A good selection of thoughts and ideas for 2010 with numerous contributors

http://andrewchenblog.com/2009/11/25/product-design-debt-versus-technical-debt/

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/11/hammer-time.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsethsmainblog+%28Seth%27s+Blog%29

I got an email from very good friends of mine Hoarsebox (www.myspace.com/hoarsebox) telling me that they had released an iPhone app (link is here).

Although they have a strong online presence across MySpace, You Tube, Twitter etc...this was a very pleasant surprise and when I was asked to explain why I thought this was exciting so below are some initial thoughts about what the potential implications of this are, though I probably have only scratched the surface.

The big trend for rights holders (whether unsigned or signed) is to go direct to consumer to sell music, merchandise and increasingly tickets also.

What could be more direct to consumer that an app that connects a band directly to their consumer's phone.

The most popular music apps are generic for all artists (e.g. Spotify) or offer a specific functionality (Autotune, Shazam). This was similar to the early days of the Internet for Music wih generic services for mass content(Pressplay, Musicnet etc...).

If artists are going to have the ability to create their own individual direct to consumer store, it would mean that consumers' primary relationship will be with that artist and not a generic service such as iTunes, Ticketmaster etc...

More established artists will have the power to sell directly to the consumer. For example if the only way for fans to buy U2 tickets for their shows next year would be through an iPhone / Blackberry app, they would do it.

There could be a free version or a premium version. Premium mobile apps will be the new fan club mechanisms. The big focus for rights holders has been building a database through collecting customer email addresses but the extra data you would earn from understanding how consumers interact with your app would prove invaluable, especially when it comes to location specific services.

Again taking the U2 app, imagine if they release 500 pairs a tickets a night direct to the app based on the phones location but only if you have the premium version. The increase in fan club membership around touring time for big artists is exponential and this offering would magnify that.

Content has always been king in a digital world. Established artists no longer need big and cost inefficient players (e.g. Ticketmaster) to distribute their content. Led Zeppelin and Michael Jackson's O2 shows in London demanded a registration on a separate site to that of the promoter or ticket agent.  

Getting back to my original point why Hoarsebox's app is important, it's because unsigned bands have no choice but to go direct to consumer and these bands have grown up in a digital world where the consumer relationship is key, not that with a record company or a retail outlet.

So established artists and up and coming artists don't need the historic, high cost, 3rd party distribution companies. Up and coming artists will become the next potentially big artists again further reducing the necessity for the likes of Ticketmaster.

Every band now has several links to buy music and merchandise from their site and MySpace / Facebook site. But the exciting thing is that tickets is next!

Internally at Ticket Text we try and share articles that relate to all aspects of the business (technology, commercial, investment etc...) that we spot on blogs, in newspapers and dedicated subject specific news sites so I though that I would list a few of them. The increased discussion around a standardised term sheet for investing is of particular interest.

Enterprise Ireland through their HPSU (High Potential Start Up) programme have a standard SSA that they use for the 70-80 companies in which they invest in each year, one of whom was Ticket Text. The term sheet has been signed off in advance by a handful of the best known law firms in Ireland who will represent the start up for a price within a fixed range. Although there is some deviation in terms of additional clauses that are required on a case by case basis, the structure of the investment is the same for each company.

Books for Entrepreneurs

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/08/books-for-entrepreneurs.html

I’m a PC

 http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2009/08/31/im-a-pc/

The Ideal First Round Term Sheet

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/08/the-ideal-first-round-term-sheet.html

The Ideal First Round Term Sheet (continued)

 http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/08/the-ideal-first-round-term-sheet-continued.html

Tumblr and Music 

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/08/tumblr-and-music.html    

Imogen Heap

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2009/08/10/imogen-heap/

PayPal Brings Billing to BlackBerry’s App World in 10 New Countries; Four Languages

http://moconews.net/article/419-paypal-brings-billing-to-blackberrys-app-world-in-10-new-countries-four/

Cisco Steps Up Entertainment Efforts with Warner Music Deal

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/08/12/cisco-steps-up-entertainment-efforts

Angel Investors Become a Little Less So

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/business/smallbusiness/20edge.html?emc=eta1

Pssst! Want a Ticket? Hey, I’m Legit. Really.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/arts/music/30sisa.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all

Songbeat Gets A Second Life As Excellent Music App With Uncertain Future

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/30/songbeat-gets-a-second-life-as-excellent-music-app-with-uncertain-future/

ErnestMarples.com serves up free postcode data (just don’t tell Royal Mail)

http://uk.techcrunch.com/2009/08/29/ernestmarplescom-serves-up-free-postcode-data-just-dont-tell-royal-mail/#comments

Citizen Sports’ iPhone App Is Better Than ESPN’s, But They’re Not Named ESPN

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/28/citizen-sports-iphone-app-is-better-than-espns-but-theyre-not-named-espn/

The first one is a insightful summary of the state of play. iPhone's and RIM's market share may be small but the impact on what they are doing makes incumbents look like typewriters in a PC world. Incumbents move to focus on software and services from handset production has generated next to no revenues as most of the products they're focussing on either generate next to no revenue or have no revenue potential.

Music downloads for mobile in a market where music is consumed for free and side loaded onto mobiles isn't going to have a huge impact on revenues. Even if every mobile had a $5 unlimited access to Spotify(which is an amazing product), the percentages that labels get will be so small with artists unlikely to see any of that revenue. Also, everyone is chasing the music downloads market which iTunes cornered years ago and makes them little money but helps sell iPhones and iPods. The reason that Palm wanted the Pre to sync with iTunes is that it's the default music download player.

 
Where is the next new product that handset manufacturers are focussing on that will differentiate them from the competition? The days of handset manufacturers doing deals with networks so that only a limited number of rubbish handets with limited functionality are available are numbered, even in a market such as Ireland where Nokia has a 70% market share. 

Little can save Google and Nokia from mobile failure

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10317666-16.html

Nokia’s New View Of Itself - It’s The Network

http://moconews.net/article/419-nokias-new-view-of-itself-its-the-network/

There was an interesting article on the end of Teletext in the Guardian recently. I'm pretty convinced that browsing Teletext, Aertal and Ceefax was my introduction to technology growing up. Link to article and a comment I posted is below.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/aug/04/teletext-football-scores?commentid=f4b98d92-a919-4aa4-b885-13988646c043

Seth Godin on social networking

Kevin Ryan'sThree Keys To Successful Innovation

This is a must read. Innovation in entertiament is always driven by a reaction to mergers such as Live Nation / Ticketmaster. Alot of the reasons summed up here;

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2009/08/03/antitrust/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/business/02corner.html?_r=1&th&emc=th