WarpShare™

It’s The Customer - Stupid

I must admit to being a media slut. If it’s fun and shiny then I just gotta get it and tell others about it. Fortunately, the Internet allows me to satisfy this hunger but it does not allow me to satisfy my ethical standards. Artists and producers pour their heart and soul into their creations and deserve to be compensated when I enjoy them. However, in order to compensate media owners: I have to give up the ability to listen on my computer and also in my living room, car, iPod, etc.; I have to search multiple services to find one that offers the content I want; I have to load multiple programs on my computer to access different services and pray they don’t conflict and crash; I have to load special players to play content from certain services; I have to give up the context and curation provided by my friends and like-minded netizens; I have to…

Holy crap, just so big media can feel safe they expect the customer to sacrifice fun, convenience, personalization, computer integrity, control, freedom, privacy, first-born, left-nut, etc. This is entertainment folks not Homeland Security! It’s no wonder for every iTunes song downloaded 35 songs are downloaded through unmonetized channels.

Well it’s time to stop investing in services that inconvenience customers and build services that actually serve customers what they want, how they want it, when they want it, where they want it. Then let these customers turn their friends into customers. All within an infrastructure that fairly compensates owners…wait, that sounds like a business opportunity.

Categories: Industry Thoughts