The Challenges of Creating and Performing Music (Continued)
Yesterday, we identified five broad areas of feedback that Open Labs has received from producers, musicians, and employees. We discussed the specific concepts behind the first two:
- Musicians want the creative process to be fun, not technical
- Musicians want technology to manage their music, not them
Today we want to address the remaining three items:
- Musicians want their live experience to be easy, flexible and stable
- Musicians want Open Labs functionality and quality at a lower cost
- Musicians want products today, not future product announcements
Musicians want their live experience to be easy, flexible and stable. That is a significant request. Some people believe ease of use is a relative term based on the amount of time and experience a musician has with a particular piece of software. Open Labs believes that ease of use is quantifiable by the number clicks and speed with which a task can be accomplished. Touch screens have been demonstrated to make many processes much easier and intuitive. This is part of the reason for the huge success of iPads and tablets, and it is good to see the rest of the world catching up. Open Labs products have used a touch screen for the last seven years.
Flexibility and stability are requirements that initially appear to be in opposition to each other. Although, it is clear that musicians performing on stage have absolute needs for both. Performers need the flexibility to be able to quickly change set lists on the fly to meet the demands of the audience. Artists also need to be able to count on the programs running backing tracks (yes lots of bands use them) in a reliable manner.
Musicians want Open Labs functionality and quality at a lower cost. This is the number one request from prospective Open Labs customers. There is no debate that when quality is the number one requirement, Open Labs products are the choice of professionals. Look at the artist list on the Open Labs website; Linkin Park, Timbaland, Maroon 5, the list goes on and on. However, most musicians live in a different economic bracket than the superstars. Historically, this has been a huge challenge for Open Labs as we focused on delivering the highest possible to value musicians, but the technology requirements have driven a significant cost as well. The good news is that technology’s declining cost curve has finally caught up with Open Labs. Touch screens have become mainstream. Processing power and operating systems have come on line that both address meaningful amounts of memory. All of this technology has matured to the point that one need not sacrifice quality for price.
Musicians want products today, not future product announcements. One of the largest show in the music industry is in January; NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants). Musicians bitterly joke that NAMM actually stands for Not Available Maybe May or Not Available Music Merchandise. Either way, performers are tired of music companies promising products that are months from delivery.
In the next 48 hours Open Labs will announce ground breaking products and partnerships that will address the requirements of musicians and there will not be a ridiculous wait. We will start shipping the products next week. Look forward to working with all of you on this new exciting journey for the company.
