T-Pain Proves That Tech Companies Will Revolutionize The Music IndustryIt’s no longer a secret that companies and individuals that are solely in the business of selling media products that can be copied are doomed.
If you want to get a glimpse into the future of music, look no further than T-Pain. He’s released an iPhone application called I Am T-Pain that lets users sing along to his songs or make their own songs with automatic auto tune correction. They can then share the songs with their friends or on their favorite networking sites.
On the surface it may not seem like there’s anything all that special about yet another iPhone app. There’s thousands of apps available that do just about everything.
It’s not so much the app that’s interesting, but the whole experience that’s attached to this app that portends something great. It speaks to a new way of distributing music media that requires music artists to be aware of several hugely important principles.
THE FUTURE OF MUSIC WILL NOT BE CREATED BY MUSIC COMPANIES
T-Pain approached Smule, a Palo Alto-based company that develops apps. The app was his idea. He didn’t go to Sony Music to present his idea. Why? Because he probably knows that the companies that have built their empires on the control of content distribution are too wedded to the old ways to innovative.
The company most responsible for turning the music industry upside down is Apple. And the dissolution of the music industry has been further abetted by armies of programmers and geeks. If the future is digital it’s just natural that tech companies are going to be coming up with many of the innovations that will influence music business models and marketing strategies.
Another reason that tech companies will lead the charge is because they don’t have a stake in the music itself. They’ve always cared more about the user experience. And that’s great because that’s really where the value of music is going to lie. T-Pain is smart for seeing that. The deal is a win-win for everyone. For T -Pain. For Smule. For Apple. And most importantly for the fans.
SELL ACCESS AND EXPERIENCE
I don’t buy music anymore. I download everything for free and put it on my iPod. I don’t pay for music because I can get it for free. There are millions of people like me who love music, but don’t really develop enough of a connection with bands to want to pay for music. T-Pain knows that.
But music is one of the most powerful creators of mood and experience. So the question then becomes, what kind of experience can you sell around the music? This is a big question because there’s an extremely vast number of experiences around music that people will pay for. You just have to get a little creative.
T Pain knows that he’s the king of autotune. He surely thought to himself one day, “hmmm…I’ve turned auto tune into a personal brand. How can I create an experience around it that people will pay for? I got it. How about an app that lets users create their own tracks around my music?” Brilliant!
The indispensible ingredient is interactivity. People don’t want to feel like passive consumers anymore. They want to be involved. If you own a musical brand, think about how you can use it to create an experience that people can boast about to their friends. People love to show off. T-Pain found his user experience. What’s yours?
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[...] of it. Lots of these will be tech companies like Apple and many smaller players like Smule, which creates apps. There’s going to be tons of these little companies springing up to take advantage of the new [...]