Retto's Ruminations
By: Amy Sciarretto
Last updated July 15th , 2010

I was just reading about how Converse, my favorite sneak company, has the "Three Artists, One Song" program on their website, where you can download one song collaborations by three eclectic artists for free. Isn't that a creative way to keep fans interested in music even though music sales are dwindling by the hundreds of thousands and millions over the past few years. But giving away the songs for free doesn't solve the devaluing of music problem and people expecting it for free. I was reading this while checking Facebook... with my 11-year-old nephew is sitting next me.

I just casually asked him if he should pay for music or get it for free. He said, "It should be free since it's entertainment. If you buy the iPod, the music on it should be free." Wow, powerful words from an 11-year-old. That's something that Apple probably likes, since the "kids" think they are paying for the device, so the content should not be another charge that they incur. Would this problem be solved by lowering the price of iPods, which really, are they that expensive anymore since you can easily get the minis? 

I wanted to go straight to the source when I posed the question, to someone from the plugged in, downloading age, who has no benefit of experience other than getting music via free methods. Can this be fixed or grandfather claused in, somehow? Or is the idea that "music should be free" being passed down from this generation to next generation? I guess we'll have to wait and see, but does the music industry machine really have time to wait and see? I don't think so. Just look at the SoundScan charts every week. Eminem selling nearly 800,000 records is considered huge in 2010; it would have have been markedly disappointing in 2000. 

I like to see what the "kids" have say. I asked my nephew, whose answers were totally honest and genuine and of course innocent, if he likes songs or albums and he liked songs because he doesn't really think there is much difference. This is because "kids" these days rock the song, not the album and that's just the way things have evolved for them. Forward progress and movement is jumping from shuffle to shuffle song. I don't think he really knows why he likes songs more than albums as a whole, but he does love music, so the root is still intact and it's not been ripped out completely, so there is still some hope. The solution? I am not so sure that I can provide that right now. Neither can he. But execs at the music companies should take a meeting with this 11-year-old if they want to find out how the kids think and what the kids want and how the kids are changing and evolving, instead of spending one market research that really doesn't give you that unbiased answer. If you ask an 11-year-old who has nothing to lose and has learned that he should tell the truth and that honesty is the best policy, how can you not find out what is really going on at the street level? There is no better source than going to the street and to the source, and kids like this are the source. 

I also asked him why he wants a few songs of an album instead of a whole album and he mentioned you may not like all of them and it would be a waste of money to pay for all of the songs if you wind up not liking them all. Also, another honest, and well, economically feasible answer for someone with a rather fixed yet disposable income that comes from the allowance, doing chores and from the 10 bucks I slip him here and there to go buy shit that he wants, you know? He also said he'd rather pay for the songs he wants for his iPod, so if he has 800 songs for a dollar, that's $800 spent, so that has to be money well spent on songs that he likes and he wants them to all be songs that he likes. (This is a paraphrase of our conversation!) Again, simple economics and honest answers from a kid. The customer, right?                 

I seriously think that marketing research needs to be put aside and that you need to go right to the kids. Round up a sample – casual and passionate music lovers under the age of 15, but over the age of 10- and ask them a bunch of questions about their music listening habits and their music buying methods. Pay attention to their answers and then come up with a solution from that. There is not better research that can be done. It's inexpensive and effective and could be a step in the direction of fixing the problem. Also, please remember that I had this conversation with an 11-year-old who spoke with nothing but honest, straightforwardness. He just said what he thought with no editing. I expect that many of his peers would say/feel the same thing. It's the source. Now I wonder if anyone will do anything like this and go straight to the source. That's where the solutions will come from. ~ Amy Sciarretto

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