This panel was great! Really. I know I say things like that a lot on this blog, but basically I don't like to write much about things that I don't think are cool and interesting to talk about... So, the panelists were:
Kara Swisher - moderator
Michael Robertson, MP3tunes
David Packman, eMusic
Jordan Greenhall, DivX
Laura Goldberg, Napster
David Goldberg, Yahoo!
Of note: No hollywood types on this panel. Apple is conspicuously absent, but a chair was set up for them, with a nice red delicious apple on it...
Some of the more interesting comments from my perspective were:
Q: What is the problem right now with the current system?
Michael says the business is lopsided. We have a fixation on iTunes and iPod. The weight and momentum of the number of devices will force this movement to the "cloud" (his metaphor for the the internet place where our music will reside in the future).
Q: Is iPod in the way of the revolution?
Michael says It makes more sense to put the iPod in "the cloud".
David G says the playlist needs to be close to home (on your computer) rather than in the cloud. Also, getting digital content into the car is where it's at. The next big thing.
Laura says people are always carrying their cell phone, they may or may not be carrying their iPods. She predicts phone manufacturers that will integrate MP3 or WMA playback with DRM into the phone. It will conect w/ USB, and you will put your music collection on your cell phone.
Q: Why does their have to be a choice between subscription vs. ownership?
David P says there doesn't need to be. That's what eMusic allows. The future is in fact a hybrid. No need to make this division
Laura says ownership is the bridge between physical media and the cloud. There's no need, in the long term, to own your music. It's just ownership of bits and bites. (I thiought this made a lot of sense!) We're in a transition from physical to digital.
Q: Jordan says the more interesting question is what will be good for music? He's interested in this question from a social standpoint. He thinks this is the better question than what device we will be receiving themedia on.) Which topology of distribution in the international field will cause something to go one way or another? This is the important question. (I agree.)
In Jordan's ideal world: artists would be kept together and able to be close to the creativity. Audiences would be able to understand the music, and have better access to understanding the music. In the ideal scenario, there would be a system that the people to create and listen better. If you move roadblocks as much out of the way as possible (like DRM), then you'll develop more creativity.
Q: At any moment in time, the record companies have gotten this all wrong, right?
David responded by kindly making lots of excuses for the Record Companies' situation. For example, he reminds us that they are not "technolgy people" afterall, their core competency is signing contracts with artists. (I'm tired of these excuses. They are just stupid.)
David P reminds us that the incentive structure at a big international company (like the big record companies) did not allow the record companies executives to do the right thing.
On other topics, some on the panel (Laura and others) suggested that people don't want to own their music in the future. Michael disagreed. He thinks they really do want to own it. (iTunes is all about renting the music w/ all these little gliches created by Apple.) Michael noted the Napster announcement this week that you can now listen to 2 million tracks 5 times (it's in mono & 32k). Michael thinks this is huge. Napster's key is that it now plays the music. Others are just showing us pictures and snippets.
One important kjey in the distribution industry is that people want to listen to their music anywhere they want on whatever device they want.
Final Q: What does Steve Jobs need to do?
Michael says: open the system (not just license it).
David P says: that would be nice; but he should continue to do exactly what he's doing, b/c that is what's best for his company right now.
Jordan says: the thing that apple does well doesn't go away if they opened the api.
Laura says: they are about hardware, and they need to pick the exact right time to open up the api.
David G says: build a subscription service.