2highbehind

FUGA, a long journey

When I started IIP in 2006 I already thought of FUGA for a few years. Since 2001 it became clear to me how to do it. The magnitude of the project and timing aspects made me wait until I figured it out. If I would have known how hard it was to get the first bit in place, I might have decided to do something else. But now in 2010 the first bit is here and we are getting ready for phase 2. Its hard, its difficult. Working with so many people, businesses, ego's, stupidity of others and most important stupidity of myself, makes it even harder. The complexity and adoption barrier where totally underestimated by me and many involved. The investment to get to this point was huge and without the support of many this would have never been possible. My reality today is a weird one. Proud to have come to this point, but disappointed to find myself in a situation where I find that business reality can be a lot tougher then me myself and I. A learning experience in managing expectations like this was the last day of my life. On this blog I wrote about the music business and the change to a digital world for a couple of years. It was hard for me to explain how FUGA was going to help, but I hope when watching this 10 minute video you will all understand.   Soon our new website will launch and we can unfold what else is up our sleave. This video is just a sneak preview of whats on the way. (Double click the video to watch it in HD and full screen on Youtube)

In the search of growth for online music to the benefit of artsist and the industry

The last decade has been like a painful birth for 'Digital Music' and an industry focused on 'Monetization' and money. Of course 'the industry' should be focused on the making money part, but the primary concern should be taking the music from artists to their audience and create a healthy economic base under the artist career. Making a shit load of cash being 'the industry' for the best and most wanted musicians is great, but this type of business is people business and artists are a different bread then pin stripe suits and businesses that take stuff out of the earth and do something with it. An artist typically is more interested in making the music and entertaining its audience. So what went wrong?

I don't know if something went so wrong that it is all bad. The split between the artist and the business has become like a desert and it's time to make that a healthy relationship and a space where business can flourish.

The change from a physical and territory based logistical playing field has a huge impact too, but its only one aspect of the change. The technology world, the political and the civilization side of the change we are in are also not to be underestimated. Thinking of how to make that business grow again, I have focused my business on the logistics part. But in doing so I tried to be open to every aspect of the domain and to focus my endeavors on solve a problem for the artist and their business partners. 

One of the things that have made me think a lot is the focus of many on the legal side and who is to blame for the illegal use of music. Music like water, a flat rate paid by Internet Service Providers (ISP) is for many the holy grail, suing people that upload and download their files to and from the internet. The fact that the Internet is global and most copy rights are broken down on a country by country basis and therefore making it hard for Digital Service Providers (DSP) to start and grow there business. It shows Steve Jobs his genius that Apple was able to grow a profitable business on top of music soil. Doing a search on Google suddenly made me think: Its not the ISP's that should be prosecuted and forced to carry a very heavy burden, but the search engines should play a more honorable role here. Looking at Google's profits and the way they make them I dare to say that Google is, seen their magnitude in search. the most responsible for illegal use of content and they are the ones that could easily make an effort to bring a stop to illegal uploading and downloading. If Google would only give search results for legal use of content and would deliver illegal used Intellectual Property (IP) to an organization that governs the laws of copy right and those copy rights would actually make sense, then I think hyper growth would start showing. Of course all search engines should be doing it and not just Google, but I think this is a lot more doable then enforcing a three strike you're of the internet policy. Of course IP owners should provide Google and others with the proper data of where their IP can be found and in what context it's offered, so Google can provide results that satisfy so people will come back. Search engines are now making money based on stolen goods, like selling ice cream out of a stolen van.

All IP owners provide the search engines with a set of meta data that tells search engines what product is available where under what conditions. (Stream for free, Download etc.)

If on top of that global licenses on music would exist against prices that allow the DSP to make some money and wave the risk of DSPs being sued for offering music where the rights are not cleared for etc and music would be packaged in a digital way so the buyer experiences comfort and value, the growth can happen again IMHO. I will keep searching and keep asking questions until I will stop doing it.

LOUD THINKING: What I think should be fixed in the music industry

Last week I read an article about Guvera and went online to register. I started the process by clicking register. Anwered a bunch of questions about who I am and where I live. I used from the two options (Australia and USA) my US address and registered. First I needed to build my profile. Traveling >> What do you like and set my preferences. This so a more contextual approach in serving me ads can be made. After going through this 10 minute process I got an email saying it worked and as soon as my region and account are activated I will be able to access free downloads.

Now this is whats going to happen. They will see that my IP address is in the Netherlands and will not allow me to download anything, but I will be spammed till I really hate them for offers on Safaris, diving trips and other trips they can sell to me because they have a client that wants to make me offers based on my self edited profile.

It will take them forever before the whole world is cleared and even with 30$ mio in funding they wont be able to make this happen. Why? Because its retarded to clear rights for music on the internet territory, by territory, label by label, publisher/collecting society etc.. The internet is a territory on itself and not fixing the broken rights issues will cause investors to shy away from music and support illegal use of music and so forth on the internet. This is the big problem out there today. Me as a humble music lover will shy away from services like this, Spotify and many others. 

On top of that I dont think that advertising is going to be the holey grail in music. It will get spread thin if movies, e-books etc. will also become available under this model. The it feels free ideas and future outlooks will in the long run never work. I think the industry should have a sustainable outlook as priority number one on their agenda. Its all about the music and how to make music available to the global audiences. I don't want freaking advertising every time I listen to a song. I love iTunes for what it is. Hassle free music. The price is an issue, but soon that won't be the issue anymore and if I look at the average price per song its ok. (Think through here ;-)

So how to fix this? Thinking about this I start with the people that create the music. From there it will flow to people that listen to music. In between we need a mechanism that is fair, fast and reliable. What is that mechanism? Not one solution that solves all misery will exist. This is an everything, everywhere, NOW era. So many businesses will be in the middle, facilitating the basic process of making music available. 

Today the writers and composers have their own universe and the performing artist have another. I believe we should look at bringing all artists interests together and allow one global license for music. All parties that represent, collect money or perform some kind of duty today should add value in the future. If not they should go away and leave more margin for parties that actually add value.

This brings another issue to the table. The issue of complacency. If you need to kill yourself to let other live will you do it? Maybe if it concerns your family or best friends. But in the though, impersonal business climate of today I don't think collecting societies, record companies, publishers will do what is best for the greater good, but will defend their position as long as they can. Some will reinvent, most will die and few will collaborate (on a global scale) to fix the things that are broken.  

Personally I don't have all the answers to all of these problems. I can only do what I think makes sense. That's why I run my own business and try hard to make a difference. Along the way I have learned that what is better don't always becomes a new reality. Our ability to innovate is constrained by ego's, personal interest and lots of other reasons of greed. The greater good is never a serious consideration in board rooms and business meetings. But I believe in the creative force in artists and trust that one day artists will understand the power of technology and innovation. Because I believe they hold the key to a new reality for their business and things could and should be simple again. Because at the end of the day the artist can not be touring every day. This because an artist is human in the first place. Wants to see his/her spouse, kids and have fun too and should get paid for the hard work they put in every day in making something enjoyed by many. Why should that feel for free? It just doesn't make sense. The internet should not disrupt good sense, but distribute good sense in a much more efficient way. Not just for music, but for everything we humans do on this planet. I foresee a future where the artists will adapt and become more business savvy. When that happens I fear for the existence of all those businesses trying hard to make a $ out of all the beautiful and ugly art created.

I'm am not saying here that all record labels are full of shit and all publishers and collecting societies should die. It's loud thinking and searching for a solution to make it work again and bring back prosperity in the business. I think everything that exist has a reason for existence and great companies have been created to deal with great artists and it all worked fine. But today and in the future different things are needed, reality changed. Its like thinking of a world with flying cars. Companies that make roads will be out of business if they don't anticipate on change. To be continued...

R.I.P and thank you for making our world a little bit better

Great article on Venture Capital

Through my friend Andrej on FB I stumbled upon this article. Rand Fishkin wrote it and did a great job. Thanks for that Rand. I have done it the other way around and didn't want to work with VC's. Yes I did pitches and met up, but thought it would be better to deal with informal investors. Looking back I think it's all the same. At the end of the day you need to find the right person (s) or investment companies and convince them of your ideas and business (company-market). In the beginning its all about the entrepreneur and the idea and will it appeal to anybody. I have the "no asshole policy" in place, but its not always working, because my asshole detection is not 100% accurate. Follow the Rainbow

Google exits China?

After reading this blog post I am curious about the thought process and strategy twrds the future....?

For any global business China must be the most promising and high potential market of all. Next to India, Brazil and a few others China holds a big promise, maybe even the biggest. So is Google placing a bet here? From what is disclosed it seems that they are afraid of being responsible for potential disaster if data is accessed by people with bad intentions. (Potential imprisonment, political assassination and so forth)

I simply cannot imagine that Google would write off the Chinese market. So could it be that they think that the risk of loosing their brand now by staying (imagine the bad publicity if one man or woman would be seriously fucked) is stupid if you can withdraw now, be the hero and reenter in 1,2,3,4,5 > years and be the king. Sticking to your guns is sometimes better then asking your wife to be a whore in economic challenging times. How do you calculate this? Is 'don't be evil' enough to justify this alleged move?  Personally I think we all measure with a double moral, but is this a decision based on morality or hard cash (principles)? The future will tell. Tonight, during a dinner we spoke about Google and the brilliance of how they do things. Also about how well thought trough everything they do is. I don't talk to the Google guys about this and only read about the issues at hand. My personal endeavors with Google gave me a corporate taste and I was mostly impressed by the set up (and of course their business results), so I can only wonder about all of this. I think it's worth while wondering here because China is acting like they haven't moved into the age of freedom and democracy and nobody dares to say something because alotta money can be made. My guess is that they know who accessed / hacked their servers and start a chess game with three parties. Global Google user, Chinese establishment and Google itself. Its a hard game with three players that are all playing a different game. I wonder how it will all play out. If I was Google I would stay and keep improving their security, we all know by now that governments access email and Google is no exception. If I was the Chinese government I would join the global democratic elite, they don't need to hack, just fund a couple of trillions for the next decade. If I was a global Google user I would use the internet less and meet up for revolutionary reform in a bar.

Because you can: Barak Obama

After reading this article I thought about this job rating system. I thought lets say something nice about this man. In the middle of making my move to the States I thought of why make the move? The answer is a bit more complicated, but one critical factor is that I believe America will be great again. It was already big and great before, but all that terrorist focus made it just big (IMHO). Hope is a strange thing. In business a bad strategy, but in times of (required) change hope is a critical component. In the case of Obama the hope for a better world, led by leaders that actually have the human interest at heart instead of their own small circle of friends. For me it meant that America has the ability to change when it needs to and actually transforms in a place where I would be proud to be a part of. Yes because Obama is black and we shoudn't be looking at that. Yes because he is smart and resourceful and understands there is a whole brave world outside of the US and it isn't called Mexico. Yes because he is a great speaker. Yes because he seems to be a nice guy. Yes because he will make mistakes. Yes because he looks like a terrorist if you picture him in Sjeik outfit or with beard in front of a cave. Yes because the world needs to change and I don't know a better man to lead the way. No fucking way that this man cannot finish the job he started, that would just be stupid. So far so good

The French leading the way!?

Since the start of my career in digital music I have waited for this to happen. It is the most logical thing for any government to do. If you govern a country one should protect the interest for all. The internet has caused so much confusion amongst politicians, law enforcement and so forth. Today the world is in transition with regards to entertainment online (and many other things too ;-). A couple of things need to happen IMHO:

1. This French model or attitude towards the industry needs global adaption;

2. New copyrights laws need to be established and backed by law enforcements. We should listen to a thought leader in this space and come up with laws that make sense and are representing the online realities of today and the future;

3. Record labels, artists and all involved in the creative industries should stop complaining about digital and embrace the opportunities it provides. All the legal battles and public bullshitting and complaining should come to an end and global consensus should be found between the artists, the commercial parties exploiting rights and governments. The retarded systems should be replaced with systems that serve a global and connected universe.

I think that Mr. Sarkozy is brave to support this new way of helping fight copyright crime, but think this should be a good start and not the end. Its a great first step, but many other steps should follow to make it more fair. Lets see what happens over the next decade.

The poor state of Innovation thinking in my beloved country

Yesterday I attended the Dutch innovation lecture hosted by the minister and ministry of economic affairs. With the intention to think outside the box and have a debate about what needs to happen to create the optimal circumstances to innovate. For me its strange to see that I was amongst the youngest people in the room. Very little women and most Grey or no hair at all. Not that senior citizens cannot innovate, that would be too bold, but I think that young people should be part of this too. I'm talking about under 21! The thing that worries me most is that our minister held a compelling key note speech about how to innovate and why. People at the center of your innovations and so forth. What worries me is that at the same time we talk about innovation in Copenhagen we talk about our planet. If you only put gains in terms of more faster for people and businesses at the center of your policy to stimulate innovation you forget a couple of things Our Earth and all that is living on it should be at the core of every innovation discussion. That our own minister didn't even mention this in her bla bla shows me that first we need to innovate our politicians awareness and make sure they get it before we all walk around with an oxygen tank. Innovation brought us where we are today and many innovations have been fantastic to people so they can make more money faster. In retrospect I think it's safe to say we over innovated ourselves a bit at the cost of life on our beloved planet. This sucks and should change. How? Start with governments that put people, planet and each other at the heart of everything they decide upon. 

Change........