Having played an active role in the transformation of the telco and energy industries, I am no stranger to the role of communications in technology transformation. I have seen companies with no customers win “Product of the Year” and companies with millions of customers struggle to improve their customer experience. That’s the everyday reality of someone in the communications industry. We watch endless customers get acquired, go public, or fall.
But the primary difference between the companies that fall and the companies that succeed is the ability to evolve. They must adapt and transform with their industries. It’s the law of Darwinism and the history of humankind.
Can you name a telco left standing without a mobile play? Whether it was through a strategic acquisition or internal development, the telco industry learned that to sink or swim, it better evolve to meet the demands of customers and offer wireless services.
Or what about energy companies that have not developed an online application by which customers can report an outage or receive a text? I’d argue that by the end of 2020, we’ll be able to count on one hand the number of utilities without a wireless play.
But these are stories we are already familiar with. The real question is: What’s next? What sea of transformation is coming our way? What sharks of change are circling us in 2020?
I’d give the one very large shark a name: Amazon. Though I’d be the last one to welcome the demise of retail since I still prefer to buy shoes in stores, the rest of the world has reminded me that they prefer never leaving their pajamas to buy their favorite things. More importantly, in this age of Amazon, cloud services are transforming our lives in every way, and it’s not only the retail industry that must adapt.
I’d like to hone in on the music industry for a moment. As the founder of MusiComms, I have been fascinated and focused on the industry’s transformation and adaption to the digital age. What hope for increasing revenue does the music industry have in the age of Amazon? After all, Amazon is just increasing the numbers of streaming through its in-home devices and holding the keys to the cost of music. And what does the music industry do when it has no choice but to succumb, because people now buy their favorite songs on Amazon Music instead of CDs, or scarier to them, listen to it for free on YouTube?
The music industry, like the telco and energy industries before it, must adapt. It must find a way to embrace the age of Amazon and cloud services and migrate to a service provider strategy. The more middlemen for streaming, the lower the cost of music becomes — to a point where artists and creators are making pennies to the dollar.
The music industry has come to understand that it must adapt and has begun to fight in Congress. But changing legislation has never sustainably changed industry. It has always been customer demand that drives up value. Buyers pay for what they want. Simple. Whether on the B2B side or B2C side. A demand must be created and the price set by the market.
With deep-pocket-filled giants like Amazon, the music industry must adapt to the changing market and explore all new distribution models and partners now available. It is still a surprise to some that there are more stable companies than Amazon with considerably deep pockets. The music industry must step outside its comfort zone and speak with industries like automotive, energy, health care, and retail to explore what B2B cloud service models look like. If they can’t go at it alone, then they need a partner with a cloud and a distribution channel with a healthy list of customers.
Today, more than ever, my colleagues in telecom and energy are deeply interested in utilizing music in new models like smart home and OTT. These developments are making the convergence of these industries a true reality and introducing new kinds of companies into the music ecosystem. Today, all industries are service providers and they all want to improve customer experience. If we value music as a strategic customer experience tool, then it becomes more than for listening pleasure. It becomes part of raised revenue. That is what will raise the value of music and change the industry forever.
I write this article at the start of a new year. 2020. We must all put on our glasses to see better. That’s where this story becomes one of communication; 2020 is a year convergence, when the world of Amazon and cloud services leads to new models for collaboration and communications. It’s a year I am desperately excited for. The one I have been waiting for. Where smart home and smart city models allow all parties in the room — energy, communications, entertainment.
As a communications professional, I can tell you firsthand that fear and the inability to communicate is what keeps nations apart and at war. It is also what keeps industries from adapting to change. Convergence and collaboration come from the organic ability to communicate a common business case and simply speak to each other with respect and open-mindedness. Organizations like ours bring together unlikely bedfellows with the common goal of profitability and survival on both sides.
As a communications professional, I have seen what happens when industries that have never collaborated — like telco and TV — decide to work together. With people officially now spending more time on their phones than watching TV, the entertainment industry has been forced to not only adapt but sit down with a foreign industry to see how they must collaborate.
This is what happens: They give whiplash to their competitors and define the path for survival in the world of transformation. Netflix did it. Nest did it. And some brave company in the music industry will do it too.
Here’s a toast to 2020 full of transformation, communication and convergence. Let the innovation begin.