Umair Haque / Bubblegeneration

Monday, December 10, 2007

How Not To Think....Pt 91384

So, at Supernova this year, one of the people I was looking forward to hearing was Andrew Keen - because he's been such a heartfelt critic of anything even remotely 2.0.

I was really (really) disappointed. Andrew is not a fun guy to listen to - because he doesn't have real arguments - just naked assertions, which he kept repeating ad infinitum.

And these assumptions often fly directly in the face of the most basic economic logic/evidence. So while Andrew's positions are heartfelt, Andrew's arguments are too irrational to take seriously (in fact, they can be pretty funny).

Here's the most recent example.

Andrew notes that Radiohead's open pricing was successful. But then goes on to argue that this is actually bad, because record industry folks have mouths that need feeding - because it's putting "music business people out of work".

Wow. That's not just asinine - it's actually almost totally devoid of any kind of logic. This is just sophistry.

Keen is arguing that we should prop up a dead business model for the sake of...consumption. Those poor, poor record label execs - how can they do without power lunches and private jets?

Never mind the glaringly obvious economic reality: the music industry is not creating enough value to support this consumption. Production and consumption are totally out of whack - hence, the industry is slowly dying.

If anything, Radiohead's experiment offers a tremendously powerful avenue for the most radical kind of business model innovation - a way to keep the industry alive.

Look. This argument is a bizarre plea, essentially, for commercial socialism: that, at the limit, we should always and everywhere redistribute wealth regardless of value creation.

Lolz. You can't run an economy - much less an industry - like that. Having mouths to feed didn't prevent the Soviet Union from disintegrating, or the Berlin Wall from walling.

And it certainly won't stop one of the most evil industries under the sun from having a righteous vengeance wreaked on it by the people who've suffered most under it's iron grip: bands and consumers.

When labels start creating some value, Andrew - then let's talk about sharing wealth with them.

-- umair // 12:51 PM // 2 comments

Comments:

I would think you know better than feed that troll.

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zby // 1:45 PM

Second that. Keen sports his brash cluelessness about content generation at almost every turn. It's just assertion after assertion with nary a shred of evidence. Good for people who like reading grumpy old codger rants, but not for anyone looking to learn or get something done.

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Anonymous // 9:29 PM