Happy friendship day!
Its been a week since I started blogging - some of you have called me a "blog addict" but I would say this is now officially my "hobby". It also allows me to put my thoughts in writing and preserve it for eternity. I'm rediscovering my passion for writing.
I've been working at making this blog page easy to use as well. There's a search option (but I am waiting for Google to index these pages before its usable), an email alert for those that need to be reminded when this page is updated, the XML feed for those that use news readers like Newsgator or Bloglines, and a blog rating service from eatonweb (rate my blog using the "1" through "5" buttons on the right!). I'm getting nice and comfy with this blog thing. If you have an opinion to share please use the "comments" link at the end of each message to post your thoughts or suggestions.
By the way, the audioscrobbler.com service is cool. It shows you what songs I'm playing right now as well as my favorite songs/artists etc. Have a look at it under the "Music" section on the right.
Speaking of music - I think Pakistan is slowly opening up a jewel box of talented musicians who have been hidden away from the limelight for too long. Groups like "Junoon", "Strings" and "Fuzon" are making their way across the border to India and receiving international attention as well. "Strings" has two good songs which I like - "Dhoor" (released long ago) and a more recent one called "Na Jaane Kyon" (the original soundtrack for Spiderman-2). "Fuzon" has one called "Mora Saiyan" that I like, the lyrics of this song are in Urdu but there's a very good melody that is enjoyable regardless of language.
I'm wondering why record labels don't allow me to select just one or two songs from each album that I like and then roll that into my own custom CD? Or even download it as MP3 files - if I want them "now". This is relevant because typically each album released has only a few songs which any given person likes - you're forced to buy the entire album just to listen to those one or two songs.
Before you protest - I am talking about sites specific to Indian (or even "sub-continental") music. There are tons of sites, like the iTunes Music Store or allofmp3.com (check this one out, I'm sure many of you have not seen this gem of a site that allows legal mp3 downloads for a very low price - just make sure you select the "English" link, the site shows the Russian language version by default!) that cater to the music requirements of those that want English or even some other "phoren" language music. But what if I want to legally download Kumar Sanu's latest single "Tera Mera Pyar" from the album "Partners in Rhyme"? I don't want to go and buy the full CD - I just need that one song. No option but go download the MP3 from one of the millions of illegal MP3 trading sites.
And the record labels crib about music piracy?
OK to be fair, HamaraCD.com is a beginning in that direction. But I think they are not serious about it. One look at that site tells you that you can never get Strings, Fuzon or even Kumar Sanu's latest. The site is pretty restricted in its offerings.
Why not a site for Indian/sub-continental music that will allow you to either create a custom CD or even download a MP3 file (with appropriate "digital rights management" ofcourse) of any song you can think of (within reasonable limits)? Record labels should get out of their preconceived notions and realise that if they want to stay in the game they have to be nimble, quick and partner with each other (and with the customer). Which means seperate singles from albums and letting the customer choose what they want.
The other day I was watching the "Lessons in Excellence" show on CNBC-TV18 that talked about creating an "Experience Network". The topic itself was pretty hi-funda and the presenters made it even more difficult for the layman to understand by using the "American twang" weapon. The "American twang" weapon, by the way, is the use of an American accent to impress upon the audience that you are "MIT material". It is very effective in getting you keynote speeches and speaking opportunities attended by top CEOs (all of whom will hang on to every word you say but will not remember a thing five minutes after its all over). The "American twang" weapon is further enhanced if you throw in words like "customer-centric", "co-creation of values", "intellectual backbone" and "experience transition". In that sense the "Lessons in Excellence" episode was the guru of them all. They had the twang and the jargon to go with it.
But they had an important thought-provoking idea as well - the customer wants to buy an experience and not a product.
What does that mean in terms of music? Well, the basic of idea of allowing selection of single songs (which could then be put on a custom CD or downloaded as an MP3) itself is a step in the direction of allowing the customer to buy an experience. This needs to be further improved by making sure there are a variety of songs available for selection ("enhancing your supplier network" is the jargon for this). The entire experience could then be made available on a website (cheap to deploy, easy to maintain) or there could be brick-and-mortar stores that provide this as an exclusive service.
For example, how about walking into a MusicWorld store and going up to a jukebox that will let you search and listen to songs (there could be buttons for "whats new", "whats cool", etc on the jukebox that allow you to explore) and then select some of them. Once you've made your selection you pop in your credit card and out pops a CD customized with just the songs you selected! The store may even decide to hold competitions on the best CD compilation and have it judged by the music industry elite.
Wouldn't that be a wonderful experience that you would love to buy?
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