FourthWall Media, Your Rock and Roll Specialists.

So I was listening to Tommy James and the Shondells on my way into the office yesterday morning, and there’s this moment about a minute into Crimson and Clover when you think the song’s going to break open, but it doesn’t. Tommy brings it back down with one of his “Yaaaas.”  That made me think of the moment half way through Peggy Sue, when Buddy Holly cuts loose for just an instance, and you can hear what Rock-n-Roll is going to be.  Well, that made me think of the guitar solo in the Kink’s You Really Got Me, when it looks like the whole band is going to burst out of their skinny mod suits before Ray Davies reins the song in.  Why didn’t they cut loose? Why didn’t they rip it up? Why didn’t they become The Ramones?

Well, because they, or their label, wanted the exposure provided by Ed Sullivan or the Arthur Murray Dance Party, and that made me think of interactive television.

I get to the office and I see these two headlines:  Comcast buys NBCU, and Boxee gets Clicker App.  One of these deals is Ed Sullivan, and the other is The Ramones.  As Ed Sullivan carefully packaged Rock-n-Roll for a broad audience, Rock-n-Roll developed at its own frenetic pace, a la Boxee, Clicker, and thousands of other innovators who are creating new ways to make, share, and access content in a purely market-driven manner.  It’s what the kids want.  

In about three months, Shit My Dad Says moved from a parent’s basement to Twitter to a sitcom and movie deal.  By the time it gets on air it’ll likely be passé, and the audience will likely be smaller than the one it started with.  The way we consume media has changed that drastically, that fast, and the pace of change is not slowing down, and it’s not waiting for someone to say “Yes, it’s ok. Go ahead and watch TV on your phone.”  Tommy James and The Ramones are only about 5 years apart.  Seeing the two clips, you’d assume they were from different centuries, and not just because the Shondells are dressed like Revolutionary War-era ether salesmen.  Shit My Dad Says vs. The Jay Leno Show.  

So how do MSOs bridge this gap and thrive?  Their validating platform and business infrastructure is immensely valuable, but it feels like Lawrence Welk at a rave party.

MSOs should provide a solid technical and business infrastructure to developers, and then give them enough room to fail.  MSOs don’t pick winners and losers among network shows.  They put that burden on the programmers.  Apple chose some core apps for the iPhone, and then let the developer community bears the cost and risk of creating successful applications.  That means letting go a little.  It means embracing partners − and not with a choke hold.  It means earning billions of pennies rather than millions of dollars.  Content and application providers and their audiences are finding new ways to get together and swivel their hips.  MSOs need a little of this Rock-n-Roll spirit.  As the nice lady in the Arthur Murray Dance Party clip says, some “Rock and Roll Specialists.”

Hey. Ho. Let’s go.

Patrick Peters

EVP and GM, Programming

FourthWall Media

twitter.com/fourthwallmedia