At avery young age my drum instructor would always say the phrase “in with the newout with the old.” Little did I know then, that he was giving me perhaps themost valuable piece of information in my lifetime. I came to realize as anadult, that in order to survive in any industry you must be "in with thenew." In today’s new mobile-social culture, brands and their fans areestablishing relationships in ways never seen before. So, in with the new!
Belowis a link to a video where we hear the perspective a legend himself, GeneSimmons of KISS. He talks about merchandising, rock music, and the extinctionof record companies. I rarely find myself on the agreeing side of the alwaysoutspoken Gene Simmons but, as this video was uploaded some two years ago, Genewas already identifying the new industry business model. A model that I referto as “disruption!”
Disruptionis a natural process that occurs with evolution. In my opinion it's a healthyprocess that yields innovation and creativity. As disruption permeates throughthe music industry what will artists do to stay alive? How will they pay thebills, get their music heard and be relevant? The first thing they need to dois to learn how to adapt to their surroundings.
Thegood old days of going to the record store and buying the new “flavor of theweek” are long gone. Now we prefer to have our music on the go, as we go, onour phones, iPods or streaming in from the almighty cloud. The artist may notlike it but if they want to survive, they have to accept it or risk extinction.
Fanshave gone mobile with the rest of the world and they are the ones telling themarket how they want to purchase and listen to music. It's up to the artist to“be creative” or “adapt” and deliver content (in this case music) in a relevantway.
Thedisruption I speak of isn’t some vague nebulous topic being pondered inindustry blogs and articles. It isn’t rapidly approaching or looming around thecorner. It has arrived and you can feel it. We are all living in amobile-social revolution that is growing rapidly every day. I see the nextphase and its “disruption” reaching far beyond the music industry. It’s not “band”specific it’s “brand” specific too.
I don’tbelieve that there is much of a difference between bands and brands. As Gene soastutely pointed out in the video, "everybody is exactly in the same KISSbusiness as KISS is in." Gene goes on to say, “If you sell t-shirts you'rein the KISS business.” NFL, NBA, MLB, UFC et al., you’re all in the KISSbusiness. Almost every brand today has the same need and desire to connect totheir mobile fans.
Withrecent innovations in technology, brands can now connect to mobile fansthrough the merchandise they are selling today. Developments in cloudtechnologies and the mass consumer adoption of smart-devices afford brands awhole new touch point from physical to digital. If you couple this with aunique consumer experience, brands can stand out and set themselves apart in an over saturated market.
At 50seconds into the video Gene says "when you buy a t-shirt you don't getmusic." This is pretty funny because the video isn’t that old and yes, youcan buy a t-shirt today that downloads music to your phone. Hey Gene, give me acall. I have a new product I want to show you. In a disruptive world, onlythose who adapt will survive.
Tolearn more about Interactive Merchandise and my company R-Evolution Industries,visit us online or write to me at [email protected]