Mantic Media

Today’s Lefsetz letter is sensational (subscribe):

Despite repeating the mantra that content is king, the major labels never believed this. Nor did the movie studios. Distribution is king. If you can’t find something in the store, in the theatre, it’s like it doesn’t exist. And the major labels controlled the store just like the movie studios controlled the theatres. Sure, they had to compete with each other, but there was no issue of renegades entering their domain, until the Net flattened distribution, made it available to everyone. Any act can sign up with TuneCore and get its wares on iTunes. Giving up a hell of a lot less in the process than they would if they made a deal with a major. And getting paid too, assuming they sell.

And secondary to distribution was marketing. That was the driver in the nineties. That’s what Tommy Mottola was all about. Working the media into a frenzy, driving the public into the record shops. Once again, it was a limited universe. The individual, the so-called indie, had no access to major media. Couldn’t get on the “Today Show”, never mind Top Forty radio or even MTV. Labels would pick their priorities and hype them to high heaven. They were good at this. But now they’re flummoxed, how do they reach a public that’s not paying attention?

First the strategy was street teams. Not only at the gig, but online. Thought was if you just paid enough kids, they’d spread the word on the Web. The audience is stupid, it can be influenced.

Only one problem, it can’t.

Have you visited a message board recently? The hypesters and trolls are usually outed in one post. Fake hype just doesn’t work on the Web. The culture of the Web is to out fraud. Pulling the wool over the public’s eyes is a failed strategy…

And look at the biggest success online. Google. It does essentially no hype. Google triumphed because it was good. Be good and the public will spread the word, users will flock to you, you’ll reach critical mass.

Success on the Web is predicated on quality. Sure, train-wreck value is important too, kind of like a novelty record. But those sites don’t tend to last. Unless they’re all train-wreck all the time. Then there are the MySpaces and Facebooks. Those are like new music genres. They don’t have to be executed perfectly, they just need to be new and different.

So it’s about the idea. And, ultimately, the quality of that idea. It’s not about distribution and it’s not about marketing. And the old guard doesn’t like this.

Go read the whole post. This is true of all art, not just music. I’ve got ideas and will share later.

That headline was a tease. There is no secret. Just make something sensational.

What is sensational? Two components:

• Utility. Its creates value. Something that improves people’s lives. (making someone laugh is very valuable)
• Uniqueness. It doesn’t exist anywhere else and there are no suitable substitutes.

This first is the easy part (relatively). Find something of value and deliver it. The second is the sticking point. It’s ineffable. Some things have it, some don’t, and no one really knows why. Unfortunately banging your head against the wall for long enough won’t make it happen.

It’s magic. The charisma of a brilliant writer. The perfect blend of features and ideals that explodes into a passionate community.

Working hard at the first part is enough to earn most people a living. Finding the second part is what we all dream about.

A big shot at Viacom is echoing the sentiment of my earlier post about portals losing traffic and ad dollars to niche sites:

The Web is fragmenting in a big way. People are using search to find what they are looking for, and they want to go deep into what their passions are.

Depending on the surveys you see … over 50% [of Web surfers] are using search as their electronic program guide. They’re typing into a search box for what they want and they go in deep. That tends to bypass the portal model.

So instead of being told what to look at, people are using search to find it for themselves. Makes sense because more high quality niche content sites are popping up to service those queries.

In addition to Google and Yahoo, people are also using human driven aggregators like Twitter (follow me), Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon, et al, to find recommendations.

Reminds me of the day I discovered social media. Browsing Digg and Del.icio.us introduced me to great content I never would have found otherwise. More people make the same discovery every day.

This is the entrepreneurial marketer’s dream. Create something great, throw it out there, and the users will spread it for you.

The portals have 2 choices: devote themselves to search and the network business (Google) or move into the niche content business (Yahoo). As Calacanis astutely points out, the second option directly under cuts the first.

The margins are much higher for search, but Yahoo is getting crushed there. Competing with potential partners (eg niche content sites) will only exacerbate that problem.

Things are not looking good for Yahoo, but they are for the little guys who want to build a business around a passion, for users as passionate as they are.