One of the hardest phone calls I ever made was to my sister, Kathleen, when I had to tell her that I had crashed her car. It was 1977 and the very day I turned 16! She had kindly lent me the car so I could exchange her gift to me, the latest Kansas album that I had also received from a friend.
A lot of things have changed since 1977 but something that hasn’t is the way high school kids cherish a car as the most significant symbol of their growing independence. Kathleen’s car was a 1971 Mercury Capri with a stick. Not only was it a cool car (it’s all relative, kids) but my sister was a big deal on campus so everyone, and I mean everyone, knew that car. There was no going back on this, no way to undo it and no way for me or Kathleen to stop the flow of this juicy story. Almost as fast as by text messaging, Newport Harbor High School would learn that Kathleen DeRuff’s kid brother had wrecked her car! The genie was out of the bottle and not going back in.
Digital content and the Internet. In the 1970s, it was typical to get 2 or 3 of the same album for a birthday because there were many fewer recorded musicians than today. Expensive shelf space in the retail records stores was a limiting factor.
Today, with the digitization of music files, shelf space is not an issue. We can store over 60,000 songs on a $50 disk drive. Moreover, the risk of trying new music has essentially been eliminated. We sample music before buying and buy only the songs we like for a mere 99¢ apiece. We buy from the comfort of our homes or the convenience of our smartphones. In addition, the cost of producing music has dropped to the point where it is feasible for practically anyone to make a high quality recording. With low risk buying and low cost production, creativity has been unleashed and we have a proliferation of new genres of music and new artists. It’s fabulous, as most of you well know.
All new music is available online and most of the music we grew up with is as well. There have been a few holdouts over piracy concerns and economic issues, most notably the Beatles. I suspect the lack of online availability hurt them more than it helped them and today iTunes announced that the Beatles are available online for the first time. The genie is, indeed, out of the bottle.
Today’s Beatles' news makes the music industry a topical example of the trend toward digital content in all industries and the huge impact of this trend.
Collaboration gives rise to new economies. Collaboration is accelerating on the world stage. The advent of reliable, low cost communications has had an enormous impact. Voicemail and email have enabled conversations to be time-shifted to accommodate disparate time zones. The Internet and other forms of open markets enable people in different countries to bring together the best talent and resources at the lowest cost.
Trust is a key enabler. As people work together more closely, trust rises and more intricate forms of collaboration are possible. Software developers collaborate to create open source software. Scientists share their work openly for more rapid advancement of ideas. Suppliers and consumers do business directly through online markets. Knowledgeable people worldwide collaborate to create the online encyclopedia called Wikipedia.
The digitization of content, proliferation of tastes and products to match, and new age of collaboration are pillars of our global, interconnected world. These forces are also driving toward universal access to education, information and wealth creation. It is complex and fascinating. It is also a tidal wave that can’t be stopped. The genie is out of the bottle.
I’ve touched on a lot in this blog, much of it sensitive, and left out much more. Issues on my mind include the role of leaders, strategies for success, excessive dependencies as seen in the worldwide financial crisis and environmental issues. I’d love to hear your thoughts privately by email or in an open forum on the blog.
Helpful links:
· If you are interested in more on the proliferation of digital content, Chris Anderson has written a fascinating book called The Long Tail.
· For more on the growth of collaboration, watch Howard Rheingold’s talk on TED. It’s a 19 minute video worth watching.
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