Category: Media

From Mix Tapes to Social Media – Lessons for Publishers

A couple weeks back, I explored the idea that media is turning from physical media, into lifestyle media – that media is becoming more about the experience, and less about the actual product of a book, record or magazine. One comment on that blog post was interesting:

“I still have books and CDs in my house. There’s some comfort in re-discovering a line or a tune on a Sunday afternoon. But, I’ve fully embraced the digital world — and have little to no need for physical things outside of my Sunday New York Times and my magazine subscriptions.”

Why do we love reading the Sunday Times in print, and relish dropping the needle on a record? What about this is psychologically comforting? Here are some ideas:

  • Focused Attention
    Many of us are overwhelmed with email, Facebook updates, and the millions of shoes we could be browsing on Zappos, or books to buy on Amazon. On the web, every piece of content leads to two more pieces of content, and so on. But a book is a single story. A record a single piece of music. It focuses our attention, allowing us to experience a single thing.

  • Sentimentality
    When you grow up with something, you often have a sentimental attachment to it. Even if you have no desire to own a rotary dial phone, you will still enjoy the memory of dialing a friend’s number on it when you were 13. Likewise, even a generation that didn’t grow up with something, can appreciate its retro appeal. There are tons of teenagers who are embracing vinyl records, even though they grew up in the age of MP3’s.

  • Form
    Yes, sometimes I look at my iPhone or my iPad and think: “I am Captain Kirk, this is the future!” A newspaper is less challenging. It is not a magic black box, it is just paper. There is something about it that says it should be appreciated leisurely over a cup of coffee.

  • Personal Connection
    In an age where social media makes every experience a shared experience, I can understand why some reject this in order to have a personal connection – a personal experience – with something, be it a book, a piece of music, or a magazine. The pressure to share, to influence or be influenced, can be too much sometimes.

These are powerful psychological reasons, and I am considering how they do or don’t evolve with digital media. EG: will our kids have this same attachment to a book – that personal connection? Will they too become sentimental about discovering a CD in the corner of some music shop in a distant city, and the anticipation of bringing it home – always keeping it as a treasured personal experience? Will they get sentimental about the first generation iPod, about viewing a web page that looks like it was created in 1998, and will MySpace become a retro trend in 5 years time?

I can’t bring myself to throw out mix tapes from high school. In reality, these are cheap, low quality cassette tapes that have already degraded over time. They are filled with 2nd generation copies of music off of other tapes. In fact – I haven’t owned a cassette player for years, so the likelihood of me every listening to them again is unlikely.

Objectively, there is little personal experience here. Some tapes I made myself, others were made for me by friends.

But like the web today – curation IS a form of self expression. Ownership of the original media was not the goal, the experience of lower-quality versions of songs from a friend was wildly more important.

A record company executive in the 1980’s would have hated this. They would have preached about the value of owning the official release of a piece of music – the higher sound quality, the collectability, the connection a fan needs with the artist. Mix tapes were the opposite, they were unofficial, low quality and about the connection between fans.

That same record company executive would have feared for the future of their industry because fans were copying and trading music freely. They would have lobbied Sony to keep a ‘record’ button off the Walkman, they would have pressured Maxell to keep the prices of blank cassettes at higher levels.

You see this happening today with digital rights management systems on eBooks, on music companies suing fans for file sharing. I’m not going to pretend that both of these issues aren’t very important – they are.

But when you see them as a risk, you miss the opportunity. The opportunity of fans sat up in their bedrooms in the 80’s, making mix tapes. How they extended what the music was, and made it personal.

That is why social media is critically important for the future of all media. Because fans have become empowered not just to consume, but to extend and create.

Thanks!

-Dan

Publishers: Embrace Your Journey

In the movie Forrest Gump, there is a scene where Captain Dan (played by Gary Sinise) has reached his wits end. His life didn’t pan out as he expected, he felt he had a destiny, but instead, his journey took a different course. For years, he fought it, bitter.

When he reaches rock bottom, he is in the middle of a hurricane stuck out at sea on a boat. He climbs to the top of the mast, and challenges mother nature. For years, he rejected his journey, but suddenly, he is full of drive.

He survives the storm, and it becomes a catalyst for him to accept how things are, not how he expected them to be. And he moves on, building a fruitful life with what he has. In the end, he becomes wealthy, finds love, and even overcomes a disability.

In the same regard, publishers and media companies need to embrace change, not fight it and wish for “what they thought the future would be.”

I know that there are many in publishing who are working towards change, who are experimenting with new formats, new products, and new ways of relating to their audience.

But often, those people don’t get the support that is required to really turn the ship. They do great things with very few resources, but progress is slow. The problem with eeking along on one’s journey reluctantly is that it focuses on the wrong things.

The hero’s journey is less about the destination, than the journey itself. What we learn about ourselves, those around us, and the larger context of the world we live in.

What if Frodo never left The Shire?
What if Dorothy never left Kansas?
What if Luke never left Tattooine?

And if you think these are just fictional stories that don’t relate to the real-world challenges of shifting an industry the size of publishing, then consider: What if Steve Jobs sat home and counted his millions when he was fired from Apple in 1985, and never continued on his journey? What if Jeff Bezos never got in that car to Seattle, writing Amazon.com’s business plan on the way?

Be wary of the excuse of protecting existing business models. Because that can prevent a business from understanding their audience, and the scope of the world around them. It can prevent them from uncovering real value, real solutions, and real meaning in their industry.

Every week, I get to meet smart passionate people who work in publishing and media. People who are looking to the future, and appreciating the amazing things that are happening in the present. Some publishers have the vision. Some publishers have been experimenting with new media. In some ways, nearly all publishers are ‘working on it,’ trying to evolve carefully.

But the future is coming, quickly. Your audience is changing their behaviors, quickly. And new competitors are encroaching, quickly.

When considering your future, and the journey you are on, consider: If not now, when?

Thanks!

-Dan

What Publishers Can Learn From The Godfather

I watched The Godfather parts 1 and 2 last week, and realized how many layers I had missed when viewing them growing up. The movies had me considering how institutions are built, and how they are destroyed. And of course, this had me considering the current climate in the publishing and media worlds.

I’ll simplify the movies as a juxtaposition between two people:

  1. Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) built and ran an empire by balancing harsh tactics with community balance. He understood that for his family to succeed, that he had to leave room for other families to succeed. He knew when to be strike and when to compromise. For instance, he didn’t seek revenge of the death of his eldest son in order to avoid an all out war.
  2. His son Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) destroyed that same empire by trying to control without sharing. Again and again, Michael’s tactics are of someone who requires others to align to what he wants, or face dire consequences. This, regardless of their loyalty, their standing in the community, their bloodline or any other ramifications. Michael is quick to start an all out war between the families. This, of course, is one of many decisions that leads to his downfall.

As media companies struggle to find revenue growth and relevance in the digital world, I can’t help but thinking that there are lessons from The Godfather. Lessons that the music industry failed to recognize.

Again and again, record labels passed on opportunities, but attacked those who pursued them. They limited the ways consumers could engage with music, even as the world around them changed. As a surprising last-ditch effort, they sued fans. Not big time bootleggers, but individual fans. Instead of learning from these behaviors, they attacked the very people they needed most, the lifeblood of the music industry.

And today, the music business sits alone in the boathouse, reflecting on what could have been, had they only acted differently.

Media exists within an ecosystem, where the needs of many must be considered. That upstarts have a place in this world, and that if one institution chooses to fight them, then we all lose.

Book publishers are busy trying to figure out digital books, experimenting with digital-rights-management, trans-media, e-readers and the like. My fear is that this will become a winner-take-all scenario like the VHS and Beta battle a few decades back. (And that’s a shame, because Beta was such a better product, even though they lost the war.)

One interesting example, as usual, is Apple. They created entire economies around their products that encouraged new companies and new products to come into being. Their App Store is indicative of this – it is a new form of marketplace. Apple even designs their gadgets with tons of room for third-parties to develop accessories for them, such as iPhone cases. It’s as if Apple deliberately designs products that are easily scratched or shattered, and offers incredibly poor cases of their own, specifically so that third parties can offer “solutions” and inventive cases and accessories.

This doesn’t make Apple some kind of hippy, communal company. They are well known for their closed and controlling tactics.

I have no interest in trying to figure out who is Don Vito and who is Michael in the media world, and I don’t mean to make too much of The Godfather metaphor. It’s just a movie, and one based on a world where crime and murder is a common practice. 🙁

But, I do think it makes sense for media companies to better understand the interests, goals and behaviors of those in their entire ecosystem.

Thanks!

-Dan

Physical Media vs Lifestyle Media

I’ve been preparing my home for the arrival of our first child in August. One step I’ve taken is to digitize a portion of my music collection, and put my CDs and records into storage.

I have collected music since I was a teenager, scouring record stores, looking for rare international editions, buying the same album in both vinyl and CD, and chatting with the store owners about when their next shipments are coming in. I loved everything about records, record stores, and fellow fans who were passionate enough to spend all of their time and money discovering the rarest of the rare.

In the past few weeks, as the records and CDs disappeared from my shelves, there is a sense of freedom in the newfound space. The music is still there, on hard drives, on subscription services such as Mog.com, on streaming radio stations, on my iPod. But the physical media is gone. What have I lost? What have I gained?

It’s interesting to consider that my child’s life will be filled with music, but they will rarely experience it as a physical object. They won’t pull a CD off the shelf, or mistakenly scratch one of my records. But there will likely always be music playing, because that’s just sort of how it is in our home. In fact, they won’t even be able to point to a stereo or entertainment center, our current “system” is a set of speakers that runs off of my iPhone.

I can’t help but feel that this transition away from physical media, has opened me up to LIFESTYLE MEDIA. That is, media that supports our experience of music, ideas, information, entertainment, and connection – instead of the collection of objects.

It took me a long time to embrace digital music. I had such an affinity for the objects of media, that I didn’t want to give them up. But that has changed. Likely, it will take me a long time to embrace digital books. The industry is still working out issues of digital-rights-management, platforms, pricing, and the like. I now realize that this change from print to digital adoption will come in time. I know more and more regular folks who are loving their digital book readers.

These transitions make me appreciate how my child will live in a world filled with media, even though he or she won’t be able to see it. That they may even experience it in a more pure form than I did growing up. What if I had spent more time in my teens LISTENING to music, instead of SHOPPING for it? What if I didn’t have to hunt down good books, but they simply popped into my life on my phone, iPad or e-reader? What if television is no longer defined by a device and a place, but as an experience? Sure, part of me is sentimental for what is lost. But more than anything, I must focus on what is GAINED. And the more I consider it, I realize we are gaining more than we are losing, and we can’t let sentimentality hold us back.

Thanks!

-Dan

Media: Part of the Fabric of Our Lives

My wife and I have been getting ready for our first child, rearranging EVERYTHING at home – getting rid of a lot of stuff, and setting up a space that works for a family, not just specific tasks. It’s been a fascinating process, one that has me reflecting on the nature of media and it’s role in our lives.

Now, I come from a mindset that media – physical media – is beautiful. The idea of a wall lined with books, a stack of records next to the stereo, and a few magazines on the table is a welcome vision. And yet, I find myself disposing of, and packing away my physical media. Magazines I had been saving are now being recycled. My precious record collection is now in storage. Books have been whittled down to the few that I may actually want to reference in the next 12 months.

An inherent part of our rearrangement at home was to create a space that serves us ‘now.’ Not a space that is storage of things that we like, or want to use ‘someday.’

Instead of having physical media around, I find myself embracing digital media in greater ways. My high-end stereo with a turntable that used to take up an entire wall has been replaced by a set of small speakers, and a plug to link my iPhone to it. My phone is now my stereo.

Instead of having books and magazines all over the place, I ordered an iPad which arrives this week. I like the idea of leaving it on our living room table, something that is conversational, not isolating.

I’m thinking about getting rid of my iMac and replacing it with a notebook computer – something that can be used anywhere at home, and stored on a spare 2 inches on a shelf.

Digital takes up less room, that is part of my transition: making room for baby. But it also allows for fewer definitions of space, since their form is so small and mobile. The living room can be transformed for many uses, and media does not overwhelm the space – it simply enables activity.

Mostly, my wife and I are defining spaces by the experiences we hope to have there as a family, and I am simply expecting media to be available anytime, anywhere, to be integrated as we need it.

Media has become flexible.
Media has become mobile.
Media has becomes invisible.

And yet, media is a core part of our everyday existence. Music will be playing constantly – new videos and articles will be available at a moment’s notice – the world’s information is always present – and entertainment (be it games or movies or TV) are accessible, but not overwhelming.

So many people view the media itself as the goal – perhaps they are writing a ‘book,’ or creating a ‘magazine.’ But the experience is what they should be aiming for. All the massive transitions in the past decade have not lessened media’s value – it has simply become more integrated into the fabric of our lives in subtle ways.

A room doesn’t need books to be filled with them.
A room doesn’t need a screen on the wall in order to watch a movie.
A room doesn’t need a stereo system in order to have music.
A room doesn’t require a workstation in order to access the world’s information.

Thanks!

-Dan