THE NEW ECONOMY

By Ed Shane

Based on notes Ed made for Radio World magazine.

The Super Bowl is history, but it’s still fresh in my mind because of the numbers in the post-analysis: $2.6 million for a :30 second spot and another million for production. 

Doritos got even bigger bang for miniscule bucks:  Two other commercials appeared online.  One called “Mousetrap” was an online sensation, thanks to Web surfers who wanted their friends to see a giant mouse beating the crap out of a Doritos eater.

Welcome to the age of engagement in which consumer-generated content is king.  Everybody’s into it from independent bands on their MySpace.com pages to the 13 year old next door uploading his stuff to YouTube.

With today’s easily-accessible digital technology, everyone has the tools to record, publish, or produce, so the opportunities to be seen and heard are great.  The Pew Center reported that 44% of Internet users publish their thoughts or otherwise create online content.  That number will only grow.

In his book The Long Tail, Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief at Wired magazine, postulates that the day of the blockbuster hit is behind us and the world of unlimited choice is the driver of the new economy. 

His premise is that if platinum albums and mega-million-dollar movies are the “head” of the entertainment economy, then niche products are the “tail.”  Because there are so many niches that can be accommodated today, the tail is long—thus, the phrase.   

Consumers don’t have to wait for some corporate machine to approve their favorite music.  They pick it up at concerts.  They buy it online.  They produce it themselves. 

Online applications offer voice to artists who can follow their own muse and sell enough CDs, downloads, concert tickets and ringtones to make a good living.  Just last month at a music industry seminar sponsored by our sister company, Best In Texas Music Magazine, I used the Long Tail analogy to show independent artists how they can aggregate sales and attention without a traditional "hit" record. 

THE NEW ECONOMY

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 Now, where’s radio in all this? 

While consumers take charge on blogs, message boards and video uploads, way too many radio web sites still show what amount to digital billboards, cutesy bios of the air staff, and “event” pictures from months gone by.  “Brochureware,” as the techies call it.

Radio’s the original niche medium, created of rock spinoffs and AC spinoffs and hip-hop spinoffs.  Now we’ve allowed more granular niches to "out-niche" us. 

We’re part of the top-down “hit culture,” where hit music and blockbuster films and TV shows dictate public taste.  Radio’s traditional job is to play the hits and reflect that taste. 

Yet, I read a study that said only 60% of radio station web sites had the ability for contact.  Worse, many of those required a form before you could submit information.  Why make contact an interrogation? 

Radio has always been a conversation, and electronic connections should be as intimate as the one-on-one engagement radio’s known for.  Some stations make it easy: click and email a deejay.  Click and enter.  Click and vote.

The Web gives us the opportunity to add visualization to our audio.  “To see Reba’s new hairstyle, click on…”  or “A picture of the new building is at www…..”  “The governor’s complete statement is online now at www….”

But that’s the easy part.  Radio stations that embrace blogs, podcasts, peer reviews and the essential interactivity of the Web will be far better off in the Long Tail world. 

There’s a terrific opportunity with listener-created commercials, promos, and videos.   Stage a contest for an advertiser with the winning video displayed on your web site – or even on local TV. 

What better way to let listeners get involved than playing their mash-ups of the music you’re playing already?  A feature with the original songs and the winning mash-up get you interactivity and word of mouth.

Consumer-generated content is the new word of mouth.  And, like word of mouth, it has a long-lasting influence.

The bottom line:  Wag the Long Tail before it wags you.