the dotmatrix project

The title pretty much sums up Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s take on how the music industry ended up in the place it is now — missing out on the digital revolution and instead of thriving in a forward-thinking business model, they’re busy suing their own customers for loving and sharing music with others.

Speaking at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in Macau, Bronfman said:

“We used to fool ourselves,’ he said. “We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won.”

Three Four things I want to point out:

1. No shit
2. “Your content” has never been the issue (though I’d argue that no matter what contracts have been signed with artists, the music is not “your content”). The issue has been with your industry unnaturally twisting “content” by controlling the format, price point, distribution and promotion of music to a degree that the market grew to find insulting. Omnivore music fans in the nineties began questioning the holistic value of inexpensive CDs hitting the market at a $15 price tag while MTV was simultaneously dropping off the radar as an alternative vehicle for artists to explore their creativity and gain fans. On the heals of the death of radio, digital tracks became available for preview & sale and the jig was up; everyone could see that the emperor had no clothes. YouTube and it’s Web 2.0 cousins are simply another nail in a buried coffin
3. It’s interesting to hear an executive speak of constant connection as being such a revelation, but I guess it’s understandable. I mean, back in the day, I couldn’t get my music fix until I got home from school and turned on MTV or hit my room to blast the latest Men Without Hats on vinyl. And the only connection I had then was one way, through either the TV or my speakers. Apparently, when industry can program a market — via TV, radio, controlled sales & format — people up top can get fat and lose sight of the shifting earth.
4. Another slip: “consumers won.” I’m sorry, but what exactly have “consumers” won? The RIAA is not only suing kids, but trying to extort universities into feeding this industry hand to mouth under the threat of shutting down federal financial aide. Where’s our consumer trophy for living in a state of fear, where we can be set back thousands of dollars because absolute proof of guilt without a shadow of a doubt isn’t an issue? And what would the opposite scenario look like? You know, where the music industry “wins?” Probably something very similar to the warm, bloated, cash cow feeling these guys had in the 70’s and 80’s, a time when “consumers” were being taken advantage of because we loved the product so much and would do anything — pay anything — to experience it. Until the very language the music industry uses to describe their customers changes — consumer describes this stud, not me — I don’t foresee the music industry “winning” anything again anytime soon.

The really sad part of this speech comes later on, where Bronfman tries to sell the idea that albums packaged with ringtones is an example of a forward-thinking content bundle that meets the needs of a digital “consumer”:

“By packaging a full album into a bundle of music with ringtones, videos and other combinations and variation we found products that consumers demonstrably valued and were willing to purchase at premium prices. And guess what? We’ve sold tons of them. And with Apple’s co-operation to make discovering, accessing and purchasing these products even more seamless and intuitive, we’ll be offering many, many more of these products going forward.”

Don’t you get it? Since we all have cell phones, there must be a segment of suckers willing to buy these bloated packages of “content” just like the suckers who bought a Corey Hart album based on one catchy single in 1984 (yes, I was one of those suckers).

So sell naive folk bloated crap and sue anyone with a clue.

They’re still trying to win, not partner with or serve their market.

VRM, anyone?

Other reactions:

• Beating the RIAA: Warner Music boss regrets attacking consumers
• Warner Music CEO Fesses Up to Music Industry’s Mistakes, Slams Mobile Operators, Pats Self on Back
• Music biz bigwig Edgar Bronfman tells mobile industry to get lively, music-wise
• Music exec regrets going “to war” with consumers
• Putting the “DRM” in “drama”: Bronfman changing his tune?
• Warner Music Boss: We Were Wrong
• Edgar Bronfman admits to “inadvertently” going to war with music consumers
• Warner Music Do As We Say Not As We Do
• Music Executive Makes Startling Deathbed Confession: “We Were Wrong”
• Bronfman’s Epiphany an Insult