SharedBook: On Demand

Digitized Content and Customization: A Perfect Marriage

As consumers continue to move more and more into the digitized world, content owners such as magazines, music and recording studios, and TV and radio companies, are scrambling to digitize their archived materials.  But what is their main purpose for doing this? It can’t be solely to preserve the content in a medium that has a greater shelf life. One has to assume that digital distribution is playing a major role in how media companies are looking to monetize these treasured assets.

Almost every aspect of how we consume media and even communicate has gone digital. CD Players (although digital) have given way to MP3 players such as the iPod. Cars have GPS and navigation systems (I can’t remember the last time I bought a map) and many home phone users are switching to VoIP. Fortunately, people still find value in one medium that dates back centuries:  the book. People still like to read books. For some reason the digital world has not completely devoured this form of media altogether. Book stores are still thriving while record stores are unfortunately being closed in droves.

Another phenomenon that has come to the media world by use of digital distribution involves user generated content and the customization of content delivery. People are now getting used to being able to receive the content that is relevant to them based on their personal preferences. All this brings me to believe that we at SharedBook are on to something. With our platform, media companies that have digitized their archived content - articles, photographs, etc. - can now allow their online users the ability to select the content that is most relevant to them and create a book. This will enable media companies with deep content to monetize their assets in a way that just wasn’t available or even economical before. Imagine going to your favorite media company that has the content you are interested in and being able to build a customized book from that information. Now that sounds like a perfect marriage to me.  

Follow Up

Rick mentioned Walter Mossberg's profile in The New Yorker yesterday and I just want to add that if you're interested in seeing what he has to say, you should check out D: All Things Digital. It's a new Web site devoted to news, analysis and opinions on technology, the Internet and media. Mossberg and Kara Swisher, who wrote the Journal's "BoomTown" column, are co-executive editors of the site. BoomTown is back -- this time in blog format!

Walt Mossberg in The New Yorker

Walt Mossberg is a fave around here, and this terrific piece from The New Yorker pretty much explains it all.  Walt sussed out long ago that, in technology, it’s all about the user.  And he’s never wavered.

All hail the original!  Walt rocks.

Karaoke and Big Media?

So last night we had an impromptu Karaoke party.  First, let me say this sort of social, frivolous, evening behavior never rarely happens at SharedBook.   We work too late, are too focused, need to get up too early to talk to our developers in Israel and generally are all grown-ups who have lived that life already.  That being said...there was singing!     

This may be a stretch - in fact I know it's a stretch, but here goes: Big Media could learn a lot from karaoke.  Here is this rich database of archival content, stretching across multiple genres.   The brilliant minds who invented karaoke knew that this content resonated strongly across cultures.   They set up a distribution mechanism to allow an individual to select the content most relevant to them, MAKE IT THEIR OWN, and to distribute their unique version of this content to a community.  That is a beautiful thing. 

Some choose to distribute to a whole bar, some like it in the privacy of their own basement.   The abiding philosophy though, is that you open the doors wide and don't worry about what is chosen or how it is used.  Yes, copyright should be protected and the originators should be paid, but let the consumer have at it.  I just found a great old post from Fred Wilson's site which offers his take on the same idea.

Reacting to The Street…

So there you have it. I was just talking about where the publishing industry was headed last week and the unfair pressures being brought to bear by Wall Street.

Albeit in the making for some time, yesterday’s news headlines represent an interesting reaction to this very theme.

1)      News Corp has tendered an unsolicited offer to Dow Jones for $5B

2)      Cablevision has agreed to be taken private by the Dolan family for $10.5B in cash

In the case of News Corp, these are coveted assets Murdoch wants to grow his publishing fiefdom. With an oversized bid, they’re hoping the Bancroft family can’t say no to delivering significant shareholder returns in light of the foreseeable continuing declines in the near term. However, if the Bancroft family does say no, it will certainly bring a whole new round of scrutiny to the dual class stock structure. Not a good thing !

In the Dolans' case, I think the message is clear: “Leave us alone. We built this company and know how to grow it.” All in all, case two is a good storyline. The stockholders are happy and Cablevision will continue to grow as a private entity under the Dolans' management.

I wish the other publishing dynasties would take some notes from the Dolans' playbook and consider an LBO of sorts so they can sustain themselves without the meddlers from Wall Street sticking their noses in.

If you want to be a steward of a public trust at all costs, you better be prepared to walk the walk.