Black and White and Dead All Over: Can Journalism Survive Free Riders?

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

Yeah, try re-bottling that. (illustration by Stuart MacKay-Smith)

It’s tough watching an old friend slowly die. Even tougher knowing that you’re helping to knock him off.

Before you go calling 911, the old friend I’m referring to is my daily newspaper. For decades, I’ve started every day with my morning paper. I score my sports and business fix while downing pure Colombian full-caf. Over the years, the two addictions have chemically intertwined to enhance their combined effects. Consequently, whenever I miss my morning coffee-n-paper jumpstart, I find myself fluttering from activity to activity the rest of the day like a fat pigeon in a hurricane.

And now, to my horror and profound sadness, newspapers are dying, losing readers and advertisers to the Web. As a blogger, I contribute to this lethal migration, not so much by stealing readers from newspapers (if only I had such drawing power), but by validating the Web as the place to go for scoop. I myself drink deeply from this vast sea of instant info. After all, why read papers for business alerts or sports scores when they’re updated every second online?

Game Over: MySpace Seeks Salvation in… Gaming?

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

What lies in store for MySpace?

MySpace is losing it. And I’m not talking about its members defecting to Facebook.

Last year, the once mighty, world dominating social network that had crushed its predecessor Friendster suddenly found itself splattered on Facebook’s windshield. At first, MySpace responded by copying Facebook features, but copying a competitor is not a long-term success strategy. In fact, it just gives the competition credibility.

So MySpace gave up the fight and is fully rebooting by going after a niche market…

1984 2.0: Amazon “Kindles” an Orwellian Fury

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

Still a troublemaker.

Orwell is not only spinning in his grave, he must be doing triple salchows.

Amazon kindled a web-wide furor this morning when it yanked digital copies of two books from users’ Kindles: George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm…

“Free” Market Freefall: The End of Free?

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

Web 2.Uh-Oh

Just over a year ago, Wired magazine proudly proclaimed that the future would be free, an argument based partially on ad-supported free sites like NYTimes.com. Of course, it was hard to take this manifesto seriously since Wired still charges for their magazine (cover price $4.99).

It was also misleading because it appeared during the height of the second dotcom bubble, when most of the free websites and services weren’t really living off their ad revenue. Some still aren’t. The New York Times website, for example, couldn’t exist in its current form without the financial and content support from its parent company.

Radio Killed The Radio Star: How Clear Channel Lost The Signal

Illustration by Jeremy Hidalgo (www.borntodesign.net)

Here’s expensive proof that I should stick to marketing and steer clear of the stock market: I invested in two radio companies.

The first, Westwood One (WWON.OB), seemed like a stable cash flow deal. Westwood One produces radio programs for syndication, including broadcasts of NFL games. The way I saw it, demand for pro football is insatiable, and since we mere mortals can’t invest in the NFL, this is the next best thing, right? Well, apparently not. As advertisers fled from radio, so did investors. Westwood One is now worth 9 cents a share and was recently delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.

The second, Sirius satellite radio (SIRI; now called Sirius XM — at least for the time being…), is worth even less: 6 cents a share. They’re seeking Chapter 11, and according to Rory Maher of paidContent.org, we Sirius common shareholders are about to get hosed. My investment in Sirius was pure speculation, since I was looking for some wild risk to balance out my boring bank CD’s. (Yay, excitement.) Since my friends who have Sirius love it, I thought it might have a future. Of course, I violated my own personal rule: don’t invest in anything that I don’t personally use. If I wasn’t willing to shell out $13/month for radio, what made me think the rest of America would flock to it?

But Wait, There’s More…

Who Says No One Watches Commercials Anymore? Ads Move iPhone Apps

A screengrab from a YouTube video of an Apple television commercial about reading a book on your phone now appearing on a blog.

I hear it all the time:

“Advertising is a waste of money.”
“If you have a great product, you don’t need to advertise.”
“Word of mouth is more effective than traditional media.”
“It’s impossible to cut through the clutter.”
“Most consumers tune out or TiVo past commercials.”

While these declarations might be true in some cases, many bullheaded companies still invest millions in advertising — and not just during the Super Bowl when everyone is paying attention to the commercials.

Are these companies just clueless losers who are stuck in the past? I don’t know — would you describe Apple that way?

Move Aside, Kids: Will YouTube Become TheirTube?

Just like in the interactive zombie film The Outbreak, you keep running from the creatures, and just when you think you’ve found a new sanctuary, they sniff you out and keep coming and coming and coming…

The creatures I’m talking about here are Hollywood stars and studios, and the “you” is the independent movie producer or fan looking for a place to call their own…

Super Manipulation: Single Girl Seduces the Media

Here’s how to exploit the Super Bowl without spending the $3,000,000 for a 30-second commercial…

Fox News: Worse Than The National Enquirer?

I don’t usually go to FoxNews.com, but today — October 24 — I wanted to see what they had to say about the mugging hoax by a McCain volunteer. Instead, I found the following top national headlines:

Hmmm, isn’t there like an economic crash, two wars, and — what do you call it? — oh, yeah, a Presidential election going on?

Meanwhile, the top two stories over at NationalEnquirer.com are about Cindy McCain and Joe Biden.

If ignorance is bliss, then Fox News is the happiest place on earth.

The World Has Lost A Voice: Don LaFontaine 1940-2008

You might not recognize his face, but you certainly know his voice…

Hollywood The Horrible Has Arrived: Why The UGC Era Is Over

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

So I’m thoroughly digging on Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog — the surreal webisodic series by Joss Whedon — and I’m thinking that Hollywood’s foray into online video might not be a bad thing…

Totally ‘Tarded: The Tropic Thunder “Controversy”

As you’ve probably heard to death by now, the hit film Tropic Thunder has stirred up a little hornet’s nest in politically correct circles. (I would say wasp’s nest, but the PC folks would probably object to offending White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Those Saxons can be a gnarly bunch.) To promote Tropic Thunder, actor/writer/director Ben Stiller created a faux ad for a faux film, Simple Jack: “Once upon a time… there was a retard.”

Surprise? The Diggers’ President of Choice…

There’s a new feature on Digg, the popular news-rating community: Digg The Candidates — where Diggers can add their favorite candidate as a “friend.” Based on results to date, the winner is…

“Your Skin Color is not a Stain!”: L.A. Teen Takes on Unilever’s Bigotry

Delia Rose is mad as hell. In her usually lighthearted and witty blog, Impeach the Muffins, the L.A. teenager is calling for a boycott of Unilever. The reason? The skin-whiteners that the corporate behemoth distributes and promotes in Malaysia and other Eastern countries…

Full of Holes: The Extremist Attack on Dunkin Donuts

Like many people, I want 01.20.09 — Bush’s last day in office — declared an international holiday. But even with “the End of an Error” in sight, right-wing extremists continue to wreak their corrosive damage, and are now invading the seemingly sheltered world of corporate junk food…

It’s About Time: Fox TV Acknowledges That Less Is More

Fox TV has a long history of upsetting the status quo. At its launch, it gave the finger to the mainstream networks and introduced edgier shows such as “The Simpsons,” “In Living Color” and “Married With Children.” Sure, this meant smaller overall audiences than its rivals, but it scored with the ever desirable 18-49 demo, whom advertisers love. Now Fox TV is rocking the ad world again…

Dan Neil: Your Automotive Word Slut

If you lust after cars like I do, then the writer you need to read — yes, NEED — is Dan Neil of the L.A. Times. Even if you don’t care about cars, you’ll love his column, “Rumble Seat.” As a former writer for Toyota, Nissan & Infiniti, I relish every syllable…

“Breaking News”: A Hilarious Spoof of Obama’s So-Called “Elitism”

The liberal blog Daily Kos just unleashed a scathing and hilarious spoof of the “uproar” around Barack Obama’s supposed “elitism.” It perfectly captures the pathetic state of American journalism, where “freedom of the press” has become “freedom to act like squirrel monkeys.”

What What? South Park Spoofs the WGA, YouTube, Canada…

“… While the internet is new and exciting for creative people, it hasn’t matured as a distribution mechanism… It will be a few years before digital distribution of media on the Internet can be monetized to an extent that necessitates content producers to forgo their fair value in more traditional media…” – Kyle, South Park

I know, I shouldn’t be quoting cartoon characters as proof of anything, but sometimes the greatest truth is found in satire. And the April 2 episode of South Park, “Canada on Strike,” is satire at its best, skewering everyone from the Writers Guild of America to Denmark to the stars of YouTube…

Uh Oh: Death By Blogging

According to the New York Times, three prominent bloggers suffered serious heart attacks in the past five months — Russell Shaw, Marc Orchant, and Om Malik — with Shaw and Orchant going to that big blogosphere in the sky. (May you have infinite comments and pingbacks for all eternity.)

Here We Go Again: Dotcom Bust 2.0

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

Video site Stage6 got the deep-six and called it quits. This comes on the heels of the fire sale at Revver, which ultimately sold for $5 million — less than half of the original investment that was pumped into it. But these weren’t the first signs of an industry decimation…

Give It Away Give It Away Now: Suze Orman’s E-Book Promo

She’s a money management wizard — and now she’s proving pretty damn savvy about marketing, as well…

What’s It Worth? The Media Biz in Perspective

Just thought I’d dash off a quick note to put a few recent media-business items in perspective. The first one you’ve heard about extensively; you might find these others somewhat amusing…

Microsoft’s offer for Yahoo!: $44.6 billion
Oil company Exxon’s profit for just the 4th quarter of 2007: $11.7 billion
State of California’s budget deficit: $14.6 billion
Purchase price of HotOrNot, the online dating & rating service, as reported by TechCrunch: $20 million
HotOrNot’s annual revenue: $5 million
Budget for the movie “Cloverfield”: $25 million
“Cloverfield” box office gross for just its first four weeks: $76 million
Total investment received by video site Revver.com: $12.7 million
Debt currently owed by Revver.com: $1 million
Asking price to purchase all of Revver.com (and to assume its debt): $300,000-$500,000

And you thought the real estate market was irrational?