really talented and willing to work hard in order to get some of the million people that voted for them to buy their latest recording. But that's exactly the problem; they're no longer on TV every week, so their ability to promote themselves is extremely limited. The half life of fan interest just based on TV viewership is a nanosecond. Otherwise we'd all be going to the Arenadome to see Jesse Camp or J.D. Fortune (and he actually toured with a huge well known band for two years). <br /><br />At the same time, I'm very aware of many great new artists that are signed to major labels but who ultimately will not be strong enough to survive the Darwinesque ecosystem. I get all the promo CDs and the calls and emails to see if I'm working on anything that they can get in on.<br /><br />Does anyone appreciate the irony here? On the one hand, you have talented artists on TV with nothing to sell, and on the other hand you have labels who have already spent money to make records and who would pay any amount of money to get their artists on TV to promote them. Did you know that if you have a musical act on Ellen that you pay the show a $10,000 production fee on top of whatever your expenses are including AFTRA wages for anyone who's onstage? And, by the way, you're delighted to spend all the money because Ellen sells records. <br /><br />How hard would it be for Sony Music, which makes windfall profits on the Idol stars that they have locked up, to assign some A&R guys to start making records with the final 10 during the show's season so that the day after the finale they can have a commercial single for sale with an album to follow within a month? Last year's Top 2, David Archuleta and David Cook didn't have their albums come out until six months AFTER the finale. That's like Paramount spending millions on a TV advertising campaign for a movie and stopping it six months before the premiere. It's like sitting through a two minute infomercial for the Snuggie and when you call up, they tell you that it won't be available for another six months (so you buy the Slanket instead). <br /><br />As for the labels, instead of futzing around with whatever the latest genius joint venture is (Hello PressPlay!), why don't they all get together and create a new TV franchise around the idea of finding the best new SIGNED artist (American Idol meets The Shortlist Music Prize)? Let each participating label have a few slots, get some industry judges and let the voting begin. And here's the fun part; there</span> would already be product for fans to buy, product that the labels had already spent money on making, and they get to put money back onto their own pockets on the sync fees. <br /><br />And here's another fun by-product of this concept. Unlike Idol where fans are just starting to get to know the contestants a few weeks earlier, with Label Idol, it's possible that <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">thousands</span> of fans already know about the artist, have bought their music, seen them live and spend time on their MySpace page. Imagine the marketing meeting during which a plan is laid out to do all that grass roots marketing in anticipation of the show, like a political candidate doing house parties before he announces that he's running for office. That's right, the labels will be dragged, kicking and screaming into doing Artist Development! <br /><br />It's just so crazy it might work.Daniel Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11368314408793941810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564095882790735805.post-83772282260590275952008-06-29T16:32:00.000-07:002008-07-02T13:16:09.885-07:0032 Flavors, but More is Less<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE-t3nyvkSoNwursC5VDeCtA-lwJ2JMMGYDHAjyS6tGvH7nzs5ehfjcJJXsQ8jo0XCgxDQSatQHaOFde3qTTn7Ip29nEbHabCWXuYRldTxRcGUbgEqmPh7WCqBlBj1X0JwzJRbfncIv1WW/s1600-h/britney_starbucks.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE-t3nyvkSoNwursC5VDeCtA-lwJ2JMMGYDHAjyS6tGvH7nzs5ehfjcJJXsQ8jo0XCgxDQSatQHaOFde3qTTn7Ip29nEbHabCWXuYRldTxRcGUbgEqmPh7WCqBlBj1X0JwzJRbfncIv1WW/s320/britney_starbucks.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218509861413940306" /></a><br /><a href="//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/26/AR2008062600132.html">News</a> from Seattle last week has Starbucks drastically cutting back on the number of CD titles it sells in its 6,500 locations. And my reaction is, "Thank you and what took you so long?" <br /><br />Back in the good old days, the Starbucks music initiative was an outgrowth of two small brick and mortar music retail outlets (remember what those were?) called Hear Music. Dealing with them from the label side was always challenging because Hear didn't take everything. They wouldn't even take your money as a bribe to order units which were 100% returnable. But the good part of this relationship was that when they accepted a title, it really meant something. They were going to join you in evangelizing to the unwashed masses for whatever the release was. Customers going to the store were well aware of this dynamic and came to trust the taste of these gatekeepers. <br /><br />It's like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697678/plotsummary">the Seinfeld episode</a> when Elaine completely trusts Vincent's picks and is undone when she strays, at Kramer's urging, to one of Gene's picks ("Weekend at Bernies II," fittingly enough).<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgerMsF65aJlbfoRcX7KKbyKsQGTGLhxvNz_ae6gmaV21gtQAiVJ_2ag9YCokMe2v9gMKD7xa7lenxR-1bezG53IBeOOB_s9F48xJAynNsPc3RAo5GE-OhRYffVpG1hlEkzuY5cSoV3pLKF/s1600-h/elaine.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgerMsF65aJlbfoRcX7KKbyKsQGTGLhxvNz_ae6gmaV21gtQAiVJ_2ag9YCokMe2v9gMKD7xa7lenxR-1bezG53IBeOOB_s9F48xJAynNsPc3RAo5GE-OhRYffVpG1hlEkzuY5cSoV3pLKF/s320/elaine.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217460993034330402" /></a><br /><br />So when Starbucks started carrying CDs, we all sang, "Huzzah" at the prospect of the Hear concept being scaled up on a massive level. And it worked, at first, but the powers that be became less discriminating, and the idea got diluted to the point of rendering the whole thing ineffective beyond the blockbusters like the Ray Charles disc. Someone in Seattle thought they could be a major player in the entertainment world. Remember how they were going to start promoting movies and books? Even though one of their executives once told me that he knew that they were a coffee company and no matter what success they may have in selling CDs, they would ALWAYS be a coffee company, their behavior was the height of cognitive dissonance. <br /><br />From a practical viewpoint, they also had a massive shrinkage problem with thousands of CDs walking out the door under raincoats or in the scone bag. And as far as being able to coordinate company wide promotions, having so many titles made it close to impossible. Do you have any idea how hard it is to ensure store compliance on one title when you're dealing with a chain of only 400 stores? And you want to do that with 20 titles across 6,500 in 50 states? Not so much. <br /><br />Ironically, many acts who sold well at Starbucks earned a Pyrrhic victory in regards to long term artist development.I remember talking to the manager of a Starbucks featured band and she was relatively unimpressed by the sales story. When I gave her a quizzical look, she invited me to do the math. If there's an 8 week promotion and the CD sells 3 copies per week in every store, then you have 156,000 sales which in these times is an enviable total. But because the sales are so spread out, it's not as if the act is gaining any type of critical mass which one would expect in a regional breakout story. <br /><br />In a neat piece of corporate symmetry, since I started writing this post, Starbucks has also <a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hinV1XVpDeRBwTJTEpQCkvIcoMJAD91LMELG0">announced</a> the closing of 600 stores, including 1 out of 5 U.S. company operated stores which were opened in the past two years. Get the message? There's a point at which having too many offerings starts collapsing the model. <br /><br />So let's hope that this new focus will enable Starbucks to have a hand in artist development for worthy projects, although we assume that the four slots for CDs will be taken up by releases on Concord Records which markets and distributes Starbucks' Hear label. And for all the other marketers out there, please remember that there's no shame in doing a few things VERY well.Daniel Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11368314408793941810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564095882790735805.post-10273795061235579172008-06-06T14:31:00.000-07:002008-06-07T21:08:49.210-07:00Can We Call for a Do-Over?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLxd84uk_8vKUUkf_NoK9fEGftNhFiyKjKJKCF24PpkwcPHgUJHj5BjdTDAsr-1tE6IgWGXUH-eCZ4LOXqQfTPec8QaV6TrG5UiN351EvUyqsMTBBoty2OyV6hy8c1eHjAzDWm-eYXAK-2/s1600-h/119985284_f2095a4cbd_o.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLxd84uk_8vKUUkf_NoK9fEGftNhFiyKjKJKCF24PpkwcPHgUJHj5BjdTDAsr-1tE6IgWGXUH-eCZ4LOXqQfTPec8QaV6TrG5UiN351EvUyqsMTBBoty2OyV6hy8c1eHjAzDWm-eYXAK-2/s320/119985284_f2095a4cbd_o.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5209357558879094754" /></a><br />A friend of mine who's an ardent Yankee fan ( I do make exceptions on occasion) just sent me the seat pricing schedule for the 2009 season, the inaugural of the new Yankee Stadium. In a word--INSANE. A ticket in the first section from the field will now cost $850 and one out in Section 11, way out towards the right field corner is $500. When I asked him if they're actually going to be able to sell all those seats, he immediately replied, "Every single one of them, but not to me."<br /><br />One can only guess that the reason for charging the high prices is "because they can." Sure, you'll get all the hedge fund geniuses to buy in, but what about the bread and butter fan? Screw 'em, and let's not even concern ourselves about how this is ultimately guaranteeing the continued decline of our National Pastime. Even if you bring your own peanuts, there's no way the average family can make going to the ballpark a regular habit. Facing this economic reality and the contempt that the Yankee organization is showing to its customers, it wouldn't be far fetched to think that fans are already daydreaming of a way to beat the system. Maybe they can but a bleacher seat and schmear one of the ushers in the good sections. Maybe they can get in on a scalping scheme so they can sell enough tickets at a markup to afford one good one.<br /><br />Sound familiar? Roll back the clock to the first ten years of the CD age. Record companies and retailers charged as much as they could (with one retailer actually selling CDs for $19.98 or $1.00 MORE than list price). Why? Because they could. They figured that the demand was there; the consumer was an early adopter who had more disposable income. Instead of looking to keep customers for the long term, the idea was to cash in while they could. And look what happened. The average consumer got so pissed off that they were just waiting for the day when they could stick it to the Man, even if the artist was getting hurt as a result. And when the Big Boxes treated CDs as a loss leader and started pricing them impossibly low, it only supported the suspicion that the consumer had been being ripped off the whole time.<br /><br />As soon as the technology became available a gigantic sleeper cell of bitter and betrayed consumers was aroused and put into action in a file trading, CD-burning, hard drive swapping frenzy. Payback is a bitch. When people feel aggrieved and taking advantage of, they have no problem rationalizing sociopathic behavior.<br /><br />It seems fairly reasonable then, that part of iTunes' success has been its pricing model. "99 cents per song, for every song? That seems reasonable and fair. I'm in. " It's the same tact that Southwest Airlines is taking in the face of every other airline charging fuel surcharges, charging for checked bags, charging $150 change fee, etc, etc, etc, Southwest is running full page ads touting the transparency of their fares and the respect that they show their customers.<br /><br />I wonder if the record industry would be in this pickle had they shown their consumers the same level of customer-centric behavior from the very beginning. Lacking a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayback_Machine">WABAC machine</a>, we'll never know. But one thing we do know is that if we don't figure out a way to let music fans buy product at a price which is fair and which makes them feel good about the process. then we're destined to go the way of the railroads in the jet age.Daniel Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11368314408793941810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564095882790735805.post-70847988459927844972008-06-02T13:06:00.000-07:002008-06-02T15:46:02.231-07:00We Don't Need Help Self-Destructing, Thank You<span style="font-family:arial;">I just read an <a href="http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007040.html">article</a> on how Staples is going to start selling DVD movies that will self-destruct after 48 hours. Now being a good capitalist, I don't have a problem with the company, Flexplay, trying to make a buck flogging a technology that seems like a sure business loser. And if Staples needs something else to clog their shelves, <span style="font-style: italic;">mazel tov</span>. What I do wonder is what movie studios are stupid enough or desperate enough for a little more money in the quarterly forecast to go along with this scheme.<br /><br />So, let me get this straight, let's take something that has established itself as a superior product that has huge consumer appeal, largely on the basis of its archival potential (admit it, you still have at least 20 DVDs in your collection with the shrinkwrap still on them, but at least you HAVE them) and make your customers think of them as disposable junk.<br /><br />The same can be said for the music industry. Has anyone ever had a legitimate complaint about audio CDs, beyond an issue with the quality of the source material? The CD is a product that everyone loves, even if it's being used to burn pirated material. So while the record labels and distribution companies are placing most of their eggs in the digital and mobile baskets, the CD is being treated like a bastard stepchild. I'm no Luddite and certainly digital will be the heavy half in the near future, but it's puzzling as to why everyone is so happy to run away from a product that has been so successful and has achieved such ubiquity.<br /><br />How about focusing on how to make the CD offering not just cheaper, but better with clever packaging, and bonus materials (and I'm not talking about ringtones)? Let's stop perpetuating the idea that CDs are relatively worthless and use our imaginations to make them a more compelling consumer offering.<br /><br />Market, people, market!<br /></span>Daniel Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11368314408793941810noreply@blogger.com0