Compact Disc (1982 – 2007)

R.I.P. Compact Disc. From today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Once praised for its clear, crisp audio quality but panned for its susceptibility to scratches and smudges, the compact disc passed away in 2007 after a quick but painful illness. It was 25 years old.

You can read the entire obit here.

I’m guessing that the AP has the obit for appointment television already prepared.

(Thanks to Bret for the article.)

David Byrne on the music industry

Happy New Year. Death and rebirth. The blog is dead, long live the blog. As many of you know, my original blog (co-authored with some great co-conspirators) ran its course and was officially put to rest today. Now I will continue to blog here. For any new readers, this blog is mostly about business trends, marketing ideas, pop culture, communication, and other nerd fest things that interest me and that I’d like to share.

My admittedly nerdish love of music and fascination with the music industry have led to more than a few music related posts here on Notes from the Field. To kick off the new year, I’d like to share this great article from Wired. David Byrne writes about the music industry (death) and where it is going (possible rebirth).

What is called the music business today, however, is not the business of producing music. At some point it became the business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over. But that's not bad news for music, and it's certainly not bad news for musicians. Indeed, with all the ways to reach an audience, there have never been more opportunities for artists.

You may ask yourself where is my bloated record company? Where is my beautiful margin?

There’s also a nice exchange in a related article between Thom Yorke (of Radiohead) and David Byrne.

Buzzes like a fridge

As I anxiously await my download of "In Rainbows", I'm reading reactions to Radiohead's approach to album sales. On Green Plastic, we learn other bands are going to allow more free music. Note the jumps in Radiohead searches in the post. I still thought we'd hear more about the free and preview items Wilco has done in advance of their past few albums. Bob Mould has some interesting thoughts about this topic on his blog.

UPDATE - 10/16/07
Looks like Radiohead has sold over 1.2 million copies of the album through digital download alone and made $8-$10 Million alread on the record...and those figures don't include the sales for the deluxe box set available later this year. More here.

How much would you pay for Radiohead’s new album?

Radiohead’s new album will be available for download. The announcement for the much anticipated album comes less than two weeks prior to its release. In what seems to be a twist on Wilco’s recent run of making singles and albums available digitally, via their site, before the physical release of the album. Here’s the Radiohead twist, you set the price! Yes, you set the price. You pay an additional .45 Pounds for the download cost – beyond that you set the price.

Here’s another example of the Web changing traditional commerce models and a great example of strengthening one’s brand. I hypothesizing, but believe that most (or enough to make if viable) Radiohead fans will pay a reasonable rate to make it worth it to the band (who is releasing this without a major label). And what if they only cover the costs of the download? Who cares?! The real money for bands is through touring. They don’t tour to support an album, they release and album to support a tour. Also, this novel way of approaching an album release and pricing will generate enough buzz to continue to expand and sell the Radiohead catalog. Even the old label wins here.

A few takeaways: (1) Leverage new media in meaningful ways, just don’t repeat the constrained old media in a new channel, you'll just screw up faster. (2) Remain authentic (see #1). (3) Continue to engage and leverage your base community and allow room

Thanks to Kyle for the article.

Which brand is hurt more?

In a lose-lose that only the fine folks at Wal*Mart can dream up, REO Speedwagon is touring Wal*Mart stores.

Head Like A Hole: NIN's new SEO/Viral Campaign

Thanks to Field Agent Jason for this very interesting promotion from Nine Inch Nails. The campaign is a bit esoteric…or a whole lotta of esoteric. Read the Rolling Stone article and then look at some of the comments from music and marketing folks. What I like about the promotion is that it seems to combine an element of gaming and like good web applications or sites, it makes the user feel like they are making progress. In the end commitment is escalated to such a point that one will have to buy (or illegally rip) the album. Additionally, it seems to be "brand-right" in that the campaign is not all things to all people, but rather does a lot to shield the committed and bring in a certain segment.

Cool and weird.