June 22, 2007
DMC: Why Can't I Clone Myself?
I missed a few concurrent early afternoon sessions at Friday's Digital Media Conference because I was busy hammering out an article from an interesting morning panel for Technology Daily's PM Edition.
Unfortunately, my company has not figured out how to clone me, so here is a rundown of the panels I could not attend:
What’s Next in Web 2.0? Innovators, creators and thought leaders look ahead at what consumers can expect in the years to come. KickApps Senior Vice President Mike Sommers; Electric Sheep Co. Producer Damon Taylor; and Digital Media Wire CEO Ned Sherman.
Digital Evolution of the Music Business. Pricing, online and mobile music product offerings; next generation devices; and the future of digital rights management. OneHouse LLC Managing Director Jim Griffin; ItsHipHop.Tv CEO Timmy Grins; Nettwerk Music Group's Brent Muhle; Clear Channel Radio Vice President Eric Siebert; Motorola's Dave Ulmer; and WRNR radio host Stacie Griffin.
Advertising 2.0: New Opportunities for Marketers. U.S. News Ventures CEO Eric Koefoot; Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Vice President Keith Tomatore; Swivel Media founder Erik Hauser; Clearspring Technologies CEO Christopher Marentis; and PayPerPost Vice President Randy Mountz.
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DMC: Webcasting Debate Heats Up
In Technology Daily's PM Edition: The battle over webcasting royalties heated up at the Digital Media Conference. Panelists included SoundExchange's Michael Huppe; AccuRadio's Kurt Hanson; Matador Records' Dick Huey; Digital Media Association Executive Director Jonathan Potter; National Public Radio Vice President Michael Riksen; and Recording Artists Coalition's Jay Rosenthal. Attorney David Oxenford, who represents small webcasters, moderated the discussion.
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DMC: 'Outfoxed' Creator Conquers The Web
The creator of widely acclaimed yet controversial films like "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" told the Digital Media Conference on Friday that Internet distribution and online activism has forever changed the way he does business.
Filmmaker Robert Greenwald and his company Brave New Films are now creating viral video campaigns focused on sociopolitical change that are shared for free, via the Web, e-mail, by partner organizations and through earned media. He began producing the shorts in January and has distributed nine to date.
Recent productions like "Fox Attacks" and "Impeach Gonzales" attracted millions of viewers in a matter of days. Hundreds of thousands took action on the issues they addressed. Not bad for a self-admitted non-techie (who once considered using the "reply all" feature on his e-mail account a breakthrough).
Greenwald's earlier longer-format releases also benefited immensely from the Web. He previously partnered with liberal activism site MoveOn.org to publicize one of his films. He expected to sell about 2,000 copes through the site. Instead, nearly 30,000 movies were sold and $1 million was raised. "That was the first education for all of us that there was an audience and the audience could be reached," he said.
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DMC: Must See Sites
Executives at Friday's Digital Media Conference representing companies with a huge stake in online content revealed their favorite Web site (that isn't their own). Sadly, Tech Daily Dose was not among them. I guess we still have some outreach to do.
WashingtonPost.com Executive Editor Jim Brady loves the Internet Movie Database, best know by its acronym IMDB. So does Ted Cohen, chairman of Mobile Entertainment Forum Americas. Bruce Campbell, president of digital media for Discovery Communications, can't live without ESPN.com.
Deloitte's Product Innovation Director Ed Moran favors bargain hunting site DealNews.com and National Geographic Digital Media President Betsy Scolnik adores celebrity gossip site TMZ and video-sharing site YouTube. Moderator David Card of Jupiter Research said he turns to Wall Street Journal's Web site daily.
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DMC: Trends To Watch (Part II)
The "MySpace ecosystem" extends far beyond the popular social-networking site itself, high-tech analyst John Barrett told the Digital Media Conference on Friday. The interconnected Web of relationships built on MySpace also extends to Friendster, Facebook and other community sites, he said.
People that have profiles on one platform usually also have a presence on several others, said Barrett, who is research director for Parks Associates. "The MySpace thread runs through all social networks" and layered on top of that are YouTube videos and digital photos from Flickr, he said.
Barrett also spoke about how consumers, namely younger ones, are taking in media. His main message was that many are top-notch multitaskers. Individuals are increasingly on their computers while listening to music and/or watching TV. "It's no longer one screen and two eyeballs," he said.
The analyst also said the bubble will "begin to bust" for many Web 2.0 start-ups. Five to 10 million unique monthly visitors are needed for a site to have solid footing in the new Internet economy, he said. Most new sites "don't have that kind of scale."
A major difference between the dot-com boom of the late 1990s and today is that the Sarbanes Oxley Act made initial public offerings too expensive for budding Web firms, Barrett said. That's why start-ups rely on investments from venture capitalists and other "angels" to save the day, he added.
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DMC: Trends To Watch
The fourth annual Digital Media Conference kicked off Friday with a handful of analysts gazing into their high-tech crystal balls to predict top trends to watch in the months and years to come. Consumer Electronics Association Research Director Joe Bates had some interesting insight.
On the continuum from physical to digital, the vast majority of consumers are still purchasing content in a physical manner, Bates said. In one study, only 20 percent of respondents said they preferred to digitally download content, he said. Among early adopters, just 30 percent said they would prefer to acquire media digitally.
The convenience of buying and playing CDs and DVDs, as opposed to going online, buying music or a movie and uploading it, still wins out, Bates said. A number of consumers believe there are fewer restrictions in place with physical media, he said. Physical media is also easier to copy or share with family and friends, he added.
Bates' bottom line: "We have a long way to go. We'll continue to see growth in online distribution but it's going to be slow and it will take time."
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