Seth Godin: Win The Fight, Lose The Customer
Does it really matter if you're right?
Given the choice between acknowledging that your customer is upset or proving to her that she is wrong, which will you choose?
You can be right or you can have empathy.
You can't do both.
When was the last time the music industry applied this mindset to it's relationship with the consumer?
RIAA lawsuits. Confusing ticketing fees. Tracks that could only be played on some devices. A mobile download that costs a lot more than if they bought it via computer and 30 second ringtones that cost 3 – 4 times more than the whole song does. Rich rock stars who tell their fans to stop rippping them off.
The consumer is mad at us. Not at the music. At us. Given the choice between acknowledging that the fans are upset or proving to them that they are wrong, which will we choose?
Everything has become so personal and instant with the internet fans have so much choice it’s overwhelming!
With the mass, comes competition, which you would assume prices to lessen but then companies have to invest to set higher standards, make the product more appealing, customise to the niche consumer, most likely costing them more for a personalised experience.
It’s not as simple as just buying a CD of your favourite band and filling in the mailing list form you got in the CD.
It’s not so much as proving them wrong but more educating them and letting them make up their own minds. We can’t dictate the digital revolution. Are they even aware there is one?
The whole industry is living and learning right now but still, it’s no excuse and the customer should be treated with professionalism right? Word of mouth travels faster than we think!
I describe the situation as The Music War.
You are exactly right about the lawsuits. They are making me queasy. See my article on Newsvine about some long term ideas instead of lawsuits:
http://decouvrir.newsvine.com/_news/2009/09/27/3321627-the-quantum-concept-for-the-music-business-an-alternative-to-lawsuits
I don’t like the fact that this article is an either or senario. Right or wrong. I don’t think it’s consumers being mad so much as it is consumers being smarter. Consumers are smarter and more savvy do to the fact so much information is readily available through the use of technology. And that information can be used to learn how to obtain the entertainment we as consumers seek. Consumers have simply outgrown the record label and the model as it currently stands, and we as consumers are not going to wait for them to catch up. What for? They haven’t given us anything but unfair prices, redundancy, and mediocre artists. And that’s just from a consumer stand point.
We know record labels and the RIAA are full of bullsh*t any time the have something to say. They then have the gall to act like we don’t understand what they are doing by offering us options they have pre-selected that play into whatever screwed up, short sighted “plan” they have dreamed up. Listen to us the consumer that’s the best start for the labels.