I recently had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the Social Fresh Cruise, an invite-only social media 4-day floating conference/cruise from Miami to Cozumel.
The cruise was part conference, part pure fun. I was one of eight speakers for the conference portion of the cruise, and spoke about “The Recording Industry is Screwed… Now What Do We Do?”
Why yes, I do like to stir the pot. Thanks for asking.
The 45-minute “speech” was more of an open discussion, prefaced by a bit of background about the industry.
The background centered around the alternatives that exist, allowing musician to carve their own paths and often times, decide IF they even want a record deal with a major label.
The discussion portion of the talk was the most valuable, and many people contributed their thoughts, opinions and experiences about the music and recording industires.
The discussion ranged from how research completed in the 80′s about how people would contribute and use the Internet is still relevant, from how one of the attendees favorite bands used Kickstarter to finance their projects. Many of the attendees had their own experiences to share about connecting with artists on Twitter, and as we were on the cruise with Rick Springfield’s fan club, we ALL could see a real-life example about how connecting directly with an audience really works.
To talk a bit more about one of the best comments of the discussion, I’m going to jump back and discuss a bit about my personal tastes:
I REALLY like a great debate, and really enjoy people intelligently disagreeing with my opinions. As mentioned, the highlight of the talk came from one such comment by Lucretia Pruitt, who made the excellent point that the recording industry is experiencing what a lot of other industries go through when a seismic shift in their business model occurs. Hint: This shift for the recording industry begins with an “I” and rhymes with schminternet.
In general, innovation comes from the bottom up. The start-up, the smaller companies and the ones that have “less to lose” take the “risk” and innovate. They try out new things, see what works and adopt that into their strategy. The bigger more entrenched companies usually wait to see if what the smaller guys do works. If so, they copy it and make it part of their business. Less risk with potentially the same rewards.
Now, I’m not saying that this is an absolute, but it’s certainly a trend.
The difference with the music industry, is that the “big guys” have fought against this change for the better part of a decade, instead of embracing it and trying to innovate from the beginning. From a PR perspective, that decision has caused a huge problem for the public image of the music industry. In many people’s minds, it is now “us vs. the music industry”, especially “us vs. the RIAA”.
I’m thrilled to see some of the “big guys” waking up and beginning to realize that the “stick my head in the sand” approach is NOT a smart move, but they must do this while remembering that consumer perception is still a huge concern.
I have much more to say on this topic, and am starting with a conversation today at 3:30PM EST/ 12:30PM PST where I’ll be participating in an un-panel on SnazL with Mary McKnight (EMI, Sacrilicious Marketing) and Mike Fabio (Warner Bros. records).
Join the un-panel and upload a video, share photos or chat to participate.