What the rap game can teach us about ebooks
What the rap game can teach us about ebooks
To understand the forces controlling the burgeoning ebook industry, which is projected to pull in more than $3.5 billion in 2012, we must first travel back to the roots of rap music.
The year: 1978 The place: Pasadena, California
Damon G. Riddick spent his early years DJing at parties in Pasadena while the west coast music scene erupted out of the galactic stardust that was B-Boying, beatboxing, DJing, graffiti art, and MCing. By the time Uncle Jamm’s Army put out “Dial-a-Freak”, the cities of Compton, Watts, and South Central had become strongholds of west coast rap.
Riddick adopted the moniker Dam-Funk and established a sound that smashed 80s electro-funk with g-funk. His style of west coast rap is backed with massive synthesizers layered over claps and snares in a way that is instantly familiar to funk fans. Riddick’s signature instrument, a Roland AX1 keytar, is an ever present sidekick is his wheelhouse of deep funk and soul.
After building a small yet passionate fan base through multiple international tours and decades of solo performances, Riddick was slated to open for Snoop Dogg at SXSW’s “Funk-n-Soul Extravaganza”. A relatively unknown face to the masses that attended the show, Riddick’s performance was initially marred by technical difficulties caused by the SXSW staff that prevented him from taking the stage until 20 minutes past the hour. By the end of his opening track, however, Riddick had raised the atmosphere inside the arena to another level.
Burning through track after track, Riddick whipped the crowd into a frenzy before being unexpectedly cut off at the beginning of his final number by the SXSW crew trying to make up for time lost at the beginning of the set. Defiant to leave the stage, Riddick demanded that the mic be turned back on and launched into a blistering 15 minute keytar solo that left onlookers with lighters raised and heads bouncing. The crowd, who ostensibly were there in the first place to see Snoop Dogg, became so mesmerized by Riddick’s performance that they didn’t care if he was running into the time allotted for the Doggfather.
Where do babies ebooks come from?
Most of the ebooks you encounter from Amazon and other major retailers are produced by one of the “Big Six” book publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Group, Random House, and Simon & Schuster). Only one other player in the digital publishing market is of a comprobable size: Scholastic.
As the book business continues to accelerate toward the digital realm, it is these massive gate-keepers (the Snoop Doggs of the industry, if you will) that will make, break, and shape public opinion about ebooks. The current state of affairs is not good, with allegations of price fixing being brought against the Big Six publishers as well as Apple.
What consumers need now is a Damon Riddick of the ebook industry - a brand they can endorse and support even if it wasn’t what they were expecting. Rather than rely on ebook publishers that resort to price fixing and other anti-competitive practices, we need a wildcard that will shake up the antiquated publishing industry and bring it back to its roots. Someone to make us turn our heads and put our lighters in the air (and then open our wallets).
The Big Six currently lack the pizzaz and style required to accomplish such a feat.
Apple did it for the computer industry. Spotify did it for the music industry.
Where is our 15 minute ebook keytar solo?