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Download Free 1 THE FUTURE OF CONTENT Futurist Gerd Leonhard’s Best Essays, Blog Posts and Comments on the Future of the Content Business www.mediafuturist.com from the original Kindle Edition October 2011 FOREWORD by Gerd Leonhard, Author (Futurist and CEO of The Futures Agency) I have been writing about the future of content i.e. music, film, TV, books, newspapers, games etc, since 1998. I have published 4 books on this topic, more or less, 2 of them on music (The Future of Music, Music 2.0). For the past 10 years I have been deeply involved with many clients in various sectors of the content industry, in something like 17 countries, and it’s been a great experience. I have learned a lot, I have listened a lot, I have talked even more (most likely:) and I think I have grown to really understand the issues that face the content industries - and the creators, themselves - in the switch from physical to digital media. This Kindle book is a highly curated collection of the most important essays and blog posts I have written on this topic, and even though some of it was written as far back as 2007, I believe it still holds water years later. I have tried to only include the pieces that have real teeth, here and now, and leave everything else. Please note that the original date of each piece is shown here in order to allow for contextual orientation. My intent to publish this via the amazing Amazon Kindle platform, exclusively, and at a very low price, is to make these ideas and concepts as widely available as possible while still trying to be an example of what digital, paperless distribution can look like, going forward. I don’t want to miss the opportunity to thank everyone in my network, be it my colleagues at The Futures Agency (Ross Dawson, Glen Hiemstra, Rohit Talwar, Neil PerKin, Jonathan MacDonald, Didier Marlier and many others), my favorite Blogs (such as Mashable, Read-Write-Web, Arstecnica, Paid Content, Wired, Forbes, The Guardian, The Huffington Post etc), the brilliant people I follow on Twitter such as Umair Haque, John Hagel, Jeremiah Oywang, David Forrest, HarvardBiz, the amazing online video treasure droves such as Ted.com, Fora.TV, BigThink and YouTube or my favorite book authors starting with Guy Kawasaki, Chris Anderson, Jeff Jarvis, Steve Howe, Stephen Johnston, Clay Shirky, Michio Kaku and many others. Without all of you I would have very little to say. Thanks! I hope you enjoy this book. Happy reading. Gerd Leonhard * * * * * 2 CONTENT 1. The Future of Content in a Connected Economy 5 2. Data is the New Oil - The Future of Marketing and Media 9 3. Is Traditional Content Licensing fit for the Digital Age? 11 4. The Future of Content: Protection is in the Business Model - Not in Technology 12 5. Warner Music Group 2.0: My Unsolicited Advice on how WMG could embrace the Future 14 6. Attention is the New Currency (and Data is the New Oil) 17 7. We are shifting to an open Operating System (and not just in media) 18 8. Mobile Trends 2020: Slideshow & Select Wisdoms 19 9. Happy New Year: Cell Phones up-cycled to an Interactive Art Installation 19 10. New Year's Message to the Music Industry: 9 Points 20 11. Some Ebook Industry 'Leaders' are starting to sound exactly like the Music Industry 5 years ago! 21 12. Will Algorithms run our Digital Lives? 22 13. Content: The Past & the Future - we must challenge our assumptions 23 14. Book Publishers: please learn from the Mistakes of the Music Industry - my thoughts on what to do 24 15. Content 2.0: ‘Protection' is in the Business Model - not in Technology 26 16. Open Letter to Lord Mandelson: here is how to solve the Internet Music Problem - Legalize it! 30 17. Lubricating the Eco-System is the Biggest Opportunity! 35 18. Telecom Crucial for New Media Business, says Media Futurist 37 19. Pre-Web Content Economics vs. Web-Native Content Economics 39 20. UK Government: disconnect Those Who Share, Return to Total Control asap.? 39 21. Mobile Broadband is set to explode - so what happens to Content Creators? 41 22. Gerd Leonhard ’87 Shares Ideas on how Musicians can thrive in the Link Economy 41 23. Spotify rocks - but without a Compulsory, Public Digital Music License they are Doomed 42 24. Broadband Culture: my favorite Web 2.0 Memes and Phrases 44 25. The Price of Freedom: reinventing the Online Economy 46 26. Rolodex 2.0 - the Social Web is becoming our Address Book 50 27. The Future of Advertising: become like... Content 51 28. The New Business Model: having the guts Not to have one? 52 29. A New Economy of Links & APIs, and the Interdependent Content Eco-System 52 30. Picnic Interview: Gerd Leonhard on Social Media Marketing 53 31. A Key Topic for 2009: Ego-System becomes Eco-System, Yelling becomes Talking, Traditional Marketing... Dies! 54 32. 8 Key Trends and some Foresight for the next 5 Years 56 33. YouTube vs. GEMA & PRS, Kindle vs. Book Authors, Google's Free Music in China: So what is the Value of Content?? 58 34. Why Google's Free Music Deal in China is so important, and what it may Really Mean 61 35. Marc Andreessen: “Not Allowing Your Content to be used is entirely the Wrong Strategy” - me: “IP gridlock must end.” 64 36. Some Internet Companies are becoming more like Public Utilities and Integral Parts of our Social Infrastructure 65 37. The Gloves are Off: now Google needs to Really get Involved in the new Content Economy, asap. 66 38. YouTube will remove UK Music Videos, no agreement with PRS - when will they ever learn?? 66 39. Band offers Mobile App for streaming Music (ArsTechnica): Music as Software is the Next Format after the CD! 68 3 40. Amazon Kindle: Rights-Holders oppose Robotic Reading Feature, Amazon makes it an Option. 69 41. Control matters less, Trust matters more: new Ecosystem in the Making 70 42. My Comment on “The Economics of Giving It Away” 71 43. 4 Bottom Lines of the Internet Economy: Participation, Engagement, Attention, Content = ADS 72 44. Time for Action: the Music Industry needs the Same Change that Obama Brings to America 72 45. Open Really is King - especially now! 73 46. Music Industry: so now you are on Twitter - so what should you do next? 74 47. Hold on, I'm coming: the Digital Music Flat Rate is imminent 76 48. 7 Reasons why Everyone in the Music Industry Should Try Twitter 77 49. Great Read on “Intellectual Property and new Copyright Law” with some nice Media Futurist-ic Quotes 78 50. 2009: The Year of Re-Designing the Content Business 80 51. 10 Quick Ways to re-invent Print Media (Newspapers, Magazines) 81 52. 4 Reasons why we will start printing a lot less in 2009, plus: Mobile Reading is Here! 82 53. 6 Survival Tips to prepare for a tough 2009: Time-Wasters will become Life-Savers 83 54. The Future of Mobile: Search more, Talk less? 86 55. The Long-Tail Questioned - The Register says, it's all Bunk. I say they are Wrong87 56. 5 Steps to finding another Way forward - getting on the right Track to the Future of the Music Business 89 57. The New York Times Earnings report Parallel Recorded Music Trends: Digital Revenues not Nearly enough to offset steep decline in traditional business 90 58. Take Note: Free for the User is not the same as 'Unpaid" For the Creators! 92 59. Email is for Old People (and that includes me, I guess) - The End of Email as Social Tool? 94 60. The Paperless World is coming! Reading via Mobile Devices is finally becoming a Real Option - Book 2.0 anyone? 94 61. The Future of Music. More Income from Attention & Performance, less income from Copies - but overall growth once we accept this trend. 95 62. The Future Revenues for Content: Attention revenues up, Copy Revenues down - get used to it 97 63. The Fear of Change - and why we must get wet if we want to learn how to swim! 99 64. A Couple of important Keywords that keep popping up in my speeches (and everywhere else) 101 65. Future Stories #2: The Future of Telcos - Content & Service Pipes 101 66. Broadband 2.0 (via Wired) and then? Content 2.0 and Copyright 2.0? 104 67. Music 2012 - Totally Secure, really (like… completely) , so scarce and so very very valuable again 105 68. TV can avoid the Music Industry's Fate and survive the Digital Age 107 69. Future Stories #1: Blogs will be record Labels, Bloggers will be the new Music Moguls 109 70. Breaking the Law to get a Break 111 71. The End of Control: Mobile Media un-control in your Pocket! 112 72. Welcome to Paul McGuiness' next version of the Internet: Policed, Censored, Throttled and Fully under his Control 116 73. Seth Godin on the Music Industry 122 74. About Gerd Leonhard 123 4 1. The Future of Content in a Connected Economy August 11, 2011 WHY PAY WALLS, THE IPAD, AND BRILLIANT CONTENT may not be the saving grace of the news-media industry. What will people pay for? Context, social connections, and access, among other seemingly non-intuitive commodities and experiences the content industry should be more focused on. Some tough questions are currently plaguing the content industries worldwide. How can you make money with content when “the copy” is free and ubiquitously available (legally or not)? How can you generate strong and recurring revenues with digital content if you can’t control who gets to access, read, view, watch, or share it? And if, as many pundits are saying, access to content-in-the-cloud is indeed becoming the new mode of consumption, where exactly are those new revenue streams that will support content production, marketing, and distribution in the future - and make it a profitable business, as well? CONTROLLING DISTRIBUTION - A KEY ISSUE AND A RAPIDLY FAILING PARADIGM.
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