This month has seen the French government continue to try and push through the controversial ‘three strikes’ file sharing law. The law aims to coerce internet service providers into monitoring their customer’s internet usage to check for signs of copyright infringement. If anyone is suspected of illegally downloading pirated material on the internet then they will be sent a letter reminding them that they have broken the law. If they continue to illegally download then they will receive two more letters, the last of which will inform them that they have been suspended from the internet for up to a year and their internet connection has been cut off.

This month has also seen the creators of the world’s biggest bit torrent tracker, Pirate Bay, sentenced to a year in prison and forced to pay a fine of over 2.5 million euros. After two years of building legal pressure from a consortium of media and entertainment companies the sentencing represents yet another feeble attempt to stamp authority on an uncontrollable ‘problem’. The result, like usual, is that nothing has happened: People are still illegally downloading and, in what must feel like a kick in the teeth for the prosecutors, Pirate Bay has continued to stay in service.

When will governments and the music industry see that they are fighting an impossible fight! The democratisation of the internet means that they are not just fighting a few key perpetrators but instead squaring up to anyone and everyone who has an internet connection. Instead of concentrating on trying to dam an ocean, they need to be spending their time working out ways to work alongside this phenomena and use it their advantage.

Big file sharing sites and torrent trackers could be used as highly effective marketing channels. The people who are downloading music aren’t criminals, in fact they’re usually huge music fans and exactly the people who record companies should be targeting; connecting with, building relationships with, introducing to other fans, making them obsessed with their artist and then getting them to come to gigs, buy the artist’s merchandise, spend more money on limited edition releases, purchase souvenirs and enter into a long term beneficial interactions.

Times have changed and the music industry has to realise that its never going to revert back to how it was. They have to embrace change and change themselves, not enter into a war against their own customers!

Check out this article which describes piracy as a litmus test for authentic culture

The two-way symmetrical model of public relations has long been seen in academic circles as the ‘holy grail’ of public relations best practice. This normative perspective of the public relations function was proposed by Grunig and Hunt (two of my all time favourite people) in their ‘4 models of public relations’ in 1984. When I learnt about these models I will admit that I was somewhat sceptical about how realistic the model of two-way symmetry was to put into practice in its purest form, especially at the time it was proposed. With the other three models steeped in public relations’ history it was hard to see the forth as anything else but an idealist perspective. However, although its formulation might have been premature, the emergence of social media in the last decade might have at last provided the historical context for its roots to grow.

Grunig and Hunt’s four models each link directly to different periods in public relations’ short but controversial history.

They are as follows:

Press Agentry – A model which is based on generating publicity by any means. Accuracy and credibility do not need to be exercised. . The press agentry model is firmly rooted to the early 19^th century when characters such as Phineas Barnum, a famous circus promoter, would stage weird and wonderful stunts to draw attention to his show.

Public Information – The name says it all; purely aimed at providing the public with accurate information in a very one-way asymmetrical fashion. The public information model comes from a period just after the press agentry model. It was a time when organisations started to get attacked by ‘muckracking’ journalists who tried to capitalise on anti-corporate sentiment. In defence, organisations released information to the public detailing their activities.

Two-Way Asymmetrical – Involves a basic two-way flow of communication between an organisation and its publics involving research and feedback. However, the aim is to influence the publics without changing the organisations objectives. This model was taken from 1920s when Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, became the first practitioner to draw ideas from the social sciences and apply them to manipulating public opinion.

Two-Way Symmetrical – A continuous dialogue between an organisation and its publics with a view to create a mutually beneficial relationship. When proposed, this model was connected less to a period in time and more to a normative vision of how public relations should be practiced. Now, however, its period in time might have come.

The emergence of social media has not just facilitated the two-way symmetrical model but it has also made it essential that organisations practice communications in this way. As Brian Solis states in his blog PR 2.0, ‘the best communicators start as the best listeners’. Social media has brought with it an age where monologue has to give way to dialogue; Communication must be done ‘with’ people not ‘at’ people and the danger now lies in NOT engaging in the conversation rather than doing so.

No longer can organisations use excuses for not practicing their communications in a two-way symmetrical fashion. More importantly though, they can no longer afford to not do so.

The music industry is dramatically changing: The increase in penetration of broadband has brought with it a new way to consume and discover music. Sales of CDs are rapidly decreasing and illegal downloading and file sharing has devalued music for an entire generation of youth. The digitalization of music has resulted in the fragmentation of the mass audience causing the age of the top 40 to come to an end. Traditional marketing channels have been bypassed taking the power away from the middlemen and the major record labels leaving a direct communication conduit between the music artist and the music listener.

The sale of music has moved into a new era. This is an era where consumers can choose between paying for their music or getting it for free. No longer can major labels dictate who should be listened to and no longer can they place their survival in the hands of record sales. A paradigm shift has begun and a new model of music marketing must be introduced to accommodate these social and economic changes.

Seth Godin, a ‘thought leader’ in the world of marketing has strong views on the way the music industry should go. He argues that a change to the existing business model is a necessity. He proposes a shift in focus from trying to generate the greatest number of music sales, to cultivating and nurturing relationships with communities of fans to drive sales through concerts, merchandise and souvenirs. Godin places a lot of emphasis on the idea of communities, which he calls ‘tribes’. The fragmentation of the mass audience has meant the creation of millions of ‘tribes’ which form around a common love for a certain artist or type of music. Godin suggests that instead of pushing music onto the mass audience, music should be presented to communities who already have a passion for similar music.

The key to Godin’s proposed model is the forging of solid, two-way relationships between the artist and the fans and the building of interactive communities. I think Godin is on to something here. If so, does it mean that the future of music marketing lies in PR2.0 and social media driven relationship marketing? I would love to hear peoples views on this one.

Check out this fascinating interview with Godin for Music Business Radio, here.

Also check out these blog posts:

The Live Music Talk

Rollo and Grady

Music Lessons

Music vs The Music Industry

The Proof is in the Pudding Corey Smith

Once in a while something comes along that is a faultless expression of the changing times we live in. In this instance ‘something’ comes in the shape of Israeli music producer and animator Kutiman and his online music video project ThruYOU.

ThruYOU is made up of eight music videos that Kuitman created by mixing together unrelated samples of individual musicians playing their instruments on You Tube videos. He spent weeks trawling through different clips and selecting ones that he could mash together to create coherent songs. The result is astonishing; full musical ensembles made up of unconnected strangers each playing their own ideas to themselves but each adding to the creation of anthems for a YouTube generation.

After initially only letting twenty of his closest friends know about ThruYOU, it has exploded into an internet phenomenon with over one million views in the first seven days that is was online. A ThruYOU website was set up showing all eight of the videos and the credits of all the people that are featured in the project and links to their original videos.

Kutiman’s ThruYOU project has summed up how social media has now changed the consumer landscape. This new web 2.0 culture has handed the power back to the consumer. No longer are we passive consumers of media. Instead we actively engage and participate in it to create mutual content.

The most brilliant aspect of this project is that Kutiman has empowered and given a voice to each of the musicians that he used from YouTube. Each song is created by a community. They are all unrelated individuals on their own but when connected to each other something bigger is created. This is the essence of any community online or offline.

I have embedded a couple of the ThruYOU videos here. Check them out and let me know what you think!


Check out:
ThruYOU websiteKutiman’s Myspace
Kutiman on Twitter