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.)

Meta Tipping Point: The Tipping Point of "The Tipping Point"

Interesting article in Fast Company regarding The Tipping Point and influentials.

Whopper Freakout - Great Campaign

This is a great campaign. Fun, memorable, and highlights people's emotional connection to the product.

http://www.whopperfreakout.com/

From MPR's "Future Tense": YouTube for ideas

From today's Future Tense:

BigThink is a new video site that features intellectuals from the world of politics, law, business and the arts talking about issues like global warming, the future of newspapers, and the sub-prime mortgage mess. Interviewees so far include Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, presidential candidate John McCain, and business leader Richard Branson. Users can engage in debate on the site, and embed the videos in their own blogs.

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.

Strange Commercial – Tranny Radio?

93 X, a Minneapolis-based hard rock station, has released a new commercial recently. The station is geared towards a predominately male demographic, so the use of attractive women in their commercial is understandable. What’s not is the way they use the women in the promotion. Beyond a woman as object critique, I’m surprised at the bizarre nature of the commercial. The women lip synch to songs that one might hear on the “X”, but they also lip synch the voices of the male talent – you know the crazy zoo crew team that helps you ROCK!! The clichéd lipstick lesbian/bi-curious, girl-on-girl titillation is then usurped by crazy tran-zaniness. There’s a new zoo crew in town and s/he means business. Austin Powers might watch the commercial and say “that’s a man, baby!” Is that what the X is looking for in their audience? Transgendered women ages 18 – 34?

I know, I know. The middle school mentality ad agency is saying “hey man, we’re generating buzz.” Fine, you have your buzz, but do you have higher ratings in a more attractive demographic?

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.