What did we really learn from the music industry?

The majority of fans don't care where their music comes from, whether it's Sony, EMI, Universal or Warner. People buy the music that they like because they like it, not because it comes from one label or another.

I know that seems obvious and it should be obvious, but we've watched the music industry blow that lesson time and time again.

If your audience doesn't care where the content comes from, why should you?

The old school answer to that is "if it's not our content, then we're not making money on it." Except that's no longer true. That's why I spent so much time talking about aggregators last time. Aggregators make money, not because they produce original content, but because people give them their attention. But we all can't be aggregators.

The mission statement here at Rudius is that we help artists make art. I like, and believe in, the content that we create. I read each and every one of the sites and I read each and every new entry that goes up on the web. I edit a lot of those entries before they go live.

If I tried to tell you that all I read all day was Rudius material, we'd both know I was lying. For the simple fact that we don't do everything. We don't do news. We don't do music. We don't do poetry. We're just getting into some video. (See this and the work Greg did at the production blog).

But we'd also know I was lying because there is good content out there on the web that Rudius simply doesn't have anything to do with. Maybe someday we'll get a chance to work with every talented person on the planet, but we're not there yet.

So if you all don't care where the content comes from, if all you want is quality content, why should I care where it comes from? I'm not so sure that I should.

Helping artists make art isn't just bringing them under the Rudius umbrella. Sometimes it's linking to them so that we can help them build the audience they deserve. Sometimes it's doing joint projects with them. Sometimes it's sending them to the writer's forum so that they can more fully develop their skills. And yes, sometimes it's bringing them under the Rudius umbrella.

I believe that if we do those things well, then we'll also connect all of you to the content you want. I believe that Rudius can become the platform that helps artists, whether they work with us or not, connect with their audience. In return, I hope that you'll come back from time to time to see what we've got going on here. If you like what we're doing then great and if you don't I'd hope you'd tell us why.

That's what we learned from the record companies. It's not about building it and marketing the hell out of it. It's about finding ways to connect people with the content they like. It's about aligning our vision with your vision so that we don't have to "sell" you on anything we create here. The quality of the material will speak for itself and you get to enjoy what you find value in.

Posted by Ben Corman at 3:53 PM

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Posted by: Bryan Vale at October 24, 2008 07:11 PM

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