This year's South-by-Southwest Interactive seems to have reached a kind of critical mass, with lots of smart and opinionated people converging around a rapidly changing industry, creating the kind of excitement that used to be found at CES or (way back) Comdex.
This year's South by Southwest Interactive conference seems to have reached the kind of critical mass that used to characterize CES and Comdex.
Forget about Business Week reporter Sarah Lacy's awkward on-stage interview of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, which has been amply detailed elsewhere (although watching them might have been akin to the uncomfortable pleasure of watching a fight at a hockey game). I really wish I'd seen the panel discussion on ad-supported music. According to a posting on PaidContent.org, it degenerated into a shouting match, with a Capitol records exec saying he needed more Internet promotion like he needed a root canal without anesthetic, RCRD LBL founder Peter Rojas dissing iTunes as irrelevant, and audience members yelling that Rojas doesn't respect intellectual property. (RCRD LBL is essentially a music blog with free music provided by bands as a promotional tool.)
There was also a presentation by Apple engineering manager Michael Lopp (aka Rands in Repose, he of the greatest guide to Vegas ever blogged), in which he discussed the company's unique approach to design--think painstaking mockups and brainstorming, both of which are taken seriously rather than treated as afterthoughts or mere team-building exercises.
Editors' note: This blog initially misstated the first name of the founder of Downtown Records. His full name is Josh Deutsch.
RCRD LBL launched this week after several months of publicity. It's an online-only record label overseen by Engadget founder Peter Rojas and Downtown Records founder Josh Deutsch.
The service is an interesting combination of things we've seen elsewhere, such as blog postings, streaming audio, player widgets, and free downloads, but I wouldn't call it groundbreaking. Most of the artists on RCRD LBL are also on traditional labels and have so far only released a few songs through the site. I could see bands with devoted followings like Art Brut and Cold War Kids releasing excess material--live tracks, B sides, outtakes--through the site, while saving their favored material for old-fashioned physical albums or paid downloads. Less popular artists might make more material available through the site for promotional purposes, in hopes of boosting tour attendance and merchandise sales.
That said, I do like RCRD LBL's approach: much of the material on the site is licensed under a Creative Commons license that lets users share and remix it as much as they like. In other words, here's a business that acknowledges what's actually going on in the digital world rather than fighting it and alienating customers in the process. And if you're a fan of the artists or labels on the site, the blog postings and podcasts could be a great way to stay on top of what's happening.
Will other indie labels follow? That depends on how big an audience RCRD LBL can draw, which will determine how much the company can charge advertisers.
Digital Music News posted a short piece yesterday on a forthcoming venture called RCRD LBL.
First reported by the New York Post, RCRD LBL is a planned venture by Engadget founder Peter Rojas and Downtown Records founder Peter Deutsch. High-quality brands, both. The idea is simple: users will get exclusive music for free, and the company (and artists) will earn money by selling advertisements and sponsorships. Rumored artists include Radiohead singer Thom Yorke; Gnarls Barkely, the creators of 2006's catchiest single Gnarls Barkley; and DJ Mark Ronson, who's perhaps best known for his cover versions of popular songs, including a funked up remix of a Radiohead song.
But it's not clear from the stories I've seen whether the songs will be streaming-only or downloads. And herein lies the business problem. If the songs aren't available for download, it'll fail--not enough people are interested in music that can't be played on an iPod or a home stereo system. But if the songs are downloadable, all it takes is for one person to strip off the copy-protection (if they're even protected) and post them to a file-sharing service, and the revenue stream breaks--why watch the advertisements when you can get the same song for free without them?
That's where the editorial content comes in. If Engadget is anything to go by, it'll be pitch-perfectly tailored toward a particular target audience--in this case, I imagine, young music enthusiasts who get their cues from the Internet rather than American Idol. if the written content is engaging enough, people might visit the site to read, and stay to listen.
I still like Prince's approach better: give the CD away and make money from the live show and paraphernalia. In the long run, I think that's the way quality artists will make a living.
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