Good Questions About Content

Inside the offices of every record label one question keeps being asked. “How can we get people to pay for music again?” Good question.

Recently the NY Times set out plans to answer their own question – “Will people start paying for a portion of the on-line paper after having received it free for years?” Another good question.  Respondents to a NPR broadcast on the Times issue were fairly heavily weighted on the “I ain't paying” side of the debate. (Well, considering they were NPR listeners, they probably didn't say “ain't.”)

I have to admit, I don't know how you get people to start paying for something once they have been trained to assume it is free. In the very basic formula of marketing, Within the Four P's Of Marketing - price was one of the tools one used to position a product. Sometimes high price signified quality and value. But in a world where everything is free...were do you go from there? What happens when we don't want to pay for quality content like the NY Times? What happens when we aren't willing to fund sending seasoned reporters into the fields of Libya so we know what is really going on? What happens when TMZ becomes what we call news? More good questions.

Before we all just shrug our shoulders and say “Oh well.”, let's understand that content is more than just words and musical notes. We once bought things like watches, cameras, GPS devices, MP3 players...and we paid handsomely for them. Now we expect them all in our phones....for free...after all, its “just software”. Watches are now either high or low end jewelry. Now I either spend $30.00 on a funky Swatch or $5,000 on a Cartier. But I'm buying jewelry. My phone tells me the time for free.

Maybe there is nothing that can be done about all this and all content will someday be sponsored by, or custom built by a brand that wants to sell you something else. But within this trend, I think there is something to learn. What I think I'm learning is – not much has really changed.

There are plenty of examples of where we are willing to pay for things...and pay a lot. Sometimes we pay for the product, sometimes we pay for the experience of the product...and sometimes we pay for the experience of buying the product. It is still all about training people to see value in what you have to sell. In the tactile world, this can manifest itself in the gloriously heavy duty, well designed shopping bags and tissue paper from stores that want you to think you've just paid for something special...and that it is worth it. It's a simple equation “We care about the product we are selling you...and you should care too!”

Music is no longer delivered to me as if anyone cares about it. A download is now simply an item on a spreadsheet. I'm not bragging but, I recall sitting in a hotel room in London hearing Bono voice these very concerns. Oh fine...I'm bragging. He recalled when music was something you carried home under your arm after you bought it. It came with artwork big enough to put on a wall, and lyrics in a font size you could read over and over. Someone cared enough to create this expression and people cared enough to pay for it.

Turn something into a free software feature represented by a tiny icon and I stop caring because I get the sense that whoever created it doesn't care either. Maybe the creator of the software makes money by selling ad space within the app, but I as the user am more than willing to jump to the next software that comes along. Not caring equals no loyalty.

We are humans, and we respond to tactile sensory stimulation. We respond to quality when we are exposed to the salient symbols of quality. Serve me fresh coffee while I buy your shoes and I'll respond. Create exquisite, joyful software UI, then add in wonderfully simple training I'll love my gadget or application. Show me you care so I know I should too.