Interesting times in the media worlds as the television and Internet continue their mash-up dance. Some interesting statistics from a recent article by Terry Teachout.

In 1949:
- Americans owned 85 million radios
- Americans owned 1.3 million TVs – of which over 70% were located on the east coast
- a 16 inch picture tube TV $695, or the equivalent of $6,212 in today’s dollars.
- TV networks were losing money at a clip of about $116,000 (today’s dollars) EACH day

Then came the tipping point. Fifteen TV stations on the east coast and in the Midwest got connected via a crude coaxial cable network, which enabled far more viewers to see network programs “live.” As a result, movie theater attendance dropped by 72% but bars who had TVs installed were filled to the rafters on certain nights.

Who made it safely to the other side? Big (radio) media companies who kept funding their vision, and entertainers who embraced the new medium, as opposed to pining for the past. Bob Hope and Big Crosby made the leap from radio to TV, while Fred Allen, a big radio star, decried the loss of the “theater of imagination” that radio made possible, and got left on the far shore.

These are underlying principals of service design; understanding what customers want, using technology as an enabler, and being patient to see your ideas to fruition. (This latter point is difficult for public companies who live quarter-to-quarter.) All in all, the transitions of previous media shifts are all good history lessons for today’s media executives.

An article on the Design Week website discusses a new BBC reality TV show in which young designers compete to win a six month gig with designer, Philippe Starck. Entitled “Philippe Starck’s School of Design,” the show echoes the BBC’s “The Apprentice,” which echoes the original Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” on NBC. (Talk about derivative!) But instead of overseeing the construction of casinos or golf courses for The Donald empire, the winner of this contest gets a six-month contract at Starck’s Paris studio.

Over 10 weeks, five female and seven male contestants live together in a house in the Paris suburbs. They range in age from 19 to 32 and most have product design backgrounds. In the first episode’s challenge, contestants search a hypermarket for products displaying good and bad design qualities. One designer contestent, Ilsa Parry, is a lecturer in 3D design at Liverpool Community College who has a design idea for a space-saving vertical coffin. Unknown as of yet is whether or not Starck has a catch-phrase similar to Trump’s, “you’re fired!”

In an era of rising unemployment, it’s interesting to see TV viewers continue to watch other people struggle to win jobs in a state of pre-packaged, well-lit reality. The good news is that big “D” designers and their craft are finally going prime-time, along with MBAs, fashion designers, cooks and folks who have dirty jobs.

Have the television and film industries been paying attention to the painful transition that the music industry has been going through over the past eight years? If they have been paying attention, they will realize a couple things:

1 – You can’t fight technology – There is no putting the "genie back in the bottle." No matter how hard you work to control something, there are legions of people out there who are working even harder (and for free and often with a vendetta) to undermine your control. The harder you squeeze, the harder they fight. And your hand just is not big enough to squish them all. (This applies not only to the music industry, but to dictatorial regimes as well.)

2 – You have to adapt – As much as we might like to go back to quieter, gentler times – that’s not going to happen. So if you can’t fight (see #1) then you have to adapt. Just now – after eight long, bloody years – is the music industry machine starting to adapt.

3 – Find what your customers value and provide it – It took years for the industry and many musicians to realize that there is a way to create value besides selling CDs. Live touring, merchandise, special access, works in progress, collaborations, and as-of-yet-to-be-invented models will drive value and as a result, money.  If you want to be an artist and be absolutely true to yourself, then by all means do that. But if you want to be an artist and make money from your art, then you have to create something that people value and are willing to pay for.
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