Have you noticed that you’re streaming more audio and video? That your purchase of CDs and DVDs has dramatically decreased? That your DVD cabinet and CD racks have a layer of dust on them (literally, or otherwise)? That your digital CD/DVD cabinet (i.e. iTunes) is being opened less frequently? (Apple knows this, by the way, it’s why the new AppleTV has no hard-drive; it’s all streaming…really think they’re not going to do the same for music?)
We’ve started up the Kurzweil Curve with respect to streaming, and it’s only going to accelerate from here.
The interesting thing is that, because the transition has been relatively gradual, you probably haven’t noticed that this radical behavioral and technological change has occurred. You haven’t noticed because it hasn’t hurt; in fact it’s felt good.
There are opportunities here. For content creators, the sooner you reconcile the fact most people aren’t likely going to want to own a digital copy of your music/movie/tv show/book (let alone a CD, etc.), the sooner you can devise profitable streaming models.
By the way, the rise in vinyl consumption has an inverse relationship to the ownership of other types of musical content. That is, even as we own less digital copies and CDs, we will own more vinyl. This is NOT because of the better sound quality of vinyl, it’s because vinyl is a great example of a “social object” (ala what I referenced in a recent post on marketing and fruit). We want to share, hold, display, and talk about vinyl.
Have you ever wondered why many fruits and vegetables are so vibrantly colored?
I’m no botanist, but I have a theory that I’m working on for inclusion in my next book: For a fruit or vegetable to survive and its growth to spread, it must attract the attention of an animal.
For example, we have a row of – when ripe – beautifully colored blueberry bushes near our house. We’ve probably eaten like ten blueberries; they are delicious. The rest — all surreally beautiful purples and blues — have attracted the attention of, and been eaten by animal(s) (birds, deer, wild turkeys (see exhibit A below[*])).
These animals eat them, go on their way, and then, in one fell “poop” (sorry, couldn’t resist), plant and fertilize the indigestible seeds in various areas along their perambulations.
The color and taste of the fruit act as the attraction agents that entice the distribution agent: the animals who eat the fruit.
The same principle applies, of course, with the products or services we want to spread. We need to attract the attention — by being bright and delicious — of a customer who is predisposed and able to spread the word.
What are you doing with respect to attraction?
Once you’ve attracted the right customer, what seeds and fertilizer are you providing this customer to enable the spread? (Hint: think in terms of social objects. My thoughts on Social Objects: HERE; the always-worth-reading Hugh MacLeod’s thoughts: HERE).
I’ve been chronicling the development of the UStream chats we’ve recently been working on.
You gotta get on this action if you haven’t tried. Just build up your Tribe a little bit (you know: Twitter, FB, your blog) then start talking.
Think of it this way: you’re at a bar, you’re shooting the shit with someone, and you hit on a topic that makes you pause and say, “Do you have the other half of this locket?” In other words, you find that shared interest that tells you both you’re members of the same Tribe. That shared interest is a social object.
Often this is music or art of some kind; some obscure book, movie, record that you thought you and only you loved, and then you realize the person you’re talking to has the same appreciation of this…what…social object.
Get it?
It’s not the thing – the thing doesn’t matter – it’s the fact that you are connected by this thing.
I remember so well my freshman year of college, having come from a cultural vacuum of epic proportions to a place where I wasn’t the only one who had a giant poster of this on my wall:
You think that seeing this poster on someone else’s wall didn’t bind me to this person? You think it didn’t lead to the formation of a Tribe? You think it didn’t lead to countless multi-guitar renditions of “Driver 8?” You think it didn’t lead to more album/merch/ticket sales for REM?
You think Chronic Town isn’t still a social object? This came across my Twitter transom the other day:
Now, I don’t know Mr. Kaplan personally, but a Tweet like this one certainly makes me want to know him, do some work together, etc. Again, it ain’t the object, it’s how it connects people.
So, building that Tribe allows you to then use UStream to create something approximating that space you inhabit when you’re at the bar shooting the shit. The conversation is sort of the meta social object. Hopefully others emerge during the course of the conversation. If they don’t, watch out. Something’s not right.
Of course, a UStream chat is not the same as being in a bar. But, if you approach it from the standpoint of markets being a conversation, it gets pretty darn close.
With our UStream deals we’re trying to have a conversation – speak in an authentic voice.
Think of it this way (paraphrasing Doc Searls), when an artist is selling a CD after their gig at a merch table, what (ideally) is that process like? Well, it should be a conversation. The person walking up to the merch table should end up conversing with the artist. At the end of the conversation what should happen? A purchase of the CD, merch, etc. So…markets are conversations, and the purchase is simply the exclamation point at the end. The CD that is purchased? The social object, of course. The punctuation at the end of our UStream conversations is when people go to the Artists House site and watch videos, etc. Oh, and there will be more ways to punctuate coming up soon.
I’m getting ready to dive into a new project for Wolfgang’s Vault where I’ll be putting my ass on the line to try and make this work for some of the most important music ever created. First steps: Identify some social objects and start conversations. More on this soon.
A lot here (or maybe a little). Disjointed. Sorry. Need to edit. Don’t feel like it (it’s a blog, not a scholarly journal for fuck’s sake).
I’m going to be talking about social objects on our next Artists House UStream broadcast. We’ll do this next Wednesday (the 18th) at a new time: 6pm central.
Here’s last week’s conversation. If you’re keeping score at home, we went from 50 viewers the first week, to 100 the second, to over 150 for this most recent one. Hells to the yeah.
This is an excerpt/reworking of something I recently wrote for a company I have the pleasure of working with. Thought I’d share:
Rethinking the “album”
Albums used to be songs, liner notes, and cover art. Doesn’t work any more. Albums now must be the collection of social objects created during the process of writing and creating the songs. Once the album is completed, the artist’s site (not their damnable MySpace page) becomes the central repository/point of dispensation for these social objects. People come to the artist’s site to gather the social objects. They then share these social objects in order to convert others. These others then come to the artist’s site for more.
Rethinking the album process apropos of social object creation
In order to fully appreciate the importance of social objects, consider the process of making a record.
The process itself becomes a social object. Prior to note one being recorded, a micro site/blog dedicated to the project/album (which is connected to the artist’s main site) is created. The microsite/blog is shareable; it exposes and (hopefully/axiomatically) attract people to the artist’s main site.
As the project continues, so too does the creation of more social objects.
The ms/blog for the project (again housed on/connected to the main site) collects email addresses/Twitter followers/FB friends and communicates to these followers regarding the process.
Notes on the progress of the recording are posted to the blog, demos of songs are posted, videos are posted, photos are posted. Naturally, all of these are shareable/embed-able. Naturally, they all reference the artist’s main site.
The documentation continues with the making of the record; video, sample tracks, interviews, photos, commentary. All of these represent social objects being created.
Importantly, these social objects operate at their highest level when they are not a monologue but rather a conversation. As the songs are posted, the constituents could, for example, have a say in the order of the songs on the record, etc. The result is an injection of energy.
If the tools used to create these social objects are things like Flip cameras and a blog, there is little cost involved with either the creation of the social objects or the platform.
It’s important to differentiate the album/project’s microsite/blog from the artist’s main site. The blog/ms serves a different, albeit related, purpose than the main site. The main site is gathering place for the artist’s tribe. The microsite/blog is the central repository/dispensation point of the accumulated social objects connected to the specific project.
Remember, the album redefined is a collection of social objects.
Over time, an artist will create numerous interconnected blogs/microsites that each represent the neo-album (the collection of social objects for specific albums/projects). Each are connected with the others and with the main site, but each have a unique perspective and purpose. Ultimately, these become the artist’s new catalog.
The old concept of the album is dead. However, we now have an opportunity – if we think in terms of social objects – to reinvent the album.
Pop Candy is one of my favorite pop culture blogs. It’s written by Whitney Matheson, who has shown much love to Daytrotter and REM; what’s not to like?
One of the reasons that Pop Candy is so successful is that Ms. Matheson is expert at The Straddle. You can read about The Straddle HERE, but, in a nutshell, it’s about the importance of creating connections between your online and offline activities.
Pop Candy frequently asks readers to submit photos of themselves for various themes. Logically, Halloween is a good excuse for this type of Straddle, and Ms. Matheson makes the most of it.
It’s important to understand what’s going on here. By soliciting photos from her readers, and — and this is the important part — posting what she receives on her blog and commenting about them, she not only solidifies the connection between herself and her readers, but also gains new readers.
This occurs because anyone whose pictures are selected by Ms. Matheson is, no doubt, going to send the link to ALL of their friends, and direct them to Pop Candy. Logically, those referred are not only going to view the blog, but they are also going to be predisposed to become readers of the blog themselves.
Remember, as Mark Earls
says, “I can’t make anyone do anything. They do what they do because of their peers.”
This is very important to remember. Ms. Matheson can’t convince people to read her blog. All she can do is consistent good work, and attempt to give her Tribe the tools to spread the word. The tools in this case are the photos. They are the definition of social objects.
Importantly, these particular social objects represent The Straddle; they link the offline world of Pop Candy’s readers with their online presence on the blog.
