It’s hard to introduce a new product, a new thing, a new gizmo, a new idea. Cause I’ve never heard of this product before. It’s a new brand/term that has no association with it. What does it do? Can I trust it? Does it have value to me?
Although introducing and defining a new term/product to the marketplace is obviously very difficult, it could very well be even more difficult to redefine an existing term.
The most obvious one is the term/product “phone”. For years and years we knew a phone to be a pretty distinct thing. We had set expectations for it and it continued to meet those expectations whether on a rotary dial, touch tone, ivory hand set, curly cord, cordless with the long antenna. Even through much of it’s evolution, it maintained much the same function.
And then the iPhone came out, and with it a complete reinvention and redefinition of how we trust the term “phone”. It was a familiar term with a strict definition that we allowed, in our hearts and heads, to be changed.
This is the creativity we need in the music business.
How about the term “album”? It has a long history. A good history. And overall, a pretty trusted history.
How could album be redefined to make a new and interesting impact?
Maybe we learn to associate album with
an adventure
a commitment
a certain amount of time
better connection
better music
an amount of money
an amount of access
Make this list longer, because it’s not very good yet. Make it longer and my guess is you’ll start feeling yourself pushing into the future.
It will always be about the music, just like the phone will always ultimately be about connectedness.
But maybe we don’t need a new thing. Maybe we can redefine an old thing.
‘Did you get a new phone?’ means something completely different than it did even 10 years ago.
What could 'did you get a new album?’ mean 5 years from now?
