Yesterday, I talked about rapper and music mogul Shawn ‘Jay Z’ Carter’s acquisition of the streaming service Tidal. They had their press conference yesterday. Remember when I asked which celebs would take part? Even I was surprised at the outcome.
At the conference, not only did we learn major A-List musicians support Tidal, they own pieces of this streaming service. Tidal co-owners include Beyonce, Madonna, Rihanna, Usher, Nicky Minaj, Alicia Keys, Calvin Harris, and groups Draft Punk and Coldplay. Together, they vowed to restore the value of music by launching a service owned by artists. Jay Z is still offering a million dollars and equity for other musicians to join him. The regular rates are $9.99 a month, which will pay standard royalties. But Tidal premium services will cost $19.99 a month, and that will pay artist the double royalties Jay Z promised.
But Tidal has a hard acre to plow. What is the customer supposed to get for $19.99 a month? We’re told higher quality audio files and new songs and albums before anybody else. I doubt that’s going to be enough to persuade customers. Customers are very cheap with their music today. In fact, music sales are half of what they were in 2000. Someone can easily go on You Tube‘s VEVO and watch the video for free at anytime. So I understand musicians’ frustration. But even teens and twenty somethings complain that music of the 2010s is plain awful. Do you know how many posts I’ve read from teens saying they prefer music from previous decades rather than today’s stuff? I think the artists should provide better music. Maybe then people will buy their product. Then there’s competition. Taylor Swift might have problems with Spotify, but customers don’t. They have 60 million subscribers. Tidal doesn’t even have 20,000. Apple and Beats are working hard to launch their own streaming service. All I heard from yesterday’s conference is how Tidal benefits the artists. All the artists I saw up there are multi-millionaires. How is this going to benefit consumers, many of whom are still struggling economically? Is Tidal going to be the next big thing in music? Or will it be the worse flop since Apple Newton?
Tidal is a major music streaming company that’s going through some changes. It’s been acquired by hip-hop star and business mogul Shawn ‘Jay Z’ Carter for $54 million dollars. And he’s not wasting any time.
A press conference is expected at 5 pm eastern time. There, Jay Z himself will discuss his plans and a new direction for Tidal. It’s already been rumored to snag new albums for A-list musicians like Madonna and Kanye West. And according to a Swedish based blog, Tidal wants to get the first release of a major artist before competing streaming companies. But all streaming services will have access to their songs…eventually. The new Tidal is getting support from many big names. Madonna, Kanye West, Beyonce, Rihanna and Calvin Harris have hashtags in their social media posts saying #tidalforall. Even Taylor Swift, whose had problems with Spotify, is on board with Jay Z’s Tidal. Some of her songs are expected to be featured. Just don’t expect any tracks from her 1989 album to appear. Musicians trust Jay-Z. His Roc Nation helps artists with management, production, and other business ends of the industry. He seems to be keeping that trust with Tidal. We hear artists will be getting paid twice as much as they would with other streaming services.
But what about the customers? The 35,000 Tidal subscribers have to pay $19.99 a month, compared to only $9.99 a month with Spotify. I hope Jay Z addresses this in this conference today…then announces he’s lowering the price. I’m not saying this to be a cheapskate. I think if the price were more competitive, more customers would jump to Tidal, subscribers would go up, and artists would be paid more too. Or if he’s going to keep the $19.99 a month price, give the consumer something really special. I mean something even more special than being the first to release a musician’s song. ?The trust factor between Shawn Carter and many musicians have already been established, so no wonder why many are flocking to Tidal. There’s some speculation that some celebrities will accompany Jay Z to today’s press conference. Who will they be?
Most girls born after 1960 have probably owned a Barbie and/or a Barbie toy set. It used to look something like this. Today, the Barbie franchise looks a lot different.
Today’s Barbie can literally have a conversation with you. It’s called Hello Barbie. Hello Barbie is expected to appear on store shelves in late 2015. This Barbie uses the child’s voice pattern and Wi-Fi to interact with the child. In a demonstration, an adult woman talks about New York restaurants and even what she should be when she grows up. Yes, an adult woman is literally asking a doll what she should be when she grows up! While this doll is a technological breakthrough, it’s causing intense debate. Those who support Hello Barbie say it will enhance a child’s motor and social skills. Some say it will give lonely children a friend and make it so they don’t have to be lonely. But opponents are nicknaming this new toy ‘surveillance Barbie’. Civil libertarians and privacy right advocates say this doll can be used to spy on a child, or anyone for that matter. They argue Hello Barbie can manipulate the child into something he/she isn’t, or exploit a child’s emotions. There’s an advocacy group called Campaign For a Commercial-Free Childhood that’s even calling on Mattel to take this talking doll off the shelves at once.
I won’t go as for as the Campaign For a Commercial-Free Childhood, but there’s cause for concern. There is just something Big Brother/Orwellian about this doll. I’m afraid of what it might be teaching our children. ?I believe it is Mattel’s intention to make Hello Barbie a fun, educational and enriching experience for children. But in the world we live in, it can easily be twisted into something sinister. It can easily be manipulated into a spy tool, turning family against family and friend against friend. I don’t like the way it’s telling people what they should be when they grow up either. They’re taking children’s imagination away to figure that out for themselves. And what about the social ramifications? This could discourage kids to make real friends with real people. Why even try when you got interactive Barbie at home? So when the child gets grown and enters the real world, he/she won’t have the people skills they need to succeed, especially if they spent the first 18-22 years of life with a doll as their best friend. Isn’t society already coming to that already?
Early last year, the Internet world buzzed at the possibility of a merger of two mega media conglomerates Comcast and Time Warner (For the love of all that is good…nnnnnnoooo!!!). That was my aloud thinking, but there are?a few things that have to happen first.
One is US government approval. There has been delay after delay, and we don’t even know is they’ll approve this merger. But Comcast VP David Cohen is optimistic this deal will be approved in the middle of 2015. What’s holding up the federal review is a dispute over FCC access to confidential contracts. Then there’s approval from state governments. In California, conditions were proposed for this merger. Comcast rejected California’s conditions. In New York, political and community leaders are concerned about Comcast and Time Warner’s poor customer service ratings. Some call for a promise from Comcast: Provide universal broadband for all New York City customers, then we’ll talk about backing the merger. Both California and New York’s Public Service Commission have delayed votes. And in North Carolina, VP Cohen is peddling the merger in the name of faster service. In fact, he promises service will be twice as fast. A state law prevents ?local broadband from crossing into other people’s territories. This could cause a huge hinder in their merge quest.
Comcast and Time Warner really expected this deal to be signed, sealed and delivered by Christmas 2014. Now, they will be lucky to have government approval by summer 2015. I’m concerned this deal will push and bully smaller cable companies out of business. Then there’s the ‘Too big to fail, too big to care’ factor. If this merge happens, and they’re the only candy store in town, this would give Comcast/Time Warner a license to charge and treat customers any way they please. I’m glad the Feds and some states haven’t given the okay yet. But I’ll be even happier if they deny it all together. Do you think the merge will ever pass through?
Last year, NFL?coaches?started using tablets to produce and call plays. That was a huge advancement between American technology it’s most popular game. Now there’s another one.
Now, the NFL is poised to make history again. They’re going to broadcast a live game exclusively for the Internet. This game will be in the 2015 season, week seven, between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars. Because this game will be live from London, England, it will come on at 9:30 am Eastern, 8:30 Central and 6:30 am Pacific. The NFL is touting this game to You Tube and other social media/Internet brands. For decades, the NFL and television have been synonymous. But during the 2010s, there’s been a movement to form a partnership with a major Internet conglomerate. Back in 2011, they tried to make a deal with Google to take Sunday Ticket Package. But the NFL went back to Direct TV. But this Bills vs Jaguars game won’t be on Direct TV. According to one sports-media consultant, the NFL selling one game from London could eventually lead to a long term relationship between the NFL and Internet. The NFL hopes this one game would be the catalyst to selling a package of games to a major Internet company.
I give the NFL credit about the timing. To air this game online at 9:30 Sunday morning right before the regularly scheduled games (which starts at 1pm Eastern) is genius. As an NFL fan myself, I’d love to watch four games a day (9:30 am, 1 pm, 4:25 pm, 8 pm). But it sounds like it’s going to take more than one game to establish some revolutionary move to move games on the Web. And what about TV companies and advertisers? If the NFL starts moving games to the Internet, I doubt they’re going to let $27 billion dollars a year go without a fight. So how would they react? And how many NFL fans are hardcore enough to watch this game so early? And which online company would take a chance on this?
So you can’t get enough of the late Apple founder Steve Jobs? Yes, another Steve Jobs biography will be out March 24, and you can pre-order it on Amazon.
It’s called Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart to a Visionary Leader. It’s written by seasoned journalists Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli. Interview subjects include those who were closest to the Apple magnate, including current CEO Tim Cook, Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell-Jobs, and Disney CEO Bob Iger. It should be made clear that this isn’t the Steve Jobs biography in 2011. Many critics say Jobs was portrayed as a jerk and egomaniac. This upcoming biography has more human tales of Jobs. For instance, when Jobs was in desperate need of surgery, Tim Cook offered his liver, since they were the same blood type. Jobs turned down Cook’s offer. This left a long lasting impression on Cook. “Somebody that’s selfish doesn’t reply like that,” he said. This biography talks of Jobs’ potential job venues, like planning ?to buy Yahoo with Bob Iger. The book talks about Jobs’ return to Apple in the late 1990s, as Apple started to rise from being a struggling ghost of better days to one of the leading technology conglomerates of all-time.
Do we really need another Steve Jobs book? Do we really need another Steve Jobs movie? As long as people buy, then I guess so. I read the first book. While it was harsh at times, it did a good job showing that Jobs, despite being one of the greatest techies ever, was still a human being. Like the rest of us, he also made mistakes and bad choices. Nobody bats 1.000 in the game of life. But this new biography seems to show bonds between his co-workers that went beyond board rooms and computer labs. The story about Jobs’ liver medical crisis alone kind of makes me want to get Becoming Steve Jobs. Would you pay another $22-27 for another Steve Jobs biography?
