The RIAA and NAB have taken to Congress to ask that a law be passed that demand that all smart phones, tablets, etc must contain FM radios. Demanding FM radios for consumer electronics is like demanding integration of buggy whips into the design for the automobile.
Lack of innovation will be the death of commercial radio. I’m not referring to technological innovation, but programming innovation. At the very moment of an evolutionary cultural explosion, commercial radio contracted instead of expanding. Top 40 tightened it’s grip on the airwaves, seemingly at the same time as the rest of the world learned the phrase “the long tail.” Instead of providing commercial radio a platform to expand options available to consumers, the 2000′s only offered another decade’s worth of top 40 hits. At the same time, it gave consumers Creative Commons, the iPod, mp3s, bit torrent, satellite radio, Pandora, last.fm and hundreds of awesome music blogs.
Technologically, commercial radio has pushed HD radio, which required a new hardware purchase. While I acknowledge my New York bias, NYC is one or the largest radio markets that exists. I haven’t heard of any initiative to put radio towers in the subway system to allow for a seamless experience for those dedicated to their radios.
While lack of signal in the subway system is a major market dilemma, lack of adoption of modern technologies isn’t. Where is the TiVo for my radio? It’s litigated out of existence. The RIAA fought tooth and nail against adoption of a technology that might, in some way, impact album sales in any way. This is the same RIAA that wants legislation to demand FM radios in nearly everything portable with a battery. I had a Sirius subscription for three years, and my radio had a “rewind” feature, but it wouldn’t retain anything past 45 minutes and the memory was flushed each time the device was turned off. There is nothing more frustrating than a feature that is intentionally crippled. It’s no longer a feature, but an extra set of buttons that will never be used.
One piece of technology that has been partially adopted by commercial radio is song tagging. This isn’t a feature that assists the consumer as much it assists the RIAA. Tagging songs so you can purchase them when you are close to a computer is a great way to encourage single track downloads. I wonder why the album is dead?
The only things I own that can receive an FM signal with are my car and alarm clock. I use my phone to play audio in my car and my alarm is set to beep instead of the radio. My lack of listening to FM radio isn’t rooted in a lack of devices that are FM capable. I don’t listen to FM radio because of the availability of competition. In a key moment in the history of radio in NYC, commercial FM radio homogenized. “Rock radio” died and the WNEW aimed at the 18-35 male demographic with an all-talk format also died. Stations fired curators and went with nationwide computerized programming. As a result of the lack of care put into the programming, I drifted away from the radio and towards the internet. Pandora, podcasts, music blogs, social media and bit torrent are my curators now.
My automobile doesn’t need a buggy whip. The automobile was designed with the needs of the driver in mind, not those who built stagecoaches. What the automobile does have, is options. Every model has a list of options that set it apart from other models. If you want a sunroof, you can find a car with a sunroof, but you don’t HAVE to have a sunroof. Cars have certain items required by legislation, but I thunk that the free market would choose a car with seat belts over a car without any. My phone isn’t allowed to have more than a certain level of radiation by law, but if given the option, I’d choose the less cancerous model of phone. If I want my mp3 player or phone to have an FM antenna, I’ll find one with an FM antennae.
ps. The CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) is also against this idea.
Facebook suggested that I ‘like’ the Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves and New York Mets because I like the New York Yankees. On Twitter, someone took a screen shot of a Facebook recommendation that people who like Canon should like Nikon. Similarly, Amazon has been recommending fashion coloring books to me based on a gift I purchased for Amber years ago.
What do these recommendations have in common? There was a failure of the system’s algorithm. Yes, the Yankees are a baseball team, like the Red Sox and Braves the Mets are questionable), but as a Yankee fan, I’d never choose to root for those teams. I doubt that many Red Sox fans would choose to root for the Yankees either. Canon and Nikon both make professional level cameras, but the Canon vs. Nikon feud is epic amongst photographers. People who like these companies on Facebook most likely like the same photographers, photography websites and design companies, but Canon folks don’t like Nikon and vice-versa. At the minimum, they are apathetic towards each other. Years ago, I bought some coloring books for Amber as part of a larger gift, but it doesn’t mean that I have an interest in coloring books. It means that I am a thoughtful gift giver.
Another quick example. I bought peripherals for my Wii recently. Amazon started recommending XBox peripherals to me. Has Amazon’s recommendation engine started to fail?
No. I don’t think that recommendation engines have been failing, but the options have been expanding. While Amazon has billions of transitions as a knowledge base, a countless number of new products arrive on the site daily. In order to continually recommend new products, the algorithm needs to expand. When the algorithm expands, I think it’s easy to overlook how the relationships work. When you buy a peripheral for a stereo system, cabling for example, it will work for most stereos.
Electronics > Stereos > Onkyo > Peripherals
Will most likely translate to
Electronics > Stereos > Sony > Peripherals
The relationship breaks down when you look at
Electronics > Video Games > Wii > Peripherals
and
Electronics > Video Games > XBox 360 > Peripherals
Three of the four options are identical, but the most important option is which game system the peripheral is for. This goes double for Facebook’s recommendation of rival sports teams. Yes, they’re baseball teams, but PLEASE GOD NO NOT THE RED SOX.
Gifts also become a problem. I’ve purchased Puma and Adidas shoes from Zappos in the past. I get recommendations of more athletic sneakers that are remakes of 70′s sneakers. If I were to purchase a pair of shoes for my wife using my account, is Zappos going to know that this is a gift, or will Zappos make personal recommendations for someone who isn’t me?
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
_ Geddy Lee, Rush
When Pandora recommends songs in your stations, you have the opportunity to see why they are playing songs for you. You can also tell Pandora not to play songs for you anymore, allowing them to refine their suggestions for you. The only option that Amazon gives you is the option is to not decide to purchase an item.
Will Amazon add a “this is a gift” option when you purchase items (and to your history)? There’s a business opportunity here too. My father is impossible to shop for, but I’ve managed to make some good purchases in the past. Why can’t Amazon create a list of people to recommend to? I would kill someone for Amazon to tell me gifts that my father would like based on my previous purchases for him. The same goes for recommendations for my wife.
The first e-commerce company to nail recommendations for people who aren’t me will win my praises forever,
Everyone with an iPhone has had the same reaction to a majority of the websites from restaurants they want to visit while on the go.
“The site’s in Flash, I can’t load it.”
While some rally for Flash on mobile phones, Denis Hurley, Founder an President of Mobile Meteor, saw opportunity. Instead of petitioning a multi-billion dollar corporation to include technology from a different multi-billion dollar company, Denis Hurley bootstrapped Mobile Meteor.
We spoke about putting yourself out of business in order to open new opportunities, what the future holds for Mobile Meteor, and Denis’ approach to signing up new customers on a one-to-one level. We also talked about what you can learn from selling your business on a one-to-one level.
The interview with Denis Hurley, Founder and President of Mobile Meteor, lasts approximately half an hour, and was recorded in Blattcave Studios in Brooklyn, NY.
Podcast: Download
