Does anybody want a Palm Pilot?\u00c2\u00a0 How about a Zip drive?<\/p>\n
Technology moves fast.\u00c2\u00a0 Declaring obsolescent yesterday’s uber-desirable product.\u00c2\u00a0 The key is to ride the wave, get in at the right time, delivering what the public wants, and then get out.<\/p>\n
But the music industry doesn’t seem to get this.\u00c2\u00a0 It believes there’s going to be a new CD.\u00c2\u00a0 A new MTV.\u00c2\u00a0 So busy waiting for the next "standard", the music business sits on the sidelines, missing out on revenue and becoming further marginalized.<\/p>\n
Ringtones were supposed to save the business.\u00c2\u00a0 But they peaked long ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Even the iPod has morphed into the iPhone, barely half a decade after the original was introduced.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s no longer about the music, but the apps.\u00c2\u00a0 Labels are arguing about pricing and device owners aren’t even referencing music.\u00c2\u00a0 iPod Touch sales are booming and the old standby?\u00c2\u00a0 The hard-drive based mega-capacity iPod is now called the Classic.\u00c2\u00a0 And comes in only one model.\u00c2\u00a0 SMALLER than the previous iteration.<\/p>\n
And now comes the decline of Rock Band and Guitar Hero.\u00c2\u00a0 Why should these last forever?\u00c2\u00a0 The game doesn’t change, only the songs.\u00c2\u00a0 You play for a while and you get over the thrill.\u00c2\u00a0 But the labels want to argue with the manufacturers about how much money they’re getting for tracks, as the business evaporates.<\/p>\n
In the digital world, you license now, then you move on to the next technology.\u00c2\u00a0 You license Napster, knowing that in a matter of years, most people will no longer want to own.\u00c2\u00a0 You sell tracks at the iTunes Store in cheap bundles, knowing that no one’s going to want such a horrible-sounding file in the future, if they can even hold on to it, if it will even play on their new computer.\u00c2\u00a0 The song remains the same, but how you deliver it, how you consume it, that keeps changing.<\/p>\n
Instead of worrying that some entity is going to steal the business’ thunder, make all the money, the key is to license everybody.\u00c2\u00a0 Knowing that the music will survive, but the companies won’t.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, MTV is still broadcasting.\u00c2\u00a0 But now it’s not an island unto itself.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just another cable channel fighting for teen viewership.\u00c2\u00a0 As for its assets…\u00c2\u00a0 Does anybody want to view its old programming?\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas labels own the catalogues of Led Zeppelin and Billy Joel, never mind the one hit wonders featured on the music television outlet.\u00c2\u00a0 The music has intrinsic value.\u00c2\u00a0 It will last.\u00c2\u00a0 Take the long term view.<\/p>\n
As for Guitar Hero and Rock Band…\u00c2\u00a0 How many guitars do you need?\u00c2\u00a0 The new games are overpriced and they under-deliver.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, some people own multiple cars, but for most, one is enough.\u00c2\u00a0 And cars get you somewhere, whereas the games are ends unto themselves.<\/p>\n
And then you’ve got the curious case of the Beatles.\u00c2\u00a0 Who show up at the party when the janitor is just about to lock the door.\u00c2\u00a0 If Apple Corps is going to ride the digital wave, buy a surfboard, paddle out into the water, now.\u00c2\u00a0 If you think CDs will support you, you probably didn’t notice the Virgin Megastore closing in New York City.\u00c2\u00a0 What comes first, the death of the CD or the Beatles on iTunes?\u00c2\u00a0 Right now, it looks like the former.<\/p>\n
What we’ve got here is pure, unadulterated greed.\u00c2\u00a0 From Activision and MTV\/Harmonix.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s no different from Wall Street.\u00c2\u00a0 They feel ENTITLED to their money. There’s no pricing for consumer affordability, no contemplation that the bottom can fall out.\u00c2\u00a0 But it just did.<\/p>\n
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