Posted by: Grayson Brulte
Today, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Seth Shapiro (President, New Amsterdam Media) to discuss the future of digital media and it’s impact on the future of the music business. Seth is a two-time Emmy Award winner and a leader in the digital space.
GB: Seth, How do you see digital media evolving within the music industry over the next two years?
Seth: Lately the four major labels have tried to focus the attention on the latest scape goat, which is Apple’s dominance of paid digital music. The truth is that the labels have consistently dropped the ball through price inflation, lake of risk taking, and clinging to an outdated and completely inefficient model. It’s like putting your finger in the hole of a damn and expecting to hold the water back. The finger is the foot dragging of the labels and the flood is the pent-up demand for a music business that is fair, creative, and open. Music wants to go where the consumer lives, that is how the phonograph took music from the court of the king and put it in peoples living rooms and that is what digital music is going to do in this revolution.
GB: That being said, who or what company is going to be on top?Seth: Companies that bring great music to where the consumer lives. So I think you will some surprising plays from television, mobile and internet entrepreneurs who really love music and understand how to build a new distribution platform.GB: With the recent rumors of high level executives coming back with a digital play; How do you see this effecting the overall digital landscape?Seth: I think you are exactly right. It reminds me of that old saying, everything old eventually is new again. In TV we see it all the time: the things that worked at the beginning of TV like product placement, major celebrities becoming tent poles for new networks - we all seeing exactly the same things 50 years later as TV is reborn on the internet. The same thing will be true in music and the music executives who got it right the first time and know the game the best will be extremely valuable.
GB: As you know they are signing the hottest young digital executives to build their online presences? How do you see this effecting the major labels talent pool?
Seth: I am not sure we know who the great digital music executives are yet. We have not seen a lot of great success besides Apple, a lot of the supposed great digital music folks may be nice guys. But when you look at their track records there are not a lot of real achievements there: Not a lot of sales, promotional success, or new artists broken. I really think the great digital music execs have yet to reveal themselves. Are the rumors true you are you are up for a high level position with at one of these former execs new companies?
GB: We will see.
GB: Getting back on track. Coming from the NYU Def Jam dorm days and watching Russel Simmons and Rick Rubin build Def Jam out of their dorm, while you built your own label. How would you compare that experience to that of building digital platforms for such companies as Time Warner Cable and DirecTV?
Seth: That is a great question, thank you. It;s both a lot better and a lot harder. Doing it yourself is a lot better because their is no corporate red tape. You do not have to fight to win corporate approvals, you just go out and find great artists and make the best records you can. While cutting the best deals you can. But it’s harder because there is no safety next, no in house marketing team, or promotional budget that comes with a business card. If you are at a big company, it is probably fare to say that you will never fly quit as high but you will never sink as low either.
GB: From flying to sinking, how would explain the experience leading up to your Emmy Award nomination and eventful wins?
Seth: The most important things I ever learned came out of my experiences in the music business. The fact that when an act or an idea is really good you can see it in the faces of the audience. If you know what you are doing you do not need a focus group or a research team to tell you if it is good or not. The fact that for anything good or worth doing, the odds are always going to be against you and there is always going to be a lot of competition. The best thing you can do is to skate where the puck is going, either hip hop, DVR, and then trust your gut.
GB: Having recently seen Kevin Michael preform live; How do you see artists impacting the digital space in terms of getting their content on the new and evolving platforms?
Seth: I think Kevin is a great example of everything that you want to see in a new artist. He has tremendous chops, great writing, and he mixes up a pile of really great influences and comes out with something completely new fresh and current. How he translates that into a digital opportunity remains to be seen, but he has everything that you need to create a huge breakout in this new digital world.
GB: That is great, thanks. How do you see you and your company helping artists such as Kevin and labels use the new digital platforms to the best of their advantage?
Seth: The way that I would explain it is by drawing an analogy to The Beatles in late 1966.
GB: Care to explain in more detail?
Seth: Sure. You had the best band in the world deciding that the old way, which in this case was live performance was not just enough anymore. The world had change and art had to change with it. So they completely broke with how that worked before and turned themselves into the greatest recording artists in the world. You can see the same thing in Picasso or Miles Davis or TS Eliot. The world changes and great artists change with it.
GB: Rumors have it you are planning a major move. Care to chime in on that?
Seth: You will be the first to know.
GB: Great, thanks for your time.
For the latest on Seth Shapiro and New Amsterdam Media, be sure to visit the company site. (www.newamsmedia.com)
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