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Making it in America
Steve Tobak over at CBS MoneyWatch has this to say about achieving the American Dream (whatever that actually is) … and just in case you’re wondering it most certainly doesn’t involve dreaming:
You see, successful executives and business leaders aren’t typically driven by high aspirations. They didn’t get to where they are by walking around with their heads in the clouds. They got there by putting one foot in front of the other and getting stuff done.
The secret to success isn’t aspiring to great things. It’s doing great things. And far more often than not, that starts with doing not-so-great things. Oftentimes, you don’t even know what you’re doing is great until way after the fact.
This is why recorded music is in a hole
Video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 “established an new five-day sell-through record of more than $US775 million” worldwide according to a report in the Fairfax media. Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick says global franchise sales now exceed $US6 billion.
Recorded music is no longer the compelling entertainment proposition it once was. It’s really sad, but it’s also the truth. It has become such a commodity, so commercialised and whatever other -ise you’d like to add to the mix, that it is mostly valueless to most people.
Except of course for the art.
Importantly though recorded music is having its proverbial ass kicked by other entertainment ‘properties’. To repeat the lead, a video game generated sales of $755 million in five days!
The only thing for recording artists to do now is create great, compelling, life-changing art. If money can be made in the process then that’s great. Making music is once again a calling, not a career.
And believe or not I’m rather hopeful about the future of tunes. Happy days :-)
Just how big is Amazon?
Source: Frugaldad.com
A tuneful weekend in Brisbane
As you know dear reader I occasionally moonlight driving musicians around when they’re in town. This weekend sees me at Harvest Festival with one of the headline acts. If you’re stuck for something to do the line-up is killer (Portishead, The National, The Flaming Lips, Bright Eyes) and I believe tix are still available to the Brisbane (AU) show.
Using technical proficiency as an excuse for not shipping
In another exemplary post today (Self truth (and the best violinist in the world)) Seth Godin today considered a frequent failing of many who use technical proficiency, or lack thereof, as an excuse for not shipping. He wrote:
The quest for technical best is a form of hiding. You can hide from the marketplace because you’re still practicing your technique. And you can hide from the hard work of real art and real connection because you decide that success lies in being the best technically.
Sadly Seth’s post resonated and I know exactly what he’s talking about. What I have learned is that for those of us who hide behind perfectionism, if we can build something to even 70% of what we consider acceptable, it’s probably so far ahead of what most people consider okay that it’s quite safe to let go.
To stream tunes, or to buy?
… and never the twain shall meet. According to a report today on Digital Music News, users of Spotify tend not to purchase music. This is hardly surprising: streaming is a substitute product to a CD. With the exception of aggregated rights owners streaming is a revenue killer. It’s bad news for recording artists.
You’ve gotta respect a band known for pyrotechnic displays so dramatic that lighting gantries have been seen to glow red-hot from repeated fireball hits, with a front man who spends some of the show on fire, who’ve been arrested for indecency, who yet are cool with serving up a 60s surf video. Unsurprisingly there’s a little nudity at the wrap—this is Rammstein.
Rammstein goes 60s surfin’ safari
November 15, 2011 in
MUSIC BIZ with
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Content ain’t king, and neither is distribution
In 1996 when considering the future of the internet Bill Gates famously wrote that ‘content is king’. Meanwhile others argue in 2011 that ‘distribution is king‘. In 2012, and for that matter into the foreseeable future, the only ‘king’ of the internet is attention.
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