Vivisecting Media

Blinded by the Hype

According to most of the bands and artists I know, the Internet is going to break them into the spotlight.  They saw how big the Arctic Monkeys got by using the Internet to establish a massive fan base that shot them into the number one slot in the UK top 10 the day their album released.  Gnarls Barkley broke all kinds of records by launching their single via digital download and becoming number one.  The Internet is the future of music success and its easy… just get you music out their, create a huge MySpace/MP3 Blog buzz and you are making money hand over fist…  or are you?

Recently, one of the fastest spreading Internet memes to hit the web was the brilliant OK Go treadmill video.  The link to the video spread so fast that within a day everyone I knew had seen it and I was not even passing out the link.  People where remixing the video and even did a Lego stop animation video of it.  This was a marketers dream and it was huge, huge exposure for OK Go.

So now that everyone knows about the band you would think that a segment of those exposed would buy the music, right? Well, according to the band and the label its not translating so well and it is actually a huge challenge to tap into the Buzz and turn that over to sales.

This isn’t just in the music space either, the movie industry has the same challenge.  Look at the huge Internet hype "Snakes On A Plane" had.  This had such amazing Internet backing, blog hype and meme-madness.  T-Shirts were being sold out, forums were being dedicated to SoaP, hell the script and title were even driven by the Internet.  But in the end, it only made $15.3 million on the first weekend.

… for a horror film, the $30 million movie performed respectably. But analysts say that the movie’s failure to match its hype may dispel the notion of the Internet as a wellspring of untapped moviegoers. Instead, they say, Snakes‘ performance demonstrates that cyberspace is simply another place to put movie ads.
– ‘Snakes’ rattles Web hype, by Scott Bowles, USA TODAY

These are not the only examples either.  Many bands have reported having thousands of friends and hundreds of thousands of plays but aren’t seeing growth in music sales.  I don’t proclaim to know the root cause but I believe some of the factors rely on the actual user base and how MySpace works.  Anyone can be someone’s friend, in fact spammers are now offering to buy MySpace accounts from people with more that have more the 20,000+ friends. Your MySpace friend list doesn’t necessarily represent a real tangible fan base that is willing to invest money into music.  There is also misconceptions on plays… anytime someone hits your page a song is played.  So popularity of a track can not truly be gleamed from that number.  Another consideration is the actual age demographic of MySpace and their access to financial services to pay for the music (i.e. Credit Cards and PayPal accounts).  If your fans can’t pay for the music online then they won’t buy it.

To make a long story short(er), there is a lot of misconceptions about how Internet buzz translates into sales.  It’s not as simple as building hype and then cashing in.  The first challenge is building the hype, but its even harder to turn that into something that will help you make money doing what you love.

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MySpace + Snocap = profit?

Recently MySpace (like you really need a link) announced that they are seriously looking into providing a for-sale digital music service:

"The goal is to be one of the biggest digital music stores out there," MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe told news agency Reuters.
– "MySpace set to sell music online" BBC News

Initial reports are saying that it will still be a "trial" but with comments like this I have no doubt it will quickly go beyond trial and into full swing.  With the announcement that MySpace will begin offering music sale services they also announced a new partnership with Snocap to provide the service. PaidContent.org has stated that the deal with Snocap is not based around money but "to gain equity in Snocap as it drives distribution."

A while back (Novemeber 15th 2005 to be exact) MySpace and Interscope launched MySpace Records first volume compellation.  It was their intention to leverage the existing artist base and form a label to sell the artists music via physical distribution. The initial release drew a lot of press attention but in many peoples minds it was a flop and that was pretty much the last we heard of it.

It looks like they are re-approaching the same idea of leveraging the artist base. What is interesting to me is how they use Snocap’s services to do this. At the moment we don’t know how MySpace plans to integrate the services. Will it be an admin panel the artists enable via the site?  Do artists get to set the rate?  What is the percentage fee?  Does anyone get to use it?  How will MySpace monitor pirated material?  What about copyright infringement with samples?  There are a ton of questions for lawyers, but in my mind the biggest question is how easy will it be to use both as an artist and as a consumer?  I guess we just have to wait and see.

So this brings up another point… what is Snocap?  I am sure most of you have heard of it or at least know that it was started by Shawn Fanning (aka the inventor of Napster) but what does Snocap do?  Niki asked me that question yesterday and I honestly didn’t have an answer, so I decided to read up on it.

Snocap is what I like to refer to as a digital distribution service (DDS), they do more then that but this seems to be the best base description.  So what is a DDS?  It is a relatively new service that is actually based on the old distribution model.  In the old world (physical sales) you had this chain of command: artist -> label -> distribution service -> storefront -> customer.  The only way for a label to get their music to a store was through the critical distribution service.

In the new world there are is not any physical services… once the digital file is made it is an infinitely replicate-able product.  In theory, there is no real need for the middle men.  This was one of the goals of Fake Science, to create a store that allows artists and labels to directly sell to their customers and no longer have to deal with all the skimming before it gets back to the creator.

Unfortunately, old models are hard to change, theories don’t always work and companies really don’t want to lose their stake in an industry.  This means that a "new" kind of service has been created, the DDS.  Companies like The Orchard, IODA, and Snocap are coming into existence to help labels get content into the stores.  This is good and bad.  Bad because we once again have a middle man taking a percentage of the sales before it gets to the label and ultimately the artist.  Good, because the label now has only one point of contact to get their material into many different store fronts.  I have a personal aversion to DDS’s but I understand why they are coming into existence…  anyway, that’s a whole other topic.

Back to Snocap.  Snocap is a DDS that works with independent artists, indie labels and major labels.  They provide store licensing, track management, media type (between MP3 and WMA formats) and also optional DRM management (if they choose WMA).  Stores (or even p2p services) who use Snocap now have access to the catalog and can sell the music if they follow the Snocap requirements.  Snocap also provides the ability for an artist to create their own storefront and then make sales through Snocap.

At the core Snocap is a DDS but they also provide a lot of other services for artists and labels that many of the new DDSs are not (yet).  Overall its an interesting model, so much so that a lot of the Majors are providing content to Snocap, so I can see why MySpace has decided to go with them.  I will be interested to see if MySpace allows other DDSs to provide licensing rights directly to MySpace or if you have to go through Snocap.

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The future of Wi-Fi

Last night, before the weekly FS evening meeting Maer, Chris and I started discussing a recent article in the NY Times that Christopher had sent out to all the Fake Scientists.  The article focuses on the new "tastemakers" and services like Pandora.

The conversation quickly changed direction and started deviling into the future (or potential lack there of) of radio. One of the most interesting quotes from the article is by Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora:

New generations of wireless Internet-connected devices will vault the Web’s customized radio services into places where broadcast radio is still dominant: in cars for example. “All of a sudden the competition for your ear there changes dramatically,” Mr. Westergren said. “The FM station then has to compete with a personalized service that you’ve crafted for yourself. That’s a watershed moment.”
– from "The New Tastmakers" by JEFF LEEDS

I completely agree with Mr. Westergren on this issue.  Here is why it gets interesting, first lets look at the new Sirius device that was just released, the Sirius Stiletto 100. At first glance this another portable MP3 Player with a satellite receiver built into it, but as pointed out in article "Finally, a Sirius iPod Threat" the device has built in Wi-Fi support. Sirius is now offering their SIR (Sirius Internet Radio) service which the device can access via Wi-Fi connection.

Now, let’s look at where Wi-Fi is going.  A good example is my previous post about AC Transit and Wi-fi. Now, when I am in transit I can access my SIR service without requiring the satellite feed (and the chance it will be blocked by the bridge or tunnel). Another big change for Wi-Fi would be the just announced plan to blanket Silicon Valley with Wi-Fi:

The project will cover 1,500 square miles in 38 cities in San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Santa Cruz Counties, an area of 2.4 million residents. Its builders, going by the name Silicon Valley Metro Connect, said the service would provide free basic wireless access at speeds up to 1 megabit a second — which is roughly comparable to broadband speeds by telephone — in outdoor areas.
– "Silicon Valley to Receive Free Wi-Fi" By MATT RICHTEL

Let’s take the next jump… what if SIR and Pandora teamed up?  What happens if there is a hack for the Stiletto that allows you to stream other services?  What happens if you can take advantage of the two-way communication Wi-Fi allows?  You could have a Tivo like thumb up/down button on your device to modify your Pandora account.  Now, you have truly interactive portable music anywhere.

As Wi-Fi grows and more municipalities look into providing Wi-Fi as a service, this really changes the future of terrestrial radio.  For many years people have predicted the so called "death of radio" and have been wrong.  I am not going to follow them and announce that radio is dead… but, I feel we are seeing a truly important change in the future of authoritative broadcasting. One where listener input is no longer just a phone call and a request, but a real-time personalized adjustment that plays what you want to hear when you want to hear it.

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Anti-DRM day

Defective By Design (DBD), an anti-DRM (Digital Rights Management) organization, is proposing a “Day Against DRM” in which they want to organize a massive online and meetspace awareness day. Some of you may have already heard or even seen some of DBD’s work, such as the protest at the Apple store wearing hazmat suits. (read about the hazmat/Apple protest)

Over the last year I have talked about DRM and a few of the issues that I have with it, but most of my writing focus has been on how it impacts digital music. What many people don’t realize is that DRM is more then just a music issue. It is a much bigger issue that involves all forms of media, software and hardware. An example of hardware DRM meets media is Sony’s newest hi-def media device, the Blue-Ray DVD.

Another horrible example of DRM gone wrong is the HDMI image constraint token. The idea of down-rezing an image to protect the high-quality material source from being captured by an unauthorized device and then being able to redistribute without the DRM protection.

The irony of most DRM is that the people that it is trying to stop (i.e. pirates) often work around it within days of its release. A perfect example is the print-screen hack that allows full quality capture if hi-def video. Once again proving if there is a will there is a way.

I fully support what DBD is doing and I am a staunch anti-DRM opponent, albeit I have a bad habit of buying some DRM enabled devices cough iPod cough. Although, I don’t buy from iTunes nor will I because of FairPlay. Still, I am not as pure a anti-DRMer as I could be.

One of these days I will get motivated enough to work out a multi-day post on DRM and my thoughts about how it is impacting the music industry and how in the end it really just hurt’s customers. I will leave you with a quote from DBD’s homepage:

“If consumers even know there’s a DRM, what it is, and how it works, we’ve already failed” – Disney Executive.

Protect your freedom!

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AC Transit to offer WiFi

Usually I don’t post about technology, that’s really not the purpose of this blog, but man this is too exciting not to post about: 

Public transport in the San Francisco Bay Area is to join the 21st Century now that AC Transit, one of the transit authorities in the region, is about to start testing WiFi on a fleet of 79 buses. The service will be free for riders (and freeloading WiFi addicts in following cars), and is due for a full rollout in mid-fall. The bus routes taking part in the test phase travel along three of the longest bridges in the area (the Dumbarton, San Meteo and Bay), which is intentional: having WiFi on longer routes makes it easier for passengers to justify getting out and booting up their laptop…
– engadget

I ride the V line (crosses the Bay Bridge) home almost everyday after work and most days its about a 20-30 min ride.  Sometimes its a LOT longer.  Usually I just listen to my iPod but sometimes I wished I had the internet to surf on, work on projects etc. Now this is becoming a reality.  I am looking to upgrade to a new Macbook Pro and this would be pretty sweet having iNet when riding. I wonder if I could stream music…

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Fake Science Remix Contest — Vote now!!

A while back I announced the Fake Science and Monkey Love Records Remix contest. Over the last 2 months we were taking submissions and we have now closed the submission process and voting is open to the public!  You can download all the remixes and the original track as a single album or play them on the site.  All the songs are licensed under Creative Commons Attributions, Non-Commercial, ShareAlike license so feel free to download it, share it with your friends or even repost it as long as you give everyone the proper credit.  If you have any questions about the license its really simple and clear and you can read it all from the CC link on the page.

I am really impressed with the quality of the remixes and I know that we all are very happy about how its turning out.  Voting is open to all Fake Science Patrons (no purchase necessary) until Sunday, Sept. 10th 9pm PST so get in and make your vote count!

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Re-education

Sometimes your initial impression of a service is just off. When I first heard of Magnatune a few years back I thought they were a digital music store that worked with unsigned artists. Too be perfectly honest, they where a huge influence on our goals and design of Fake Science.  I mean, how can you not love their slogan "We are not evil"?

Over the last month I have become friends with John and Jan, the founders of Magnatune, and this is where I learned that my initial understanding of their role in music was actually far off.  Magnatune is first and foremost an Internet based label that happens to provide a revolutionary way of selling their music from the site.  But, and this is a big but, they also work other other distributors to make sure their artists music gets out there.

When I found this out I had to step back and try to figure out where I got my original impression.  I realized a lot of it had to do with the press.  Because Magnatune is looking to really support the artists and not screw them they have taken some cool approaches to selling music.  They pioneered the concept of pay what ‘you’ feel it is worth (in a range of $5 – $18) with notes expressing how much you spend translates to how  you feel towards the artists.  Brilliant.

This aspect was so new, and in a lot of ways incomprehensible to the mainstream music world, that the press really latched onto this.  After reading a few articles and quick browsing of the site this is where my initial impression was defined. Somehow, the fact that they license the music, work with other distributors, etc all slipped by me and I just assumed (you know what that means) that they were another digital store and they were our direct competition.

So, when my other friend Jon Phillips decided to introduce us at the CC Salon I was a wee bit freaked out to meet them.  It ends up that Jan is a fan of our store and had bought Carbon Based Lifeforms and loved it!  We had dinner that night and that is when I found out that I had been mistaken all along about their model.

Since then I have had an amazing time getting to know John and his insight into the music industry, that and his technical know how. speaking of which check out his newest project BookMooch.  Its an interesting endeavor into trust networks and books…

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Back from the dead…

Hello all, I am back.  Things have been crazy busy over the last few months both in new work and changing focus.  One of my goals when I left Adobe was to spend more time working on the blog and other Fake Science projects.  At first this went well, but I had no idea how burned out I really was until Summer kicked in.

Looking back its amazing that I made it through the launch of the company and trying to work a full time job without losing all my sanity.  Its amazing how working 10 hour days at an office, to go home and either plan a business or code till the wee hours of the morning every day will eventually get to you.  As one entrepreneur I heard speak on NPR said "You have to be crazy to start your own company."  I totally understand what he means but it is a good kind of crazy if you are into it.

Unfortunately this burnout effect has impacted this blog and other projects (such as the FS podcast) but I feel like its time to throw my hat back in the ring.  One of my goals is to get back to blogging about the media industry or at least what is interesting right now.  I have been meeting a lot of really great people as of late and I am also getting back into the world of djing and producing electronic music so I will probalby ramble on about that too.  Anyway, to the three people that still have this in your feed…. hello!

(oh, I had to disable comments for a bit… the spam was killing me.  If you want to comment hit me up with an email and I will create you a comment account)

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Smallworld Podcast Interview

The other day I received an email from Bazooka Joe of the Smallworld Podcast asking if I could join him on his show to talk about Fake Science. He found out about FS after doing an interview with Steve Nalepa, an artist currently selling his music on our site. After talking with Steve, Joe was intrigued in what we are up to at Fake Science and wanted to learn more.

Joe called my land line using Skype so that he could record the conversation. It was interesting to be on the other end of a Skype call. Usually, we are the one hosting the Skype interview. Overall the call quality was decent, we had a few drop outs but on the phone it sounded fine. I am a little surpised on how the recorded version sounded, but then again I was hearing a much higher quality sound source from Joe because he was using headphones, and I was using a Vonage line so the audio was pretty processed by the time it reached the recording equipment.

We have had the same problem in the past with our Skype calls and we are looking at pro-level equipment that allows us to use XLR cables to route to our mixing board. This will give us much better audio separation and allow us to use real phone lines which will provide a more stable audio source. Anyway, check out the interview if you want to learn more about what is going on with Fake Science.

Remix Contest (win an iPod Nano)

Last week Monkey Love Records and Fake Science launched our first remix contest, featuring “Stringing Away Revisited” by Robberriff. We have licensed the song under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License which allows you to download the song, hack it up, splice it in and create a whole new track that you can then submit for the contest. You can also post your track or the original as long as you are not using it commercially, you give Robberiff and Monkey Love Credit and you also release any derivative under a similar license.

We are taking submissions until July 16th @ 9pm and then Monkey Love and Fake Science will review all the submissions, pick our top 20 and then the public can vote on which of the tracks they liked the best. Once the voting goes for two weeks, the winner will then get the iPod.

This remix contest is actually what is often referred to as a “rinse” because we are providing a mixed track. Many remixers get their first start doing illegal rinses by taking tracks off full releases, and then slicing out sections, laying in their own beats and samples and changing the song completely (think Grey Album by Danger Mouse).

With new tools like Ableton Live, you can now take these slices from the track and pitch shift them to a different key, slow them down or even speed them up to make tempo changes. We want to see what today’s “rinsers” can do so if you what to take a stab at remixing, or know someone that does you have about two months to get in there!