They should all become blogs! Immediately!!

Er, maybe not though, and I’m not taking an absolute position on this and honestly not involved enough in that space to know all the ins and outs. But I can see that blogging is still considered “out” by people who desperately want it to be in.

Case in point is this enormous and weighty discussion thread going on over at Harvard Business Review’s new want-to-be-a-blog-but-not-quite-ready site, HBRgreen.org. (h/t Shannon at Triple Pundit)

Have you ever seen a group of professionals invest so much time and energy into debating HBR content?

The HBR thread is perhaps of interest to anyone managing or planning for an academic journal. By now most people are aware of blogs though many hold deep misconceptions about who uses the internet and how. It’s also true that print journals deliver a loaded experience; it’s easy to conflate that experience with ideas about credibility, respectability and seriousness. There are merits in the print format and I don’t recommend anyone completely abandon that approach. I’m NOT suggesting a “wisdom of the crowds” play for academia in general. Not likely that.

Simply observing that everyone in academia agrees on the theoretical benefits of a healthy discourse, yet print journals (like some blogs) are notorious for leading readers into an unhealthy echo-chamber of ideas… The important difference being the size and dynamic nature of that chamber, as even a tiny blog community can generate greater diversity of informed perspective than an established and highly edited journal.

More importantly, making content available for some type of threaded discussion is a great way to engage and interact with a community of smart people. If I was designing a journal, I’d design it to engage the largest, most active, and best informed community possible.

PS: Who am I to pronounce the merits of blogs - I whom art too lazy to enable comments? I’m not an academic journal (one), trackbacks are enabled (two), and if you don’t know what trackbacks are, google is still your friend (three). Plus, I’ve got email, send me a note…

[tags]Academic Journals, Ideas, Blogs, Communication[/tags]

San Francisco based Current TV has filed for a NASDAQ IPO. Appears to be a well timed move. They’ve been in business since 2002 and recorded 68% growth in revenue in 2007.

AP reports Current’s outstanding debt and accrued interest to be $36.5M as of 12-31-07. Of interest is their stated intention to use IPO funds to completely retire that debt. The equity sale may leave them with over $50M to fund expanded operations. I assume they’ll also fund growth with a new package of long term debt at a lower rate.

I predict a major international expansion, using London as a platform for north and western Europe, followed soon by expansions to Tokyo and Mumbai.

Reuters reports that former Vice President Al Gore is Current’s owner and executive chairman. No kidding… I doubt I’ve ever seen any mention of Current with seeing Mr. Gore’s name prominently attached. They’ve made smart and effective use of the media - something I suppose the market should expect more of in the future.

[tags]Current Media, Al Gore[/tags]

Had a fun client conference call recently where we discussed specific goals to improve the client’s use of social networking tools. The consensus of the conversation was that the client can and will begin using familiar tools in new ways, while also investing time into new tools.

It was clear during the call that the client didn’t need expert advice; they knew what to do, maybe they just needed the conversation to feel more ready about doing it.

Here’s a list of thoughts to inspire that action:

“Practice these key points:

1.) Be an ‘activationist.’ Be someone who does things. Be a doer, not a ‘don’ter’.

2.) Don’t wait until conditions are perfect. They never will be. Expect future obstacles and difficulties and solve them as they arise.

3.) Remember, ideas alone won’t bring success. Ideas have value only when you act upon them.

4.) Use action to cure fear and gain confidence. DO what you fear and fear disappears. Just try and see.

5.) Start your mental engine mechanically. Don’t wait for the spirit to move you. Take action, dig in, and you move the spirit.

6.) Think in terms of now. Tomorrow, next week, later, and similar words are often synonymous with the failure word never. Be an “I’m starting right now” kind of person.

7.) Get down to business - pronto. Don’t waste time getting ready to act. Start acting instead.

8.) Seize the initiative. Be a crusader. Pick up the ball and run. Be a volunteer. Show that you have the ability and ambition to do.

- from Dr. David J. Schwartz, “The Magic of Thinking Big”, Prentice-Hall, 1959

I’ve been half kid whole earnest about Dr. David J. Schwartz before. It’s ironic how often we fascinate over the latest management ideas, only to find many of those same ideas published a generation earlier. Sometimes management advice from 1959 is more relevant and helpful than the latest tricks.

[tags]Dr. David J. Schwartz, Magic of Thinking Big, Action[/tags]

Mark Cuban writes about music. I agree with some of his ideas. Hundreds of thousands of artists have already adapted their creative process to the realities of digital distribution.

Cuban is a good blogger. His blog has brought together an intelligent community of commenters and some of those folks know a lot about the state of the music industry.

“We’re going to ruin you” was the threat that the RIAA presented to Oregon music fan Tanya Andersen.

Her response?

“I don’t know how those people can sleep at night” she said. Makes a fun story, doesn’t it?

Recording Industry Vs. The People reports that federal District Judge Hon. James A. Redden has taken Tanya’s side. (via Eliot Van Buskirk at Wired’s Listening Post.)

The RIAA’s tactics are entertaining if you enjoy the spectacle of unharnessed arrogance and white collar thuggery.

Still you’ve got to be curious how long their clients will tolerate this present course of action… every one of these failed suits does tangible damage to the public’s perception of the industry.

At what cost can they continue to lose these highly publicized cases against children, single mothers and the elderly?

[tags]RIAA, District Judge Hon. James A. Redden, Tanya Andersen[/tags]

Guy Hands has been working hard to reengineer EMI. Terra Firma bought EMI in August of ‘07. Since then they’ve suffered a number of public disappointments, not the least of which being Radiohead’s departure from EMI for their latest release “In Rainbows”.

This week marks a new low for the Terra Firma team. First there was the announcement of a restructuring process that will cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs. Next, Barney Wragg resigned from the head of EMI’s digital division. Then another public break - the Rolling Stones will release their upcoming “Shine a Light” with Universal Music.

Cutting unproductive units may generally be a smart move. Hands has decided to reduce risk by focusing on publishing rights acquisition and management.

I wonder how they’ll maintain the market insight needed to preserve margins. Artist development may not be a self-supporting unit, but it may have been EMI’s best means to stay in touch with the market. Will EMI invest in key relationships to preserve their competitiveness moving forward?

UPDATE: Jim Fusili at WSJ makes a pivotal error by assuming that EMI’s stated commitment to A&R will benefit “music lovers”. Fusili asserts that EMI’s “silo mentality” leads to the unnecessary segmentation of consumers.

This would be true if EMI were in the business of directly interacting with consumers. They’re not. The music industry relies heavily on distribution partners and most importantly, retailers. Glenn at Coolfer also points out some benefits of “silos”.

Retailers use segmentation and classification to help customers find what they’re looking for. Distributors, ad agencies, publicists, booking agents, old media outlets, and new ones alike use segmentation to deliver an attractive product. Segmentation is useful and desireable in a world where so many different dialects are spoken.

Many hip hop fans love classical music, and vice versa, yet they don’t want to have to dig through the Lil Mama to find their Liszt.

Label execs generally won’t pretend to have the same talents of a successful local record shop manager. Similarly, financiers shouldn’t pretend to have the same talents of an A&R rep.

[tags]Guy Hands, Terra Firma, EMI[/tags]

Stephen Shankland shares an interesting Cal Tech - Stanford B. School study:

… researchers found that with the higher priced wines, more blood and oxygen is sent to a part of the brain called the medial orbitofrontal cortex, whose activity reflects pleasure.

I recommend you click through to read Stephen’s summary. It’s a nice data rich confirmation of common pricing strategy practices.

In related news, my rates have just gone up!

[tags]CNET, underexposed, Hilke Plassmann, John O’Doherty, Baba Shiv, Antonio Rangel[/tags]

In 1959, author and academic David J. Schwartz, Ph.D., introduced the world to “The Magic of Thinking Big”. Some refer to that work as a “success classic“.

In 1965 Schwartz followed up with “The Magic of Psychic Power” (!!) which was later retitled “The Magic of Self Direction”.

There’s something less than straightforward about an author who teaches us specifically and exactly how to think for ourselves. Nevertheless, here’s Schwartz in “… Self Direction”:

“Advice is everywhere and most of it is free. Your neighbor, your relatives, your associates, just about everyone you know is eager to advise you. You have perhaps a dozen or more unpaid voluntary “consultants” on your self-management staff. These consultants, even without your asking for it, advise you on everything from rearing children to caring for your health to making your investments.”

“Psychologically immature people follow the advice of these self-appointed consultants, who usually know little of what they talk about. Rather than trust their own judgment or seek the advice of a competent, trained person, these people listen to and follow suggestions of second-class people.”

- David J. Schwartz, Ph.D., 1965

By the way, I’m in the advisory business.

[tags]advice, success, psychic power[/tags]

I enjoy a strange internet.

There’s not much weirder than blogs and wikis and myspace and facebook and chatrooms and youtube. It’s all an incredibly absurd arrangement of narcissistic experimentation. You can call it self expression. Whatever.

That’s my excuse anyhow. Which is to say, indirectly and perhaps awkwardly: at my blog you get what you pay for. I’m not a citizen journalist. This isn’t news or information you can use. It’s a process that I use. It’s trial and error. It works for me, even when it doesn’t.

[tags]go visit technorati[/tags]

Of course easy is a relative concept and subject to personal interpretation. I’ve got my easy and you’ve got yours.

Sharing quotes is pretty easy [for me]. Here’s personal finance guru Ira U. Cobleigh from his 1956 work titled “How to Gain Security and Financial Independence” (Hawthorn, NY):

“You don’t need to make one hundred thousand dollars a year to wind up on Easy Street. You do need, however, three things:

(1) the resolution and ability to save money;

(2) a practical plan for its profitable use; and,

(3) determination to carry through your plan.”

That’s the first full paragraph of Mr. Cobleigh’s preface. Plain and concise.

[tags]Ira U. Cobleigh, Easy Street[/tags]