Jay Fienberg of HereJam: The web page is the new shiny disc
the new release is (going to be) all about how the music appears on / across the web.
The files and discs are almost irrelevant—definitely secondary. They do need to exist, but, really, once they are published, anyone can get them anywhere. But, the player / interface is primary, because it’s actually about that “content” that is the music—about getting into that music.
musician’s new music + record label’s new player = a new release
the player itself is the new format for music. And, rather than it being a single / fixed format, it is instead of the web (e.g., like a website—it is a web page or website). Each player can be distinctive in design, but all players will have at least a few common, idiomatic, elements that make it similar to other players. They marry idioms of the web with idioms of the music player—both provide nearly unlimited opportunities for design—for being turned into products.
You’ll know it’s a music player when you see it (e.g., maybe it has something to click to make it play), but the player format can be totally free to be any kind of web page(s), which can have original and distinctive shapes, structures, semantics, contexts, interactions, looks, feels, etc. The web page is the new shiny disc.
When players have point-and-click customization, so that photos, text, and hyperlinks can be added by even the most novice, then the player will be better than an album sleeve.
The key to having integrated publishing features is yoking business goals to them. Labels have an incentive to enable all kinds of features for the listener, but they need to prioritize which features will do the most good. Sometimes the listener should be funneled to concert listings, sometimes they should be funneled to the wikipedia page for the band.
That’s a good point. The notion of a “toolkit” of options comes to mind. The average folk singer needs a link to a contact page for booking, to concert listings of existing bookings, to a wiki of information, melodies, notes and lyrics,and to a weblog for the artist, for example. A metal band might link instead to concert listings,
guitar riff tutorial, a radical fantasy art page,and really cool merchandise.