Doug, meet Danah

4 January 2008

Recently Wired magazine had an interview with Doug Morris, head of Universal Music Group. In the article he tries to explain how it is that the record companies have missed the boat so badly on the digital music business.


Morris insists there wasn’t a thing he or anyone else could have done differently. “There’s no one in the record company that’s a technologist,” Morris explains. “That’s a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn’t. They just didn’t know what to do. It’s like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?…
“We didn’t know who to hire,” he says, becoming more agitated. “I wouldn’t be able to recognize a good technology person “

Doug, it’s a business model problem, not a technology problem. you don’t need to hire a technologist. You need to hire a sophisticated music consumer who understands how to use technology to listen to the music she wants. Meet Danah Boyd. In this single blog post she points out about five different ways you can get her to pay you real money for music. Consumers like Danah are your friend. Listen to her and I’m sure you can find a way that you can keep both her and your company happy.

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