MediaFuturist: Must-haves

Some exclusive podcasts just went up on my mobile Apps!

incl. my last 3 presentations as audio-only version. Download the app here or use the web app, and let me know what you think!

Posted by Gerd Leonhard at 11:37 AM in About Me, Must Reads, Must-haves, Must-watch, My Mobile App | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Announcing my new Kindle book "The Future of Content"

Today is a very big day for me. My new Kindle book "The Future of Content" just went online at Amazon, and is already gaining a lot of traction. You can view a very short video greeting about the book on my GerdTube channel (Youtube:)

Of course I would be very happy if you would consider buying the book for yourself (only $3.90, Kindle-only) but beyond that it would be really great if you could help me spread the word via rating and / or 'liking' the book on the Amazon.com page, tweeting about it or just forwarding this mail to some friends that may be interested.

As you probably know, I have published my last 3 books as free pdfs (which are quite popular) but really wanted to try something new with this book; after all reading on the Kindle is a much better experience than reading a PDF, and thus is, to quote Kevin Kelly, one of those "New Generatives" :)

"The future of content" will also be available in dead-tree-versions aka print, via my Lulu store, soon - please stay tuned. Happy reading!

Gerd Leonhard
(Media Futurist and CEO of The Futures Agency),
Basel / Switzerland
http://twitter.com/#!/gleonhard
My public Amazon / Kindle profile
(sharing all my book highlights there)

Update October 25 2011: this nice review may be helpful:

Increases brain power for content creators, October 25, 2011

By

Suzanna Stinnett

This review is from: The Future of Content (Kindle Edition)

"I challenge you to expand your brain and read this book. What Gerd Leonhard is always doing is informing the global brain (or the collective brain) in ways that help us all get where we're trying to go. He builds the buildings in front of us.

This collection points toward several compelling answers for content creators. As a writer who is already swimming in the changing currents of "content," I found it intensely informative. Leonhard shores up my courage to continue embracing a digital world without DRM, and ebook prices "for the masses." He makes the all-important concept of curation crystal clear. If you are providing any kind of content in print or on the web, it's relevant. If you want to stay on the front edge of content creation and publishing, it's basic. I'm making this book mandatory reading for my epublishing circles"

Amazon Kindle German Store
Amazon Kindle French Store
Amazon Kindle UK Store

ABOUT "THE FUTURE OF CONTENT"
Futurist Gerd Leonhard has been writing about the future of content i.e. music, film, TV, books, newspapers, games etc, since 1998. He has published 4 books on this topic, 2 of them on music (The Future of Music, with David Kusek, and Music 2.0). For the past 10 years Leonhard has 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, he says. “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 Leonhard has 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. Please note that the original date of each piece is shown here in order to allow for contextual orientation.” Leonhard’s 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.

Posted by Gerd Leonhard at 11:46 AM in Branding, Broadband Culture, CHANGE, Consumer Insights, Copyright, Creative Rights, Creativity, Crossmedia, Crowdsourcing, Data is the new Oil, Decentralization, Disruption, EgoSystem EcoSystem, Emerging Markets, End of Control, Future of Advertising, Future of Books, Future of Broadcasting, Future of Business, Future of Film, Future of Journalism, Future of Media, Future of PR & Communications, Future of Reading, Future of Sports, Innovation, Interviews, IPR, Link Economy, Mobility, Music Flat Rate, Music Like Water, Must Reads, Must-haves, My writings, Open Network Economy, Open Source, Politics of Content, Predictions, Reading 2.0, Resources, Search, Sharism, Social Commerce, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling Trends, Telecom2.0, The Futures Agency, UGC | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

A gift for you: free PDFs of my last 3 books: Music 2.0, The End of Control, Friction is Fiction

Update: my new book "The Future of Content" was just released on the Kindle

I want to start 2011 in a renewed spirit of generosity and sharing, so here are the complete PDFs of my last 3 books, for free; provided under a Creative Commons,non-commercial, share-alike, attribution license (see below). If you still want to buy the dead-tree versions of these books (or donate something for the free PDFs - yes, that's an option, too;), you can visit my Lulu Store, or go to Amazon.com, or check out my 'Paying for Gerd' page. You can also return the favor by blogging or tweeting of Facebook-liking my stuff. Thanks, and enjoy, and have a great 2011.

Pay with a tweet: Music 2.0

Pay with a tweet: Friction is Fiction

Update: my free videos (50+ keynotes and presentations) are here, the iTunes podcast feed is here (just subscribe to download all videos to your iPod / iPad / iPhone, or computers), and my free slideshows (90+) are here, on Slideshare :)

Download 7MB Music20book pdf

Download Friction is Fiction 6.8MB PDF

Download The End of Control Gerd 8MB PDF

And be sure to check out my free iPhone and Android apps

These free books by Gerd Leonhard are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on various works offered by Gerd Leonhard

Posted by Gerd Leonhard at 1:23 PM in 21st Century Content Ecology, Announcements, Best of Gerd, Books, Content 2.0, Copyright, Creative Commons, Creative Rights, End of Control, Free!, Friction is Fiction, Good reads, Link Economy, Me, Must Reads, Must-haves, My Books, Networked Society, Open Is King, Open Network Economy, Resources, The Futures Agency | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Nice PDF by Peter Spellman: Musician 2.0, 3.0...: music careers in uncertain times

Peter Spellman is a friend and long-time colleague who works at my Alma Mater, Berklee College if Music, in Boston, and also runs his own company, Music Business Solution. He has written a couple of really powerful and highly recommended books geared towards musicians that want to use the web to propel their career (see below). Peter just send me a PDF with his latest work, a 'psycho-spiritual-musical manifesto' (see image on the left) and I really liked it so I figured I should pass it on to everyone, via this blog: Download Musician 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...Spellman (PDF, 2MB)

Enjoy!

Peter Spellman, M.A. M.Ed., helps musicians apply their entrepreneurial instincts to create success. He is Director of the Career Development Center at Berklee College of Music, and founder of Music Business Solutions (mbsolutions.com), a training resource for music entrepreneurs. He has worked as a booking agent, label director, music editor, artist manager and producer, and performs as percussionist with the ambient-jazz ensemble, Underwater Airport. His newest book, INDIE BUSINESS POWER: A Step-By-Step Guide for 21st Century Music Entrepreneurs, and his other business-building books, are used in over a dozen colleges and universities across the U.S and Canada. More at www.mbsolutions.com/books

PS: another great source of "Music / Musician 2.0" information is the blog of my co-writer David Kusek, here, as well as the BerkleeShares.com site, and the amazing online education platform, BerkleeMusic.com. And then there is my own book, Music 2.0, of course - read the free mobile version here.

Posted by Gerd Leonhard at 1:40 PM in Future of Music, Good reads, Music 2.0, Musician 2.0, Must-haves, Other writers, Resources | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Mobile first, from now on: the Media Futurist iPhone app is now ready for 1000 free users

As Google's Eric Schmidt said at the Mobile World Congress a few days ago: from now on, it's MOBILE FIRST. Right he is! He probably didn't know this (or disguised it cleverly) but incidentally my iPhone app, powered by the very swift and happening MobileRoadie people in LA, was approved 2 days ago and is now live in the app store.

The app will provide you with a much simplified and quicker way to access pretty much everything that I publish (now that's a scary thought), including my videos, my podcasts, my blog, my tweets, my lifestream, my images and illustrations, and of course my slideshows - pretty much everything but my bank account;).

Talking about 'bank': I will be creating a lot of app-exclusive content in the next few weeks, and will really build up my mobile presence in order to be ready for the iPad and other tablet devices which I intend to use for 'futuristic' publishing purposes, i.e. for monetizing my work in new ways. Therefore - and in keeping with the Freemium theme - the first 1000 users will get this app for free, afterward my costs will go up a bit and the app will cost a whopping $1.99.

So hurry and get your free version now, while you still can (several hundred have already been downloaded in the past 24 hours). I would also be delighted if you could share this news with anyone that may be interested; it looks like lots of students and university folks are already downloading it and that sounds like a good fit, too. Please re-tweet and spread the word.

I will, of course, offer an Android app as soon as MobileRoadie comes up with the goodies, and the same goes for iPad-ready formats (I have some very special plans for that... too early to share but... it will be exciting). As to the Freemium: I will probably try to offer both a basic, free version as well as a paid version, in the future - it all depends on the demand. You tell me.

If you don't have an iPhone, don't despair: you can still use my mobile lifestream site, read my blog's mobilized version, or get the entirely mobilized Music 2.0 book for free, as well.

Lastly, if you like this app and want one, too (does anyone not?), I do have some discount codes for the MobileRoadie platform - ping me to find out more.