Two of the authors of the cluetrain manifesto, Doc Searls and David Weinberger, have put up a little, concise article titled World of Ends. It’s about what the internet isn’t. I found this a very interesting article, and it reminded me of a discussion I had four years ago.
It can be revealing to picture something by its negative space, by all the assertions about an object that are false. In the article, the authors use this kind of reasoning to point out some very common mistakes in our thinking about the internet.
Their main motif is the internet is stupid by design.
And it’s exactly that fact that makes the internet so useful for so many things: it’s just an agreement on how to move bits of data from A to B. Everything else must be built on top of it – and can be built on top of it. No forms and permissions necessary.
The end of the article, “Stop making mistakes we can stop making already”, reflects a point that I have discussed many times with different people:
How do you realize that innovation has caught up with your business model, and adapt to the situation? Or more clearly: How do you get the idea that nothing’s wrong with your business model and just try to sue the other business model until it sinks? You may have guessed it – I am talking about the record industry. About four years ago, I had a discussion about (at that time) Napster with a friend.
I pointed out that traditional record companies could easily survive, if they manage to convince everyone to buy from them. Do this by providing added value to a CD. I have seen some fantastic CD package design, good enough to convince me to buy the CD. One example is the Lyn Leon’s Glass Lounge CD. It comes in a custom-made glass tray, wrapped in carton. But most CD packages look dull, don’t provide additional information, nothing that would make me prefer the physical object over a digital, lightweight, compressed copy. I am sure there are other ways to increase value of the record companies’ products. But I am not their consultant.
Maybe just one last hint: More good music, and less overhyped generic crap, less boy groups, girl groups, lesbian girl groups, Star Academy winners, Music Star winners. But more real, good music.
