Derek Sivers On Leadership
In yesterday’s "New York Times", Lucian Grainge, Universal Music’s CEO-To-Be said:
"I believe that the CD will out-survive me as a format."
That’s utterly laughable.
We could allow Lucian to explain himself, but the damage has been done, Lucian has debuted in the U.S. as a man looking backward. And make no mistake, we’re in the era of moving forward.
Those who are trying to restrict behavior, tamping down both experimentation and the ultimate tsunami of followers who result, are doing their companies a disservice. They just don’t get it. It’s about leading. Isn’t it funny that record companies want to lead with their acts, trying to get everybody to become a fan, but when it comes to business they want us all to come back to the clubhouse and obey their rules.
In the "Wall Street Journal", Mr. Grainge throws his support behind three strikes laws (in France, two!):
"To combat illegal downloading of music, Mr. Grainge says he supports an anti-Internet piracy law passed in France stipulating that offenders have their Internet connections cut off after receiving two warnings. ‘I am a fan of tasty carrots and big sticks,’ Mr. Grainge said. ‘Music downloading has to be legal. It is as simple as that.’"
I’ll agree with Mr. Grainge that downloading must be legal, but the key is a business proposition that is enticing to the majority of the public, not one that works primarily for rights holders, which leaves the majority of the public stealing or ignoring.
In other words Mr. Grainge, as Bob Dylan most famously sang:
Something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mr. Jones?
Maybe Lucian’s clueless because "Ballad Of A Thin Man" is owned by Sony. Whatever the case, he’d be better off watching Derek Sivers’ presentation than going to lunch with his troops. Because Derek understands how innovation occurs, and innovation is killing the recorded music companies.
How do you entice people to join you? How do you look cool? How does everyone have fun? Once upon a time, the labels were leaders, now they’re too busy watching the parking meters, which are about to expire.
Watch this video.
