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Interview with TeamCom's Founder Bruce Fries by New Media Music
1) When was the company founded and by whom?
TeamCom
was founded in January, 1999 by myself.
2)
What was the main motivation for its formation?
Traditional publishing too often treats customers as an after thought, and is
usually a collaboration of a small group of people that focuses on products that
the publisher thinks might sell.
A sad fact is that a lot of junk gets published because marketing and hype is
more of a factor than quality. This is just as true of the music industry
as it is of the publishing industry. The ironic thing with the publishing
industry is that with all of the focus on hype and marketing, very little market
research is performed.
I wanted to do things differently and focus on producing quality material that
best serves the needs of the readers. I also wanted to take advantage of
the Internet as a tool for market research, and collaboration via virtual teams,
best suited for each project.
3) How many people are employed there?
Four
to five people, mostly interns, plus several "virtual" team members
who work as contactors.
4) How would you describe your businesses main objective/business model
in one paragraph (but not a very long paragraph!
TeamCom is an innovative new media publishing company that combines the best of
traditional and online methods to create books, Web content and related products
to fulfill our mission of helping consumers understand and effectively use new
technology.
5) In an overcrowded marketplace, there is much competition for the
same Internet space. Exactly what do you feel separates you from the other
companies that do anything similar to what you are doing?
Our products are the result of the collaboration of virtual teams, which include
multiple writers and editors best suited to the project, along with
representative mix of potential readers.
We treat our products as content that can be packaged in many forms: physical
books, web pages, downloadable files-while most publishers tend to think of
their content as specific products like books or magazines.
Our first product, "The MP3 and Internet Audio Handbook," was
published in print, online and downloadable formats simultaneously. We
also license the content to music-related Web sites in exchange for links back
to our own site.
6) What are the biggest misconceptions about Net music?
1.
Artists don't make any money from music downloads.
Many sites, such as Emusic.com, charge for downloaded
songs and pay royalties to the artists.
2.
That MP3 and MP3.com are the same thing.
I have seen major label executives and even the major
news services make this mistake.
3.
That the Internet will eliminate the need for record labels.
Artist development, distribution and promotion are
services, typically provided by labels, that are still needed by independent
bands. Many artists may not have the business skills to do this themselves
or arrange others to provide these services.
7) It appears that some of the major record companies are now
getting involved with the space in big ways. How do you feel this will affect
the independent music and performing artists and what do you think they will
need to do in order to stay involved in a major way.
8) Are there any ways the net could be used more effectively and
efficiently to help the consumers?
Technologies that help people sort through the junk and find useful information,
good music and quality content are sorely needed. The main barrier to
wider use of the Internet for novice users is that they are overwhelmed by its
vastness, the amount of poor quality content, and the unnecessary complexity of
many sites.
9) Every time I turn on the radio, it seems that there are more dot-com
ads than bricks and mortar ads. Do you feel that this is confusion and/or
annoying the public?
I don't think it's either one. Traditional radio force feeds most content
(including ads) to listeners, who have a narrow selection of stations to choose
from. Any form of advertisement is a necessary annoyance the listener must
be subjected to in exchange for access to free programming. Radio advertising is
generally very effective for local businesses, but most dot coms need to reach a
national or global audience, and broadcast radio is not necessarily the most
cost-effective way to accomplish this.
10) The beauty of the Internet is that it created a new way of commuting for
the Independent community, a community that could not get the attention of major
companies, major promoters, etc. Now that the majors are trying to buy up
a lot of the companies, do you feel that the public will remain loyal to the
independent community or do you think the public will be easily swayed?
The music-loving public has never been loyal to specific labels, expect in a few
rare cases like Windhan Hills. Any "brand" loyalty is for the
artist, not the label. People want to hear good music, regardless of who
controls it. Sadly, most of the best music doesn't get the exposure it
deserves. Ninety percent of the success of an album is due to distribution and
marketing.
11) Is there anything else you would like to say about what you are
doing that can inspire the community, or show a way that you are standing out
from the crowd?
At TeamCom, we focus on doing what we think is right, rather than what we think
the industry expects of us. Our focus is on our customers and
providing quality products and services that meet their needs. Our
customers live in the physical world; the online world is just a communications
medium-a means to an end, not an end in itself.