Businesses without new knowledge and network will go under

Imagine that you are going on a hike to climb a high mountain like Mont Blanc. You have got in some cool friends and you have a great team that has a good chance to actually reach the top. All people in the team know what to do and how to do it, they are specialists in their own way. 

Then suddenly your old dad calls you up. By mistake, you had posted on Facebook (only old people use Facebook) that you are about to climb this mountain. Of course, old pap really wants to join in on this climb. In the hight of his career, he claimed mountains. Mont Blanc was one of them. But that is back in the days and the routes he took are not available any longer. You are taking a totally different route. The equipment that is used is different. On top of that old dad is walking with a cane and will just start nagging around things he did over thirty years ago.

Now you face a dilemma. Sure, you want to have your father on there, but you also know that he will just be a burden. He can't really supply anything to the team. This mission also must be fast. It's really not a wonderful vacation. It's a mission that you need to get to that point. He walks slow. The info he got is outdated. Still, you feel a bit like in the song "Cats in the cradle", you have grown up to be just like him.

The problem is just how you break the ice. How you move forward. Whatever your decision is, it will be the wrong one in his eyes. 

Of course, this story has nothing to do with age. It has to do with ability. Sure, with age, there is a lot that changes, and some ability is no longer there. I started in the music industry noticeably young. Right now, I'm standing with one foot in the new world. The world that will be totally new after the Covid 19 crisis. One foot in the old world where many of the people that have been my mentors and my friends will see their enterprises and empires just crumble to ashes.

This would have happened anyway. I know that but this crisis will be a catalyst that will propeller things much faster. Things that would take years now will go in one year. In a panic, I get these "dads" calling me up and want to join in on my next event. What they don't understand is that this has been planned in several months, even before the crisis. Also, some of them were invited but uninterested since they were relying on their empire to just keep doing the same. My project was a bit too small for them. Suddenly my project is a great threat to them.

The fact is that I can only carry people that will bring something for the team on this mountain trip. It's about surviving, and the music industry is not like the Green Beret where no one is left behind. The music industry is much more a jungle. it's eating or be eaten. We can't carry any dead weight on this journey.

But knowledge doesn't weigh anything. No, it doesn't. But old wrong knowledge can lead to the wrong path and is a burden. Sorry to say, but the new network of the music industry was started to be planned already two weeks after shutdown. If you didn't get the invitation or where part in the secret zoom meetings. That is a good indicator you are not in the teams that are now starting to climb. Businesses that were already weak will go under. Businesses without new knowledge and network will also go under. I think it's time for you my friend, to stop pretending that you are a movie star like Harpo sang in your golden age.

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Don't trust old people.

And here we go again. Some old dude that worked on a record label during early 2000 finds a totally hopeless case and can't stop nagging about it.

What is it with these people? It seems they missed a lot of a information these years they were off from the industry working for the government or a school since they were chosen not good enough to stay in the business, but now are back.

You can hear me say, don't trust anyone over 40 in the music industry, they are too old.

In too many cases it is so damn correct. In too many cases they just come dragging with something that the cat puked up. The rest of the industry has already seen this band and just don't want to deal with them.

Then the jack ass starts to get the hopeless case favors that will just prolong the ultimate end.

We need some kind of diploma system. Just because you worked in the industry you really don't know it today.

You know it's perfect when old people say you can't do it.

I was listening on a speech from a very famous old label guy from Japan the other day. He was very pessimistic about where the musicindustry where going. The sales where down. The digital in Japan didn't work and the live side had trouble.

I had heard that story before. It was told in Sweden to many times just when Spotify was making its appearance. And it was told by old farts. And we all know the crisis was solved by Spotify in Sweden later on.

Same here in Japan. The guy said that the sales where down but the digital streaming was staying at the same small rate. The thing is what he is saying is that people stopped listening to music. That is a fact that never is true. People listen to more music then ever. The error here is that the old fart really don't understand where they ate listening or where they find new music.

So I asked where kids where hanging online. I had a hard time seeing that kids in Japan not using Internet.

Fast, he answered that kids loved to be on YouTube and see videos.

Voila, bingo there you have it. The streaming is up but they haven't checked the right sources. Yes Japanese kids won't use Spotify and stuff like that. No they are on YouTube and watch videos,witch is also streaming and you can earn money on.

What I knew that he didn't was a that I had meet some younger Japanese people that explained how the new generation behaved. And they had number of exploding of use of streams.

It's never the case that people stop listening to music. But it's always what you hear from some old farts in the industry. How influencial they might have been they are out. And that is good news for you. When this happens there is niche to get into and pick shares. The golden age is when to old fart whine.