YouTube and eBay in awesome ad shocker!

I skipped over to YouTube to check out the latest trailer for the new Star Trek film today (I'm not sold yet, but I am excited). And I saw this amazing ad.

It got me very excited for lots of reasons. Here are a few:

1. It's a great ad. It's interactive, it's useful, it's got prices, it's not flashing or jumping around. This is content as advertising.
2. It's amazingly targeted. Star Trek items on eBay advertised next to a Star Trek trailer - yes, this is how I want my ads (and this is how advertisers should want them)
3. It's from eBay - generally I've not been a fan of their ads, but this is exactly what they should be doing.

This is what I was hoping for when Google bought YouTube. Let's hope we see a lot more of it.

Only in cinemas

I'm confused. On my regular morning walk through Victoria station I keep seeing posters that advertise new movies with the strangest of boasts: Only in cinemas.

I'm confused because I would have thought that the marketing teams at MGM and Lucasfilm would be keen to gloss over this obvious product shortcoming. I'm sure they must have made the case for their
customers. I'm sure that they must have made the point that the product would be considerably enhanced if it was available everywhere. That some of their customers might not want to go to a cinema and heck it doesn't cost much to release it on DVD or over the internet at the same time.

But no, this is not how it works in the movie industry. They have a formula you see. One honed over years of research that tells them (or so they think) how to squeeze every last drop out of every movie that they release. First you release at the cinema, then later on DVD, then VOD, then TV. It is a model (like most old school media business models) that is designed to ensure that customers pay the highest possible price per item of content consumed (in this case a movie) through inconvenience. And this formula is so ingrained in movie-land, that the marketing folks actually think that the inconvenience is actually a selling point.

Sadly, like most old school media companies the movie studios are trying to cling on to something that made sense in the 1980s but today is just ridiculous. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that the formula is actively hurting both customers viewing experience and movie studios' profits.


1. 'Only in cinemas' means that cinemas do not compete for your business on the basis of the quality of their product. It creates a local monopoly. If you want to see the film, and you want to see it now, then your going to the cinema. If you want to go to the cinema you probably have 1 or maybe 2 theatre's that are close enough to where you want to be to get your business. This is why cinemas are expensive and universally poor. Imagine if cinemas were competing with a simultaneous Internet, DVD and VOD release. They'd have to sell you on the experience. Maybe they'd have lovely big arm chairs, maybe they'd have amazing sound and visuals, maybe they'd sell beer. One thing is for sure, they'd be a lot less complacent.

2. All those customers that want to see the movie now (and are prepared to pay a premium to do so), but don't have the time to get out to a cinema (I'm a new dad - this is me!) have to wait 6 months for their fix. Basically this means that I see far fewer films than I would otherwise and it relegates DVD rental, VOD and Internet to some sort of bargain basement, entertainment-of-last choice. I really wanted to see The Day the Earth Stood Still (I know it was rubbish) but I didn't because I couldn't find the time to go out, and now, I probably never will (or will wait for TV) because seeing it was mainly about the hype!

These two customer complaints mean that movie industry is missing out. The cinemas are missing out on creating a real connection with their customers. On becoming the place that I have to go to see a new movie. And the studios are missing out on massive untapped demand. There are a lot of millions to be made here.

I've had this rant in my head for a long time. It started out with hard back books - I want the book now, I don't mind paying a premium, I don't want to take a hard back on the tube; why are you forcing me to wait a year to read your book, and why are you forcing me to pay a cut down price for that... But I think the movies are a better example. Primarily because they seem so proud of their model, so focussed on a meaningless metric optimized through inconvenience.

The first studio to opt for simultaneous multi-channel distribution of all its films is going to make a fortune. I bet it's not one of the current crop.

2008 Music Highlights

I'm even later than usual with my top picks post this year...

That said it wasn't a bad year for music, (and it was a great year for music technology) so it'd be a shame not to recognise some of the hits and misses of 2008.

Top Records

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever (amazon)
This album is just heart-wrenchingly delicate and beautiful. It is the perfect album for a cold, dark winter's day. Every song is brilliant, and my favourite seems to switch with the seasons. When I first listened, it was Creature Fear, then Blindsided, now re:Stacks. I'm sure this album still has more to give and it will remain a staple in our house in 2009. 

Glasvegas - Glasvegas (amazon)
I was switched on to Glasvegas by a friend's Google Talk status, saying simply 'Album of the Year'. Well Simon was right on that one. This Scottish group make the most incredible racket. They remind me of Jesus and Mary Chain or My Bloody Valentine, but this is no pastiche. The lyrics and melodies are touching and sometimes childlike (even when they're about getting stabbed) and the production is staggering. Favourite track right now is S.A.D. Light (Ruthie likes the nursery rhyme!)

Kings of Leon - Only the Night (amazon)
I resisted KOL almost until the very end of the year. Finally, in December, I succumed and made it my first purchase through Amazon's new UK MP3 store. I have to say that everyone else was right on this one. It blew me away. The best out and out rock album I have heard in years. It has echoes of so many great bands of the past, but is absolutely KOL at it's heart. Sex on Fire is my favourite single of the year, and that is nowhere near the best track on the album.

Portishead - Third (amazon)
Portishead have been away for what seems like ages. I remember hearing Dummy for the first time as a student and having my ears opened to a completely new sound. So it's pretty astonishing that one band could do that twice. Third sounds like nothing else released this year. The beats are harder, there is a new mechanical edge as evidenced in tracks like Machine Gun and there is liberal use of old school synths. Portishead have obviuosly been listening to a lot of Kraftwerk while they've been away.

Special Mention
Radiohead - I Might be Wrong (amazon)
I know this is an old album, but it gets a special mention as it was playing through most of the birth of our first child Ruthie. Pippa is a nut for Radiohead and this, I think, is their finest moment. The versions of True Love Waits and Like Spinning Plates are breath-taking. And now it will have the added benefit of always making me think of little Ruth.

Honorable Mentions
Spiritualized - Songs in A&E (amazon)
Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (amazon)
Beck - Modern Guilt (amazon)

Top Music Technology

The big tech event in our house this year was switching 100% to the Apple. We ditched our old desktop and now meet all of our computing needs with a black Mac Book and a shiny silver Mac Bpook Pro. This had an additional massive benefit for our music enjoyment of enabling us to access the awesome music stack on the Mac. So now we have all our music living on the Mac Book, which is wirelessly connected to our amp via the AirPort Express and is controlled via the iTunes Remote on my iPhone (or the TuneRemote app on Pippa's Android). Our CDs are finally in the loft!

The other big Apple news was Genius Playlists on iTunes. We have been using it loads in order to re-disciver the music on our hard drive. I'm really impressed by their algorithm (and I'd forgotten quite how good Beck was!)

The last.fm application on my iPhone gave me a glimpse of a future that I thought was a lot further away. The first time I streamed personalized, Internet radio over a mobile 3G network to my phone I had a huge grin on my face. This is the way it's going to be in the future and I can't wait!

On the desktop, Spotify pointed the way to free streaming ad-supported music on-demand. It's a great service with a nice lightweight client and a very large library. The ads every 5-6 songs are absolutely fine and have even turned me on to a couple of things (my observation is that Movie ads work best in this media). I'm not sure if they can make the numbers turn round at this rate, but I hope they can.

In December, I rejoiced in the long awaited launch of Amazon MP3 in the UK (all the amazon links on this page point there). It's a great service. Big catalogue. Cheap (KOL was 4 quid). DRM-free. iTunes eat you heart out.

Finally the new year has brought two great music zeitgeists which are starting to live up to the promise of the internets ability to aggregate our music tastes. Last.fm have a chart made up of music scrobbles while Hype Machine have one based on blogs written. Both of these are great services and I'd like to see more automated music discovery in 2009.


I've definitely resolved to get back on the blogging machine in earnest in 2009, so expect a bit more traffic than the miserely 3 posts in Q4 :-) I might also try to post a few songs on Tumblr if I can make integration with this blog work.