October 4th, 2007 Rachel
Following Bob is tough.
[note - I’m totally biased on this one ’cause I’m a MusicIP-er and one of our own was on this panel. But I figured it was worth making some notes and sharing them here anyway.]
He’s not buying music discovery tools - and guess what…? That’s what our panel here today is all about.
Eric Garland of BigChampagne (and one of the best moderators I’ve ever seen) wants to know if there’s space for all of these companies, or none, or just one…
With the amount of music we’ve all accumulated, how do you manage it?
Interesting point by Ali from iLike in that the recommendations are just as important as the packaging. If Amazon is using one engine…it’s going to get used. If they switch to another…it’s going to get used.
But then it comes down to how often that recommendation (still with the Amazon example) leads to a sale…right?
Interesting developments for iLike - the Facebook/Plug-in connection will be tightened in the next couple of weeks.
“What’s more important to you guys - music or business?”
Both Andrew and Tim are musicians - we license our technology, they have an advertising model. At the core, we are all trying to build businesses. None of us have altruistic business models because it wouldn’t be sustainable. BUT, if the scales tip too far to the business side, and the music is forgotten, each and every one of our companies risk failure. Anyone who’s doing this for the money isn’t going to have the right focus on improving and refining the product and therefore will have compromised their solution - and will miss the boat while others in this space keep making waves.
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October 4th, 2007 Rachel
“Myspace isn’t about music. It’s about getting laid.”
Bob Lefsetz, of The Lefsetz Letter, doesn’t mince words and there weren’t many quotes that I felt I could re-post here (which is code for I was laughing my head off and couldn’t remember the exact words by the time I looked at my screen again). He’s passionate, provocative, and damn smart. If you’re at all interested in my piddly posts on these conferences, you should be reading his blog.
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October 4th, 2007 Rachel
Live music laughs in the face of recording industry uproar…
Knitting Factory is now doing ‘ticketing by text’. Billed through shoptext (not the mobile carrier). Works on all cell phones (not just most or some cell phones). What was I just saying…
Ticketmaster is investing in a big mobile strategy by being able to call and get tickets from your phone. Average transaction on Ticketmaster is $168. The online experience is great, but to be even faster and more efficient they’re going mobile.
Kelli feels the potential for mobile is at concerts - it’s going in the right direction, but at this point you’re not fully taking advantage of having all those fans, all those people there in one place, trusty phone by their side…
Fans getting to influence the setlist…is it novelty? Maybe - but sites like Eventful are examples where fans having something to say and want to talk to their favorite bands…they just have never been able to before. The rock star ‘mystery’ has disintegrated, but there’s now the potential for a relationship…that extends beyond leaving “I LUV UUUUUUU” messages on band’s MySpace page.
David was pretty tightlipped about Ticketmaster’s relationship with Live Nation…Scott followed up with more on their philosophy which was nice…but it would appear that Ticketmaster is moving away from Live Nation because (if I heard David’s mumbling correctly) they’ll at some point in the future be “competing”. More here.
I liked Aaron from Control Room’s pitch about how how they’re not replacing the live experience, but instead facilitating the urge to be there for the live experience the next time.
Widgets…iLike went from 4,000 users to 15 million users over the course of Ticketmaster being an investor. They’re pretty ‘hands off’ and let those guys do their thing…Ticketmaster is also launching (this week or next week?) an affiliate widget - enabling “mini promoters”…
Jared of The Knitting Factory brought up the point that iLike doesn’t link to their website when someone wants to find out more about an artist - it (duh) goes to Ticketmaster. That may not be a problem for every venue, but he brings up an important point for venues that would prefer to be building their own brand equity.
I don’t think their unique there…yes, you can shrug and say “deal with it” because it enables these small venues to get bigger distribution, but for places like The Knitting Factory or Hotel Cafe, wouldn’t you be able to spotlight the venue as well? It is part of the experience…
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October 4th, 2007 Rachel
Russ (The NDP Group), the moderator, started the panel with some stats and current numbers…including that ninty five percent of cell phone users haven’t downloaded or sideloaded music onto their device. Wow…
BUT…
Dave Jaworksi of Passalong says his discussions with Palm revealed that seventy percent of people who had a device that was capable of holding/playing music did listen to music on their phone.
Scott from Amazon says “every decision is made based on customer patterns.” Yay - Their number one customer response (they’re really working on making sure they get feedback) has been…
“Thank you.”
Double Yay.
The format and the pricing and the value is resonating. People get it. And they appreciate it.
Same thread came up in this panel as yesterday - doesn’t matter how cool the technology is…it has to work. My grandma has to be able to use it and not worry about all the restrictions, loopholes, format wars, and technical hiccups getting in the way and causing unnecessary headaches and frustrations.
Scott Ambrose Reilly from Amazon - check out the store they recently launched…other than recommending Reba McEntire for me [shudder] it’s a great start and here’s hoping a big industry upset…
Some of the questions for the panel…not many were addressed by the speakers unfortunately…
UPDATE: I spoke too soon - next week Amazon is launching their digital music affiliate program. Cool.
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