#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.
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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.
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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.
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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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ITunes Radio is Coming

By Jerry Del Colliano

"Radio" is coming to Apple.

Unfortunately for terrestrial radio it will not necessarily be their existing radio stations.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is way ahead of the curve on this. It has confounded the broadcast industry that Apple offers just about everything on its mobile devices but a radio tuner.

I know that iPod and iPad users can access radio using third party apps. Apps arguably saved Pandora's franchise. Still there is no direct link to Pandora on these popular devices. Yet Apple seems to consider radio not an essential part of what it is doing.

The Apple Nano has an FM Tuner on board and in spite of the radio industry's campaign to get Steve Jobs to make an iPod radio, the Nano has not really turned an iPod into a radio. The tuner feature is marginally at best helping to sell Nanos.

The "radio" that Apple sees in its future is one that terrestrial radio executives do not have in their sights.

It is a music service -- located on a "cloud" -- available to users of mobile devices either as an instant way to get access to their music libraries or a subscription service offering all the music that fits to hear.

Or both.

The signs are all there.

Apple spent $85 million to purchase Lala, a streaming service that uses such a "cloud". Music can be accessed instantly without waiting for a download from any browser or Internet device.

Apple could offer consumers a subscription plan, but Rhapsody-type programs have not been successful. Apple could make it successful by its sheer heft, but some people believe what Apple has in mind is a major revision in iTunes that will transfer each consumers library of music to this new "cloud" iTunes store and thus make it available virtually everywhere on-demand.

From day one it would be a success with over 100 million iTunes users already in place.

This creates a new form of iTunes "radio".

I use "radio" in this way because much of the next generation uses online or mobile music as a replacement for music they can hear on terrestrial radio.

It gives them more potential variety -- not limited to the short playlists still popular on terrestrial music stations. They can also listen on-demand.

Terrestrial radio owners looking to cutback the expense of enhanced music presentation (i.e., popular djs) have played into Apple's hands. Given a choice between instant access to your music library by using a simple Internet connection to your iTunes account or turning on a radio, Apple would be betting that the "cloud" model would win the day.

An article in Apple Insider earlier this year added:

"In addition, analyst Maynard J. Um of UBS Investment Research said in early December that he believes iTunes content will become available from a Web browser and other Apple devices. The purchase of Lala could tie in to Apple's $1 billion server farm in North Carolina".

Apple is in the midst of transforming -- not to radio -- but to mobile content and there is no reason to expect that it would not build its iTunes store into the new "radio" by making it on-demand, customized for personal musical tastes and easy to manage.

I believe there will also be a music discovery aspect to the Apple plan when all is said and done. After all, the one thing the next generation is screaming for is more music variety. The record labels have seen fit to ignore this plea and you know what radio consolidators think about music variety when they opt for voice tracking and short playlists.

What is happening here is that the radio and records industry is holding onto models they want to preserve (CD and broadcast radio) while consumers have moved on to on-demand, personal and universal.

To make matters worse, the labels are at their lowest with regard to finding and helping new artists grow. Even worse at pushing out new music genres.

The radio industry has cut on-air personalities in favor of voice tracking or cheap syndicated shows making them even less viable if Apple succeeds with its transition to instant, personalized music "radio".

An entire generation that preferred Internet and mobile to access entertainment will enjoy music anywhere at anytime -- without personalities, of course.

Radio offers a limited playlist -- increasingly without personalities, of course -- for free and all it takes is a radio to take advantage of it.

And that's where we learn yet another lesson about the critical importance of studying sociology along with technology.

The next generation will pay for that which it wants and will reject even what it can access for free if it does not:

a) Give them the specific music they want
b) When they want it
c) Wherever they want it

What the radio industry should be doing is building local programs with local personalities featuringlocal bands and artists and originating from local stations.

That's what Apple is not going to do.

And that is something that will never go out of style even in the era of iTunes, cloud computing and iPods.

Sadly for the broadcasting industry, Apple "radio" is coming just when terrestrial radio is going.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/04/itunes-radio-is-coming.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
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How To Monetize Podcasting

By Jerry Del Colliano

Adam Carolla, the funny star of radio and television, got 50 million iTunes downloads the first year he became a podcaster.

And he still isn't making money.

That's 50 million downloads -- and chump change for his efforts.

Do you think we broadcasting types need to go back to school to learn media sociology and technology?

Taking nothing away from Carolla or any other podcaster that can attract a following, making money in new media requires breaking away from an unhealthy dependence on spots.

And getting away from the radio model.

With podcasting, you no longer need to follow radio formatics because your fans choose you every day and invite you into their ear canal. That's damn personal.

Carolla is talking about starting a podcast network and that's kind of scary when he's not making money on his first venture.

Most of my readers are familiar with my view that podcasting is one of the new media tools that shows great promise as a revenue producer. To reiterate, podcasting should not sound like radio and should not be sold like radio.

Podcasters are never going to make a lot of money selling commercials in 30-minutes of content and advertisers will probably jawbone the rates down to nothing if you can get them to buy.

Still, podcasting is a winner because it cooperates with the inevitable which is it can be consumed on-demand.

It can be video or audio or both.

It can include text through companion web or iPad pages.

Plus, social networking.

I've been suggesting to radio groups that they should investigate operating new media platforms separate and apart from their broadcast operations.

They don't like it.

So, if you're an ex-broadcaster or an entrepreneur, here's your opportunity to do what they are resisting because radio broadcasters only want podcasting that is somehow connected to terrestrial content. And that's a mistake in my opinion.

Terrestrial broadcasters are still talking about filling up their HD channels when consumers have voted HD out of their lives (not that it was ever in their lives). The radio broadcasters who are with me on this know that they are tying their hands behind their backs when they limit or link new media revenue to terrestrial content.

So, say you take my advice.

What will happen?

On another day we'll talk formatics, acquisition of audience through social networking and assuring in-demand content, but for now, look at how podcasting can make money.

There are three ways:

1. In-content Commercials

Obviously, not my favorite. But if you go this route, make them live-reads. Un-commercials. Refreshingly frank and real. There are ways to get into commercial content without abruptly doing it. NPR-style sponsorships will also work.

2. Subscription Models

Even my true believers don't believe me on subscriptions. The consumer is telling you they are willing to buy things (downloads, apps by the ton and entertainment-related Internet content). If -- and I emphasize if -- podcasting is compelling and addictive, they may pay for it. The right price is the price that is affordable. Trade content can be priced higher than consumer content, but there is a price and there is a motivation if the content is compelling.

3. Event Marketing

I've saved the best for last.

Build an audience and continue to provide excellent content.

Then, build a series of events -- once a quarter or every month if you can (and radio companies can!) -- where you direct your fans to the event.

If you have an AC station and have developed a following, you offer a podcast separate and apart from on-air content that is compelling and addictive. Then, in January the 2011 version of a bridal fair would work. You market to sponsors. Get a venue. Add entertainment. Drive fans to the event through your podcast (but not by doing promos). Ring the cash register.

There are events possible for sports events, outdoor, travel, employment, back to school, auto and just about every category that has eager companies dying to get into new media.

Not commercials on a podcast.

Sponsorship of events.

The Wango Tango of just about every good category that has willing sponsors ready to spend on local events.

I even have one for Lew Dickey.

When I talked with Lew at the NAB Radio Convention he passionately convinced me that radio should be seeking health care dollars. That's great. Well, then -- a health fair. Health clinic.

Of course, most broadcasters would use their terrestrial stations to drive listeners to these events and most companies don't want the expense of ground crews they would need to organize event selling. They like orders that get phoned in to the last salesperson left standing.

But you ....

Well, thanks for the opportunity.

If you have a podcast for humor, you can do a "Laugh Off" and have fans attend and participate. Sell to sponsors.

If you can do a travel podcast and get a loyal following, think of the help the travel industry will need getting back on its feet.

Podcasting is not broadcasting.

It's not even really narrowcasting.

Podcasting is appointment selling.

You have their interest and now you channel fans -- direct them, if you will -- to events they might like that you just happen to own.

When a psychiatrist or psychologist can attract a podcasting audience through appointment selling, the most interested fans will likely choose to attend forums (that can be sponsored by medical companies) or fairs.

Start with one.

Then do another.

Then eventually do one every month of the year if possible.

I use this concept with my media labs.

I talk to my readers every day (in this blog) then attract the people most likely to want to attend one of my conferences (which reminds me, the next Media Solutions Lab is January 27, 2011 at the Phoenician in Phoenix -- save the date).

Then I can do other events on varying topics such as "iPad for Radio" and the best prospects (my readers) opt in.

It's no different than running ads in trade papers but it is also very different.

We are having a "conversation" here and podcasting is also a conversation between interested parties.

I get hundreds of emails a day on specific topics I write about and I answer every one that is directed to me. I have come to know many of you personally through this site and have made friends from the 200,000 plus visitors we get every month.

So, think outside the radio.

Radio talent, content providers, marketers and managers are future podcasting entrepreneurs.

If I ran a major group, I'd hire back the people that were fired and give them entrepreneurial deals where they keep a fair percentage of the earnings and the company owns the podcast.

The WPA of Radio but instead of building dams to harness electrical power, do deals with the talented people you let go to give you juice in new media.

If they can grow the event part of it, they get additional money.

You see, it doesn't have to cost a tightfisted radio company a penny.

The only investment is in time and learning about the exciting and profitable world of new media.

A radio brand is most valuable when it can give birth to content that can be marketed in the digital mobile space.

That's why companies should do the best terrestrial radio they can -- local and live and full of local personalities.

The way it is right now with radio groups spending next to nothing on new media, they are squandering their opportunity to use their local brands to spin-off independent and profitable new media ventures.

(Here's a great Fast Company piece on the king of podcasting downloads -- Adam Carolla).

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-monetize-podcasting.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
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