Embracing The Future
This is my response to a blog post by Stephen Poole, slightly edited to make it standalone. It’s also a subject that came up on this week’s Macbreak Weekly, so it’s already been on my mind this week.
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If you’re currently making a living from writing books, composing music, or making movies, then you may be forgiven for thinking the Internet has you under seige. Everywhere you look it seems that people want you to give away your content for free, as if everything you do no longer has any value and it’s a basic human right that everyone be able to do as they please with anything you produce. You are basically being told that if you wish to continue to be creative, you’re mad to think anybody is going to pay you to do it.
This really is not the case.
The argument is not that anyone who is creative should be denied payment for their efforts, but simply that those who are going to be the most successful going forward are those that embrace a new business model, rather than continue to cling on by their fingernails to the old one.
The record companies are a perfect example of what happens when you cling on too tightly. At first they tried to pretend the Internet didn’t exist, and then when Napster came along they sat there and just lashed out at anybody that tried to take away their comfort zone. Then they woke up a bit, and at least admitted they needed to do something. But they lock up their songs up with DRM, sue anybody who ever touches a file sharing network, and in one Sony case, install malicious software on your customers computer. This is simply not the way to conduct yourself. Not only is it hugely damaging to their brand, but it also devalues music even further, as those who truly do like the rebellion distance themselves even further from the money grabbing corporate whores the music executives appear to be. The harder the music companies push, the harder it is for them to win back the mindshare.
But some of them are beginning to get it. iTunes was the first real step in actually providing what people wanted, easy access to the songs people wanted. And unlike Napster, you had a 100% chance of actually getting the song you wanted to download, with proper tags, and not an MP3 rip of a song recorded from the radio with a DJ talking in Spanish over the end. Starting to allow DRM-free versions, even in their previously feared MP3 format at Amazon, shows that they have finally realised you should treat your customers as people first, and thieves later; not the other way around.
The lesson from this is that change should not be feared. Grab the internet generation with both hands and use them to your advantage, rather than locking your doors and cowering in the corner with your old business model pressed tightly to your chest, afraid that the mob is coming to steal it from you. For musicians this means giving away a few tracks from your new album for free and selling the rest, with a premium for the higher quality lossless versions. Or selling complete recordings of all your live shows. And using the momentum from this to sell more tickets to your next show (see TMBG and Barenaked Ladies). For writers, this means giving away your last book for free in order to create publicity for the one you’re about to release in hard copy. Or giving away the first couple of chapters for free as an incentive to buy the rest. Or selling your novel one chapter at a time, as you write it (see Stephen King). And if you’re a movie producer, let people download the first 30 minutes of your movie for free and then let them buy the DVD containing the rest of the film direct from your website.
And most importantly, take the feedback from your audience, interact with them, let their word of mouth be your marketing machine and never treat them like criminals. People will be more than happy to pay for your work if the price and terms are fair. At the end of the day these are your customers, and for the first time in human history creative people have the opportunity to truly communicate with those who appreciate their art en mass, and that should be something artists should be excited about, not fearful of.
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:51 pm
That’s a really unfair portrayal of Steven’s posting. He is clearly very open to learning of new ways of rewarding creative people for their work. In fact, that’s just what he was asking for.
Unfortunately, instead he received a few interesting ideas and a lot of personal attacks like yours. Interestingly, through your longwinded post you provide no new ideas, and nothing that (except for a few examples you cite of artists who are *already* famous and highly compensated) really addresses his questions.
Sure, it’s easy to take potshots; how about some fresh ideas instead of recycling the same “new business model” refrain.
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:07 pm
He attacked the “Slashdot argument” as he called it, which apparently says that everything should be free. He said it was a crock of shit, and explained why.
My post simply says that he has misunderstood what those people are saying. They are not saying that everything should be free, they are simply fed up with those who are doing everything they can to keep a hold of their old business model, such as locking up their content behind DRM or sending lawyers to the doors of anyone who defies them.
I then clearly go onto say that the winners in this game will be the ones that accept their old business model is gone, and get ready to embrace a new one. Just like the winners of every other shift in business over the past 300 years, whether that be the invention of the cotton gin or the piano roll. To think you can win by not changing, and building walls around what you have, is a foolish view.
My post is not a personal attack, it takes no potshots, and although I may use the “new business model” refrain that others have used before, it doesn’t seem to be sinking in anywhere.