Next Media: Day One
My lovely Londoners, today until Wednesday I am in the city of Toronto for a conference. A gathering of all the "who's who" in the land of Media. And what an interesting day it was.
Pitchfork president Christopher Kaskie was here, along with Michael Wolff (Wired, Vanity Fair) and Damir Slogar, Big Blue Bubble,(representing London) just to name a few. So, there's a general consensus flying around that even the "guys at the top" are confused about what to do next. This makes me feel MUCH more confident about what we are doing at FUSE. There's something to be said for being on the front lines and interacting with our community on a regular basis. Being the only media outlet from the Forest City, i've had great response to London Fuse.
I must say, the presentation by Christopher Kaskie of Pitchfork was the most intriguing and candid of the day. Kaskie, was not afraid to make comments like "newspapers are basically dead and a waster of paper" and "music will continue to be a loud world." Refreshing and eye opening, Kaskie mentioned Pitchfork knows their audience best and they would never risk loosing them by "selling out." In the last year alone, Pitchfork has gained 1.6 followers on Twitter and on the same token walked away from six figure offers from ad agencies. The indie music website posts exactly what they want and their readership either eats it up or throws it on the floor and that's exactly how they like it. Kaskie also doted on the fact they take pride in curating their content and taking time in posting reviews. So how does a site that turns away tons of ad revenue stay afloat? Well, festivals, affiliate relationships, syndication and one off events/showcases. Again, this brings hope that you can gain national and international recognition while sustaining your mandate.
The rest of the day brought panels about thriving as a Canadian digital company, gamification and a ton of mobile phone branding and marketing conversations. I must also mention, the NFB did a phenomenal talk as well about their newly launched interactive site. I highly suggest looking into it. Tomorrow we can expect the Marketing Director of Facebook Canada which should be somewhat engaging. I'll be updating the Fuse Twitter account, along with posts on good 'ol Facebook and Fuse when I have a moment to sit at my computer. Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for a few photos as well.
Until then, let's keep thinking about how we can create change in our community and be a part of critical conversation. It's quite obvious we have an opportunity here to step into the media and fill in the blanks.
Sweet dreams.
Comments
Way to represent the little guys in London who are making big strides in the world of progressive media.
Looking forward to hearing your summary of tomorrows talk.
Very nice to hear we are not the only ones who aren't exactly sure where this ship is heading. Thanks for the update Sav.
Great conversation and points, Savanah. I'm pretty envious that Im not at the conference.
I like that you ponited out that even the "guys at the top" are confused about what to do next. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people claim to be 'social media experts'. I guess its fine when someone else describes you as an expert, but when its self proclaimed then its simply insane. The media is less than 4 years old and changes on a weekly basis. It's almost as bad as the regular "The New Rules of Social Media"-type books and blogs that I see. Its great to hear the President of Pitchfork admit that they are essentially making it up as they go along. And they are doing a fine job of it.
Our friends at Pitchfork currently have ads by both Apple and Nike taking up large chucks of my screen...
I didn't see the Nike up there, but Apple and Sony seems to make sense; they still have to pay contributors. Kaskie talked about the partnerships they have with advertisers that work to their advantage. Pitchfork has the ideal target audience and market for any advertiser, they know exactly who reads their content. That's why they are able to walk away from companies they don't want to work with. Having iTunes on your side as a music site is only going to benefit both parties. I think, it's actually "sticking it to the man" to have Apple on your side - you might as well have them pay for it, so you don't have to....