The "Monolith" - Infinite and Free Content

I was recently introduced to the idea of "the monolith", an industry term used to describe a portable device, one small enough to fit in one's hand, which contains the entirety of all commercially available music.

The term was introduced back when the iPod's memory capacity was exponentially growing as music's  availability for free was on the rise (Sound familiar...?). These discussions in the early 2000s revolved around the question of what would happen when these forces reached their inevitable terminus - Every commercially available song, obtainable at no cost, and stored on a device that could fit in one's hand?

I would argue, and many I think would agree, that we have already reached that day. Does this mean that the music industry is already over? of course not. Anyone with half an understanding of how to navigate the Internet could easily find and obtain most commercially available content for free. The price and size of external hard drives exponentially decreasing (a quick google search found a 2 terabyte hard drive for $115.00 - which could store about 500,000 songs at 4mb a song) means that storing every single available song is quite feasible within a modest budget as well. These factors leading to the conclusion that the construction of a monolith type device is reasonably conceivable.

Instead of philosophizing on its effect on the state of intellectual property rights or what this means for the major label music industry models, it got me thinking about consumer behavior - my behavior in particular. What would I do if someone handed me a monolith? I thought about this for a while and realized that I would probably put it down, let it sit somewhere safe, and go back to it later. I would not know where to begin. How does one start to access all that content?

Essentially the Internet connection that is allowing me to post these thoughts, is also connecting me to the monolith. Any song in the monolith is only a google search away from me right now, but do I spent my days feverishly trying to access it all? of course not. The future of music is not in controlling assets, its in controlling the exploration into these assets. The monolith is incomprehensible and overwhelming, therefore consumers will need help in discovering what they want.

Think of it as a tour guide on vacation. An entire city lay at my disposal, but I don't know how to best access it with the limited time that I have. I want the highlights and I will gladly pay for the best if it is delivered to me by a credible and reasonable source. Whether that's a travel book or an exclusive tour, consumer's are willing to pay for this convenience of access. In a climate where anything is available, the future of selling music is a retailer's ability to guide consumer's to their new music.

Many sources online provide this guide, but few if any do it within a digital retail frame work. If we are not beyond the era of monetizing songs on a consumer level, the value of music is the subject of my next post, then I believe it is this service that many consumer's would prefer, and pay for, over independently tackling the massive expanse of the monolith.

Some will say this exploratory task is controlled by journalistic entities and that mixing commerce with objectified criticism is doomed to fail, but I think consumer's within the Internet are caring less about these blurring lines. Sites like Pitchfork have their fingers in the honey jar with their annual festival in Chicago and smaller blogs are also straddling the fence with their own promoted shows on a much smaller scale. If they are able to monetize the performance aspect of the music industry without consumer outcry, what's to say these lines won't blur more?

Digital Retail Experience: Credibility & Influence

On my previous post, I discussed consumers' dissatisfaction with browsing in digital retail environments. One of the main issues I see for the future success of digital retailers of music is that they must make themselves the center of music online. I outlined how sites like Pandora has satisfied consumer's desire for browsing, but to the disservice of the music industry, it is not within a digital retail space. Another trait of physical stores that has made the transition into the digital realm, but again not within the digital retail space, is the expert advice given by record store clerks.

Okay hold up. Before you start yelling, "what consumer really misses the pretentious tirades of record store clerks?", I want to show you how this very same colloquial type advice is thriving online today. Sites like Gorilla Vs. Bear, Stereogum, Aquarium Drunkard, and the Pitchfork helmed bloglomerate Altered Zones, have gained followers in the tens of thousands in much the same way. Unlike traditional media, which has transitioned into online comparably from its print predecessor on sites like Pitchfork, Rolling Stone's site, and the Los Angeles Times "Pop & Hiss" column, these blogs offer quick, straight-forward advice and recommendations.

Similar to asking a record clerk, these sites have leveraged their knowledge and expertise to influence our tastes and build credibility in the eye's of music fans. The difference however is in days of yore, people would go into a record store for this knowledge. This service was an investment by the worker; a sales tactic for moving more product in the form of good advice. Credibility online is relegated to music blogs instead of digital retailers. No longer does this transfer of knowledge happen within the environment of a retail space. 

Don't get me wrong, I love blogs. I follow them unwaveringly via my google reader and their finely curated selection of free promo MP3s have lead me to the vast majority of my favorite artists today. I feel like digital retailers could leverage this influence in taste making, and help break the flatlining in digital sales experienced this year. Instead of celebrity playlists or iTunes curated guides to genres, which fail from lack of credibility, (its hard to gain this trust when most digital retailer's sell every conceivable genre - they can't possibly be experts in my favorite genre) digital retailers should invite these online experts to exist within the framework of commerce. Bloggers maintain this credibility with consumers and credibility is essential for today's all knowledgeable consumers.

One digital retailer that is making interesting in-ways in this sense is 7digital. Developers at 7digital have created what they call their API, which "allows developers to use and license the 7digital technology platform with over 10,000,000 tracks to create music websites, applications and devices or to integrate music into existing services." This service is new and I have not seen wide spread usage yet, but theoretically bloggers, or anyone for that matter, could create their own "mom & pop"-esque digital retail store. Benefiting from the ability to offer selective and well branded curation of music in their store, bloggers could leverage their credibility within a retail environment. This would in effect bring consumer's back into retail space to seek credible recommendations. Especially today when there is so much music available and digital retailers like iTunes act essentially as one-stop music depots, credibility in music taste is increasingly sought after. Whether this is how 7digital's open API will be used and received by consumers is unclear, but prospects of it improving digital retail environments in very exciting. 

Digital Retail Experience: Browsing

Why are digital music sales flatlining?


One of the main issues with the purchasing process in digital music, is the retail environment of online stores. Although digital retailers, iTunes being the most predominant, have massive advantages over their brick & mortar predecessors, (or fire house red tile monoliths - if your town is still the proud owner of one of Tower’s unclaimed carcases) they still lack a few fundamental traits that I think consumers are beginning to miss. While iTunes meteoric and frankly unforeseen rise in 2003 reflects strongly on its advantages, its abrupt plateau in sales this year is most reflective of what was lost from in the shift from physical locations to Internet based retail outlets.

The clearest way to delineate the issues with digital retail experience in 2010 is to compare it to a physical store. Or rather than compare, let’s mimic a digital store if constructed outside the realm of 1’s and 0’s. For a second forget all the logistical restraints of size, inventory, staffing... etc. and imagine what it would look like to step into an iTunes brick and mortar store. What would the shopping experience be like inside?

Because physical record stores are nearing complete extinction, let imagine we were to reorganize its older, more stately brother, the book store. What would Barnes & Noble look like if rearranged to look and feel like the digital experience of iTunes? Essentially it would be packed with ceiling tall book shelves on each wall and possess an incomparable selection of books from floor to ceiling . Not only would it be overwhelming in its extensiveness, browsing would be dampened even more by its organization. Where most modern book stores increase the consumers experience by having displays, end-row highlights, and shelves organized so that some books face cover-out to grab attention, our imagined store's books would all be displayed spine-out. This change in organization automatically flattens the consumers ability to easily identify potential items of interest while browsing. iTunes attempts to create a browsing experience with features such as New and Noteworthy, Celebrity Picks, and Top Charts, but from most consumer’s I talk to, these do not go far enough for them to consider iTunes a retail experience that lends itself for browsing. Although I have not been able to find data to support my theory, I believe that if you were to measure average time spent in a physical store like Barns & Noble from entrance to check out it would be significantly longer than the equivalent time spent on Barns & Noble.com in its book section from page load to check out of purchase.

Essentially the joy of browsing and discovering something while meandering through a record store is not yet equated in today’s digital retailers. I’ve heard from many people, mainly but not exclusively older consumers, that they are overwhelmed on iTunes, or even on other digital retailer sites like Netflix. Because digital retailers have limitless inventory, you can find nearly anything you could ever want, but the issue is most consumer don’t know what they want. Walking down the aisle of a record or book store and having something catch your eye, trigger an interest, or help recall a recommendation or review read, was such a key component of the purchasing process that has yet to make the transition into today's digital retailers.

The greatest example of browsing offered online is Pandora Internet Radio which generates a free station of streamable music based on an artist or song of your choosing. It is a great discovery tool used by many consumers and casual freebie listeners, yet its downfall (at least for the record industry) is that it exists outside the purchasing platform of a digital retailer. I know that it has options to link you to digital retailers, but that extra step negatively effects consumers purchasing behavior. What if consumer’s went to iTunes or eMusic like they go to Pandora to browse for new music?

Basically what I’m getting at is this: Digital retailers need to make themselves the centers for music online. I don’t blame consumer’s for going to Pandora or Blogs (the topic of my next post), because they serve the needs of music fans. Digital retailers are not serving their needs. If they want to find success or dare I say save the record industry, they must becomes more than faceless depots of music content with a conveniently bottomless catalogue.