Prince, The Internets, and Content Strategy

Last week, the Artist Formerly Known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince made some provocative and telling statements in an interview with “The Mirror” in the UK.

 "The internet's completely over. I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it.

"The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good.

"They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."

Much has changed in the past few years in the music industry.  New avenues of digital distribution have popped up, physical music sales overall have fallen to dismal levels, and an entire generation is living music-filled lives without buying a single CD, cassette, or LP.

Prince still wants people to hear his music.  He is simply unwilling to give it to them in the way that they devour it.  That is Prince’s strategy.  He is an artist, and he can do as he pleases, however ill-advised it may be.

The reality of Prince's strategy

Based on his statements, here is a rough distillation of Prince's strategy:

Who: Prince
What: Releasing music
When: Whenever, suckers
Where: Where he deems suitable, rather than where people already are
How: Not on the internet, as it is "completely over"
Why: The internet and digital gadgets are no good

And, in direct conflict, the reality of the situation:

Who: Prince fans
What: They want to buy the latest album
When: ASAP
Where: From the comforts of their keyboards
How: Digitally, in a space they trust, like iTunes
Why: This is how they buy and listen to all of their music

What is wrong with this picture?  Looks more like a contrary strategy than a content strategy.

Success, reality, and a content strategy

Prince has always been a bit of a populist, looking to get his music in the hands of as many folks as possible. Hi newest album, "20TEN", was available for free with the purchase of a newspaper, "The Mirror," in the UK. When I saw him in concert a few years ago, he handed out free CDs of his most recent album to each ticket holder.  It is clear that he wants people to hear his music.

Prince is an established artist, and his past successes grant him the freedom to engage in contrary behavior.  What if that attitude were not from Prince but from an incorporated business?  What would stakeholders say if they were to examine a similar content strategy:

• Don't sell our product where millions and millions of products have been sold (iTunes)
• Avoid the largest communication phenomenon of the last 25 years (the internet)
• Give the product away with another, masking any true measure of performance
• Proclaim that the newest product will be in a format on the decline stuffed in another format in decline (CDs in newspapers)

Content strategy has been described as "the planning, creation, delivery and governance of useful, usable content" by Kristina Halvorson.  That is quite the opposite of the above strategy on nearly every point.

Prince has his Prince-osity to get him by.  Businesses do not.  Focus on what sets you apart, craft it sustainably with realistic goals, and measure to gauge success.  Do that, and you shan't have a need for Purple Superpowers.




For more on Prince's technological confusion, watch for his phrase at 4:48 into the "Batdance" video:

Hey Duckie
Let's Stick the 7" in the computer
Ha ha ha ha ha ha

(The 7" refers to the old 45rpm record singles, of course. You can 't put those into computers.Silly Prince.)

["Prince @ Coachella 2008" image courtesy of Flickr user Mick 0 (cc: by-nc)]

iTunes #2, for now.

[ image courtesy of kunstlab / Flickr ]

Arkansas juggernaut seller of all things Wal-Mart had better keep an eye over shoulder. Business Week reports that iTunes has surpassed Best Buy and Target to become the #2 music retailer.

AppleInsider.com states that the download store sold 20 million tracks on Christmas day 2007. In one day.

I guess that will work until everyone gets on board with the subscription streaming model, where we pay for access to everything ever recorded. [Or at least as much as the copyright holders will license.]

The more music I download from eMusic, the more it gets lost on my harddrive. [I don't buy much of anything from iTunes because of their extant & punitive DRM.] I end up buying physical copies of things I really enjoy hearing, even though I have paid for them to some degree through my subscription to eMusic. This is probably silly and counter-intuitive, and the main reason that this next month's membership will be my last month.

I have gone back and forth on this, and I am strongly considering putting that eMusic subscription money towards a Rhapsody subscription. Rhapsody has the unlimited streaming of songs for a set price of $12.99.

This model will support the behavior that I am certain I am not the only one engaging in. Being a sometimes fan of some pop songs, I enjoy hearing them more than once. I could pay a buck on iTunes, or about 33 cents on eMusic, and have the single track get lost in my 11,000 song iTunes library. I have done that. I don't make playlists, and I don't burn many mix CDs, so these precious few singles quickly fall between the cracks.

My main interest is in full albums and compilations; I will continue to buy those physical objects. With an outlet for my pop song interests pointed at Rhapsody, I won't have the urge to by albums that in the end, I really don't want. I'll go to the site and stream them.

And everyone is happy. I'm glad we worked that out.

Oh, and congrats iTunes. I guess.
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An ISP tax for music downloads, or back to vinyl LPs?

[ image courtesy of Frank B. Daugaard / Flickr ]

As we travel further and further down the road of music commerce, more exit ramps pop up with the solution to the problem of illegal downloads.

Radiohead gave fans the chance to pay as much as they wanted for their new record [even if that amount was $0]. This story was covered in Bluegrass Now magazine. [!]

Trent Reznor, the man behind rock outfit 'nine inch nails', suggests a tax at the Internet Service Provider [ISP] level to offset the impact of illegal downloads. While this would be fraught with imperfections, it sounds vaguely similar to the tariff on audio cassettes and Digital Audio Tapes.

Rick Rubin, record producer superman, posits a subscription model; pay a the portal, rather than the ISP. Several services have been doing this for some time, like Rhapsody.

Perhaps the most unexpected response is the resurgence of vinyl LP records. Time magazine has a feature on this, and they have some frankly surprising statistics:

...990,000 vinyl albums were sold in 2007, up 15.4% from the 858,000 units bought in 2006.

The article points out that this will not be taking over the digital realm of music distribution anytime soon, but that it is the manifestation of the "equal and opposite reaction" phenomenon we see in physics and pop culture.

Apple wants to kill your mixtape.

Buying music used to be much easier.

You heard a song on the radio and if you liked it you could buy 78rpm record for the Victrola.

Later, the 45 rpm 7" single. Or LP, cassette, or 8-track. With the 8-track or cassette, you could even make a "mixtape" of songs that you like. Or to give as a lovingly-curated-snapshot-of -your-musical-taste gift. The powerful music trade industries were not pleased, and convinced many that "home recording is killing music."

Later still DAT, DCC, MiniDisc, and CD came along as formats. These were a little different, said the RIAA, as now perfect copies, right down to the bits of data, could be made on consumer equipment. RIAA flexed its muscle and passed legislation that both made it difficult to do so and placed a tax on blank items to make up for the certain piracy that was to occur. Paranoia was so great that the manufacturers even hobbled their machines to comply.

When you buy that song you heard on the radio [or internet radio, or satellite radio, or ? today] through online, the retailers are tightly managing the rights of the material purchased. Those songs can be burned to CD in certain configurations a limited number of times, and cannot be shared digitally with others without hacking the DRM "lock" on them. You may not be able to play them on your portable player!

iTunes is not the only one doing this. Napster [in its current, legal incarnation], Rhapsody, and others do the same.

Music fans are bummed by what they perceive to be a situation that views them as criminals the moment they become paying customers. They are not the only ones. France and Germany have recently stood up to the iTunes/iPod hegemony to voice their concerns.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Some music companies are seeing the writing on the wall and instead of considering consumers criminals from the start, they are trusting them by offering song downloads for sale that are not bound with tons of restrictions. The NY Times had a story about it, even. I can make mixCDs, put them on my portable players, or listen to them with any computer.

Progress!
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