#iPad Procrastination [#Apple #apps #mobile #commmunications #monetize]

By Jerry Del Colliano | Re-posted from Inside Music Media...

The iPad is the new Walkman.

No, it’s more than that.

The iPad is the new Walkman, TV, newsstand, bookstore, Wii and communication center all in the palm of your hand.

For some reason, traditional media companies either don’t get this or don’t want to believe it. After all, acknowledging that Apple will be hosting their content in the foreseeable future is a scary thought to them.

There is no time to waste in understanding the changes that will have to be made to keep up with – well, your consumers.

They are buying iPads as fast as Apple can make them. Hardly anyone doesn’t want one. It’s a matter of when they get the money. Over three million sold in less than three months and there is no reason to believe this demand will recede any time soon. Keep in mind that Apple has defied the recession and continues to do so with computers, iPods, iPads and iPhones.

How big is the iPad already?

• iPad is Apple’s third largest business in less than one season next to iPhones and Macs.

• The apps that work so well on Apple mobile devices have generated nearly $1.5 billion in sales since their June 2008 launch.

• In less than three months on the market, half of the Fortune 100 companies are either reported to be testing or launching the iPad for service, sales and other business functions.

• The iPad will eventually have competitors although I don’t see anyone overtaking Apple’s dominance in this area (Full disclosure: I am an Apple shareholder). Other iPhone or mobile devices easily work with iPad apps.

So what’s the delay?

Media companies are hanging on to what they’ve got -- what they are familiar with.

As I mentioned earlier, no one in traditional media likes to hand Steve Jobs 30% of their revenue just to get access to his commerce tools. They would rather have the greater expense of owning the towers, transmitters, printing presses, bookstores and what not.

Record labels are particularly bitter and yet Jobs has triumphed and the labels have been made to look like prehistoric operators who have the one thing everyone loves (music), but don’t seem to know how to distribute it to a market that has clearly moved on.

Traditional media companies don’t like to risk moving their content to platforms that they don’t fully understand. If you bought a radio group for billions of dollars, you wouldn’t be so anxious to adapt to the fast growing mobile market while you’re in over your head in debt to pay for the stations.

But there really is no time to waste.

Look to the record labels and do the opposite. They have let Apple break down their albums for easy cherry picking by consumers and yet they don’t understand that the album had died a long time ago. The onset of the CD emboldened record execs into making them think the album would never die.

It has.

Both creatively in some (not all) cases and as a means for consumers to access music.

If media companies, then, are procrastinating on embracing the iPad, here’s how to accelerate the process:

1. Move right now to optimize your non-digital content for the iPad. This will be different than designing it for a computer or laptop and takes some creative thinking, but from now on the litmus test for delivery of content is how does it work on an iPad.

2. Social networking is at the heart of an iPad. Who needs magazines delivered on a handheld device if you can’t talk to the authors directly or communicate with others reading the articles. The feature on digital books that shows you what others are underlining is one of my favorites. Cliff Notes in the digital age.

3. All audio will need video. All video has audio. Both will need text and social networking. This is the Holy Grail of iPadding.

4. New content must be created by traditional media companies separate and apart from what they do at their day jobs. This content – preferably short-form – does not even have to be consistent with what their main business is. For example, if a radio station plays the hits, it can also maintain a sports blog that listeners can access. The deciding factor is monetization.

5. There are three major ways to monetize iPad content in my view – banner ads, event marketing and/or paid subscriptions. That means new ways to look at content creation before you do it. And it means attracting the kind of people who can sell this content not as an add-on but a standalone.

Many interactive opportunities and the revenue they suggest will be missed if the iPad does not become the major focus on every media company. I'm focusing on that right now. While challenging, it presents so much promise and I will share with you my experiences after Inside Music Media – iPad-style is launched this fall.

The iPad is the great liberator from gatekeepers (other than Apple).

In the past, if you wanted to do a show, you needed to find a radio station to broadcast it.

Now, do content on the iPad and you will not need a radio station.

This is not taking anything away from radio or TV when it is local and live. That's a business -- a good one. But this is as well and it can run in tandem with traditional media or it can stand alone.

No one is in your way.

Nothing can stop you but a lack of trust in the mobile future and should that be a problem there is reassuring evidence all around us increasingly living their lives in real time, on the go and connected to each other.

Procrastinating is detrimental to your brand.

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr. | Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

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The New Media #Content Revolution (#newmedia)

By Jerry Del Colliano | Re-posted from Inside Music Media...

I am often asked by readers to suggest some ways they might start thinking about entrepreneurial ideas for the new media content revolution ahead.

It’s one thing to learn from the mistakes of consolidators in the music and radio industries and their predecessors in publishing and TV but the best way to see actionable growth ideas for the future is to study sociology along with the emerging technology now.

Here are a few ideas I thought might interest you:

1. Textbooks Out, iPads and Kindles In

Gabe Hobbs’ Hobbs Blobs tells us that Clearwater High School in Florida is planning to eliminate all textbooks by the start of school this fall. That’s 2,100 students at an estimated expense of $600,000. It was all over the front page of the St. Petersburg Times touting the first-in-nation high school to go paperless.

Gabe wisely projects that radio might want to find a place on these new age textbooks because students will have 3G connectivity.

24/7 formats will probably not be the answer but if my former associate George Michael, the WFIL legendary teen personality, were alive, he might say – get into the high school news business. Maybe even the Clearwater High School news business.

For those of you fired from a perfectly good radio job by the stupidity of consolidated managers, they will never do this, but you might.

Hint?

2. Virgin to Publish In-Flight iPad Magazine

Richard Branson is a crazy man and that’s why we love him. Fly Virgin Atlantic and you’ll love him even more once his new “Maverick” iPad-only inflight magazine becomes available to passengers.

Virgin will save the trees and target their upscale international audience with content on entrepreneurism, technology and travel.

Branson’s daughter, Holly, will head the project that will likely reduce traditional publishing costs and start playing to what is likely to be planeloads of fliers with electronic devices on their laps.

First iPad-only issue comes out in October. Then iPhone and android device editions will follow.

Hearst sold 12,000 downloads of its Popular Mechanics app since it was released in early July. Wired has been ringing up monthly app business since it dumped paper. Esquire; Marie Claire; O, The Oprah Magazine; Food Network Magazine; Cosmopolitan and Harper's Bazaar are next.

This is what we’ve been talking about and for those of you who attended my Media Solutions Lab last January – the future we saw together then is arriving now which prompts the question – why aren’t you in the multimedia business?

And that’s what it really is or is destined to become – not simply print, or video or audio. It’s everything wrapped around social networking. The paid model is here as an addition to free. Ad supported Internet is alive and well but there are not enough ad dollars nor will there be to support a wide range of entrepreneurial ventures.

I’m going to do some special segments on the opportunities ahead in multimedia content creation at our next Media Solutions Lab January 27 (save the date). In the meantime, take a close look at your area(s) of expertise and start conceptualizing a new model built around – the iPad, America’s new entertainment and information device.

3. Paywalls Are Coming

News Corp’s Times and Sunday Times is getting ready to start charging for content. It has erected a paywall that even Google’s web crawlers cannot surmount

Revenue from online advertising is not enough.

Hulu launched a premium TV service for $9.99 a month for full seasons of TV shows and other content. That’s really aggressive and may not work. Who knows what the sweet spot is for monthly subscription pricing.

Even local newspapers like The Tallahassee Democrat, a Gannett paper no less, is charging for the online edition. The Wall Street Journal almost always has charged and The New York Times has a cockamamie metering concept that it will introduce in 2011 although I believe The Times model will fail because it tends to punish heavy readers.

This publication – Inside Music Media will go to a pay model by early fall -- $99 for a year, $14.99 per month.

Radio stations that could offer specialized short-form music programs, experts on music discovery by genre and news and entertainment could also find a lucrative pay model if the content has certain elements.

This is my criteria for success.

To succeed with a paywall the content must be unique, compelling and addictive.

If all three of these criteria are not met, chances for success diminish.

For example, if a radio station offered a website and music-enhanced discovery site around hit music, it would likely fail unless it has content not available elsewhere that consumers would be compelled to read so they could become addicted to the product.

Classical music buffs who are left with nothing on terrestrial radio could get several hours of music a day ported to their electronic device of choice with outstanding, exquisite content and expert context may very well pay. You might also monetize through ads.

Local will be a big area.

Will someone please do this before I do?

Zip code Newsradio.

Type in News-08003 and get all the news for Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Not fluff. No repackaged news from other sources or it will fail. Unique, compelling and addictive. Social networking for that zip, video, pictures, text.

If the content exists somewhere else for free, you’re through.

There are many new opportunities cropping up for new media. It is important to understand one thing more than anything else – the consumer.

Your target consumer will tell you what they want, will use and maybe even pay for.

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr. | Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

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New Rules of Mass #Media Social Networking (#socialnetworking)

The last few months have been hella busy around here. Thankfully I had a few minutes today to catch up on my reading.

Jerry Del Colliano is one of my favorite writers because his analysis of mass media and social networking is spot on every time. He recently raised a very poignant question on his blog (Inside Music Media): how do you develop a way to connect with fans in a meaningful way?

1. Never mass market toward friends and social network followers because that is getting old and turning social media into a modern day direct mail (which I sometimes feel is being done) is a prescription for failure.

2. Social media must be two-way communication not one-way – the way radio stations and lots of others find it easier to do. Interact. Present a way for everyone in your "clubhouse" to talk to you and each other. It takes participation. Fans know when you have assigned social networking to someone with whom they would never choose to communicate.

3. Only say that which is worth communicating. As in life, fewer words can have more impact than too many words. People don’t have the time to read everything on your mind. Perhaps this explains the popularity of Twitter's 140 characters. The world is progressively all getting attention deficit or at the very least, impatience with the communications process.

Mass marketing IS NOT communication. Make meaningful connections by speaking to your audience like human beings, not like a mass of nameless individuals. And don't forget they're all ADHD so talk like you tweet ^_^

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The Paid Internet Gains Credibility

By Jerry Del Colliano

As you know I have been a great proponent of the paid Internet for some time now.

I am aware that most people – including Millennials feel they are entitled to a free Internet.

Working with young people since 2004, I know not to discredit or dismiss their disdain for paying for that which they expect to get for free.

You’ve heard me tell you of my own decision to take this site to a paid model this summer. Everything I do is a virtual “lab” to me. So far the work is proceeding that will enable Inside Music Media to continue unimpeded by influence from advertisers or power brokers.

Then, last week I noted that Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine Editor and Chief, launched a new Apple app for Wired priced aggressively at $4.99 per issue.

Wired sold 24,000 iPad apps in the first 24 hours.

That’s $120,000 in revenue in one day keeping in mind that the print edition of Wired only sells about 82,000 single newsstand copies per month and Wired has approximately 672,000 paid subscribers.

Did I mention that Apple’s cut is $36,000 – who is complaining?

But that’s not the big story.

The big story is that Chris Anderson is the author of the book Free which proclaims the paid model dead as a doornail and free content as the second coming of the Internet. Anderson argues that “Freemium” – as I understand it, is the ability to sell paid content to people who already get the milk and don’t need the cow.

Think ESPN.com.

They’ve sold premium for years. It’s not a big business – simply an add-on.

Malcolm Gladwell did a review of Anderson’s Free in The New Yorker and he blistered him:

“It would be nice to know, as well, just how a business goes about reorganizing itself around getting people to work for “non-monetary rewards.” Does he mean that the New York Times should be staffed by volunteers, like Meals on Wheels? Anderson’s reference to people who “prefer to buy their music online” carries the faint suggestion that refraining from theft should be considered a mere preference. And then there is his insistence that the relentless downward pressure on prices represents an iron law of the digital economy. Why is it a law? Free is just another price, and prices are set by individual actors, in accordance with the aggregated particulars of marketplace power."

Mel Karmazin, when he ran Infinity/CBS, refused to allow his stations' intellectual property to be streamed for free on the Internet. Everyone thought he was crazy. Now broadcasters give away their online programming for free or for very cheap online ads. That’s no business model.

Jerry Lee refuses to allow top-rated B-101 to be streamed in Philadelphia because music royalty fees make it economically untenable and because in reality so few people actually listen to radio station streams – compared to the terrestrial signal.

Now we see the proponent of “Freemium” suddenly sound like a convert:

“The tablet is our opportunity to make the Wired we always dreamed of. It has all the visual impact of paper, enhanced by interactive elements like video and animated infographics. We can offer you a history of Mars landings that lets you explore the red planet yourself. We can take you inside Trent Reznor’s recording studio and let you listen to snippets of his work in progress. And we can show you exactly how Pixar crafted each frame of its new movie, Toy Story 3.”

The free vs. paid discussion is one that you will want to watch closely because it will present so many opportunities for growth in the media business.

Apple has sold 2 million iPads in less than 60 days – and they are only getting warmed up. If you refuse to go to an Apple store and play with one then you may dismiss a lot of what I am saying here. (Full disclosure: I am an Apple shareholder). If you own one, you know.

The iPad is the new transmitter and tower.

The new cable system.

The new printing press.

And Apple intends to charge rent.

What’s even better is that the marketplace – you know, those Millennials that expect to get everything on the Internet for free – are showing us again and again that they will buy Apple apps in great numbers.

For radio, the growth opportunities ahead are dazzling.

Create new content that is both compelling and addictive in news, music, sports or entertainment and build in social networking beyond Twitter and Facebook and you have a paid item that can be sold as an app through the iTunes store.

Optimize your website for the iPad and you’re in business.

That’s what I am hope to do with Inside Music Media and my many commerce interests. Websites are dead as we know them. Instead, live, breathing, interactive and mobile tablet sites will temp consumers to pay for content if that content is unique.

For record labels, paid content is a better growth business than music.

They will learn one of these days to give the music away for free since they have no way of protecting it, but then offer record label-generated private paid sites for artists, genres, localities – the possibilities are endless.

Traditional media holds the advantage going forward if they choose to use it.

They broadcast on terrestrial signals or make music on CDs and downloads, but if they build the future thinking about how to come up with riveting content based on their broad businesses, I believe consumers will pay.

There will always be free content on the Internet – free is a price and it works with advertisers and other incentives as part of a business model.

But so is paid.

Mel was right.

Jerry Lee is right.

And now Chris Anderson has seen the Promised Land.

There is big money in Apple iPad apps for radio and records.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/paid-internet-gains-credibility.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano for Inside Music Media.

Re-posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
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Comcast's Breakthrough iPad App

By Jerry Del Colliano

If you need evidence as to why Apple’s iPad is going to change the media world, look at what Comcast just announced.

An app.

A very special app that turns your iPad into more than just a television remote.

Take a moment to see Comcast CEO Brian Roberts explain why a TV/cable remote is a thing of the past. Watch here.

So there it is – pairing the iPad to the Comcast cable box. Easy for them to do and much less expensive than being in the hardware business.

The iPad keyboard is the killer app because Comcast customers will soon be able to search 70,000 on demand shows just by typing a few letters onto their iPads.

The iPad then controls the TV, changes channels, adjusts volume and has a social networking aspect – one user can invite another Comcast subscriber via iPad to watch the same TV show.

Roberts says the iPad “liberates us from the cable box and puts it in the power of the consumer”.

A long way from the days when Milton Shapp and his electronics company developed the Jerrold cable box – one of the first devices in the early days of cable (Jerrold was Shapp’s middle name and Shapp eventually became governor of Pennsylvania).

It doesn’t stop there.

Apple, as I have warned (and I am a shareholder) stands to become a dominant power not only in electronics, which it arguably is already, but in content which it is fast becoming. And unlike what we do, Apple doesn’t have to spend any money on content development.

They act as a gatekeeper to allow third party content providers access to their cool and intuitive devices.

They get to charge "tolls" to content providers for using their "turnpike".

And other companies are embracing the iPad.

Take Livio’s new iPhone/iPod Touch radio app made especially for listening in cars.

Large button pre-sets for ease of use while driving. The app suggests listening options (a modern day “scan”). It zeros in on similar stations, if that’s what the driver wants. GPS can be used to find links to local stations while driving.

In the early days of broadcasting, companies like RCA may have manufactured radios and televisions as well as owned interest in broadcast stations but it was nothing compared to what Apple is pulling off today.

Apple owns access.

RCA had to give access to competing stations for free.

Therefore, unless and until another electronics company can come up with a serious competitor for Apple apps and products, Apple becomes the de facto gatekeeper.

Book publishers and newspaper moguls are worried about all this power in the hands of Steve Jobs and the potential for eating into their profits. But they have no alternative currently.

Record labels continue to fall flat on their faces adapting to new Internet and mobile devices. They are now stonewalling Apple on using recorded music for Apple’s new cloud-based and Lala-inspired streaming service which is due soon.

It sticks in the labels’ craw that Jobs now runs their business and that they in fact gave him the keys to their companies when he played to their piracy fears when pitching iTunes/iPod as a Napster killer. Now the labels have no choice but to play nice and yet they continue to go off the planet.

RIAA has won the initial phase of its lawsuit against LimeWire and in the process is opening the door to hundreds of other alternative services that will fulfill the public obsession with sharing music files. This could be worse for the labels than dealing with one entity such as LimeWire. Details on the labels “victory” are here.

Look to radio.

The industry has not adapted to Apple apps other than to create players that will allow consumers to listen to terrestrial radio or get minor content from cash-pinched stations.

In other words, Comcast can use an iPad to replace the cable remote and call that a success, but radio stations that use apps to allow for radio listening on mobile/Internet devices are failures for doing the same thing.

Well, not quite.

Radio could be a potent force in content and could make iPhones, iPads and iPods natural delivery systems for new content not currently on their terrestrial signals.

But broadcasters continue to insist that radio be consumed the way they need it (or want it) to be used instead of the way that best cooperates with the inevitable.

And what is the inevitable?

Look around.

I was at Glee Live Saturday night when the TV-inspired production company came to Phoenix. From mid theater you see the consumer telling you (if not begging you) to make content for the way they live now.

Phones everywhere. Pictures at the concert taken and transmitted immediately to Facebook pages everywhere.

Apple has done more than any company to dictate the future of the entertainment business without providing one single bit of content that they have to pay to produce.

In fact, they use content from third party sources and profit from it.

Like it or not, you’ll be attending sporting events some day and participating in the play by voting on whether the umpire’s call at first base was right or wrong. See the replay and then decide. Of course, the fans don't get the final say, but talk about social networking!

Then they will meet other fans in the stadium. Stay connected after the game.

Attend shows that are built to have content you can have in your lap on an iPad that enhances the traditional stage only presentation. Of course, you’ll be prompted to buy things while enjoying the show.

And in radio, 100 podcasts per locality and music services that are narrated by experts – unique and compelling. News available by zip code with GPS news alerts that come to you while you walk through the streets.

If I’m a broadcast company, I’m calling a brainstorming session. Turning the best minds loose and having them develop content for the new gold standard in broadcasting.

The Apple iPad with all its apps replaces broadcast transmitters and towers.

We may not like it, but it is starting to happen now.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/comcasts-breakthrough-ipad-app.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano for Inside Music Media

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Social Media Changes To Watch

By Jerry Del Colliano

The radio and music businesses used to be so simple.

Give the audience what they want and they'll come back for more.

Since the Internet, the mobile generation and the many alternate choices for entertainment available at a touch, swipe or click, these industries radio need to go back to school on social media changes.

Steve Jobs is the expert on reading his young consumer base. It doesn't matter that he is a baby boomer or that his tactics seem to be more old school than new age. But when it comes to understanding how consumers prefer to use new technology, he's the professor.

Still, there is hope which is why I want to run a few social media changes by you this morning to stimulate thought on how traditional media can come away with a better understanding of what consumers want them to do before they expend time, effort and money doing the opposite.

44% of all Americans Own an iPhone, iPod or MP3 Player

The Edison Research findings from a study of 1,753 people ages 12 and up.

Some 54% of them have used these types of devices with their car stereo and that is major. The 44% figure could actually be higher in my estimation but taken as presented nearly half of all Americans have the enemy to radio in their hands and cars.

The car is the main delivery point for terrestrial radio and it is being invaded by popular youth alternatives such as the Ford Sync entertainment system and hard drive, WiFi -- the better to listen to Pandora and other ways to access mobile content that is not traditional radio.

Pioneer is building a Pandora radio for car installation and no matter what the chattering class says to disparage Pandora, it is the gold standard for "radio" going forward.

Soon 50 million Pandora listeners (and growing) will be able to seamlessly access their favorite customized radio service as a built-in device. For everyone else, there will be apps and WiFi.

Conclusion: A car is no longer the sacred home of terrestrial radio and offering only a traditional radio station and nothing new or innovative in content will leave radio out of the hunt for what to listen to on wheels with the next generation.

48% of Americans Have At Least One Social Networking Profile

That's up from 34% in a study just one year earlier.

The Edison/Arbitron findings also reveal 30% of these folks check their profiles more than once a day (up from 18%).

Social networking is a bugaboo for radio companies who tend to blindly embrace Twitter and Facebook and turn social networking into direct marketing. That would be a mistake as I see it. Social networking is so named because there is a two-way communications component presumed in the description.

With so many people gravitating to social networking while traditional media grapples to make their new communications tool their new marketing tool, you can see trouble ahead.

Conclusion: Radio stations must either commit to direct and meaningful communication with social networking profiles or eliminate the direct mail approach. In the new age, you engage listeners who engage you because you are communicating with them. For stations not willing to staff up to interact with growing social media audiences, they will be considered a nuisance and will have missed a golden opportunity to connect.

The iPad Accounts For 5% of All Mobile Net Consumption

And that figure was revealed only one week after the device came out. Keep in mind the following charts are from early April when hardly any iPads were in the hands of consumers compared to today. Check out the growth potential for the iPad here.

Hitting 5% of mobile web consumption after only the first full day of use underscores the growth for not only the device itself but content accessed on it.

Conclusion: Radio has to step up and think visually with new products that are beyond just audio. The day has arrived when consumers will direct their entertainment using the iPad in their hands.

Radio may want to keep delivering only terrestrial streams, but with a consumer item that promises to be more prolific than perhaps any other electronic device that proceeded it, that would be shortsighted.

Get to the skunk works.

Break the mold.

Start inventing content that will be enhanced and embraced on the entertainment centers of the future -- the iPad and mobile Internet.

Now Consumers Will Start To Shut YOU Off

Seth Godin did a piece recently in which he confessed to getting tough with his incoming email and social networking messages.

Godin said:

"Two years ago, I started taking a lot of flak for being choosy about which incoming media I was willing to embrace. What I've recently seen is that this is a choice that's gaining momentum.

It's your day, and you get to decide, not the cloud. I could go on and on about this, but I know you've got email to check..."

As usual an interesting early warning from his intriguing mind. Godin is saying what many of us are thinking -- and that includes young people overwhelmed by social networking -- that the "enough is enough" phase has arrived.

Important because entertainment and information providers generally assume that they can get access to consumers through Facebook, Twitter, email and other content at a click of send. But if Godin is right -- and I believe he's onto something -- we'll be seeing a retreat from the deluge of messages and input that we receive digitally.

Conclusion: The repercussions could be great. Even as some industries like radio and records are trying to use social communication as today's direct mail, consumers have to protect themselves from the barrage of sheer content. What this says to me -- and I'd like you to mull this point as well -- is that we may have to start raising (or for that matter even establishing) standards for what we communicate to others.

It may be a cheap way to get the word out. Now what the "word" is apparently will matter more.

Mobile Bullying Is on the Rise

Look at these statistics from i-Safe.org:

• 42% of children are bullied online (25% more then once).
• 35% of children are threatened online (20% more then once).
• 58% 'admit' to receiving online messages which are hurtful and threatening (33% more then once).
• 60% do not inform their parents.
  

Even as content providers struggle to learn about the electronics of the next generation, it is becoming apparent that other problems -- some that may lead to legal liability -- are showing themselves.

I am told that "schools are hesitant to react because there's no firm national blueprint in place, and they are quick to cite 'other factors' because they don't want to assume liability".

Yet, we are beginning to see what I am sure will not be isolated examples of mobile bullying.

Eleven year old Tyler Lee of Chatsworth, GA was bullied about his "sexual orientation" although he had Aspergers Disease. Phoebe Prince moved to Massachusetts a year ago and 'picked the wrong' boyfriend. Parents find themselves helpless monitoring the activities of their children in the wide world of mobile/Internet. Eleven year old Jaheem Harris who was bullied starting in the 5th grade. There are '11' year old children who are hanging themselves over this.

Media companies looking to get into the mobile space can keep these things in mind when designing content that may be heard by young people. But, new and traditional media can speak out now using their existing resources to talk to parents and even students who will listen.

Conclusion: Radio to the rescue again. This is a perfect new age public service campaign that deserves leaders to stand up and act. Bullying tactics tend to center around sexual identity, discrimination and religion among other things. Children are even bullied for their disabilities.

For stations or content providers who want to step up now, here's how:

"Tell your parents or reach out to a trusted adult. Avoid online messages from bullies. If it's school related, inform them immediately as most schools are working on solutions and policies. Keep the message-they may be needed to take action. Protect yourself-never agree to meet with anyone you meet online. If bullied through chat, instant message 'block the bully.' If threatened with harm, notify the police".

The once simple process of entertaining and informing via traditional media has become more challenging and worrisome as technology helps enable a new generation to make different choices.

I hope some of these "Gen Trends" (and comments) are useful to you in decision making, working with teams and protecting your franchises.

My rule of thumb:

Open your eyes to how consumers use technology and act appropriately.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/social-media-changes-to-watch.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano for Inside Music Media

Re-posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.

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How I See Radio's Digital Future

By Jerry Del Colliano

Imagine not having to tune in to a terrestrial radio show from 5 to 10 am but still hear the things about radio you used to love.

Instead -- a personality or team of personalities making content available on mobile devices like the iPod, iPad, iPhone, smartphones, car entertainment centers and whatever other technology may surface in the months and years ahead.

This terrestrial show does not exist on-the-air. Just as a cornucopia of features for your favorite mobile Internet device.

You’re a listener.

You choose from a menu of “bits” or “features” all variably timed. But you have the option to mash them up in a menu that, say, allows you to start with the “Kim Kardashian” bit and ends with Lady Gaga.

Or sample today’s content a la carte.

For now, the content is likely to be just talk because record labels have made it too expensive for Internet and mobile content providers to include music in these new media offerings.

But -- no worries.

There are plenty of places to get your fill of music once you’ve been entertained by "radio" personalities in the digital future.

And, at any time, you can take a break and choose an app that will give you the latest live, local newscast.

If you’re watching and not just listening, you can view the content -- see the pictures, videos.

Want to learn more, you can dig deeper and read – or save text for perusal later.

You can respond instantly through the traditional social networking tools or you could respond through a special, closed group of listeners known as “your fans”. These people can interact with each other. You can provide additional content and yes, you will be required to spend time interacting with your fans. In the future this will be seen as a benefit not a mass marketing tool.

While each segment may be sponsored in traditional ways with live-read commercials from your favorite personalities, produced commercials, unless they are very creative, would probably be a non-starter in the digital morning show of the future.

Of course, you could see visual ads on the phones and mobile devices.

But the greatest and largest source of revenue will come from event-based deployment of your fans – that is, on a regular (maybe even monthly basis), you invite fans to local venues to participate in live happenings that are sponsored by companies looking to have direct access to your fans.

A Wango Tango for niche groups, if you will – referring to the annual Clear Channel event developed by Roy Laughlin and still going strong today.

Parts of what I have just described are already available and some are under development.

But to bring it all together, radio companies have the inside advantage over other content companies in informing and entertaining digitally. Their biggest disadvantage is a dim view of the digital future.

Many of you are aware that I use my business as a “lab” to develop things such as paid models for content and the next iteration of social networking beyond Twitter and Facebook. I often first try what I ultimately recommend.

By the time I convene my next Media Solutions Lab in Scottsdale (January 27, 2011), I will share the latest successes and challenges with content providers in and out of the broadcasting space. We plan to spend some time on how to effectively transition to the digital future.

What is exciting is that the tower and transmitter is being replaced by the mobile Internet through intuitive and entertaining devices that fans carry with them – meaning you no longer have to wait for a car radio to be turned on or a clock radio to go off in the morning to connect with your fans.

These fans in the digital space are always connected – to you!

And you see I have used the term “fans” and not “P1s” because we need to humanize the audience. Ask me about the people who read my work every day and I can go on for a half hour. There are between 175,000 and 200,000 visits per month, passionate, well-informed people curiously looking to the future and trying to comprehend present media trends.

That's just the beginning in the era of social networking.

If I tell you that I communicate with up to 300 “fans” a day who write to me personally and actually know them from previous emails, circumstances, likes and dislikes, you'd begin to see that my view of the digital future is not to create new age excuses to do mass marketing but personalized contact to promote social networking.

Social networking is two-way communication -- not today's direct mail.

One third of all the topics I write about are suggested by “fans” – and most support my independence from undue advertiser influence.

The lines are blurred – and it’s a good thing.

Radio can be the provider of content – written, spoken, and viewed.

You and I can as well. You’ll hear me, see me (God forbid) and continue to interact.

But there are new rules.

One, all content must be unique.

Copycats may have worked in format radio but it will lay an egg here.

Two, what you present must be compelling – that is, will you start your day with it?

Will you end your day with it? Will you use it all day? Or just check in two, three, four times a day the way we used to encourage them to use news radio.

There will be no more traditional morning rush.

Each individual with access to mobile Internet will determine their own prime hours. Maybe they listen to Pandora on the way to work and listen to a favorite personality (sans music) at night or in their spare time.

And three, content must be addictive to succeed.

With an infinite number of streams, apps and ways to reach audiences, what you do must be so addicting that your fans will look forward to coming back for more.

Terrestrial radio will not die. There will still be an audience for 24/7 programming – but not repeater radio which is not unique, compelling or addictive. And terrestrial radio will likely never again be a growth industry as long as consumers want to be the PD of their mobile devices.

I see the digital future as an aggressive growth business which is being held back currently by music industry royalty impediments, radio companies in denial that 24/7 broadcasting is not how consumers want their content and the failure of many of us to embrace the unknown.

All it will take to buy a ticket of admission to the digital future, is an open mind.

And those tickets have been hard to come by in a media industry obsessed with the past.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-i-see-radios-digital-future.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

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Lala Means Apple Loves Streaming

By Jerry Del Colliano

I got a kick out of some of the radio industry comment that Apple was shuttering recently acquired Palo Alto-based Lala – a company it purchased less than six months ago for $80 million.

The presumption being that Apple was not going to be offering a streaming music service that was thought to be another competitor to terrestrial radio.

What is really happening – to borrow a phrase from the great Delfonics Philly soul song “La La Means I Love You” is that Apple loves streaming from the “cloud” so much it is shutting down the failed Lala site in favor of redeploying Lala's streaming technology.

Lala was founded in 2006 and never really made it as a purveyor of free streaming music and access to cuts for only ten cents a song. Apparently iPod usage and traditional online filesharing was more attractive than letting users upload their libraries to a cloud.

Apple knows this.

Apple watchers who risk life and limb when they try to guess what Steve Jobs is up to next have been chattering about Apple’s presumed plan to allow iTunes users the ability to keep their music libraries and videos on Apple servers so that they can access them via any Internet or mobile Internet device anywhere – anytime.

Unlike radio companies, Apple was looking to buy people and technology not necessarily a failed company – thus the expenditure to buy Lala.

Steve Jobs has been teasing the Apple faithful that he has many more cool products to offer this year. (Full disclosure: I have been and am currently an Apple stockholder).

This new cloud-based subscription service from Apple may become more than just speculation within the next few months – that’s what I’m thinking.

Interesting that Wired.com is reporting that current Lala subscribers will get a refund worth one-tenth of the amount of music in iTunes that their money paid for on Lala.

So Lala will soon be dead but we can safely presume Apple didn’t buy the company to waste money.

Right now Apple is rolling through the media content business the way General Patton rolled through some battles in World War II.

There are going to be issues of great concern to media people of an Apple monopoly over electronic devices and content and I share those concerns although not enough to try to thwart the consumer revolution toward mobile Internet.

Apple is building a stranglehold on media delivery systems.

Fair to say it has the record labels by the balls.

In a few short years, Apple has become a major player in the cell phone business even with the unpopular AT&T as a mobile connect partner. And perhaps you noticed a significant strategic step Jobs took when he introduced the 3G iPad featuring a month-by-month option – no contracts – for the required AT&T service. Apple is that big and persuasive.

Now, publishers have mixed feelings about the bookstore that is becoming so popular on iPads. Publishers like that, unlike Amazon, Apple is letting publishers employ variable pricing, but other publishing houses fear that once Apple dominates the book market they will be at Steve Jobs’ mercy.

And that could very well be.

An ominous sign is that the variable price publishing option is only guaranteed for the first year -- at this point, anyway.

Radio owners know what happens when Jobs doesn’t like radio for his devices – they can’t get a chip built into popular mobile devices like iPods, iPhones or iPads – with the exception of the Nano. And that plus another few million listeners would not even make a difference for radio interests.

I think that Jobs wants to be Pandora.

There. I've said it.

Radio is not cool with Apple's young-targeted consumer base. And frankly, it’s hard to see an iPhone or iPod as a radio in the sense that the industry once saw the Walkman as a radio device.

If Jobs indeed wants to be Pandora, he could get started by offering a streaming service to his almost 150 million registered iTunes customers.

Keep in mind that’s 150 million active credit cards on file ready to buy things which could include subscriptions.

The thing with Steve Jobs is that when he says something publicly, he can be playing with the public. Jobs often disses that which he is eventually going to do at Apple.

The iPad would be a recent example.

In a sense, Jobs voted against it before he voted for it.

So Apple often says they are in it to sell electronics and the rest is just to help sell iPods, iPads, iPhones and computers.

Well, with all due respect to the most fascinating genius I have observed in a long time, I think Jobs is playing with us again. He is heading right into dominating the music business, publishing, newspapers, video and movie businesses and, yes, radio.

But not the radio industry its leaders still think has a chance with the next generation.

A new “radio” – streams of music and content that iTunes subscribers could sign up for and enjoy as an alternative to free music. That, in and of itself is incredible. Since when is free less desirable than paid?

That’s what is happening as large corporations figure out the Internet.

While television, radio, print, film and even gaming interests were out plying their trades, Apple was focusing on the changemakers – the young people that traditional media usually tend to ignore.

And now the threat exists that publishers will have to pay whatever Apple wants for inclusion in its mobile Internet empire or leave money on the table.

Yes, Apple is in it to sell electronics but with media executives asleep at the helm, you are now witnessing the first palpable signs that Steve Jobs is leading a frontal attack on these sleepy media businesses that let him bypass them and go directly to the consumer.

The critical difference is …

Jobs knows what he is doing.

Media executives know how to pander to Wall Street.

Think of the ramifications.

In five years, if everyone is accessing information and content on mobile Internet devices like the kind Apple sells – and that 150 million iTunes customer base just doubles – even the best over-the-air radio will be playing to deaf ears.

My message.

Tune into the consumer and let them drive innovation.

Build your content for Apple platforms no matter what the entry price.

Then learn to think like Steve Jobs and pray that some smart alternatives can compete with Apple someday.

Until then, watch the master at work as he eats traditional media executives alive in their own backyards.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/lala-means-apple-loves-streaming.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano for Inside Music Media

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

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What My iPad Is Teaching Me

By Jerry Del Colliano

My wife and I waited by the door for the FedEx delivery late last week.

We were expecting our 3G iPads. Birthdays seem to come so quickly but iPads seem to take forever. That’s how we felt.

Of course, I played with WiFi versions of the iPad at the Apple store but never took them home.

Now, I've got one to explore.

I know many of my friends who read me every day are interested in the convergence of technology with sociology so I’d like to share some thoughts prompted by actual iPad use.

And, what the iPad could mean in a year or two.

It was easy for me to set up because I handed it to my wife and she did it. But she told me it was easy.

The Mobile Me part worked fine. No glitches. The device itself was a pleasure to use. As the days went on I began to discover the full potential of the iPad.

Nonetheless, I am beginning to see things that need our attention if we plan to be part of the mobile Internet.

One of my neighbors, Taylor, an extremely bright eight-year old girl has already mastered my iPhone. When she visits, I hand her the phone. She scrolls through the screen and prepares our favorite little game – air hockey (Go Flyers!). Whereas older people tend to carefully move from click to scroll, young people have no fear and whip through it.

She chooses the “insane” option and gets a game of air hockey so wild you have to be fit mentally and physically. I won't be answering the question you're thinking which is -- has an eight-year old ever beaten you in air hockey?

When I was showing her Microsoft Word on my Mac one day, she learned it by capitalizing on the intuitive nature of Apple-based software. I mention an eight-year old for a reason – they will be in college in ten years or less and in the work force quickly.

Keep this market in mind.

I always do.

Using the iPad tells me that web designers and content creators are going to have to do more than just customizing apps to run their sites and programs.

The iPad is a different mindset.

So different in fact, I am changing the redesign of my website that is due to become a paid site this summer in ways I could not have previously predicted.

For example, had I not spent time with the iPad, I would have been inclined to build a real nice looking website for InsideMusicMedia.com – slick and colorful, easy to read and attractive.

But ...

But I contacted the designer and said, “we have to build this site optimized for the iPad – more visual, more intuitive, less cluttered, with the ten-inch screen in mind”.

In other words, simply redesigning a website for the computer is to miss the market that is developing. It’s like radio trying to cram terrestrial audio onto a stream and expect that consumers will listen to it the way we used to listen to a radio.

That brings me to music.

The current software – soon to change – on iPad does not allow for multitasking. Therefore, I wanted to play Pandora in the background while I was doing some mindless tasks and surfing the web, but currently, as with the iPhone, that is not possible.

Before the year is out, consumers will be able to enjoy music while they work and as good as this news seems for radio owners, it comes with new-age challenges.

For example:

1. Commercials in the background will either distract or at the very best be ignored as iPad users pour their attention into other things.

2. Content in the future will have to be designed to be used on-demand by consumers. That is, they will have to say, I want to enjoy this and will pay attention to it – somewhat like YouTube. I don’t put YouTube on in the background. I pay attention.

3. Shorter content will be warranted although not always mandated.

My friend Dick Carr whose Big Bands Ballads and Blues will one day be available to mobile Internet users (I hope!) will now be what I call destination listening.

And that’s going to be a big field.

Dave & Geri, the Grand Rapids morning team that recaptured their audience after they were set free by their radio employers, are also destination listening.

That’s good.

Very good.

It means they are compelling enough that local fans will want to choose to spend some of their valuable time with Dave & Geri.

But there’s more.

The iPad can and will do for radio content providers what the bookstore feature will do for reading. Digital publishers will offer print that is enhanced by video, pictures, links and even connections to other readers. Making only the text of books on this device is to leave out great multimedia potential.

Same for radio content providers.

And let me mention that when I say radio content providers I am not talking about anyone I know in this industry – yet.

However, I remain hopeful.

Repurposing talent or terrestrial content for mobile use is a lame game. It is not up to the exciting potential of a device such as the iPad.

Therefore, when radio people finally get into the mobile Internet, they will have to enhance their podcasts with video. Have content available with pictures or links. Have social networking access built in.

Maybe because I am launching my new project soon all of this hits me as a sobering message.

Study the iPad before making content decisions. Apple sold a million iPads in the first month that they were available. Rupert Murdoch said yesterday the iPad will lead to a revolution in media content -- read more here.

I know, I am an Apple shareholder and they certainly don’t need me to drum up business. But hold this thing in your hands. See why a calendar or to-do list is fun and addictive on an iPad where it can be mundane on a computer. See why over-the-air radio has to be rebuilt as on-demand content.

Fall asleep listening to audio or reading the next morning’s New York Times. Do it all – stay connected, be informed, get organized and be entertained on one device.

Radio can’t be radio on an iPad. It has to be more.

In spite of what industry executives would like to think -- mobile devices like iPads, iPhones, iPods and smartphones are not radios in the sense of a Walkman.

More context, more information, more links.

More ability of the user to become "the program director" and choose content.

Shorter content. Richer content.

Compelling and addictive.

We used to think radio got great ratings when it played more music.

Now, radio is going to have to play more media to attract attention.

If you’re interested, I’ll share observations I am learning along the way but one thing is for sure – the iPad is the first of its genre that will force content providers to rethink their visual, contextual and social approach to information and entertainment.

The great media convergence everyone predicted fifteen years ago never happened.

We got consolidation instead -- and that sure wasn't convergence.

What we’re seeing now in devices like the iPad – is the convergence of technology and sociology. The melding of the human condition and the mothers of invention, so to speak.

The old Apple motto that launched the MacIntosh into the consumers mindset was Think Different.

I am suggesting, with the iPad and mobile Internet revolution developing that phrase should becomeRethink Different.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/what-my-ipad-is-teaching-me.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano for Inside Music Media

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

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A Six-Step Content Marketing Check-Up For B2B Marketers

By Galen De Young

Content marketing is one of the most powerful tools for B2B marketers, most of whom likely have content development as a substantial part of their 2010 marketing plans. But before you get started with developing more content marketing assets, take a step back to assess your efforts to date. Below are six steps to help you do that. While the list is not exhaustive, my hope is that these steps will help you improve the performance of existing assets and develop strong future content marketing efforts.

Map site content to the buying cycle

Some people segment the buying cycle into three or four stages. B2B Marketing Strategist Ardath Albee segments it into seven stages. However you choose to define it, analyze your buying cycle and make sure you have substantial, valuable content that speaks to each stage. Prospects have questions at each stage in the buying process. Each question represents an opportunity for content. Think about what should be free and what should be gated (Chris Koch and Michele Linn had good posts on this recently).

Also remember people have different learning styles, and consider having multiple media available for each style. Analyze the effectiveness of your existing content vis-à-vis your buying cycle, determine the gaps in your content marketing strategy, and develop a plan to round out your content.

Reduce friction on gated content

Review registration pages for items that reduce conversion rate. Yes, this includes how much information you’re asking for, but it also includes many other things.

Ask yourself, is the page design and intent clear, or do you have many other things potentially distracting visitors from taking the desired action or perhaps even obscuring the desired action? Have you reduced the anxiety of registering? Are the benefits of doing so clearly stated? Have you illustrated credibility, e.g., are there recognized third-party endorsements on the page? Have you told visitors what you’re going to do with their information?

Todd Miechiels had a great post on reducing site visitors’ anxiety last year, and Ben Hanna gave some strong, practical examples of ways to improve B2B conversion rates by reducing buyer risk.

Review your content analytics

Analytics can be great, but too often we fail to actually learn from them. Take a look at last year’s numbers for the content on your site. What was the most popular content? What were your most popular landing pages? What were the sources of the visitors? Did those sources change over time? What organic keywords drove traffic to that content? What did these visitors do? What were the conversion rates? Where did they go next? What made those pages successful? Equally important to analyze is the content you thought would do well, but didn’t.

Compare and contrast the successes and the failures, and you’ll likely find strong clues to help you develop a best practices model. But don’t just use this information for prospective content. You can likely redeem some of your previously less-than-successful content by making improvements or repurposing and relaunching that content.

Capture the value of content

If your content is a web page, it’s pretty easy to track the results. But what if your content is a PDF or some other digital asset? These assets can drive readers and viewers back into your website. However, unless you’ve coded the links appropriately, these visits will show up as direct visits instead of being attributed to your content marketing assets. Obviously, you should ensure future content marketing assets have such links, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t make these changes to existing content as well.

Include sharing options with your content

White papers, eBooks, case studies, best practice guides can be powerful lead generation and lead nurturing tools. At the same time, they’re expensive to create. They’re also hard to get into the hands of the right people. You may get one of these assets into the hands of one of your contacts, but there are many other people at the prospect’s company who will influence the purchase decision. Embedding social sharing options is a great way to help push the reach of great content, and modifying existing content marketing assets to include social sharing options is fairly painless.

Optimized content for search

Finally, optimize your content for search. While social media can play a big role in the visibility of good content marketing assets, SEO will help ensure online visibility over the long term. Make sure your content marketing assets and their related landing pages are optimized and aligned with the keyword strategy for the piece. This includes optimizing copy as well as other on- and off-page factors. While it does take a bit more work, you can optimize PDFs for search as well.

http://b2b-seo.com/index.php/a-six-step-content-marketing-check-up-for-b2b-marketers/?utm_source=eNews&utm_medium=email&utm_content=textlink&utm_campaign=apr10

Written by Galen De Young for B2B SEO


Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

Online Music Marketing: 43 Metrics & 7 Tools To Measure ROI

by Dexter Bryant Jr.

Using the Internet to market and promote your music is one of the most affordable ways to establish and build a following. The abundance of free tools and music-based social networks has made music marketing more accessible than ever for musicians around the globe. Rather than investing boatloads of cash into advertising, PR, and radio promotion, instead musicians invest their time. Through social networking and direct-to-fan engagement musicians can achieve remarkable results with online marketing.

The question that often comes up is how do you know if your online marketing is working? Also, how do you know where your marketing is the most effective?

ROI (“return on investment”) is a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. In the case of music marketing online, your time is your main investment. Tracking the results of your music marketing efforts online is crucial to figuring out where your time is being wasted and where it is best spent so that you can amend your actions accordingly.

Below I have listed 43 metrics for measuring ROI and 7 tools to measure with.

Metrics:

1. Number of subscribers on your mailing list
2. Twitter followers
3. Friends/fans on TheSixtyOne.com
4. YouTube channel subscribers
5. YouTube plays
6. YouTube uploads of your songs by other users
7. We Are Hunted chart positions of your songs
8. Blog mentions or reviews of your music
9. Backlinks (blogs and websites linking to your website or blog)
10. Mixtape/album downloads
11. Individual track downloads
12. P2P downloads and sharing of your music
13. BitTorrent downloads, seeds, and sharing of your music
14. Last.fm plays
15. Last.fm friends
16. PureVolume friends
17. PureVolume plays
18. Facebook fans
19. Twitter plays through twiturm.com or twt.fm
20. Plays and listeners on blip.fm
21. Plays on podcasts
22. Plays on Internet radio stations
23. Use of your music by DJs in podcasts, online radio, & in night clubs
24. Your songs featured on digital mixtapes by well-known DJs
25. Online plays streamed longer than 30 seconds (on various music social networks)
26. International audience: number of countries where people are engaging with your content (plays, downloads, reads, shares, subscriptions, etc)
27. ReTweets of your content (songs, mixtapes, articles)
28. 100+ concentration of fans in a specific region (touring becomes viable in that region)
29. Eventful.com Demand stats
30. Digital singles sales
31. Album sales
32. Remixes of your music
33. Attendance figures for live concerts broadcast on ustream.TV or similar networks
34. Attendance figures for concerts offline
35. Number of credible professionals in entertainment, journalism, marketing, and other related industries who support your music (maintain a collection of quotes from these individuals)
36. Customer and client testimonials
37. Comments about your music on multiple social networks (positive or negative)
38. Myspace plays, profile views, and friends
39. Plays, reviews, and fans on http://www.jamendo.com
40. Fans, plays, and chart positions on Soundclick.com
via Brian Hazard:
41. Your website’s Alexa ranking
42. Monthly unique visitors to your website
43. Number of subscribers to your site’s RSS feed

Use these web 2.0 tools to measure social engagement, identify fans, find hot markets, and gauge your band’s online presence and popularity:

1. Music Xray - http://www.musicxray.com/
2. Band Metrics - http://bandmetrics.com/
3. Next Big Sound – http://nextbigsound.com/
4. RockDex – http://rockdex.com/
5. Topsy – http://topsy.com/
6. Backtype – http://www.backtype.com/
7. Trendrr – http://www.trendrr.com/

About the author:

Dexter Bryant Jr [d.BRYJ] is the hippie tribe's favorite producer+songwriter of dance rock and electro crunk music. As a digital branding consultant Dexter helps brands and bands strategically plan and manage their online presence. Dexter is the Digital Marketing Director of Dynasty Music Entertainment and d.BRYJ Music. Dexter blogs about music and business @ http://hitmusicacademy.wordpress.com/

http://www.artistshousemusic.org/articles/online+music+marketing+38+metrics+and+7+tools+to+measure+roi

http://www.knowthemusicbiz.com/index.php/D.I.Y.-Tips/Digital-Solutions/Online-Music-Marketing-38-Metrics-and-7-Tools-To-Measure-ROI.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/25347523/Online-Music-Marketing-38-Metrics-and-7-Tools-To-Measure-ROI

http://hitmusicacademy.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/online-music-marketing-measure-roi/

http://www.musicthinktank.com/mtt-open/online-music-marketing-38-metrics-and-7-tools-to-measure-roi.html

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

Digital Branding With Music & Mobile Apps

by Dexter Bryant Jr.

Music-based mobile apps are one of the most powerful tools in a musician’s digital marketing arsenal. Apps are a hot commodity with customers, especially the gen-Y market. Beyond that, apps provide an avenue for deeper engagement with your audience.

In order to maximize your potential for connecting with audiences, your app must be user-friendly and addictive. You do that by providing value to users. Make it simple to use and allow opt-in subscriptions for your podcast(s). Subscribers get new podcast episodes forwarded directly to their phone.

Your mobile app should also include additional features that are engaging and addictive for users. These features will add entertainment value to your app if executed properly. Make some app features default and others opt-in so users can customize their experience and dictate their level of engagement with your app.

Ideas for app features:

• Music biz news feed (RSS)
• Twitter feed
• Blog/website feed (RSS)
• A rhythm game like Tap Tap Revenge that showcases your music
• A search engine for streaming your music
• Video feeds for web concerts (on ustream.TV and other digital networks), video blog updates, behind-the-scenes footage, music videos, and anime mini-series
• MP3 feed of your latest songs and mixtapes

Allow users to comment on your app content from their phone via Twitter. Facilitate sharing (and comments) to your social media pages (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc). Invite users to live chats with your band members through Skype and other networks.

Don’t stop there though. Give users access to your entire multimedia library of original content. Let them search and download your mp3s, e-books, and other content directly to their phone. But please DO NOT skip over optimizing all content for mobile phone use, otherwise your files will be too large and the user experience will be poor. Get the user experience wrong and people will use your app once and never return.

Free vs Premium
Marketing through mobile apps takes you direct-to-fan and connects you with your audience. It’s your choice whether to sell your app but keep in mind that more users with your app means more people with access to your music. I personally recommend offering a free app in addition to a premium version with value-added features and content.

Even when downloaded there’s no guarantee that your app will be used or your music listened to. But if your app provides value and is engaging for your users, there’s a good chance that your music will get heard.

Links with more information on how to create a great mobile app for your music:
5 Ways To Create An Engaging Artist/Musician iPhone App
Ten Most Popular Artist/Musician iPhone App Strategies Reviewed

About the author:

Dexter Bryant Jr [d.BRYJ] is the hippie tribe's favorite producer+songwriter of dance rock and electro crunk music. As a digital branding consultant Dexter helps brands and bands strategically plan and manage their online presence. Dexter is the Digital Marketing Director of Dynasty Music Entertainment and d.BRYJ Music. Dexter blogs about music and business @ http://hitmusicacademy.wordpress.com/

http://blog.discmakers.com/2010/03/digital-branding-with-music-mobile-apps/

http://www.artistshousemusic.org/articles/digital+branding+with+music+mobile+apps

http://www.knowthemusicbiz.com/index.php/D.I.Y.-Tips/Digital-Solutions/Digital-Branding-With-Music-&-Mobile-Apps.html

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
Powered by d.BRYJ Music Media Group

Apple's Media Ambitions

In the following article Jerry argues that Apple is taking over the media business and explains exactly how Steve Jobs is doing it. Jerry advises companies in the radio, media, music, and publishing industries to get on the Apple bandwagon.

By Jerry Del Colliano

Apple has been making a lot of news lately that will have more of an impact on traditional media perhaps than it will even on the consumer electronics industry.

That is saying a lot about a company that last night reported record quarterly earnings.

But this morning I thought I would share with you some signs that I am seeing that this giant hardware/software/everywhere company is encroaching on some sacred ground -- charging media companies to purvey content to consumers.

Unfortunately even smart media executives don’t seem to be reading the tea leaves right. Many are in denial about any further damage that Apple products and services could cause, say, the record industry.

But there is no doubt in my mind that Apple has eyes for an increased presence in the media business even beyond selling 99 cent songs in its iTunes store.

This does not come as a surprise because Steve Jobs was also one of the masterminds behind Pixar, an animation company that he eventually sold to Disney. And few can argue Steve Jobs’ savvy when it comes to understanding the mindset of media executives and the fickleness of consumers.

When Apple changed its name from Apple Computer to Apple the move apparently meant more than just words.

What is Apple and what are they up to in the media end of their business?

I think Apple is a consumer electronics company and increasingly an entertainment company. This gives Apple a distinct advantage over cable companies, cellular carriers, record labels and even radio stations -- yes, I think Apple will be offering some “radio” competition ahead. Let’s see if I turn out to be right.

The popular line is that Apple makes its money by selling electronics and Jobs never forgets that.

True enough.

But now I want you to keep an eye on Apple’s media ambitions -- that is, they increasingly control mobile devices and they make it clear to me that Apple wants to control the content and revenue as well.

Notice how Google rushed into Apple’s domain when Apple board member and Google CEO Eric Schmidt went Benedict Arnold on Jobs then proceeded to produce Google’s android answer to the iPhone.

Schmidt is no dummy. He sees what’s going on -- maybe had his fill of it as an invited friendly Apple board member.

Google has to have more of a presence in the electronics business because Apple is getting into the content and revenue side.

Now with Apple claiming over four billion iPhone apps sold to date, the company has announced its intention to sell mobile ads in their apps.

Imagine the business Apple would leave on the table if it didn’t.

Let’s run down the ways Apple will make its presence known to media executives who will soon find themselves behind the eightball if for no other reason that Apple owns the electronic devices on which consumers are enjoying content.

iAds

Soon makers of apps -- and there are hundreds of thousands -- will be able to sell advertising that resides within the open application through the Apple store gateway.

It’s good advertising, too, because unlike competitors, mobile consumers will be able to touch to see an ad without leaving the app they're in. This seamless operation may make “click through” rates better.

Oh, an Apple keeps 40% of the revenue while app makers running ads (often advertisers and consumer companies themselves) keep 60%. Apple could argue that it is tantamount to 60% more money for app makers. And it is. But it also represents 40% more money for Apple and they don’t even have to hire a sales force.

I remember my mentor Jerry Lee in Philadelphia once had radios manufactured that only played his radio station. He gave them to advertisers to play at their retail establishments and businesses. It wasn’t really legal. You can’t make a radio that just plays your station, but ...

Apple is kind of doing just that today when in essence they sell the predominant mobile devices to play the content they distribute and from which they will soon profit.

Books, Music and More

The iPad will have a reader that will put the Kindle to shame and Apple gets a piece of each book the publishers sell.

That’s 30%.

You already know about the 30% record labels begrudgingly pay them for selling songs on the iTunes store.

TV shows and movies -- more money from the content providers for making their shows available on Apple devices. Get a calculator, more profit sharing for Apple on content they don’t spend a dime to produce.

But there is more coming.

TV Channels on iPads and iPhones

Apple is reportedly working on a plan that could involve subscriptions to allow owners of their mobile devices to choose which TV channels they want to watch. This would be an improvement over cable TV because the shows could be served up on-demand (I know, so can cable), but instead of having to choose a basic package or premium plans, Apple customers could cherry-pick the “stations” or “subjects” they want.

Cherry-picking should be a trademarked term by Apple because that’s how the company frees consumers from having to buy entire albums to get one or two songs that they really like.

Imagine this in television.

Imagine if all these new channels linked effortlessly to Apple TV, Steve Jobs' "work in progress".

Radio on the Cloud

I would not at all be surprised to see Apple launch a new type of radio that was akin to constant music discovery channels once its Lala-based cloud technology enters the iTunes store. Apple bought Lala not for its name but for its technology.

Streaming content that doesn’t have to ever be downloaded because it's always available on the cloud would be a game changer.

Jobs knows that consumers -- especially early adopters -- want on-demand content. Can you see a driver riding around in a Ford automobile using its fabulous Sync entertainment system to bring their iTunes library, music stations, Pandora and God knows what on demand?

And Pandora?

I think Apple is working on their answer to Pandora's 40 million plus fans using the newly acquired Lala technology.

Of course, Jobs will not be the one creating the content. That’s not really his thing. He can come up with a good operating system or two but Apple is going to generate more revenue from the sweat of others while taking a healthy commission on each sale.

Worried about piracy?

No need.

Apple will continue to use its own Fairplay proprietary system and let the record labels worry about piracy. His devices happily play pirated music, but you'll note only Apple-approved apps work on Apple mobile devices.

Other electronics companies can come out with phones and tablets and the like but unless they own critical mass, Apple remains in the drivers seat distributing and profiting from others content.

How is it that Apple has out distanced Sony, made fools of the record labels (not that they weren’t that already), rearranged the cell phone business, given terrestrial radio their eventual walking papers and at the same time sold lots of electronics?

How?

Jobs is doing what I’ve been imploring media companies to do -- look away from investment banks and look to the consumer revolution that is going on.

It may not be a Tea Party.

It’s an “i” party.

The radio industry flubbed its chance when all it could come up with is HD radio. That flopped and foolish radio people are still trying to bring it back from the dead.

Jerry Lee may have had the right idea when he was making his own illegal radios that only carried his one station.

Not the part about carrying one station.

The part about controlling the radio that his station was heard on.

Now, in its own way and without the burden of FCC regulations, Apple is going to make life tough for media companies that don’t play ball with his products.

If I’m a television, radio, music or publishing company, I am getting in on this even if I have to cough up 30% and pay royalty fees.

After all, media executives are the ones who let Jobs steal their businesses while they were out high-fiving each other over their fleeting success of consolidation.

Now Apple gets to play monopoly in the entertainment business like it or not.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/04/apples-media-ambitions.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano for Inside Music Media


Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
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