Online personalized consumption: How the radio opened Pandora’s box Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses

Music in portuguese radio: around 80% Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses - Music in USA radio: 88% are music radios; - «The majority of stations in Britain follow a very similar format dominated by music» (Fleming, 2002: 6); - Music in Spanish radio: less than 50%; How the radio opened Pandora’s box

Music and young people Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses - «91% of US seventh graders and some 96% of US ninth graders are guided by the music in their choice of radio stations (Felber, 1991, apud Boehnke et al., 2002: 195); How the radio opened Pandora’s box

Music and digitalization Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses - «The new technologies of the Internet, at first, seem to Offer a space in which music radio can be made free of corporate interests, where innovation can take place, and therefore where variety can flourish for the public good» Wall (2004: 29); How the radio opened Pandora’s box

Radio depends on music industry Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses - «Each week, on average, between one- and two-hundred singles are released in the UK. To reach number one, a single would currently have to sell on average some copies in a week. Exposure on radio is a crucial prerequisite of sales success on this scale» (Hendy, 2000: 225); How the radio opened Pandora’s box

Radio and its dependency Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box - «Playlists» (narrow); - «Airplay» (fight for); - «Payola» (money, money...);

Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box - «More radio stations do not necessarily bring about more choice for listeners and sometimes the only way to distinguish between one station and another is the station ident» (Fleming, 2002: 6); Radio and its dependency

Radio lost next generation Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box «One of the many reasons radio has lost the next generation is that music stations are unremarkable. They are vanilla. Sound the same. Too repetitious. Too many commercials. Too phony. Not real» [1] [1] COLLIANO, Jerry Del, «Radio: Bob Dylan, Program Director, Inside Music Media, 27/06/08

Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box «The McDonaldization of radio» (MaCFarland apud Berry, 2006a: 149).

Why musical radio loses ‘next generation’ (main reasons): Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box - iPod and mobile phones are more atractive and more convergent; - Internet allows choice, control and personalization; - Free music (legal and illegal) without ads; - Day has only 24 hours (but there are new players); - New generation has different ideias and ‘needs’ (they listen when they want);

Why musical radio loses ‘next generation’ (other reasons): Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box - Radio is failing in convergence; - Narrow radio playlists (repetion); - Intrusive ads and less talent on ‘djs’; - Sincronic formats (24/7); - Ratings doesn’t care about youngs;

Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box [1] COLLIANO, Jerry Del, «Redifene Radio – Don´t Reinvent it», Inside Music Media, 04/02/08 «Constant denial – that’s what's killing radio. (…) They have driven off the next generation -- have no clue what they want -- and think the problem is about perception. No one cares about perception -- they care about content and -- I might add -- how it is delivered» [1]

‘All’ music exists online Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box - Being MySpace nº 1 is already more important than massive radio airplay? - Radio is losing gatekeeper role?

New on-demand music services Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box the - Listen the music I want; when - Listen the music when I want;

New on-demand music services Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box - iPod has ‘only’ the music I put; - On-demand music services has ‘all’ the music;

On-demand music services Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box - They are free (even if there’s a premium service without ads); - They want I interact;

“Pandora radio” Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box - Created on 2000; - «Listen to free Internet radio»; - Original recomendation service ('music genome project'); - Is a legal player (only on USA); - Inspired hundreds of other services;

Online music services Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses - I can choose the song or the music; - I can reject (skip) the song; - I can create personal playlists; - I can re-listen my music; - I can share my profile and find other interesting profiles; How the radio opened Pandora’s box

Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses Online music services - 'Music genome project'srobbling' - 'Music genome project' (Pandora), 'srobbling' (Lastfm) or Amazon ‘who-bought-this-also-bought-that’ Amazon ‘who-bought-this-also-bought-that’ recomendation creates a new way in music listening (social recomendation); - «Listeners have tastes, radio has genres», says Ramsey [1] [1] RAMSEY, Mark, «Radio's in the “scarcity” business», Hear 2.0, 11/09/06 How the radio opened Pandora’s box

Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box Online music services - «Amazon.com’s approach to book reviews is also indicative a new gatekeeping without gates of a new gatekeeping without gates. Amazon.com seems further instructive of how a digital future might operate along the lines of McLuhan’s “everyone a publisher”» (Levinson, 1999: 128);

Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses Online music services - ‘Thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ gives power to the consumer (each service has is personal taxinomy); matchmaking» - Is the new «matchmaking» (Schmidt, apud Levinson, 1999: 129); How the radio opened Pandora’s box

Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses Online music services - «Services that allow users to customize their channels generate large, loyal audiences» [1] - «Digital technology is creating an iPod generation who see radio, and content, as something they can create and control themselves and is fuelling a wildfire global network of niche, net-based ‘radio’ channels» (Shaw, 2005: 2); [1] «The Radio Futures Study» (2008), Radionext (pág. 22) How the radio opened Pandora’s box

My research Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box power to the people - «power to the people» observed on 12 online music services: - AccuTunes; Cotonete; Deezer; Finetune; Imeem; Jango; Last.fm; Launchcast; Musicovery; Pandora; Playlist; We7;

Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box My research - 22 items analized (some examples): - Choose one song? Listen complete version (not 30’)? Choose an artist/band? It sugests me other songs? Skip the proposal? How many times can I refuse? Pause and play? Create playlists?

My research (conclusions): Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box

My research (conclusions from 4 chosen songs): Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box

My research (conclusions from 4 chosen songs): Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box - Five give me what I want; - Four didn’t give me any of the 4 songs;

Final ideas: Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box - If I want passive music, radio is ok; - If I want to control what I want when I want, online music services is the solution; - «Any radio strategy that doesn’t include listener participation and active input will fail» [1] [1] COLLIANO, Jerry Del, «Gen Y Consults Radio», Inside Music Media, 14/04/08

But it will be... radio? Obercom 23/11/09 - jpmeneses How the radio opened Pandora’s box

the end (and thanks)