Tech Mediums

On an industry panel, I made the comment that copyright holders, particularly young, independent artists, should focus more on distributing their content on all available platforms, rather than on DRM (digital rights management).  Not that DRM isn’t important…but at this stage, it’s not as important.

Consider a DRM free model.  For an independent artist this is invaluable.  People can freely distribute that content on any and all platforms.  But get this…it doesn’t cost anything.  It’s free promotion without the artist having to do a darn thing.  If you consider the potential for lack of royalties because of the DRM infringement (as an opportunity cost), then consider this cost as a cost of marketing.  How much would it cost the artist to get that content in front of people who can’t hear the music because of DRM?  I don’t know, but do you want to take that chance of the content not proliferating to the full extent possible?

This is at a very critical stage now.  The internet has been THE go-to platform to distribute, play and search for content by all stakeholders (artists, fans, labels).  Being a copyright holder who makes it easy for anyone to hear/see that content will continue to win…because it gets it in front of the maximum amount of people possible. 

Sure, no one wants to get hosed on losing control of the content, but it’s that very control that can limit exposure.  The focus shifts into brand building and creating demand…

I was on a digital media panel at the Urban Network Summit last week.  Various subjects were broached but I kinda got fed up of MySpace being tossed around as the be all/end all social media platform for artists. 

First shot came from me: ”MySpace is dieing.  People are looking for a more intimate interaction.  People are on MySpace because they have to be.  MySpace is spammy and you can boost up your numbers with bots.  Facebook is where things are headed.”

You should have heard the ruckus!  Heads immediately shot in my direction.  One fellow panelist took it personally.  The room, almost at capacity, even got anxious as a result.

Return fire (from the fellow panelist): You’re kidding!  MySpace has millions of visitors.  In fact, how many people use MySpace? (about 70% of audience)  How many people use FaceBook? (about 30%).  See.  How can you say MySpace is dieing???

Blast back (from me): I’m not saying don’t use MySpace.  Should be on all platforms.  But still, look at the growth rates.   FaceBook is growing at lot faster pace than MySpace.  FaceBook is where MySpace was 1-2 years ago, in terms of growth rates.  But people aren’t going back 1-2 times a day on MySpace as they are for FaceBook.  MySpace is played, from a fan perspective. 

I felt good since some people came up to me afterwards and got what I was saying.  But I think the “use all social media platforms” idea was lost.

 For Fans

People aren’t going to MySpace as much to socialize.  Too much spam.  That’s why they’re going to FaceBook.  I have friends from 23-34 in age who log onto MySpace MAYBE once every 2-3 months.  They say they’re tired of MySpace.  FaceBook, because of the closed model, can only allow friends to chat and post on their page.  It’s more meaningful.  What MySpace was.

It’s about quality of friend interaction, not quantity.

But I have to admit, FaceBook was NOT intuitive when I first signed on.  The only reason why I spent time learing it was because I thought I had to.  I have yet to work my MySpace page though. 

 For Artists

Being all social networks is one of the best, low-cost ways of getting noticed…after all, that’s the main thing for young artists.  Now that FaceBook has plans for launching music and video players for artists, FaceBook becomes a lot more appealing.  Having a lot of people sharing your video/audio on FaceBook probably means more than on MySpace – fans here are more likely to be REAL fans. 

 For Record Labels

Labels want to know who’s hot.  The problem with MySpace is that you can’t really rely on MySpace for friend counts, title plays or views.  You have to gauge.  The problem with FaceBook is that it’s a closed model, so you can’t get exposed to new content as easily.  Although, the people playing the content will probably be real people.. 

An interesting play would be a technology that could aggregate all plays, views, votes from all social networks.  Imagine a dash board where you can see anyone’s total plays on FaceBook, MySpace, Veoh, FunnyorDie, or any other site that lists, most watch, most popular, newest. 

That would be hot and usable by everyone. 

But let me offer a few pros/cons.