Are Mobile Device-Specific Media the Way of the Future?
In this day and age, artists and other producers of media content are really given only two tasks: create something worthwhile and spread that content across as many platforms as possible so that its exposure is magnified to the nth degree.
As a writer, “content is king” has been a personal mantra of mine since I first heard the famous phrase, but I’m obviously not the only one who lives by this philosophy. There is more content, media, and art available online than ever before, and the competition to get it into the hands, eyes, and ears of the world has gotten intense. So why are one of the world’s most famous musicians and one of the world’s largest tech companies teaming up to limit the exposure of a soon-to-be-released album?
Joanna Stern at ABC News sums up the partnership:
Starting on June 24 users will be able to download the "Magna Carta Holy Grail" app via the Android Google Play Store. Then on July 4 if you were among the million chosen, the free album will appear in the app for your listening pleasure.
Where it gets interesting is that not only will “only” one million people be granted early access to the free album, but those million will be limited to Samsung Galaxy S3, S4, and Note II device owners.
Everyone knows the story of the record industry’s eternal downward slump of album sales, but perhaps Jay-Z and Samsung are on to something—sharing. Jay-Z—like any artist whose bread and butter was once album sales—is now banking on social media to spread his art. Relying on something as hot as mobile app downloads over physical album sales makes all the sense in the world.
ABC News' Stern also points out that “owners of the app, though not the album, will be able to share it with other Galaxy S phone owners via Facebook, Twitter, and S Beam, Samsung’s tap-to-share feature.”
A recent Slate article looks deeper into this concept of “hardware subsidizing software” and questions whether we’re getting a glimpse of “the future of content.” Matthew Yglesias explains the advantages of Samsung’s move and how it’s far less costly to add on to software than to build in to hardware:
If Apple tries to gain an edge over Samsung by putting some better components into the iPhone 5S, the problem is that each and every new iPhone 5S needs to carry the new better component with the higher costs that entails. By contrast, if Apple gains an edge over Samsung because people really love iOS 7 then a potentially infinite quantity of iPhones can take advantage of that new advantage at no additional cost.
Many may scoff at the strategy, but far more are calling it “brilliant.” As I write this story, the Samsung tie-in promotional video—available online for only three days—has been viewed nearly eight million times.
Do you see more companies moving to strategies like this one, or is this simply a corporate sponsorship trying to salvage a dying industry?
