We’ve gone from vinyl records we could only play in fixed locations, to portable CDs, to super-fluid mp3s, so what is the next evolution? And whilst all this is going on, the issue of music piracy is becoming increasingly rampant.
Instead of claiming it’s all too hard and quitting, we’re beginning to see some amazing videos and experiences from music artists lately. Some great highlights include:
- Arcade Fire – The Wilderness downtown experiment (http://bit.ly/n7WUUn – very cool experiment with Google)
- Ellie Goulding – Lights (http://bit.ly/qqKY4r – simple, but engaging music video)
After watching these, I thought to myself ‘I love this and I’d pay for more!’ Could this be the beginning to a solution to music piracy? By putting ‘more’ effort into videos and content, fans will better appreciate the value and develop a stronger sense of connection (and pride in supporting). Fans always want faster, cheaper, better – could this be the next evolution?
I’d really like to see leading musicians and labels aiming to engage fans with added value they can only receive when paying. Already we see games like Mass Effect adding downloadable content to stop cracked gaming. What would happen if we were able to interact with our music or have better access to further information/features from our favourite artists?
Although I’m not a music nerd, I definitely would feel a stronger connection with the artist if this was the case. A statement I hear over and over again is that many people are comfortable with the idea of listening to pirated music to explore and test new music, however if they like a group/musician, they will buy the content in order to support them.
What do you think? Do you think customers/prospects would pay for this added value? Do you think less people will continue to download pirated music? What other examples are you seeing in the market today?
