Olswang report on the Impact of Social Networks on Music Commerce (this is a must read if you want to know about The Future of Music"

I have had this pdf on my desktop, marked in red, for a long time, but I finally got to dig into it, today. This is an absolutely brilliant piece of research (albeit with a fairly small # of UK participants, about 1700 I think) that very clearly spells out where the Future of the Music Industry is taking us: licensing access, revenue sharing, ad-supported monetization, diversified revenue streams, complete music+video convergence, user-generated playlists and viral syndication, etc (you've heard all that from me before I reckon). This Olswang stuff is so good that I will show most of it on this blog, and comment on it (annotated by: Gerd comments).

This report is also a total argument for the fact that my own Music Widget / MusicAPI company Sonific is right in the sweet spot of things - and that's always a good thing, as well ;).

So here it goes:

Olswang: "Social networks are changing the accessibility of music, helping it to become more democratic and utilitarian and this, according to the 2007 Digital Music Survey released today by music and entertainment research specialists, Entertainment Media Research and law firm Olswang, is having a profound impact upon the discovery and purchase of music, with far-reaching implications for the music business"

Gerd comments: you can say that again. Streaming full-length music tracks (selectable by the USER without any restrictions whatsoever) is now becoming the default on social networks and blogs. Basically - and I said this 2 years ago - THIS IS THE NEW RADIO - and it should be licensed like radio (albeit for a  much higher share of revenues).

Olswang: "The Impact of Social Networks on Music Discovery & Purchase The Digital Music Survey is currently in its fourth year and is an independent survey of 1,700 UK consumers. The research indicates massive increases over the last 12 months in usage of sites containing music such as YouTube (up 310% to 53%) and MySpace (up 57% to 55%). Amongst teenagers the incidence is huge – 77% have used MySpace and 69%, YouTube. For users of these social networks, music is playing an increasingly important role. For example, 39% of social network users have embedded music in their personal profiles (65% of teenagers). Approximately 70% do so to show off their taste and half do so to reflect their personality. What’s more, it seems to work as almost 60% agreed that they could tell a lot about a person from the music in their profile."

Gerd comments: embedded music will indeed be the #1 driver of how music is being found and purchased, going forward - give it another 12 months and EVERYONE will know what a widget is.  Imagine an Amazon.com MP3-only downloading offer that is based on a flat-rate and / or bundling deal that 'feels like free' (remember Amazon Premium Shipping)...? that is on the receiving end of a click-thru from 500 Million social net users. It will no longer matter where and how the purchase happens, and whether there is any friction that can shore up the old scarcity paradigm, but WHO GETS THE CLICKS - getting and retaining Attention is the new mission; distribution is a default!

Olswang: "The survey findings strongly suggest that social networks are also impacting music discovery. 53% of people revealed they actively surf social network sites to discover new music and artists and two-thirds of all users regularly or occasionally discover music that they love on their preferred social network site. The incidence is higher still on MySpace (75%), Bebo (72%) and YouTube (66%)."

Gerd comments: this is indeed a huge marketing opp for the record labels, and one they need to embrace a lot more than they have until now. Forget the idea of fixed per-stream fees - being in the pipeline is what matters, and getting more people to pay attention is what will drive music commerce.  Don't abolish the toll-booth - just move it down a bit further. PULL don't Push.

Olswang: "Crucially, the discovery is translating into changing purchase behaviour. 17% of social network users claimed it has a “big/massive impact” on the way they purchase music and 30% state that they “regularly/occasionally” buy CDs or downloads of music that they discovered on a social network site. This rises to 36% of MySpace users. However, more needs to be done to make purchasing this music easier, with 46% of respondents agreeing with the statement “I wish it was easier to purchase music that I find on these sites.”

Gerd comments: I think it is absolutely, positively and shockingly pathetic what most of the record industry has done so far to harvest the fruits of this enormous interest in music. People are TOTALLY interested, but -until now- the industry has done its utmost to  screw it up with impossible commercial terms, copy-protection obsession, format wars, territorial restrictions and licensing turf wars. Ouch! Talk about a dysfunctional ecosystem - this is winning the grand prize.

Olswang:" Russell Hart, Chief Executive of Entertainment Media Research commented: Social networks are fundamentally changing the way we discover, purchase and use music. The dynamics of democratisation, word of mouth recommendation and instant purchase challenge the established order and offer huge opportunities to forward-thinking businesses.” John Enser, partner and head of music at Olswang, says: The music industry needs to embrace new opportunities being generated by the increasing popularity of music on social networking sites. Surfing these sites and discovering new music is widespread with the latest generation of online consumers but the process of actually purchasing the music needs to be made easier to encourage sales and develop this new market."

Gerd comments: Amen. Are you listening? This is your future!!! 

I am going to stop here as you can read the rest on the Olswang site, but here are a few more morsels - couldn't have said it better myself: John Enser, partner and head of music at Olswang, says,  "As illegal downloading hits an all time high and consumers' fear of prosecution falls, the music industry must look for more ways to encourage the public to download music legally. Variable pricing models and DRM free music, which would allow consumers legally to transfer music to other devices, were popular among respondents and represent new ways of enticing people away from breaking the law."

Finally, a few more stats that support these arguments (most are from emarketer which always has good stats on these matters). And visit my new Kyte channel.

Data Junkie: The world map of social networks - Valleywag

Some very cool stats here. Media companies take note: this is your new audience.
Link: Data Junkie: The world map of social networks - Valleywag.

Social Networks Around The World: Survey Social Networks Worldwide: the Results

Some good stats here. Clearly, online communities and Social Networks are THE major growth engine for media, today. And music communities are the NEXT RADIO.

Link: Social Networks Around The World: Survey Social Networks Worldwide: the Results.

My poll on DRM: all gone by XMas 2007? (Kyte.tv powered poll;)

Come on now... vote!  And hit the play button to hear some music while you do so :)

Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com - on DRM’s Potemkin (the BBCi player)

Cory hits it on the nail again - hope the BBC gets another go at it after this debacle, though.

Link: Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com >> Blog Archive � My column on DRM’s Potemkin Village for The Guardian.

EMI's New Digital Strategy May Have Prevented A Worse June/July Slide (says Coolfer)

In response to one of the comments and questions on this blog, here is a link to a good post on Coolfer, trying to answer the question of whether EMI has fared better or worse with their decision to go DRM free.

Link: EMI's New Digital Strategy May Have Prevented A Worse June/July Slide.

Personally, I think this question is moot, for the most part: it is not like going DRM-free will solve all of the industry's problem in one big swoop. It's more like a trigger point - much like the Berlin wall coming down did not change East Germany in one day. More on this subject soon.

Kyte.TV Rocks: check out my show on "The Future of Music Publishing"

Just had dinner  last night with Daniel Graf, Co-Founder and CEO of Kyte. His company is really hot right now as it is the first to offer a complete converged experience of  social networking based on video / photo sharing on the mobile AND the computer, and synchronously, even. Pretty mind-boggling stuff!

Add some pretty cool chat tools (allowing you to chat with people while they watch, on the phone or the PC), some great music tracks provided by IODA, Capitol Records, among others (on that note they do need a lot more choice, but I think I can fix that;) great and easy editing options, and fast servers and very intuitive design, and you have a winner.  One thing is for sure: I will be producing a lot more shows here, both on the mobile as well as on the computer.

Here is my channel feed: This will auto-update with all my new stuff (I hope) - hit the play button for the music (I don't use auto-play on this site). Enjoy!

Silicon Alley Insider: Running the Numbers: Why Newspapers Are Screwed

He has a point here - food for thought, indeed.

Link: Silicon Alley Insider: Running the Numbers: Why Newspapers Are Screwed.

"It's actually not the cost of paper, ink, trucks, printing plants, and other physical distribution expenses. Rather, it's the cost of content creation."

The Next Small Thing (if you are wondering what WIDGETS are... read this)

This is a good read and one of the best explanations of the WIDGET ecosystem I have seen in a long time.  Link: The Next Small Thing.

"The Next Small Thing Bits of code called widgets open the door to viral marketing across social networks. Silicon Valley sees them as a Web revolution in the making..."

Google, Universal Music Partner To Sell DRM-Free Music

Link: Google, Universal Music Partner To Sell DRM-Free Music.

Looks like a hot summer (and autumn) for digital music and the Major Labels who seem to be finally waking up to what IS rather then what they WANT IT to be. Now this is what's going to happen - they will:
Step 1: drop DRM and sell music in the format that people actually want: MP3 (and other open formats - personally I'd love some good wav files!)
Step 2: bundle and combine music with SEARCH and Adds
Step 3: 'hide' the payments for music within another payments (access, ads etc), and license social networks and online communities to stream music on demand, without the usual DMCA compliant stuff
Step 4: share all kinds of revenue streams with all kinds of partners
Step 5: offer new deals to artists that will look like agency deals (well.. this will probably happen in parallel).

GOOD MORNING MAJOR RECORD LABELS. Listen to this soundtrack for immediate edification: Download alarm_clock_oldstyle.mp3  (courtesy of SoundSnap)

Finally... told you so;) - Universal Music Will Sell Songs Without Copy Protection - New York Times

"Signaling another departure from the music industry’s longtime antipiracy strategy, the Universal Music Group will sell a significant portion of its catalog without the customary copy protection software for at least the next few months, the company announced yesterday...."

Link: Universal Music Will Sell Songs Without Copy Protection - New York Times.  and many other links

It looks like my predictions will indeed hold up: DRM in digital music will be toast by the end of this year. Good to see someone is finally waking up at the Major Record Labels. 

In a nutshell, this is like the Berlin Wall Coming coming down. It took a loooooong time but when it happened it crumbled in a very short time, changing the landscape forever.

About "The End of Control"

My new book, and this blog, is about the most important issue the media business is facing as it tries to move forward: control. Try Googling for a definition of “control” and you will find many interesting morsels, such as: control = power to direct or determine; “under control.” Control is the power to determine - for the purpose of this blook, that will make a very suitable definition.

In my work as speaker and advisor, the tough issue of control emerges, again and again, as the key contention point within TV companies, publishers, record labels, and broadcasters: How can a commercial venture that is based on so-called “intellectual property” thrive and prosper in an environment that seems to continuously and progressively remove control from the creators/owners/providers of content, and hands it over to the people formerly known as consumers (aka the users), effectively making them more powerful every single day? 

But the reality is that every click inadvertently makes another case for the consumer’s ever-increasing rise in importance. Within all the conversations I have had about things like commercial content versus shared content, about the read-only or the read-write web, and about copyright versus Fair Use, the crucial question always seems to boil down to WHERE IS THE CONTROL HERE, i.e., questions such as “Who will control this new media universe” and “How much control do I need to run a revenue-generating business?”

Ever more devices, ever faster broadband, more channels, more platforms, faster processors, endless storage, better search — and still, we have only 24 hours in a day. The real barrier is attention! For many content creators or providers, it may often seem that one’s power to monetize stands to be inadvertently diminished every time some geek in some garage publishes a new piece of code. Today, those digital natives (i.e., the 10–25 year olds who were born as the Net Generation) increasingly self-assemble or pull media, controlling and sharing their own collections  — and thereby making the companies that usually purvey their mass-media less crucial in the process.

Seven years after the explosion of the dot-com bubble, the future of media once again seems to be up for grabs. Bloggers and Web 2.0 entrepreneurs; social media and UGC (user-generated content) startups; mobile filesharers and P2P software developers; teenage inventors; hungry telecoms; operators and cellcos; mobile phone makers; worried governments and industry organizations; exasperated venture capitalists and their latest and greatest offspring, search engines and online communities — they all want a nice, juicy piece of the anticipated $ 1.6 trillion entertainment economy of 2010. And they all are hell-bent to take control away from the people who used to have it: the studios, and the titans of content.

This book will offer a counter-intuitive theory of we will get there: Give Up on Control.

Yes, really: Every piece of control your users — aka customers, fans, or clients — run away with represents another leg-up gained by your company.  Much easier said than done, granted, but said it must be, nevertheless.

Old-media veterans, be they music moguls or newspaper, radio, or TV executives — those who have cherished and at all cost maintained their absolute control over the marketplace —  are  now howling with disgust as those People Formerly Known as Consumers are becoming their de-facto bosses. They have suddenly lost their Monopoly on Attention. Yes, it’s happening everywhere, in all industries, but it is in media where we are most awestruck by its implications: We will now have to work much harder at getting people’s attention, and to gain and keep trust, rather than just use distribution monopolies to send more stuff they should watch down the pipeline.

Hundreds of millions of users are now on their merry way toward becoming what I like to call context creators, or  — as some would argue — even co-creators and publishers (something I have started to call Usators★).

To further step up the frenzy, many new, second-generation media companies are already being built from scratch, propelled by the rebound flow of new VC money — money that, for the first time, comes not only from Silicon (V)Alley, but also from Beijing and Shanghai, Tel Aviv and Berlin. The excitement is palpable, new ideas are flooding the market, new opportunities abound, mobile and wireless media are gearing up to dwarf PC-tethered content commerce, and Asia is set to blow the roof off the ivory towers of traditional, western-modeled media. The New York Times and even the venerable Wall Street Journal now feature select bloggers (aka amateurs). CNN embraces amateur videomakers, showing video clips shot and sent in by its viewers. The good old BBC wants to become one of the biggest new-media purveyors in the world.... The list goes on.

What’s more, convergence is no longer just an idea, or a PowerPoint tagline. It’s naked reality for every media company, discussed in every boardroom. And many convergent products are relying on a substantial loss of control by all involved parties. Can we offer converged media services without giving up control?  Highly unlikely.

The bottom line is that in the future, we will need to learn how to live and prosper with relative control.

It is also likely that new players (i.e. those that start with this new paradigm rather than having had to switch to it) will have a lot more success in the media business of tomorrow than any incumbent no matter how much they want to change, simply because they may have never tasted the pleasures of Total Control.  Getting off the total control paradigm means putting the audience, aka the user, the fan, the ‘Foknacs’  - those formerly known as consumers - in charge, and handing the power over to them – as much as that seems a bunch of empty Silicon Valley web2.0 marketing talk, that is the real challenge.

And a challenge it is, because we are basically talking about beliefs here, not purely about facts. In other words, we’re talking about something akin to religion. What else would be the reason that the major record labels have, for the past ten years, continued to pound away on Digital Rights Management (DRM) software  — until just recently — even in the face of total disaster as far as user acceptance goes, with digital music sales having stalled worldwide?

The simple reason is their belief systems, their assumptions: “Once we permit un-control, once we permit and even bless sharing, once we let go, we are screwed!” Unless conquered, this fear is guaranteed to lead to their fast demise: They have only succeeded in making themselves utterly dispensable and irrelevant — the laughingstock of the financial markets.

Let’s face it: in a world where digital content is ubiquitously created and made readily available to everyone, everywhere, anytime, we simply will not generate enough revenues by attempting to control the copies (or the access to those copies). Throttling distribution and monetizing scarcity — an operating mode that most media conglomerates have enjoyed since the invention of the printing press, the phonograph, the TV, and the CD — is no longer a viable option. Rather, access to media content will simply be a universal, default, built-in status — and therefore, media will first be a service and only then a product.

Value will be generated by being and remaining the trusted context (formerly known as being 'the networks' but now becoming known as 'being networked'); by becoming the unique purveyor of a particular media experience; and by providing added values, again and again, every time the user shows up — real-life, virtually, or both.

It is becoming evident that a “media company of the future” that does not hand over the control to its customers and users will wither and fade quickly, while those companies that empower their users and in return receive trust, respect, and appreciation will grow exponentially and profit very handsomely, building a much bigger content industry than we could ever have imagined in the days of unit sales. Don Tapscott’s book Wikinomics offers some good insights on this, by the way.

Here and now, the people formerly known as consumers are becoming fully empowered Netizens, and it is the Net Generation that will quickly become the default audience for our content, rather than an aberration. The Digital Natives are taking over everywhere, and they will not play if they, in the aggregate, don’t feel like they control the game, or if they get even the slightest whiff that the game may be rigged.

Social networks are quickly becoming the new radio and stand to have more influence over music trends (and commerce) than MTV ever had; (digital) radio is fast turning into a music retailer and distributor; and smart, software-based taste-making agents are set to become a standard in digital music.  Mobile phones are becoming powerful media players, and remix devices, and super-distribution nodes — by default. Ubiquitous Wi-Fi and Wimax will soon mean that online and offline cease to be meaningful terms of distinction.

All of this can be summarized in one conclusion: It is now becoming utterly impossible to control the people formerly known as consumers. Instead, they control the media purveyors — by virtue of millions of mouse-clicks and the power of their combined click-streams.

Welcome to my blook, and welcome to the End of Control.

Added video comment:

Here is an excerpt of a video by Fora.tv, shot back in March 2007 at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, where I think I pretty much nailed it (if I may say so myself): The bottom line is CONTROL.

Welcome

...to The End of Control.

Instead of publishing these essays in a traditional form (i.e., as a print product), I have decided to try something new and offer The End of Control online, for free, with a new chapter released every week. I may ultimately still offer a “real” printed version, but for now, this is my next book — just subscribe to the RSS feed and get my latest “chapter” as soon as I publish it. Or listen to the podcasts or watch the videos (coming soon).

Some smart people have already coined the term for this: “blook,” an amalgamation of blog and book. Wikipedia has formalized this term; the UK Guardian has a good read on it, too: “Blooks are the new books — a hybrid literary form at the cutting edge of both literature and technology.”  That is exactly how I feel, so now I am a Blooker, I guess?

So why am I doing this? Although my first book, The Future of Music (co-written with Berklee College’s Dave Kusek), was quite successful and is still selling well (with translations into German, Italian, and Japanese), I have come to realize that the benefits of publishing a book in the traditional way are not as important to me as the benefits of publishing my work in a much faster, interactive, non-linear, and multimedia form. While I have to admit that I still love “real” books (and actually buy lots of them), I also love RSS feeds, email, Google Reader, iGoogle, and Netvibes. And I love my iPhone and my Motion Tablet PC. And still, there is nothing better than staying in bed and reading a nice book, so maybe one of these days you’ll be able to get a printed copy of The End of Control as well.

The kind of information I can get from an RSS feed (and believe me, my Google Reader is stuffed to the brim with 500-plus feeds) is totally different from what I get from reading “real” books, and I believe that both have their own merits.  It’s just that with The End of Control I think am much better off to instantly reach the RSS/email/iGoogle audience right here, right now, through any means they want to employ. And this will soon include video as well.

I guess I prefer ubiquity over scarcity, and I certainly prefer the results of viral reach and having a crack at thought-leading versus shooting for the relatively modest financial benefits that may be achieved through a printed product. In other words, generating a few bucks by selling a printed copy of this book will very likely pale in comparison to the downstream monetary benefits of immediately publishing stuff that has real impact.  But who knows — eventually this logic could flip!

So here is my pledge to you, my future readers (or shall I say, RSS subscribers):

• I will publish only the best, the finalized, the truly “ready” stuff. Unlike the usual off-the-cuff style of blog publishing that you can find exemplified on my very own MediaFuturist blog, these postings will not be quickies; they will have real meat and will be carefully edited. In other words, they will be book chapters.
• I will publish at least once a week (with very few exceptions), probably every Monday.
• I will respond quickly to your comments and contributions.

All my content will be published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license, so feel free to use, re-use, edit, and morph! (Simply credit me, Gerd Leonhard, and include a link to www.endofcontrol.com.)

So, thanks again for dropping by, and I hope you enjoy The End of Control.

Gerd Leonhard

October 1, 2007

• Read the book announcement (PDF)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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About Gerd Leonhard

Greetings, and welcome to the End Of Control.

I am a Music & Media Futurist, Blogger, Writer, Entrepreneur, Advisor, Keynote Speaker, Podcaster, Presenter and Musician.  You can watch some of my Futurist videos and presentations here. If you'd like to see what I look like, check out my MediaFuturist's photo site, use that good old Google Image search or check out my new videos on Future Talks. My LinkedIn profile and endorsements are here, and my Facebook profile is here.  Follow me on Twitter: gleonhard or DailyWisdoms

I live in Basel, Switzerland... and aboard a good many airplanes. I focus on these industries and sectors:

• Recorded Music & Music Publishing
• Radio & Broadcasting
• Telecom & Wireless
• Social Networking & Web2.0
• Social Media and User Generated Content
• Online Gaming & Virtual Worlds
• Film / TV / Video
• Print / News / Journalism
• Advertising & Branding
• Public Relations & Communications
• Education & Training
• Cultural Policy

My main theme is the creation of "Media2.0" business models and strategies. You can read all about this ongoing effort at my MediaFuturist blog, or just subscribe to the MediaFuturist RSS feed here. Some 40+ PDFs with my past presentations on "The Future of Media" can be download via my blog or my GerdPresents site.

This is a video from Future Talks that was just released via Media Conversations

Here is a short bio (a longer version is here):

A native of Bonn, Germany, now residing in Basel, Switzerland, Gerd Leonhard has spent over 25 years in the technology and entertainment industries, in the U.S., Europe, and recently, Asia. In 2005, Gerd co-authored the critically acclaimed book The Future of Music, which has become a must-read for music industry professionals around the globe, and which is now available in German, Italian, and Japanese. Gerd's second book, The End of Control, began publishing as a blog-book (aka blook) in 2007, further expanding his scope into TV, film, radio and print media.

Gerd's many clients include the EBU and ABU, SonyBMG, the BBC, RTL, Granada International, Nokia-Siemens, ITV, Unisys, Gracenote, AIM/Impala, MediaCorp Singapore, SUISA, and the European Commission. He is in great demand as a speaker at many leading events and conferences around the globe, and is considered a leading blogger and visionary.  For some of his speaking engagements, Gerd is represented non-exclusively by the London Speaker Bureau.

Gerd is an expert on the drastic changes that are impacting content, media, and communication companies as a consequence of convergence and the rapid deployment of new, disruptive technologies.

His hard-hitting yet inspiring presentations address issues such as:

• The advent of the user-creator (aka the Usator, a term Gerd coined) and the “people formerly known as consumers”;
• The attention economy in media;
• The wisdom of the masses and the rise of user-generated content;
• Content syndication and pull-vs-push media;
• New business models for digital content;
• The culture of participation in media;
• Copyright vs. usage right; and
• The consequences of mass media becoming personal media.

Gerd is equally fluid in technology, legal issues, social and cultural contexts, business models, and general trends that affect media and communications. He is a serial entrepreneur, with a focus on digital music; he currently serves as Co-Founder and CEO of Sonific LLC, a San Francisco based company that provides music applications and widgets for blogs, social networks and online communities. Gerd also works with select cutting-edge start-ups and new ventures in the entertainment and technology industries worldwide, as well as with investors and Venture Capitalists.

He also holds a Jazz Performance (Guitar) diploma from Berklee College of Music (1987), and is the recipient of Berklee's Quincy Jones Jazz Masters Award (1985).

Check what Wikipedia says about Gerd. Technorati has a few links, too. Google Blogsearch offers more intel. Subscribe to Gerd's newsletter using the box in the sidebar.

About Gerd Leonhard

Greetings, and welcome to the End Of Control.

I am a Music & Media Futurist, Blogger, Writer, Entrepreneur, Advisor, Keynote Speaker, Podcaster, Presenter and Musician.  You can watch some of my Futurist videos and presentations here. If you'd like to see what I look like, check out my MediaFuturist's photo site, use that good old Google Image search or check out my new videos on Future Talks. My LinkedIn profile and endorsements are here, and my Facebook profile is here.  Follow me on Twitter: gleonhard or DailyWisdoms

I live in Basel, Switzerland... and aboard a good many airplanes. I focus on these industries and sectors:

• Recorded Music & Music Publishing
• Radio & Broadcasting
• Telecom & Wireless
• Social Networking & Web2.0
• Social Media and User Generated Content
• Online Gaming & Virtual Worlds
• Film / TV / Video
• Print / News / Journalism
• Advertising & Branding
• Public Relations & Communications
• Education & Training
• Cultural Policy

My main theme is the creation of "Media2.0" business models and strategies. You can read all about this ongoing effort at my MediaFuturist blog, or just subscribe to the MediaFuturist RSS feed here. Some 40+ PDFs with my past presentations on "The Future of Media" can be download via my blog or my GerdPresents site.

This is a video from Future Talks that was just released via Media Conversations

Here is a short bio (a longer version is here):

A native of Bonn, Germany, now residing in Basel, Switzerland, Gerd Leonhard has spent over 25 years in the technology and entertainment industries, in the U.S., Europe, and recently, Asia. In 2005, Gerd co-authored the critically acclaimed book The Future of Music, which has become a must-read for music industry professionals around the globe, and which is now available in German, Italian, and Japanese. Gerd's second book, The End of Control, began publishing as a blog-book (aka blook) in 2007, further expanding his scope into TV, film, radio and print media.

Gerd's many clients include the EBU and ABU, SonyBMG, the BBC, RTL, Granada International, Nokia-Siemens, ITV, Unisys, Gracenote, AIM/Impala, MediaCorp Singapore, SUISA, and the European Commission. He is in great demand as a speaker at many leading events and conferences around the globe, and is considered a leading blogger and visionary.  For some of his speaking engagements, Gerd is represented non-exclusively by the London Speaker Bureau.

Gerd is an expert on the drastic changes that are impacting content, media, and communication companies as a consequence of convergence and the rapid deployment of new, disruptive technologies.

His hard-hitting yet inspiring presentations address issues such as:

• The advent of the user-creator (aka the Usator, a term Gerd coined) and the “people formerly known as consumers”;
• The attention economy in media;
• The wisdom of the masses and the rise of user-generated content;
• Content syndication and pull-vs-push media;
• New business models for digital content;
• The culture of participation in media;
• Copyright vs. usage right; and
• The consequences of mass media becoming personal media.

Gerd is equally fluid in technology, legal issues, social and cultural contexts, business models, and general trends that affect media and communications. He is a serial entrepreneur, with a focus on digital music; he currently serves as Co-Founder and CEO of Sonific LLC, a San Francisco based company that provides music applications and widgets for blogs, social networks and online communities. Gerd also works with select cutting-edge start-ups and new ventures in the entertainment and technology industries worldwide, as well as with investors and Venture Capitalists.

He also holds a Jazz Performance (Guitar) diploma from Berklee College of Music (1987), and is the recipient of Berklee's Quincy Jones Jazz Masters Award (1985).

Check what Wikipedia says about Gerd. Technorati has a few links, too. Google Blogsearch offers more intel. Subscribe to Gerd's newsletter using the box in the sidebar.