Forrester has just published the above title reported, the first in our new ‘Media Product Innovation’ series.  Following on from the strategy laid out in ‘Music Release Windows: The Product Innovation That The Music Business Can’t Do Without’ this report proposes some tactical implementations of that strategy.

 

As we’re now 100 years on from the first commercial album release with recorded music sales plummeting, the time has come for a radical overhaul of the recorded music product range. We believe that future music products will need to adopt a platform-agnostic world view that encompasses powerful and social interactivity to empower consumers to create their own unique experiences.

 

It is time to build music products around consumer needs, not business needs

 

That might sound like a truism, but so much of current digital music innovation falls short of this crucially important value.  This is why Forrester proposes a Music Product Manifesto of six basic consumer music rights that digital products should embrace.  These are spelt out in detail in the report, but include principles such as:

 

  • The right to great consumer experiences first (and business models second).
  • The right to unique music experiences.
  • The right to share in the creation process.

 

I mentioned earlier that the report has a strong tactical focus, and it does, so strong in fact that we actually scope out our ‘show home’ of the future music product (see below).


Music app

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see this looks a lot like a mobile application.  This is because we believe that powerful interactivity is going to be key to successful future music product innovation.  To such an extent that the consumer is empowered to make the experience their own and to bring their connected friends into that unique experience.  And yes, a touch screen  netbook would be the perfect form factor for such a product…

 

I hope I’ve been able to give you enough of a flavour of our vision here.  If you are a Forrester client you can read the entire report here.  If you are press and are interested in writing up a story you can contact our press team at PRESS AT FORRESTER DOT COM.

 

And of course, I’d love to hear your thoughts directly here on this blog.