So, the software model of yore is just that. The one where you go to the mall and buy a box with a disk inside of it. Do you remember doing that? I do. I actually remember it more clearly than going to the music store, but that’s probably a figment of where I’m at right now in terms of my interests. I digress, within five sentences…
Where was I? Oh yeah, so the music business of yore is just that. Remember the one where you went to the store and bought a box with a disk in it? That model isn’t working out so well these days. The problem is that it worked out SO well for SO long that the whole industry has taken an extraordinarily long time to figure out how to save their phony-baloney jobs. I know - news flash, right?
Anyway, back to the software business, which is a lot younger as an industry and which has a pretty solid record of evolving past whatever Goliath emerges in whatever epoch/industry model is/was dominant. Did that make sense? What I meant was that the entire history of software is built by heretics who see the opportunity in moving the ball.
The music business, on the other hand, is historically run a little more like the country club. It’s mostly the same players that have been there, except for the few that have finally died and opened up a seat. Even today. You’d think that there’d be plenty of room for new upstarts with fresh ideas to come in and revolutionize an industry and an art form that is so clearly demanding just that. Where’s the evidence that that’s the case? I’ve got a funny story about the introduction of CD techology at an AES conference, but that’s another post.
Pardon the long winded exposition. I haven’t been writing lately and it feels really good to have time. I was on rt. 80 the other day and I had a flash. What if you started a band and ran it like a software company? Instead of “album cycles” you’d have “rapid development”. The product wouldn’t just be music and the usual merch, but would really take advantage of technology to give the fan something more to interact with. You’d have a rocking website of course, which would be the main avenue through which new creative product would be distributed. You’d have a mobile app to give your fans commuting into NYC on the train something to play with/listen to on the way in. The press would be so enamored with your savvy that you’d barely even need a publicist.
I think ideally you’d have a couple of developers who play in the band, a really strong songwriter, and a producer type. Everyone gets to concentrate on their creative thing and everyone is fairly equal. How fun would that be?