Marko's Blog

goodbye, goodbye...

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:30:00 -0600

i am sitting here in the office i have occupied for the past ten years, with the music playing (as it usually is) reflecting on what has just happened. as a co-founder of this company, i never thought that it would come to an end, but, change is the only constant, and my time in this office is coming to an end.

i am filled with an odd mix of sorrow and excitement all at the same time...sorrow for the loss of the connection to a business that was started with nothing, built with sheer will, hard work (get in early and stay late!) and a little bit of luck! excitement to be taking the first real breather i have had since i started working when i was 14 years old...ok, college was a breather, but i barely remember that. more importantly, excitement for what's next...

anyone who knows me, knows how much pride i have in this company. in fact, some would say that i am a little too proud in spots. but that has always been my job. since we started on this journey in 1999, there have been more than a fair share of detractors, folks who would say that "its just not possible" to get "it" done.

but we did. and that will continue with the team that i helped to build...and they are mutha f*ckers, so watch yourself...

last week, i was asked to teach a class at Vandy's Owen Entrepreneurship Center last minute. i was early to the class, taught by my good friend Tim DuBois (this never happens BTW) to find his class reviewing a case study of echo. at first, TD didn't want me to sit in on the back half of the class, but i promised to keep my mouth shut, so he let me stay.

it was very strange to sit there and see their analysis of something that i spent the past ten years tweaking, a company built from cash at a time when others were raising money, always willing to take the next step, not knowing whether it was off a cliff, and frankly, not caring...just wanting to get to what seemed so obvious!

and i am proud to say (there it is again) that we are closer than we have ever been! it is my hope that we cross over to see the vision fulfilled...

i gave this piece of advice today in our meeting. i moved to nashville with $800 and no rolodex. 23 months ago, we took a business we built from scratch and sold it for $25 million. if someone says to you that "its just not possible", tell them thanks for their 2¢ and press on - it is possible!

so what is next? post breather of course. i have two huge stacks of index cards full of names, companies, ideas, and quotes to filter thru. after that, bellying up to the whiteboard kids! for me, it all starts with a strategic planning. this next time around, i believe that i will do things a bit differently on a couple levels.

stay tuned. the adventure (and change) continues...

recycle david lee roth

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:25:00 -0600

so why is my life so cool? i get to meet smart people (there were a bunch today!) and learn, learn, learn! today, i spent some time with a couple really smart managers, whose names shall be withheld to protect the innocent...

here is what i learned: www.thetyser.com among other things...including honesty is ALWAYS the best policy (another blog)...

so what is the lesson??? in a world where we have plenty of delivery mechanisms, there will be several ways to succeed with content. one way is recycling...or incremental revenue generation (as my pal LP says...)

some dude, Tyler H., on 49th Ave, in Omaha (btw, all this data is available at networksolutions/whois unless you know how to cloak your domain ownership) registers a domain name, dunno how he got access to the multitracks...but i've asked him, and he created this site on a whim. brilliant!

so what's the opp? there are several. an iPhone app that delivers all Van Halen ringtones all the time? let's face it, standard ringtones are so 2008! (kidding...i'd make these all day long and put them on every cell platform i could find...) opp two, as part of your subscription to VH.com, you can get all the stems and remix all the classic DLR albums. now of course, you'd be looking to pay $100 for that subscription, but there are tons of fans looking for just this kind of stuff. and, you can build in a contest for the next tour to win tix to hang with the band (hell, ride the bus for a week) for the best remix/mash up of VH tunes. you could even go as far as to (gasp) co-mingle the Van Hagar era with the Van Halen era (personally a fan of both eras for very different reasons) and see what comes out! and then take the best stuff, and, guess what...recycle it...again!

we are constantly recycling old content and old ideas (can you say guitar hero?), and it's one of the big opps today.

the image above (SNF) is a rework that i did (in a former life, i was a photographer and photoshop jockey) for a friend of mine. she showed up at work one day in the white pants suit with the black shirt and a co-worker remarked "you look like travolta in saturday night fever!" they took a pic and it ended up in my email box. a iittle search of google images returned the original poster...and presto, new content. now, i might get sued for this "derivative work", but there will come a day when i will be able to pay a nominal fee for the use of this image, and Paramount will make a piece of incremental revenue off a piece of content it created 30+ years ago...

so fire up that iPhone design interface or your copy (pirated??) of photoshop, call your attorney - and get after it!

gladwell channels fleetwood mac

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:30:00 -0600

check this out (worth 30 mins of your time...)

billboard|ces roundup

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:25:00 -0600

So last week I was in Vegas at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and doing a panel at the Billboard Digital Conference. Vegas was, well, Vegas. More than two days in that place and I need several things (a bath certainly comes to mind...) but a good time was had by the crew in the two days spent... I'm now in NYC for the next couple days, visiting every apple store I can and taking a trip to see dierks bentley play in the apple soho store... stop by and say hello!

Some thoughts on the day with Billboard, and a couple thoughts on CES... For those of you interested in the pontification of your blog host from the conference, you can grab it here... check it out now, or download it and listen when you are stuck in traffic or having trouble sleeping at night.

On to the day and CES...

Pretty good lineup for the day, with some big hitters. My big takeaway from the day is that we've been TALKING about the "new model" about two years too long, and that there are very few people (especially those who stand to benefit most from it) doing it! I would not consider myself or echo one of those peeps. We are closer as a company to figuring out what the new model looks like than we've ever been (recession or not!!). The bright spot of the day was not Doug Merrill, the google wunderkind turned EMI music guy (like i had hoped), but rather Soulja Boy Tell'Em, who absolutely killed it. For the life of me, I have no idea why he signed to a major-- he and his manager are DRIVING the boat! I'm going to upload that keynote for you to hear in the next couple days. Essentailly, they harnessed the power of social media and built a business from scratch. Whether you dig the music or not, this guy and his manager GET IT!

Lots of other folks had great things to say, but I am still concerned about the doing. Behind closed doors (and in some of the meetings I attended while there) I still hear too much of the same old same old. Doug talked about the EMI website. Not sure that if I were in his position I would be pointing to that and saying "we just want to experiment." Seems to me you'd want more than that?! I'm all for experimentation, but there are now pretty well established baselines that you can reference, and plenty of successes (like Soulja Boy Tell'Em) from which to model your thinking. Instead, they continue to do the same things over and over and expect different results - it's time to start trusting the foundations that have emerged as of late because they ARE working for artists and brands. The industry did topple and implode, but there is new construction to build off.

Dan Kruchkow (Crush Management) gets it. After having spent time working inside the labels, he got out and got closer to the artist. We were chatting before the panel and he commented how much easier it was to get things done inside Crush than it was at his former employers. After some of the meetings I've had recently, I can understand why he says that, but cannot understand why no one inside is trying to shift it.

Another little tidbit from a friend inside the machine: Anderson is suggesting the CD might have two more years in walmart (which is currently selling 15% of music overall behind iTunes - for the country space it's more like 60%). I'd guess if the declines continue it might not even be two years...

CES quick day recap: walked the floor for an hour or so. Clearly, many companies are phoning it in this year (I heard the CES folks were saying the conference was recession proof... not so much based on what I saw). The cool kids were at the intel booth, checking out a variety of gadgets, tons of stuff for the car-- just the place we need additional distractions, right? Eating, hair, makeup, radio, cell phone, and now, web access and visual entertainment...perfect!

New TVs (and another run at integration with the web, remember WebTV? gawd...horror show...i only knew one person who had webTV), cool phone toys, the new palm stuff, and cisco joins the music fray with Warner. That one will be interesting to watch...

So that's the skinny! Enjoy the audio, will get the Soulja Boy Tell'Em stuff up soon!

hello cleveland (oops, vegas!)

Wed, 7 Jan 2009 08:20:00 -0600

in sin city for the "billboard digital music live" event around the consumer electronic shows. its a great lineup of industry talking heads (seriously, its a good lineup!) and i am looking forward to doing a ton of listening... in particular, looking forward to hearing EMI's doug merrill do the opening keynote, the music 2.0 panel with my pals tamara conniff and ian rogers, of course, my panel (with heavyweight attorney and nice guy elliot groffman), and interested in the closed door session with "red velvet" and what makes dude an expert in "leveraging the fan relationship."

all good stuff!!

our discussion will be centered around ideas gen'd from this idea: "Many point to live events as the future cash cow of the music market. There are many ways that new digital technologies can not only help increase ticket sales, but also create new revenue channels that monetize the live event in ways still not yet imagined."

we will be covering the overall strenghts and weaknesses of the biz in 08, digital integration going forward, the impact of eventful and other services, superfan audience marketing (otherwise known as the peeps in the "fan club"), and of course, new revenue streams!

if you are in the neighborhood, stop on by and hear the heads yak! and for God's sake, DOUBLE DOWN!

the crunchies 08

Tue, 6 Jan 2009 09:45:00 -0600

take a quick peek at the this link, if you want to know whats, hip, coming or happening in the tech world (and if you are informed, go ahead and VOTE!)

music news from Coolfer

Mon, 5 Jan 2009 15:55:00 -0600

this just in! news from the front lines of the music biz...

Album sales: down 15% to 430 million units
CD sales: down 20% to 362 units
Digital album sales: up 32% to 62.8 units
Track sales: up 27% to 1.07 billion units
LP sales: up 92% to 1.9 million units

and yet, a silver lining...head over to my pal Glenn's blog, for some "Very clearheaded music industry stuff." and read the full story...

kanye!

Mon, 5 Jan 2009 15:35:00 -0600

hey kids, back in the saddle blogging. next couple posts are braggin rights...first up the kanye blog (which currently comes up #3 organic search behind google and my boy seth...) which is featured in Entertainment Weekly's best of 2008. As a sidenote, the blog was also in the Best of 2007. Here's to a nice tradition!

blog holiday hours

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:45:00 -0600

from now till the 5th of Jan, my fingers will be resting, more pics on the blog and short snippets of "overheard" wisdom. slow down for a couple days and watch a movie...

could it be?

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:45:00 -0600

that the RIAA has seen the light?

and you thought you could reason with them?

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:00:00 -0600

so, just when you thought you could have a "logical" convo with a creative? the reason we all want to work with them is because they are magical...logical, not so much. this list "to remember" comes from the monk, jazz great...enjoy!

nifty little online service

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 09:40:00 -0600

found a great little service via an article in time magazine. these guys remove you from catalog mailing lists, credit card offer lists and general junk mailing services. there were three services to consider, but i've done the hard work for you. use proquo, cool UI, work is minimal (who has their "label number" handy??), and they say in 90 days, the mailbox will be lighter (and less trees will be redeposited into the ground in a new CMYK format.)

interconnected part two

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:45:00 -0600

been a little busy these days, so the blog has been neglected. this week seems to be a week tied to fathers. a good friend of mine lost his father this week. and amidst all the stuff happening in my world, i have learned to be present for my friends when they need me...but it's tough when the fur is flying.

there are many amazing things about my friend jon. he's won a grammy for songwriting, he's married to an amazing woman (who is also an amazing artist), he's an amazing musician, producer, woodworker, dog owner, etc. etc. but more than all that, he's been an amazing son. he lost his mom a while back, and it's been him and his dad for the past couple years. when you as kids get older, you will cross over a place in time where you start to parent your parents in a strange way. you almost become peers, rather than the parent-child relationship. not to say that the old dynamic doesn't show up (my mom still threatens to pull out "The Manners Book" when i do something i shouldn't be doing...)

so at the funeral, after the service, we had a little food, heard a few songs, and shared stories about jon's dad. quite cathartic for the living, and a celebration of the life of the lost. i saw tons of people i haven't seen in a while, and on my way out, was chatting with one of those people about our relationships with our fathers. jon and his dad had this amazing relationship, one of true mutual respect, love and joy. no one can call you on your shit like your dad. no one. well, except your mom. and as we talked about it, i realized that i did indeed enjoy that kind of relationship with my father. i was reminded by my friend that it's a pretty special thing...and it is.

but it wasn't always that way with my dad and me. i was particularly rebellious (shocker, i know!) and my dad and i had a rough patch in our relationship - from about 1983 to 1995. then, he started to get smart, or perhaps it was me. my dad's dad was a tugboat captain, fought in WWII, owned a roughneck pool hall, helped build the mackinac bridge-- he was a man's man. very little if any emotion...most of that example for living was passed on to my dad. i craved a more emotional connection with him, and decided that i was going to start telling him i loved him, whether or not he said it back.

it took a year of me saying it to him, when one day, we were saying goodbye on the phone, and before i could get it out, he told me "i love you son." i was floored. our relationship has continued to grow closer over the past 10 years, and when my friend asked me the question yesterday, it made me reflect on the genesis of the relationship as of late. death has a way of bringing people together, for mourning, for celebration, and for reflection.

but the story doesn't end there. last night my pal tom occhipinti and i had dinner booked. tom has created this really cool audiobook called "tools." tom's story is too long to tell here, and i have already violated some sort of blogging rule i'm sure, but you can visit his site and read about his project. the net is that tom's book is about the loss of his father, the wisdom of a father, the genesis of relationships. there are no coincidences, are there? seems to be father week for me.

i have a mantra i try to apply called "for free and for fun" which is really just about helping people with no real concern for what's in it for me. call it what you want, it's been a good thing to do in my experience. tom is one of those folks i help. my relationship with him goes back 15 years...we met thru one of my mentors, craig morris.

he called me for advice on what to do with "tools" and i gave him pretty much the advice that is contained in this post from a while back, only done in person. i also suggested that he give his content away for free. and to my surprise, he took many of the suggestions i gave him (most people are great at saying they are going to do something, very few are actually doers). so tom pinged me recently, and we ended up having dinner this week to catch up. turns out, tom's work paid off. he was working his relationships, sent two copies of the project to an old friend of his at panasonic (giving the content away for free) and it turns out that one copy ended up in the hands of another old friend of tom's, who was about to be in a position to help tom again.

this gent took the cd on a trip to NY to meet with panasonic's ad agency to work on the marketing plan for livinginhd.com, and in the meeting, they determined they needed some music. his pal suggested that he might have a solution. that solution was tom occhipinti and his creative work. first, they went to tom's site to learn a bit more about the story behind the music, listened to some other material, and learned a bit about tom. they dug what they heard and saw, and now tom is working on several pieces of music and some other cool little pieces of this marketing campaign.

what have we learned from this story class? :) for me, the following: things come in threes. taking initiative and risks usually have reward. there is a connectedness that cannot be explained or put into an excel spreadsheet. and the biggie, call you dad (and mom) and tell them you love them. you only have today.

quote of the day

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:50:00 -0600

great quote: "Timing & luck is everything....but you got to be there....when it's your time...to be lucky." from the immortal chet atkins

tricks to getting hired...

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 14:25:00 -0600

a resume says a lot about you. as does the cover letter. remember to spell check. if you don’t know how to use your spellchecker in your word app, you should stick to gigs ending in “mart”. understand your target. doing research on the company you are trying to end up in is a good idea for several reasons. first, you will spend a good deal of your waking life at work. better enjoy it. if you do the homework, you might actually discover what the company is about, and if it’s a place you really want to work. the interview should be MUTUAL! if your cover letter references your research about the company, you will earn points!

back to our story. the job description for the position included several cryptic references that would require some research. almost any job you work in will require you to be a good researcher on some level. thank God for google, right? in this particular description, there was a reference to Marc’s Big Boy – a restaurant chain that flourished in the mid-west in the 80’s (I was a busboy and chicken cook there). as is often the case, most of the folks that applied had no business applying. but there were several standouts, including eric babcock. Big Boy had some killer swag, one item they used to extend their brand was a little penny bank for kids, made in the image of their logo/mascot. most resumes arrived in an envelope. eric’s arrived in a box. intriguing. inside the box was the Big Boy. he had taken the liberty of altering some of the messaging on the bank, including adding language to the shirt saying “hire the Big Boy” – eric was actually a big boy, and looked a bit like the bank. his actual resume was shoved up the banks “butt” and there was a reference to its location in his cover letter. now I may not be the typical employer, and you may not try this when applying for a “standard” gig, but I still have that resume on my desk, and eric made an impression that will never leave me.

the second example came recently, via this blog. really not the right place to submit your resume, but breaking the rules occasionally can get you noticed. so it was for mark paulsen. he used the “what is your idea” submission on the blog to ping me. this is what he said in his intro email:

WHY I SHOULD WORK AT ECHO

We called the game "My Life": Gather a group of guys/gals. Late night. Beers / wine. My house -- great stereo, tons of CDs. The idea was to find a song that was meaningful or interesting to you in some way and one by one, you'd introduce the song, as you see it, and play it for the small crowd.   Loudly. Some recalled a broken heart and the song that helped them survive. Others showcased a guitar solo that blows them away. Others interpreted a well known song we had all heard a million times but had no idea what it was about. Others focused on one note or a beautiful harmony. Some just partied. I've seen people tear up; I've seen smiles frozen; I've seen folks soar euphorically; I've seen people relive their past. Many just rocked. Music is powerful. It is so powerful.

My past includes owning a record store. I loved the music; I loved the business; I loved the scene; but what I always loved most were the fans --- their passion "“ their love for the music and love for the band. And whether that love was thrown to Madonna or Motley Crue or Jackson Browne...it was the same.   There's just something very special about seeing someone so deeply affected by the artist and their offering. Giddy at times.   I'd go to record conventions (one of the first fan-based communities) and watch fans gather together to swap music, buy autographs or posters, trying to learn something about the artist. I've seen fans wait backstage for hours just to get a glimpse of their star, maybe even talk to them. This was 1990. Technology has certainly changed but the passion has not, the longing for that interaction has not.

Post record store, I got my MBA and have since been selling (mostly) and developing business in the data, technology and software world. I've sold data to businesses to help profile and target their customers.   I've sold statistical models that help predict customer behavior. I've conceptualized technology that automatically connects businesses to customers "“ grabbing information from the inbound phone number and generating an outgoing response / postcard "“ "hey Marko, thanks for calling today", ....

I love what your company does. I believe in it. I've seen it in action so many times, lived it myself.    I'm dying to learn more. Let's talk.

Mark Paulsen

what a great way to introduce yourself - show your passion, in a bright, articulate way. know your audience. mark did his homework…and it shows. he also has the skills to back up his passion. although we are not currently hiring, mark will stay on my radar, and I’m guessing that he will stay in touch as well.

as you look around you for opportunities, remember to understand your audience, do your homework, and be extraordinary! and most importantly, be persistent without being annoying. persistence is one of the most important skills for your toolkit. as my pal germain says, “never give up!”

go forth and get noticed!

shameless self promotion

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 09:55:00 -0600

just recovered from my turkey day festivities and back in the saddle. a while back, i did a radio interview the local NPR affiliate, WPLN, and promptly forgot about it. apparently it aired on monday, and my attempt at intelligence was reasonably successful. hear it here!

einstein

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:45:00 -0600

i stumbled across some thinking today that i thought i'd share, from one of the masters of our time (or any time for that matter...) enjoy!

Albert Einstein knew in his heart that the source of all his knowledge was not himself, but a mystery - something or someone outside himself. And it left him in awe and wonder. He knew also that while genius may be ninety percent hard work and only ten percent inspiration, all the hard work in the world amounts to nothing without that outside, mysterious inspiration.

He was right. We can work hard and play hard. We can paint, draw, sing, write, code, develop formulas, design all our lives, but none of it will be new or different unless we are open to inspiration from some power outside ourselves that also, somehow, is deep within us. To be really good at anything, whether its playing baseball, designing UI, driving fast cars, fixing an engine (that I just blew up), or cooking, we must believe in some creative force that helps us excel. When we see that force at work, we stand in awe of at the wonderful and mysterious gift we have been given.

what inspires you today?

off to the track!

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:20:00 -0600

sitting in the airport, waiting for a SWA flight to arizona for a couple days of R&R. this trip includes a little racing (woohoo!) at the world famous bondurant track...their waiver is only 14 pages long (ok, not that long, but long) and i am looking forward to exceeding 170mph this trip! pics and deets to come, have a great weekend...

youtube monetization?

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:45:00 -0600

a little python anyone?! this might be an indication of how google plans to monetize their youtube investment (and even if it fails, it will be quite funny to watch!) click here...

ohh, you'll love the title of this one...

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:55:00 -0600

ok kids, lessig speaks again (and as articulately as ever...) click here...