Ryan C. Miller.com – Social Media, Business & Small Things -

Business and Media Needs More Time Travel

Posted on November 2, 2010 by MillerNo Comments

A few months back I signed up for the web-only (well, iphone only) version of Sirius. What got me to sign up was really a combination of things – first, I was really curious to hear Gary’s program ‘Wine and Web.’ The guests that he was having on the show from the tech world really piqued my interest (guests like Jason Fried and Lauren Leto) – plus I was honestly just curious to see if he could translate his personality to radio. 2nd though, was the hunger to discover some new music. I figured I’d just leave the app running throughout the day and hopefully get a dose of some artists I’ve never heard of.

Part of the deal was that I was given a 30 day trial for free. But on day 29, I canceled.

Why? It wasn’t because the content wasn’t good (I did enjoy some of the channels and Wine and Web was a good show). I dumped Sirius because I, like many other people, are so used to consuming media in a non-linear and on demand world, that I became frustrated when I missed an episode of a program I liked (Wine and Web was Thursdays at 10pm til midnight, which isn’t that conducive to my schedule) or couldn’t rewind a track I just heard while driving on one of the stations.

Maybe we’re spoiled now. I’m not sure. But I’m also sure there are a lot of other people out there like me. And this is a challenge for companies and businesses whose product is digital. I think there is now an expectation that digital media (paid or free) should be able to be accessed now both on-demand and in real-time. Whether this is a viable business model for most/all media companies remains to be seen. But we have the technology, and with a DVR in over 40% of households, iPods in every pocket, and services like Spotify (hopefully) invading our shores soon, delivery of content and ease of use is already making serious waves. But it is no longer enough to have the best content (though it is certainly a HUGE chunk of the game). Now you have to have great content, that is highly sharable, while making it easy for the consumer to access it when and how they want.

Chasing Dylan with Ten Bucks- Music in an On-Demand World

Posted on April 7, 2009 by Miller1 Comment

A Followup:  Lets look at U2.  They put out the single ‘Get On Your Boots’ well before the official release date of the record. The point?  Obviously to hype the album.  If I liked the song immediately and wanted to get the album, I couldn’t……until – OOPS the album leaks onto BitTorrent BEFORE the official release date.  So now you’ve got a real problem.  The customer has now shifted from wanting to make an impulse purchase – giving the artist money for their record – but instead moves to BitTorrent to get it.  Not necessarilly because its free, but because its AVAILABLE.

What do YOU think?