I was at the Bulldog Media Conference in San Fran yesterday, doing a presentation on the role PR plays in the new marketing mix. At the second keynote, the speaker asked how many people had read a newspaper/magazine in the last week, and about half the audience raised their hands. I hit my forehead sharply with my palm. Then I was talking to an attendee who said with a straight face that in a few years, all content on media web sites like the NYT would be free. Smack. I was developing a bruise.
But let's back up a bit. Apparently, I'm not living in a world where the traditional media is over, since I continue to see their impact reflected all around me, to such an extent that I made the dash from my house to the Seattle airport with luggage that contained a very nice pair of black pants that belong to my wife and not to me, only discovering this when I was only able to get a foot and most of a calf into the pants the next a.m., and managed to lock myself out of my hotel room twice in between phone calls. So personally, I'm pretty sure the media is...not dead yet.
On the plane to S.F., I read the current issue of Sports Illustrated, a magazine I don't get at home. It was good. I was glad to have paid about $5 for it. On the way back to Seattle, I read Esquire. It was good. I laughed so much at the George Clooney article the guy sitting next to me asked for another seat. The $5 felt pretty good. I was listening to Iron & Wine, Band of Horses, The Hold Steady and The Killers on Rhapsody, for which I pay about $10 per month, which feels like a pretty good deal, considering I listened to the new R.E.M. on the way down, and ran 11 miles on Good Friday listening to Godspell, which is all music I likely would not have listened to w/o the subscription.
ANYWAY, there was an article in Esquire that is worth reading -- it looks at the impact of filesharing on music, and where all the money has gone. And I thought about the NYT and how it wanted to be free.
I don't want it to be free. Entertainment is valuable. Information is valuable. Insight is valuable. Next time someone tells me it's free, maybe the bruise I create shouldn't be attached to me. ;)