[Music Monday] Constructing The New Digital Music Ecosystem

The need to create something ‘new’ usually comes with the thought that the thing that came before it, something ‘old’, did not work, isn’t working anymore, or is simply too old to use. Many companies the world over, recently founded or has been in years of business, startup or established, have at some point changed their tack – or pivoted, in startup-speak – in pursuit of more lucrative businesses, mostly because their previous direction was losing business sustainability.

The recorded music industry was always an industry that relied on content to make its money, and thus tightly controlling the amount of recorded music copies that went out as a sale. The thing about the entertainment industry is that people get bored, so these industries always have to “pivot” to find something creatively new to sell to the market.

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[Simply Business] Startup Launch Checklist

Launching a new startup is one of the most exciting time of the startup life cycle. It’s the time when you are finally ready to show your baby to the world, the one that you have developed and nurtured for months and maybe years. It is definitely exciting, but it is hard nonetheless.

Doubts will rise as whether or not your product is ready for public use, have you gotten everything right, etc. Well, as someone that is in the middle of launching a new startup as well, let me share you a startup launch checklist. This is my checklist so I would expect some differences, and also hope that if I miss anything then you guys can correct me as well. So here goes:

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[Music Monday] Does The Average Consumer Care About Legal, Digital Music?

Before I go on with this article, let me be clear – most references are anecdotal; I don’t have a survey or research results to refer to, but I think this will ring true to most consumers of digital entertainment – not many of us, including me, think of the legal aspects of something we want to hear/view/play. Having worked in intellectual property based-industries for some time, I avoid pirated content and always try to find legal ways to get music, movies and software. Full disclosure – I’ve done my fair share of downloading and torrenting, and I often download TV shows that have not aired in Indonesia, and sometimes movies I missed watching in the cinema. I’m no saint.

I’ll admit that I avoid illegal music and software, because I know what goes on behind the scenes and how they make their money. I also feel less guilty (but guilty nonetheless) about downloading TV and movies because I also know how they actually make their money (and outside of the cinema, it’s based on upfront royalties, advertising revenue share, cable subscription share, and so on). I’ll probably write more on that later… but here’s the point: I happen to have insight into these industries. What of the average consumer who does not?

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[Simply Business] Tips on How to be Successful at Networking Events

A good friend and mentor of mine once said that your network is your net worth, I agree completely with him and you definitely should expand your network especially when you’re just starting out. Knowing the people in (and also who complement) your industry is definitely a must if you want to excel in your business. But some people I met during during conferences and networking events tend to shy away or made a bad first impression, which is bad in the long run. So here are some tips to turn you into a rockstar at networking events.

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[Music Monday] Musiklegal And The Fight Against Piracy

Piracy remains a sensitive issue for music labels. Efforts to curb piracy on the national level in Indonesia remains in full steam, with the Ministry of Communication and Informatics blocking 20 illegal mp3 download sites end of May 2012. I tried some of the addresses announced in the article and sure enough, the sites could not be accessed. This action was the result of a lengthy lobbying process by ASIRI (the Recording Industry Association of Indonesia) to the government, while at the same time they also had active discussions with the Phone Credit Theft Task Force appointed by DPR to alleviate and soften the impact made by the government’s decision to reset all mobile services dependent on subscription charged by SMS.

The effort to curb the spread of illegal music copies being spread through the internet would not mean a thing if the music industry did not offer something in its place – sure enough, music download stores have been around since 2009 but they have yet to achieve significant user traction and all-important revenue. Illegal downloads are said to be the cause of low user traction, and even before that ASIRI has been lobbying the government to start blocking illegal download sites. Since the latest administration seems intent on blocking pornography sites, the same technology could be used to block these illegal music sites. So it was just the matter of political will. Now, the government seems to want to listen to the plight of the music labels, despite only taking action online and not taking care of the equally damaging pirate CD stores.

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Massive Update to Harpoen Makes the App More Useful

Harpoen today released a huge update on the App Store. The app that encourages you to leave your mark wherever you go has become more social and more useful with version 1.1.0. Some of the most popular feature requests had been a way to see all your harps and the comments that people have left on them. The latest update incorporates both and more.

Eschewing the traditional tabbed interface or the more recent sidebar introduced by the Dolphin browser and popularized by Facebook and Path, Harpoen chose to repurpose the icon once meant for its settings menu for something more. Tapping the ellipsis icon on the top of the screen now brings up a more comprehensive menu containing several options including the old settings menu.

The biggest change in this update is the ability to see harps in various lists. The Trail view houses two lists, one is Interaction, which lists all the harps you’ve left in various locations and the comments that people have left on them and the other is Read, which includes the harps you’ve read and commented on, and apparently includes your own as well, because obviously, you’ve read them yourself.

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[Simply Business] Would You Keep Going or Would You Quit?

The media loves to flaunt the success of the startups, the crazy valuations, the billion dollar acquisition and the so-called overnight success. But the most interesting stories are actually the hard part, the near-death experience and the comeback.

OMGPOP, the creator of Draw Something created 35 mediocre games before Draw Something and was in near bankrupt situation right before Zynga acquired them. Angry Birds was the 52nd game that Rovio made before their “overnight” success. Kaskus.com, Indonesia’s biggest online forum went through six years running without any profit. I can only imagine how emotionally straining it is for them to continue working hard despite the lack of monthly payroll and the departure of staffs that sees an unclear future of the company.

The emotional frustrations, the stress and the weight being put in their shoulders are mostly untold. The thought of letting go of their startups must have crossed their mind countless times as they go and face their co-workers every single day.

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[Music Monday] NKOTBSB: A Great Impulse Buy For Digital Music

For weeks and days heading up to the NKOTBSB concert in Jakarta last Friday, longtime fans have been racking up YouTube views of their videos, and radio stations have been playing songs from NKOTB and Backstreet Boys to prime everybody up for enjoying the concert. Needless to say, on June 1 evening Jakarta time, Twitter was awash with people tweeting from the concert and sending whatever pics they can to share with their friends. The show was a success, but what can we learn and exploit from it?

One of the most basic principles of music marketing is to increase awareness and raise sales, a band or musician should do live shows direct in front of audiences. This applies to new or established artists – pushing a song for increased awareness is sometimes not enough through tv, radio and the internet; but a live show (especially if tied with met-and-greet sessions with fans and autograph sessions) would do a lot to reward fans, retain loyalty, and generate awareness and interest for people who have not previously heard of the band/musician. Bands would tour tirelessly around their country – and around the world – as a way to promote themselves and their most latest album. The music labels in charge would also arrange time for the band/musician to meet with the press, to make sure they get more exposure.

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Mira Lesmana’s Project Became the Second Project Realized at Wujudkan

Aulia, through a post on Dailylicious sometime ago, asked about the formula of crowdfunding project that could be successful in Indonesia. I have two clues for that: social project and a project that can make someone looks cool to be involved in the project.

Last evening, Mira Lesmana’s Atambua 39^o Celcius project managed to break funding target through Wujudkan.com. Until this article was written, on the last day of fund raising, the project managed to raise IDR311.837.000 or around 104% of the IDR300.000.000 target. When I checked on the project yesterday morning, the project still lacked IDR8.000.000 to meet the target. A couple hours after that, the project nailed it.

This project becomes the second project that managed to meet funding target on Wujudkan. Prior, the first project that met its target is the Papan untuk Semua: Atap untuk Rumah Uay – Board for All: A Roof for Uay’s House project. This project gained 192% or around IDR4.780.000 from the intended IDR2.500.000. The project is a social prokect by the architect Yu Sing to make a house for ojek rider named Uay and his family.

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