{"id":4071,"date":"2011-04-21T08:54:55","date_gmt":"2011-04-21T16:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=4071"},"modified":"2011-04-21T08:54:55","modified_gmt":"2011-04-21T16:54:55","slug":"apple-1-in-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/21\/apple-1-in-revenue\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple #1 In Revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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"Apple overtakes Nokia as world’s largest vendor of mobile handsets by revenue<\/a>"<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I’d say worst to first, but more accurately it’s nowhere to triumph.\u00c2\u00a0 Could this happen in the record industry?<\/p>\n

Not only can it, it will.<\/p>\n

There’s an ecosystem of major labels and radio and physical distribution based on ripping off acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Will this sustain when the cost of production is essentially zero and physical distribution is almost dead and radio is moribund?<\/p>\n

Look at it this way.\u00c2\u00a0 Could Simon Cowell leverage "X Factor" into a whole new label, a powerhouse he could build upon?<\/p>\n

Of course.\u00c2\u00a0 If he was smart.<\/p>\n

In other words, Simon Cowell is leaving money on the table.\u00c2\u00a0 But the twentysomethings who are going to take over this business will not.<\/p>\n

Just like the iPhone looked nothing like a RAZR, the new record industry powerhouse will look nothing like Sony, where Doug Morris is wooing L.A. Reid to overspend like it’s still 1999.<\/p>\n

The new powerhouse will be more like a manager, an agent on steroids, who takes twenty percent for maximizing revenue using new tools.<\/p>\n

What are the new tools?<\/p>\n

1. iTunes<\/span><\/p>\n

Anybody can sell on an equal basis.\u00c2\u00a0 Just pay a low flat fee price to Tunecore.<\/p>\n

2. YouTube<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s completely free.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only that, if you can generate views, you can make money.<\/p>\n

3. Bandcamp\/Topspin<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s fascinating that the major labels did not think of this and do not own this.\u00c2\u00a0 Doug Morris and Universal build the money-losing Vevo that doesn’t generate enough cash to cover costs and pisses off consumers with advertisements and these two entities succeed based on fulfilling customers’ desires.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, consumers want product, a plethora of it, just not what the major labels think they do.\u00c2\u00a0 They want t-shirts and vinyl and books and autographed merchandise, there are a zillion price points and a ton of revenue.\u00c2\u00a0 You know how you know Topspin is good?\u00c2\u00a0 The majors labels use it when they pooh-pooh almost all technological innovation.\u00c2\u00a0 But Topspin and Bandcamp do not limit their infrastructure to those with big bucks and relationships, they’re open to everyone.\u00c2\u00a0 The majors won on exclusivity, controlling distribution, those days are completely through and that’s why the major label ecosystem is dying.<\/p>\n

Exhibition is still in flux.\u00c2\u00a0 Is it Pandora or Spotify from the cloud or a new service?\u00c2\u00a0 Rights holders have held back development by insisting on insane payments but at some point in the future a new service with new music might develop or the rights holders might become so desperate they make equitable deals…or an unknown with an unknown product akin to MTV may come by and sideswipe everybody.<\/p>\n

Artists want two things.\u00c2\u00a0 Exposure and money.\u00c2\u00a0 Can you get them heard and seen and can they get paid.\u00c2\u00a0 If you can deliver this, they sign up.\u00c2\u00a0 And smarter younger artists will sign with someone new, their own age, as opposed to the forty and fiftysomethings tied in with the old system.<\/p>\n

Want to make it in the new music management world?\u00c2\u00a0 Be honest, be trustworthy and deliver.\u00c2\u00a0 And acts will flock to you.<\/p>\n

The iPhone was a better operating system.\u00c2\u00a0 The app market didn’t flourish until down the line.\u00c2\u00a0 There were stumbles along the way, like how to pay for the device, but people flocked to it.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a hit.\u00c2\u00a0 All we need is a hit act which doesn’t make a deal with the usual suspects and we’re off to the races.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like Wal-Mart exclusive deals killed superstars signing with majors, a new hit act doing it for itself will kill the major labels.<\/p>\n

Arcade Fire is a start.<\/p>\n

But the breakthrough will be something more popular, something easily consumed, something with Top Forty appeal.<\/p>\n

The labels should be very afraid.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve already lost fifty percent of their record sales in a decade and now they’re about to lose just about everything.\u00c2\u00a0 This is what happens when you refuse to see the future.\u00c2\u00a0 This is what happened to Nokia.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

"Apple overtakes Nokia as world’s largest vendor of mobile handsets by revenue" I’d say worst to first, but more accurately it’s nowhere to triumph.\u00c2\u00a0 Could this happen in the record industry? Not only can it, it will. There’s an ecosystem of major labels and radio and physical distribution based on ripping off acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Will this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-13F","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4072,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4071\/revisions\/4072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}