Porn
Got your attention there, didn’t I?
If you want to know the future for all media, look to pornography, it leads the way. Porn was the first to videocassette, the first to DVD, the first to the Internet, and the first to be eviscerated by the Web.
Wait a minute? It’s EVERYWHERE! There’s more porn than ever before, it’s just a click away!
True. But the porn companies of yore are crying in their beer. No one will pay anymore. They don’t want movies.
But they do want cam girls.
That’s what bugs me about the music industry. The goal is to constantly jet everybody into the past. You’ve got to pay for recordings, a lot. And the usual suspects must get richer. Then again, do you expect the RIAA to say otherwise? It’s a trade group for record labels, but unlike most lobbying organizations the RIAA has little sway over its customers, because music is not B to B, but B to C, and if you think you can control customers, you probably believe you can herd cats.
So what we used to have was long porn videos with a hint of plot wherein stars did it in all manner of positions. It worked, especially in puritanical America, where we argue about whether women can breastfeed in public. But it turns out that’s not what people really want. They prefer something more intimate, more one on one, more interactive.
That’s how you succeed in the twenty first century, by getting the public involved. That’s the key to awards shows’ spiking ratings. Yes, the Emmys were horrible as TV, but a field day for snark. Twitter upped the ratings. And cam girls have created a huge revenue stream. But the money doesn’t go to the usual suspects.
Live. You say you can’t sell a recording and you must make it up on live. But maybe the truth is recordings are plentiful and what we’re looking for most is the live experience! Looking to the cam girls, what we want even more is a personalized live experience. The more you can vary the set list, the more you can personalize the patter, the more people will want to come back. In other words, the spectacle show may only work for a few acts and may be dying, just like full length, prepackaged porn flicks are.
But the truth is there’s still a ton of money in porn, it’s just going to different people, who are making it in a different way. It’s a completely different paradigm.
Just like there’s a ton of money in music and will be even more.
Used to be there were three TV channels, sync opportunities were minimal, and completely nonexistent for the indie or wannabe. Now so many shows need music… And BMI just reported that revenues went up! Partially because of Internet radio. Yes, while you’re busy bitching about Pandora payouts, you don’t see that the pot is growing! Maybe it’s all not going to the same people, but music revenues keep climbing, it’s only recording revenue that’s tanked.
And just like in music, in the camming world it’s about entrepreneurs and super-serving the audience. Working, advertising, meet and greets. Everybody’s a hustler these days. And that may be hard, but in the old world very few made money. Ever hear of a rich porn actor? Absolutely not! All the money went to the studios.
Change is constant. The key is to see the opportunities as opposed to mourning the loss. People want to listen to music, they just don’t want to do it in the same way. Are you willing to go back to three networks and no remote control? You’d positively scream! So today listeners are grazers, they gravitate to what’s great, so is it any wonder the middle class and marginal see such low royalties?
I’m not saying I’m not troubled by the hollowing out of the middle class of musicmakers. But to rail against consumer behavior is a ticket to nowhere.
The cam girls have shown us there’s a way out.
And music is intertwined with sex, the hit you get from it is almost equal and more readily available. Don’t let the shifting sands freak you out. There will always be a demand for music, it’s just that the business might look a little different. If someone is lamenting the passage of the good old days, stop listening. Because unlike buggy whips and typewriters, music is never going out of style.
