The Marlowsphere Blog (#55)
Brian Gruber, founder and CEO of ShowGo.tv (right), has a vision. That vision is to put remote controlled television cameras and audio technology in jazz clubs all over the world so that people (from all over the world) can experience a jazz performance at any club (from all over the world) at will. No waiting in line. No cover charge. No minimum number of drinks. AND initially no charge for the service. All you’ll need is Internet access, a laptop, or an Internet connected television set (preferably large screen).
Gruber introduced his company to attendees at the JazzConnect conference in New York City in January 2013. He officially launched his company in February (2013) with technical testing completed in the last year in four countries. And as of this writing (mid-March 2013) his company has installed television and audio technology in 10 clubs in four countries—in New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, Milan, London, and Sao Paulo (Brazil). In New York City, specifically, the clubs include Smalls and the Bitter End.
According to Gruber, “The setup for now starts with one camera. We will dial up with more cameras as we get more user experience. We put in one HD camera so the club has to do no production. All we do is do an audio check to make sure we’re getting an audio feed from the club’s board and that’s usually done remotely. In terms of audio, we’ll put in a second microphone in the middle of the room so that we get more crowd noise and a better hybrid mix.
“Two things we know are true. One, this can’t cost the clubs money. And, two, it can’t be a distraction for them. They don’t have the time and the personnel, never mind the expertise, to do this themselves. We try to make this completely hands off for the club. No local staffing. We control everything from our headquarters just below San Francisco or by an I-phone or I-pad from anywhere in the world.
“In the next year, by the end of 2013 we want to be in 30 clubs. Within 36 months we want to be in a 100 clubs. We think volume is important. This is about choice and the sharing of new music. You can hit your I-pad, sit on the couch, glass of white wine and club hop between five and 10 clubs. You might only want to watch three minutes and share that with a friend, and then go from one club to another, city by city. Eventually, our vision is a 24/7 service to clubs all around the world where anytime you want to watch live music instead of listening to recorded music.
“Right now the investors are paying it. We’re going to test monetization approaches in April. Our vision is for a $5/month, all you can ear service. And a revenue share to the artist and the venue, and all of the costs falling to us. The artist and the club will each get 25% of revenue.
“Anyone who loves live music knows intuitively that it would be a ridiculous consumer claim to say ‘this is just as good as being there.’ But it isn’t. This is for people who can’t go to the show. This is also about encouraging people to go and hear more live music. But when you want to listen to music you have several digital apps to tap into. We want to deliver the ‘live’ music experience digitally. This is the fresh way of experiencing live music digitally. “
Gruber’s previous experience leading up to Showgo.tv is varied. He started out as the first marketing director for the government content oriented C-span. He also hosted college shows and went to graduate school to study media. “I want to change television. I want to create and be involved in distributing new forms of media that serve to illuminate and inspire and educate. I was in the cable television business for about 20 years. Started Fora-TV which I ran for a few years and then decided that live streaming television was really interesting. And that music something that people would really pay for. I think where we’ve gone with the Internet is from no one wants to pay for anything to people are willing to pay, particularly streaming subscription services for a package of value that’s convenient with a lot of choice.”
Gruber started with no particular revenue model in mind, but his vision is that with the global explosion of digital devices and that most television sets being sold now have the ability to be connected to the Internet, if you can bring the world’s best music to the consumer and a lot of volume of it there’s a business there. We don’t know if there’s a business there, but our instinct is that there is. Just like the early days of cable television, there’s a window opening here for new types of experiences. This is about people who for the price of a glass of wine once a month can have access to all the great clubs around the world. We’re starting out with jazz, but where it may end up is an eclectic mix of music, but a lot of jazz because many of the clubs are small clubs where you’re going to find jazz.
“For the club owners the central issue is putting butts into the seats. Do we think Showgo.tv is going to help do that? We think the answer is a resounding yes. Using our subscription service you’ll be able to pre-identify a club to go to that goes beyond just looking up who’s playing at a particular club. Second, the new era of marketing is not about selling something, it’s about building a relationship with content with customers. Let’s say you go to a club once or twice a year, if you’re a Showgo.tv subscriber and watch twice a week, you’re more than likely to go a third or fourth time because of the live streaming experience. When you see interview on our site with the owner, the chef, the sous chef, and so on, you’re going to be more compelled to go to the club. Ultimately, I believe this is about making live music more a part of people’s lives.
“Ten years ago the attitude was ‘I don’t want to be on I-tunes, I don’t want to be on YouTube, I don’t want to be on Spotify.’ Today, you better be everywhere, reaching out to people, and touching people, and building relationships with them. So, I think what this is about is building a new relationship with live music if we’re successful. I think it’ll drive more people into the clubs.”
Gruber estimates his business needs 50,000 subscribers to breakeven: “We’re looking for five million subscribers in five years worldwide which we think is very conservative. It’s all about can we deliver great product or not. Great audio and video over a great network. A really smart selection of clubs. Great experience with interactivity and a great social experience.”
Gruber’s vision implies several key issues: if you put remote controlled television and audio technology in a club and potential customers can watch a jazz performance in the comfort of their home or elsewhere, who will benefit? Or, to put this another way, who will not benefit? Will existing customers still come to the club? Will potential customers still come to the club? Who will share in the revenue generated by the video streamed performance? Showgo.tv? Or the club owners? And what about the musicians? Will this be yet another instance of jazz musicians getting the wrong end of the revenue stick? Will they get stuck with the performance effort and no revenue?
And what about issues of copyright? A live performance could be recorded at the computer end and re-played by a consumer at will? Is this a violation of a musician’s right in the performance or the musician’s right in the composition or arrangement of another’s composition? In effect, who will own the transmission of the performance?
Here’s another wrinkle: with the combination of the streaming technology and the growing number of wide-screen, flat-screen, high definition televisions, will this change the nature of the jazz performance? Will the traditional jazz set shift from virtuosic performance (no mean attribute) to greater flair and visual effect to accommodate the high technological level of the television viewing experience? Or, will the streaming of jazz performance begin to separate the modestly talented from the higher level musicians and begin to winnow out the over-saturated supply of musicians? Will the performance of jazz in a club move from a purely aural experience to a demand-driven visual experience? Moreover, will jazz clubs themselves renovate their environment to accommodate the demands of the televised experience? And, last, will the televised event push (I’d rather say force) jazz clubs to elevate their sound systems (and tune their pianos) to put on a better technological face?
Some answers from the world of sports in next week’s blog.
Please write to me at meiienterprises@aol.com if you have any comments on this or any other of my blogs.
Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
March 25, 2013
© Eugene Marlow 2013