Entries by Bruce Warila (86)
Friday
10Oct
Bruce Warila | Fri, October 10, 2008 at 12:07 PM This is not a product announcement. Heads up, I have something like Pandora in a box.
Note: Pandora uses humans to analyze songs. We use unbiased computers running refined algorithms. THIS PRODUCT IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH, OR POWERED BY PANDORA (the music recommendation site for consumers). Think metaphor here...
If you are building products or services for artists or music consumers, here's a music recommendation product we (Platinum Blue Music Intelligence - PBMI) have been working on.
PBMI has created a virtual appliance (other product variations will be forthcoming) that enables any site to rapidly install software that does the following:
- SongSeeker (the name of the product) generates accurate, computer-based, sounds alike listening recommendations.
- SongSeeker process any number of songs.
- Into rows of songs (MySQL).
- Where every row contains N number of songs.
- Where every song in the row is sorted by sonic relevancy (close to far, numeric measurements provided).
- This product scales to infinite.
The underlying recommendation engine was created by the Centre For Digital Music in London.
Note to the press: The perceived problems with machine-based recommendations are probably due to poorly designed interfaces and implementations; the problems may have nothing to do with the ability of the computer/algorithm to make quality sounds-alike recommendations.
Note to potential customers: How you implement a sounds-alike recommendation product is as important as picking one. Creating graphical representations of the output that perhaps color-codes recommendations by genre or by other meta identifiers could be the difference between a poor end-user experience and a great one. SongSeeker enables developers to rapidly create propriety interfaces.
Note to artists: This is the type of product that will get your songs found effortlessly. When I write about the Celestial Funnel, this is some of the technology (the dawn of the technology) I am referring to.
Possible use cases:
- Recommend/find similar sounding songs to/for music consumers.
- Recommend/find similar sounding artists to/for music consumers.
- Matchmaking for artists (artists that have sonic synergy).
- Sort songs/artists by sounds-alike features.
We are competitively pricing this product to fit the needs of every business; regardless of size.
Contact me directly for more information.
Wednesday
03Sep
Bruce Warila | Wed, September 3, 2008 at 08:25 AM iTunes Interactive Albums - I told you so...
I have been saying for over a year, that the MP3 cannot be the last digital product this industry ever makes, and that everyone needs new, interactive, high-margin products for this industry to thrive financially. Well, Apple is set to release a new interactive album product that is certainly a step in the right direction.
Anyone that has been reading this blog for over a year, knows that I have been working on a similar vision for some time now. I am positive that there's room in the marketplace for multiple, competing products to thrive. Moreover, there are plenty of other companies that don't want to see Apple own the entire next generation of music products.
I am in the middle of trying to get another music industry startup off the ground, and we are waiting on the outcome of our patent application (94 claims since 2002). Choate Hall and Stewart is working the case. We will be seeking investors next year, or we are willing to sell (partially or entirely) this intellectual property now. Please contact me for more information. Serious inquiries only please.
Monday
25Aug
Bruce Warila | Mon, August 25, 2008 at 09:43 AM Brands Investing In Unknown Bands - Ten Things Brands Should Consider
One music business trend that I see growing and growing is brands investing in relatively unknown bands (artists) songs.
This is a trend that should have no bounds. Any consumer-facing company, regardless of size, should be able to engage in this practice, and any artist with a great song should be able to participate. When done correctly, branded entertainment is an all-around win for brands, artists and music fans.
In this post, I am going to cover ten things brands should consider.
The goal of my ten things is to have one hundred, if not hundreds, of the best (and I mean the best) soon-to-famous artists (due to your efforts) in the world jumping up and down in support of a branded entertainment venture.
1) Your branded entertainment venture should become cash flow positive.
Beyond achieving your marketing goals, your branded entertainment venture should be self-sustaining and cash flow positive within two years.
2) Don't create a record label.
Stay away from anything that looks, feels and sounds like a record label, especially the legal contracts used by record labels. The legacy mindset and the methods that some record label refugees bring to the table will prevent your branded entertainment venture from realizing its' fullest potential.
3) Fund an independent venture that can transcend your brand.
If you don't want the venture to be perceived by artists and fans as a "brand slave", consider setting up your branded entertainment venture as an independent entity that could, in theory, completely breakaway from the mother ship someday.
4) Fund a structure whereby all incentives are aligned.
Consider creating an independent entity whereby every artist involved participates in any financial upside created. Artists (representatives) would have several board seats, voting rights and open-book access to all information. If you want 100% commitment, everyone's incentives have to be aligned. If the venture decides to give songs away (for example), the venture should be built from the ground up to ensure that everyone involved benefits; anything less, will become a PR problem that everyone talks about on the Internet.
5) Don't require artists to give the venture exclusive rights (with one exception).
You are not creating a record label; you are creating something that is more analogous to a network of radio stations. You don't need exclusive rights to songs or exclusive rights to services rendered by artists. Your objective should be to quickly attract, without friction, numerous, quality artists to your terms and conditions. The structure of the venture, the terms and the conditions (the deal) is what should hold artists in place, not exclusive contracts. You want 100+ great artists jumping up and down for your brand; you don't want 100+ artists wishing they never signed away their rights. Speed is more important than exclusivity here.
6) The one exception - rights to the song name.
The only exclusive rights you need are the exclusive rights to the name of the song that you are going to put into the song portfolio that will be promoted, published, licensed, streamed, downloaded, shared and sold. All of the income generated from this activity will go into the venture that is jointly owned (or under a profit sharing arrangement) by all participants. You can allow the artist to have the same exact rights under a different (derivative) song name. (In other words, the artist will not use the same song name you will use.)
7) Filter 100,000 to 200,000 songs down to 100 to 200 great songs.
You are not looking for artists; you are looking for songs. How the artist looks and how old the artist is, does not matter; the only thing that matters is the quality of the songs. Make sure every song has sonic synergy (the songs fit together in a mix). Using crowd-sourcing to find songs could be a mistake. Contact me about putting together a plan to use a mix of technology and proven expertise to efficiently find the songs that fit your needs.
8) Enable every artist involved to be a promo and merch machine.
Everything you need to enable every artist involved to promote the brand (music) and sell co-branded merchandise is available on the Internet. Employ a graphic designer to create the best co-branded merchandise available. Every artist is a potential retailer and every artist should have an incentive to push the entire portfolio/product line of songs and merchandise.
9) Your entertainment is music; your message has to be audio, but subtle.
Consider the least intrusive, most effective way to merge ad/sponsor spots into the music. People tune out radio for two reasons: poor programming and intrusive ads; there are ways to ensure that neither happens. Consider involving a committee of artists to produce messages that are both effective and unobtrusive.
10) Let the music do the talking.
Skip the superlatives, the social network build-out, and the fancy packaging, and let the music do the talking. Nothing matters more to the success of the venture than the quality of the songs you put into the portfolio. Artists that have zero traction in the marketplace own some of the best, unknown songs. Finding these songs will be the difference between moderate and phenomenal success. Invest in song funneling and song acquisition expertise if you want to build a successful branded entertainment venture.
Saturday
26Jul
Bruce Warila | Sat, July 26, 2008 at 08:57 PM Music startups should consider the Digital Competence / Market Traction Matrix
I often wonder about the viability of the hundreds of music 2.0 startups that have launched over the last 24 to 36 months. It seems like one launches every day now.
Not only are music startups operating in a space where you can make more money selling nails, these companies have to contend with the Digital Competence / Market Traction Matrix.
Artist = the artist or the team supporting the artist. All the definitions occur along a spectrum.
High Digital Competence
For artists in this group, using a computer and the Internet is like riding a bike or driving a car. They know how to find the highest-quality, lowest-cost resources, and they can assemble sites, services and widgets like Lego kits. This group understands the cost tradeoffs involved in building, buying or renting anything offered on the Internet.
Low Digital Competence
Artists in this group are from the generation that missed the digital revolution, or they’re digitally challenged, or they were raised on a remote island in the pacific.
Significant Market Traction
Artists in this group have songs that have generated significant market traction within a broad demographic.
Insignificant Market Traction
Artists in this group are either targeting a small niche, or their music is not picking up market traction for one reason or another, and that reason does not have to be lack of quality.
THE MATRIX
1) Low Digital Competence - Insignificant Market Traction
If your business model is based upon selling music or ad impressions, this segment will generate the least amount of return for a startup. Low digital competence usually translates into an ugly, distracting and/or a tired Internet presence. Couple something that screams beginner to insignificant market traction, and you have a pile of non-performers populating your proposition.
2) High Digital Competence - Insignificant Market Traction
For artists in this quadrant, the income from your proposition will be so low, and their ability to do anything technical will be so high, that your value proposition will not matter as much as the fringe benefits this group is seeking. These artists may cost more to support than the revenue they generate for you. This is the customer segment in any business that consumes 80% of your effort, but generates 20% of your revenue.
3) High Digital Competence - Significant Market Traction
This group doesn’t need you for anything, but the traffic you generate. There’s almost nothing you can do for this group technically, that they can’t do on their own. In fact, you need them more than they need you. This group will ask you for the best deal and consume the most bandwidth. Furthermore, members of this group are hell bent on building a brand under their own URL; using tools, services and widgets that were handpicked, customized and negotiated down to the lowest price points offered.
4) Low Digital Competence - Significant Market Traction
If an artist has significant market traction, but exhibits low digital competence, then this is a temporary situation. Everything on the Internet is copycatted. Any artist with money is going to upgrade when he or she sees what everyone else is doing. Every artist in quadrant 4 will end up in quadrant 3.
THE SOLUTION
Here’s a quote from Google’s Chief Economist: “Provide a scarce complimentary service to something that is getting ubiquitous and cheap.” I don’t care what your slogan is, or what your value proposition is, or how many artists you have in your system today, if the technology you supply can be quickly built by most of the companies in Silicon Valley, or if variations of what you offer are multiplying like rabbits, than you have something that is becoming, or already is…ubiquitous and cheap. The secret truly is, to offer a scarce complimentary service to the artists in quadrants 2 (somewhat), 3 and 4, that they can’t buy, build, rent and/or assemble like Legos on their own.
Not only are music startups operating in a space where you can make more money selling nails, these companies have to contend with the Digital Competence / Market Traction Matrix.
Artist = the artist or the team supporting the artist. All the definitions occur along a spectrum.
High Digital Competence
For artists in this group, using a computer and the Internet is like riding a bike or driving a car. They know how to find the highest-quality, lowest-cost resources, and they can assemble sites, services and widgets like Lego kits. This group understands the cost tradeoffs involved in building, buying or renting anything offered on the Internet.
Low Digital Competence
Artists in this group are from the generation that missed the digital revolution, or they’re digitally challenged, or they were raised on a remote island in the pacific.
Significant Market Traction
Artists in this group have songs that have generated significant market traction within a broad demographic.
Insignificant Market Traction
Artists in this group are either targeting a small niche, or their music is not picking up market traction for one reason or another, and that reason does not have to be lack of quality.
THE MATRIX
1) Low Digital Competence - Insignificant Market Traction
If your business model is based upon selling music or ad impressions, this segment will generate the least amount of return for a startup. Low digital competence usually translates into an ugly, distracting and/or a tired Internet presence. Couple something that screams beginner to insignificant market traction, and you have a pile of non-performers populating your proposition.
2) High Digital Competence - Insignificant Market Traction
For artists in this quadrant, the income from your proposition will be so low, and their ability to do anything technical will be so high, that your value proposition will not matter as much as the fringe benefits this group is seeking. These artists may cost more to support than the revenue they generate for you. This is the customer segment in any business that consumes 80% of your effort, but generates 20% of your revenue.
3) High Digital Competence - Significant Market Traction
This group doesn’t need you for anything, but the traffic you generate. There’s almost nothing you can do for this group technically, that they can’t do on their own. In fact, you need them more than they need you. This group will ask you for the best deal and consume the most bandwidth. Furthermore, members of this group are hell bent on building a brand under their own URL; using tools, services and widgets that were handpicked, customized and negotiated down to the lowest price points offered.
4) Low Digital Competence - Significant Market Traction
If an artist has significant market traction, but exhibits low digital competence, then this is a temporary situation. Everything on the Internet is copycatted. Any artist with money is going to upgrade when he or she sees what everyone else is doing. Every artist in quadrant 4 will end up in quadrant 3.
THE SOLUTION
Here’s a quote from Google’s Chief Economist: “Provide a scarce complimentary service to something that is getting ubiquitous and cheap.” I don’t care what your slogan is, or what your value proposition is, or how many artists you have in your system today, if the technology you supply can be quickly built by most of the companies in Silicon Valley, or if variations of what you offer are multiplying like rabbits, than you have something that is becoming, or already is…ubiquitous and cheap. The secret truly is, to offer a scarce complimentary service to the artists in quadrants 2 (somewhat), 3 and 4, that they can’t buy, build, rent and/or assemble like Legos on their own.
Sunday
20Jul
Bruce Warila | Sun, July 20, 2008 at 10:13 PM What's in your seed song bucket?
Disruptive Technology, Alternative Music Marketing, End of Paid Downloads, Music Information Retrieval 
When a consumer pushes the third radio button from the left, the heart of the entire centrally planned, top-down, ass-kissed, palm-greased, inefficient economy of the music industry grunts.
A millisecond after that button is pushed, music bubbles out the speakers. Everything leading up to that point is part of one paradigm, and that paradigm is PUSH.
- The band finishes a new album, so they push an announcement out to fans.
- The band wants gigs, so they push press kits out to talent buyers.
- The band wants to get signed, so they push anything they can toward labels.
- The label needs to promote, so they push music onto a demographic.
- The label wants radio spins, so they push music into radio stations.
- The radio station needs market share, so they push most-common denominator playlists.
- The label needs to sell CDs, so they push crates of CDs upon stores.
- The band wants sales, so they push fans to iTunes.
The Twilight of Push, The Dawn of Pull...
To imagine the end of Push, you have to take the entire previous section and invert it. Where the last fifty years was about PUSH, the next fifty years will certainly be about PULL. As a consequence, you will have to unlearn and ultimately forget everything that is PUSH, and then discover, invent and invest in everything that is PULL.
The Language of Pull... What's in Your Seed Song Bucket?
One of the first PULL concepts is the idea of a Seed Song Bucket. A Seed Song Bucket is a concept that will enter the lexicon of the music industry, and probably displace or replace terms like radio station, genre, playlisting, file sharing and music promotion. "What's in your seed song bucket?" is a sentence you can expect to roll off the tongues of music fans everywhere.
The center button in the radio image above activates the Seed Song Bucket called Friday Night. There are ten songs in this fictional Seed Song Bucket.
- Banquet by Bloc Party
- The Chemicals Between Us by Bush
- Electric Feel by MGMT
- Flight by Jediah
- Perfect Time of Day by Howie Day
- Reptile by The Church
- Rise by Samantha James
- Sugar, We're Goin Down by Fall Out Boy
- You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
- You're All I Have by Snow Patrol
Measuring Relevancy - a Primer
Every song can be converted into something that can be plotted on a three-dimensional grid. A seed song bucket looks like a cluster of points on this grid. All of the songs in the system will either fall within this three-dimensional cluster or outside of it. Distances between songs and the cluster can be simply measured. Songs falling within, or just outside the cluster, will be played first and according to a geometric distance from the cluster. In the two-dimensional diagram below, song B would be played prior to song A. Click this link if you would like to see more detailed graphical representations of this concept.
Entire MP3s are not stored in the brain; every song is converted into something that's remembered and plotted (an association). Programming directors read charts, follow trends and analyze songs. With enough metadata attached to songs, an expert (not me) could explain how a music relevancy engine could be constructed to function like a live radio programming director. Google is built upon a relevancy engine, and it does a far more efficient (not necessarily better) job at supplying you with search results, than any army of humans ever could; songs shouldn't be much different. So, when you start hearing people ask, "What's in your seed song bucket?", then you know the world is transitioning from PUSH To PULL.
The Personalized Payola Pump - it’s logical, righteous, disruptive and almost here.
Yet another music proposition for consumers launches and I’m yawning again. I examine and consider just about every consumer-music offering on earth. From my perspective, the thing consumers want, the thing independent artists need, and the thing that's disruptive to just about everyone in the music retailing and promotion business, hasn’t been uncorked yet.
The thing we all want and need is the Personalized Payola Pump (PPP), and I can’t wait until this product launches. The PPP is the only logical, righteous and disruptive product that I can get excited about. Before I describe the PPP, here are eight of my core assumptions:
When most of the artists on earth reach these conclusions/assumptions, what happens next? What happens next is the only logical alternative, and it’s exactly what consumers’ want: FREE MP3s - NO ADS, NO DRM, NO STRINGS ATTACHED. However, since dealing with 20,000,000 MP3s would be a boondoggle for both artists and consumers, we all need the Personalized Payola Pump to make it work.
I am a consumer. I want a magic (PPP) box that does the following:
A - I tell it the songs I like (my seed songs).
B - I tell it the songs I don’t like (my negative seed songs).
C - It gives me a controlled supply of FREE, filtered new songs that match my preferences (seed songs).
D - I can do whatever I want with the found songs - no strings/advertising attached.
E - I can tighten and loosen the proximity to my selection criteria (seed songs).
F - I can filter out crap by forcing the pump to send me songs that resemble other clusters of songs; such as hits from last year, or hits from the last twenty years, or popular songs on rock radio in London last month…
I am an artist. I want a magic (PPP) box that does the following:
A - I put my song into the magic box network.
B - The magic box company only charges me a small, annual flat fee.
(Payola to deliver songs to the new radio - get it?)
C - My song is delivered to those that want to hear it.
D - The magic box company tells me if anyone is looking for songs like mine.
E - The magic box company tells me what my chances are for obtaining spins on the new radio.
F - The more people that like my song, the more the magic box company recommends it.
When listeners convert into fans, fans buy my bundled digital music products.
The magic PPP box is disruptive to record labels.
I think the PPP is disruptive to labels in two ways. First, out of a million new songs created each year, there’s going to be a lot of great new songs, and these songs will be filtered, found and substituted for songs controlled by labels; this is what I have referred to as the substitution dilemma, and I still say this is the biggest challenge labels face (ear-share gets divided). Second, labels play the role of über filter for consumers and act as gateways to mass-market exposure. The PPP changes all this; in this system, a filtered new song is a filtered new song; it doesn’t matter where it comes from; moreover the PPP eventually negates the need for mass-market exposure.
The PPP is disruptive to music retailers, promoters and promotion gurus.
If you sell MP3s or stream MP3s, (cash or ad-based) the PPP obsoletes your MP3 business. You can only cling to old, major-label content for so long. Music promoters and promotion experts are equally affected. What’s the point if consumers can easily and legally, filter and find, anything they want for free? On a positive note, new bundled digital music products will be great for retailers (higher margins), and I am sure there will be a cottage industry that sells services/advice on how to package bundled assets (see Topspin for example).
The Personalized Payola Pump is coming…
Transition/change occurs along a spectrum. As you can imagine, the pump has more value for consumers when it can accurately pump a lot of free, filtered songs. Artists are just starting to realize that they need to have a free song strategy, and new bundled digital music products are just entering the marketplace. My company and several others are working on the “pump” (no that’s not the name of our product). If you would like to talk with us (seriously) about investing in the “magic box company” (another fictional name) please contact me directly.