Funky World

It’s written in many smart and not-so-smart books of last five years that the business world changes very much. Broadband internet, new technologies, gadgets of different kind and 3G mobiles – well, now the consumer can:

a) Compare offers from different firms without moving the butt, and keep sipping beer;

b) Choose the product characteristics suitable for consumer, and include it in the product

To be honest, all this stuff takes my breath away, especially when you learn it for the first time (in the book like “Funky business”). But it seems to be so unreal and so far away, when you read about it sitting on a chair in Harkiv, that you can’t quite believe these things exist in a real world.

Well, as late as a week ago I came across with this kind of concept as large as life. Of course I’ve been comparing prices and characteristics of different stuff in internet for a long time (ticket prices to Oasis show in Stockholm, for instance). That’s why the first point doesn’t surprise me. But I stumbled across one thing recently. It’s called “Last.FM radio station”. Its charm is that it doesn’t have any fixed music stream. Users register there and chooses the music HIMSELF – either entering the music style or the band he/she likes in a string search. Moreover, the station offers the suitable music itself after some time.

You know, these things provoke me to say phrases like “You’ll see what will be in 20 years! There won’t be any TV, cinema, or theatre – just internet, and nothing else”. Of course, stations with living DJs won’t disappear, as well as al these programs with on-demand songs and morning jokes. But what will disappear is the sacred attitude to music. In fact it has already vanished. There won’t be such cult bands like Led Zeppelin or The Beatles, the icon bands with fainted fans on their shows - that’s for sure. But there definitely will be something else – that’s beyond all doubt. Probably the brandy products like iPod or Xbox will take their stand: the news about throng in the first day of selling this kind of products doesn’t surprise anymore. You know, the biggest cue I’ve seen in Finland was in the first day of Christmas sales near the entrance of a clothing mall, at 7 am when it was -20!

Well, the world isn’t as it was ten years ago. The world is changing and we are changing with it. What is more interesting, it is changing in an unpredictable and breathtaking way!