4th
Chaos Pilot, Disruptors and Universal Music @ 2gether08
2gether was brilliant, but of course the highlight for me was when a bunch of crazy dutch people called the Chaos Pilots and a really enthusiastic chap calling himself a Disruptor took it upon themselves to Map UMG’s business by quizzing a chap called Leon Hill, a big fella that heads up some sort of digital department over at UMG.
I briefly spoke to Leon after the session but the crazys interupted and made us all hold hands, stand in a circle and shout a lot. Leon very kindly gave me his email address, little did he know what he let himself in for… here are some highlights of the message I sent him:
“You mentioned that piracy would soon become less of a problem than it is currently. You mentioned that this was likely to be as a result of action taken by ISP’s. I agree that ISP’s could cut a pirates access to the web and very effectively halt the illegal distribution of music. I do however wonder if this is the “right” thing to do. The music industry as a whole elicits little sympathy from the public - it is a commonly held view that the industry screws over artists and that the fans screw over the music industry. This was compounded by the (supposed) litigation bought against twelve year old girls for downloading Britney songs. If the industry starts pulling the plug (rightly or wrongly) on illegal file sharers then the attitude toward stealing music will become one of defiance.
I wonder if piracy could become less of a problem in a different manner. When the chap asked you to point out where you saw Universal’s main revenue stream coming from in the next ten years, you indicated toward the side of the board detailing the predominantly direct routes from artist to consumer. This included tickets and merch (both evidently already significantly in the mind of Universal). It would follow then, that as this becomes more important, does the traditional business of selling records become less so? And if this is the case, does piracy matter? Does piracy not then become the promotional tool for the live show in the same way that the single is a promo for the album?
I read an excellent quote recently by a chap called Cory Doctorow; “Conversation is king, content is just something to talk about”. I think this has massive implications for the music industry. The industry has always, in one way or another, sought to get people talking about their artists. Whether it be the A&R person “creating a buzz” or the marketing folks creating viral campaigns, it all comes down to getting people to talk.
Music piracy is rife, but I wonder if somehow it can be harnessed? Music is such an important thing in our culture. People define themselves by the music that they listen to. They are ready and willing to buy into the brand of an artist because they feel some affinity to them. Therefore, I wonder if it now falls to the music industry to move on from records and to start thinking about how value can be added to that baseline (no pun intended)?”
Poor guy!