Keebler/Blog

- Jian (moderating): News this morning: Sam Cooke (the artist) and Sam ‘The Record Man’ (iconic store in Toronto is going to close down)
- 20 years ago: getting signed by a label used to mean you were good, 10 years ago: his band got out of the label but still needed a distributor (”Internet band”), last year: things have changed so much in just the past 12 months, change is going to come
- What do you think the biggest change in entertainment has been in 12 months?
- Ethan: record sales are down, new focus on “it’s not going to go back to 12 months ago”, new effort: not trying to “fix” what happened but find new avenues, created direct relationship with consumer (via Facebook, etc), desire for brand is there but “desire to pay for it as waned”
- Amber: has gone from TV broadcaster to blogger/podcaster, ppl have so much more power on the internet, ppl believe the internet is here to stay = jumping ship from mainstream media
- McLean: biggest changes have been quiet changes, Rogers video-to-video mobile app, 32Mbit home connection in Vancouver, WiMax
- Jian: Sam ‘The Record Man’, perception that audience no longer passive (they want what they want when they want it), interactive, Are ppl investing more now in their entertainment?
- McLean: ppl can consume much more content then in the past (1000’s of song on your iPod, sharing Mp3s)
- Amber: ppl don’t have long attention span but they are snippets of content, wonder if ppl are loyal long-term users, more difficult to get ppl “hooked” on your content, we are consuming more info but longterm there isn’t a lot of lifespan on entertainment, digesting more content, but not investing longterm
- Ethan: active participation in media was always there, but what happened: content has become “agnostic to representation”, blah blah blah Omg, this guy like to hear himself talk but he’s saying nothing!
- Amber: we’re now thinking about a global audience, figure out down the road how you’re going to make $ off that
- McLean: social network creates community of ppl who are attached to an artist when they become popular
- Ethan: blah blah blah Removing artistry from the art blah blah blah THIS GUY IS HORRIBLE “It’s sorta like a sandbox where content is the sand” WTF DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? blah blah blah “think creatively instead of thinking reactively”, nurturing the artist but the album is just part of that, old way was a “set process to create an artist”, now: when we know an album is coming out we need to run with that before the first photoshoot is done = collaborative, websites shouldn’t be brochures, use medium for what it’s good for
- McLean: our social network: some bands rise to the top right away through audience participation
- Amber: transparency for artists is key, engage audience, know audience, audience more powerful than ever, if audience doesn’t like it they will leave and go to next person, Tom Green takes things into own hands, “check the O.R.”
- Ethan: DRM: “it’s a very very…piece of a very large problem”, the removal of it from EMI catelog won’t increase sales, larger problem: will always go to free salad-bar over 99 cent salad bar, need to figure out how to compensate artists on any device, still trying to come to grips with this problem
- McLean: DRM: “[Like 'war on drugs' it's a] failed policy that’s still here”
- Awesome reaction to salad comment: it’s more like you’re told you can only eat certain pieces of lettuce with a certain fork, but they will take the fork away quickly so you’d better eat quick *SPONTANEOUS APPAULSE FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY*
- Ethan: “I know I’d get owned at some point”, “I get a paycheque from WB music”, “My opinion as a record-fan is [the along those lines]“, “[All I'm saying is] these arguments are complex”, DRM is a reactionary measure against consumer behaviour, DRM similar to software industry, doesn’t know if DRM is the future of the music industry, can’t directly affect change in the company
- Amber: commandN podcast: “We’re trying to give away the content [in all formats] as much as possible”, give it to ppl in whatever formats they want, doesn’t know how to monetize it, will do something exclusively online when the revenue is there but working at Citytv for now, commandN numbers are above mainstream podcasts *AMBER RUNS OUT OF THE ROOM FOR AN ‘APPOINTMENT’ UPSTAIRS*
- McLean: How remonetize content? Crowd-sourcing, allow ppl to contribute to content, ppl choose how they are monetized e.g. artists showing sponsors in their content
- Ethan: “There’s too much emphasis on the fucking file”

I had to stop live blogging this at this point. This Ethan-guy is driving me insane. He keeps saying that in his private life he wants the music content the way everyone else in the room does, but that he has to tot the company-line on stage. He is the exact problem with the record industry. Grow a set. He knows DRM is messed up, but he can’t see a future without it. Why don’t you come up with a solution that will actually address the problems and desires of your market? Douche.

- Jian: This has decended into te classic DRM debate, no one wants to talk about Sam ‘The Record Man’
- Audience: Their problem was they didn’t digitize.
- Jian seems to agree
- Rick (some audience guy from 49) wants to go out with Amber, wouldn’t ask his question except to Amber, makes some generic comment instead of asking a question
- Ethan: we are using Drupal to make a platform like Facebook, they “need to take ownership of the entire brand…or we are fucking ourselves”, we are creating a foundation for a year from now, Grateful Dead published site using Drupal today
- McLean: wants to monetize artist beyond just the music, sell merchandising/e-commerce
- END