VISION
Three critical rules of success the music industry can learn from the video game industry.
The video game industry is excellent example of an evolving industry with a successful history of quickly adapting to new consumer trends and behaviors in order to constantly realize new revenue opportunities. Similarly, the music industry has been greatly impacted by evolving consumer habits, and as we move away from the historic business model of selling a physical format, we can leverage several valuable lessons offered by the video game industry example.
- Lesson 1: Consumers like to be social while they are entertained
- Lesson 2: Consumers like to personalize their entertainment
- Lesson 3: Integrate other media businesses into the medium
- How MXP4 leverages these lessons
Lesson 1: Consumers like to be social while they are entertained.
The video game industry went from selling consoles with multiple controllers to networked games to purely multiplayer universe games to games that integrate into social networks (you go social first, then plan the game). The music industry also needs to make this transition.
While concerts, clubs, mixtapes and other social outlets have historically been a part of a music fans life, the current environment necessitates ingraining social aspects into the actual music itself. Consumers want to share, discover and connect as, or even before, they listen to music. Today’s “albums” in the form of music apps need to allow consumers to connect with the artist as well as with other fans and give them the ability to instantly, easily share the music they love. We are making strides in this direction, but the more aggressive we can be in not just socializing music, but monetizing the social features, the more successful we’ll be as an industry.
Lesson 2: Consumers like to personalize their entertainment.
First, video games sold add-ons. Then they let consumers build their own add-ons. Now, they allow you to design your own character, make in-game purchases and drive story lines for a truly personalized gaming experience. Music has sometimes allowed some remixing or karaoke and a few bands allow taping of concerts, but that is as far as personalization has gone…until now.
Artists and labels are just now starting to let consumers personalize tracks through mixing or create new tracks through sampling. This fits into the natural desires of consumers – to personalize what they love and to help contribute directly to the artist (yes, including providing the artist with samples). Moving in this direction can not only create more opportunities to sell music, it can create new opportunities to sell the same music multiple times in the form of different personalization apps.
Lesson 3: Integrate other media businesses into the medium.
Video games regularly put real-world advertising into video games. Now they’re even including purchase buttons for in-game transactions. Are there similar opportunities for music? We are already seeing real music apps in ads. The newer music apps even allow fans to purchase all types of music-related products – from concert tickets to t-shirts. The next step is to explore other types of transactions that are of interest to fans as they engage with the music.
How MXP4 leverages these lessons.
At MXP4, we’ve looked closely at the video game industry and have incorporated these lessons into our interactive music technology. Ultimately, today’s fan wants more than just a track. They want a participative experience, and they want it in a social environment. They want to socialize, personalize and conduct transactions within the music environment. And we’ve demonstrated that delivering these capabilities through our social apps leads consumers to react positively and increase their consumption.
Success isn’t just a matter of respecting what your customer wants, but also anticipating what they’ll want in the near future. How long would the video game industry have succeeded if innovation stopped with Pong?
