CrowdSelling

We’re continually searching for new solutions and opportunities for digital distribution. Still, let's be honest -- there have been no new innovations since iTunes and Amazon. Is it obvious that these marketplaces met everyone’s needs, and there was no need to invent anything fresh? Perhaps, many people could say that our culture faces no distribution problems. But we believe the opposite.

The past decade has not only brought new opportunities, but also changed people's behavior and relationships. Digital content has increased so much that it’s mostly ineffective to use search engines. We'll encounter hundreds of projects, but still won't make the right purchase decision. Even if we’re just buying standard products, we purchase them following the recommendations of offers designed specifically for us.

Researching these issues could certainly be a challenge and yield plenty of insights, but we decided to get down to business and create our own solution. Sooner or later, gaining knowledge in this specific field would have to expand beyond traditional research. First, we decided to answer the question that we have been facing lately -- how do we make a seller's offer appear in thousands of places at the same time according to potential buyers' interests? In order to launch a practical study of this question, we created an organization specializing in digital distribution.

I’m both pleased and excited to announce Intubus.com, the digital distribution network. We’d love it if you checked out our all-new solution, and offered some feedback. We all know that the world has changed, and it’s time to change how we live our lives. Buyers used to search for products, but now products should search for customers.

To implement this solution, we initially designed a platform where sellers could create widgets and ads featuring their products. These content creators placed their widgets on blogs and social networks. It’s not a new idea, and this solution launched simultaneously with several other similar platforms. However, the result just wasn’t what we were hoping for. Why? Our original platform didn’t help content creators and sellers in the way we’d envisioned, and they didn’t always experience an increase in sales.

If you add a widget to your personal blog, only your blog readers will see it. Of course, it makes sense if your blog has thousands of visitors a day. But what if you don’t? What if you’re a novice? How can you possibly expose your book or music to millions of people? We’ve created several alternative solutions. Intubus groups similar websites and widgets together. With hundreds of thousands of users, your content appears on hundreds of thousands of websites. Even if you’ve only have one blog reader, your content is still exposed to thousands of potential customers.

Can you see how it works? Intubus looks like a social graph, which exponentially expands your audience. You can expand your reach with the help of high virality, partner's programs, and other solutions. The most important aspect Intubus offers is the distribution system that reaches all interested parties -- sellers and buyers. Later, I might delve deeper into the details of some other solutions we have created, but we’ll start with the solution discussed here and would really appreciate your opinions and comments.

I would like to stress that the spirit of Intubus could be applied to create some unexpected solutions. The idea of distribution to all interested parties has great potential. We’ll be able to move beyond increasing an audience to suggesting better offers to buyers, a critical need in a time where digital content continues to expand. I’m confident we will manage to answer the main question of content creators -- how do I find a buyer?

Over one year, we conducted several hundreds meetings, dozens of studies, and conducted surveys among writers, musicians, photographers, software developers, designers and other specialists involved with the creation of digital content.

Our field of vision has 50 categories. We created several prototypes of solutions for the distribution and sale of digital content. All of this was designed to learn about the main problem faced by the authors of the content and all of the creative people. This is all in order to hear their main issue: How to make people know about me?

At first, everything seems to be absolutely obvious. Somewhat later, you realize that everything you've done everything you said before, it is important, but only at first glance. Any authors will take advantage of any solution that will help to sell their content, that is, for their product. They very interested and will use any opportunity. But if you want to solve this issue you need to understand the true need of any author.

And only then you will realize that the main issue to be addressed is the distribution. Not sale, payments, interface, or a new trend -- namely, the distribution. Because if you write a brilliant book and even if you publish it on Amazon, you can still experience nobody buying it. I have already written about that but not tire of repeating that this is the biggest issue at all times.

Until you are an unknown author, no one will buy your products. You just do not exist -- because nobody knows you. It's very simple. This is absolutely clear. To become famous there are different ways. As a rule it needs to go a long way. Here is a very attractive area, at least for me.

How to solve this problem -- and how to make it an effective solution?

One of the solutions is provided by Intubus. I just would like to reiterate the basic needs and challenges, which in my opinion is in the industry. What else could you invent for the new authors or their products that would know millions of interested buyers for a very short time. Ideally, if this will happen immediately after the product's uploading to the Internet or having been published.

Today, there is almost no anonymity online. Many people strive for the opposite, in fact - total publicity as it concerns their professional goals, copyrighted materials, and intellectual property. In our contemporary world with new value systems, it just doesn’t make sense to hide your intellectual property. The very fact of stopping a new idea from implementation doesn’t make sense. Perhaps, it could even be considered a crime in the future. However, we aren’t speaking to the abolition of the copyright or its infringement.

Against the backdrop of the new developments and opportunities in today's information-centric culture, copyright registration can be an obsolete mean to an ineffective end. In many cases, it’s even a limiting factor for industry development, and oddly enough, infringes on the rights of authors. Our current intellectual property system benefits corporations by complicating the process of protecting the rights of content creators. In an era where opportunities and innovations abound our system is almost a tragic comedy.

In most cases, intellectual property is more like a competition of strength, and has nothing to do with people’s actual needs. On one hand, every person has an inherent right to optimal distribution of their intellectual activities. On the other hand, society has constructed a powerful system of checks and balances, and power lies in the hands of an elite few. It’s no secret that information technology has changed concepts of relationships in all spheres of human activity - including between content creators and their buyers.

There is an extremely radical view that any intellectual property belongs to society as a whole. This point of view is followed by corporations, whose success is based on the effective use of text, music, video, pictures, and other intellectual property. Surely, we can understand that. There’s no doubt their success as organizations depends on their ability to cut a profit by expending the least money and effort possible. This system is only perpetuated by the rules that surround modern intellectual property issues. Our current system has effectively obstructed the development of modern digital distribution methods that appropriately reward content creators.

If the idea of intellectual property belonging to an entire society isn’t so far off the mark, it’s only fair the society pays back the individuals behind the content, who created the value for the world. We’re obligated to work out a method that helps content creator’s claim what they deserve freely. The system needs to be simple, fast, and cheap. Content creators need to have an opportunity to be an active participant in their intellectual property distribution process. These innovative new systems and mechanisms should be beneficial to everyone involved, from the initial creator to the consumer.

There are no technology-related obstacles that stand in the way of reaching these goals. Moreover, some entrepreneurs and enthusiasts find creative solutions within the current legal framework to enable simplification of copyright registration and intellectual property distribution. However, with the support of governments worldwide, we could not only improve the quality of life for millions of people, but achieve new levels of interpersonal communication. We could launch a new economy for an information-based society.

Can you afford to buy a music track for $0.99? Of course you can! What if you lived in a less economically-developed country? Probably not! Where do these prices come from? Are they set by the music creator? Should the creator earn enough? Yes, they definitely should. But should this track be available to the public? Yes, it should. What is the copyright of the track, and can we change it? I believe new systems are possible, and that there are no technical obstacles barring us from putting these systems into place. All of these questions lead to a single answer, which is the simplification of registration. Easier copyright recognition will open doors to a new era of digital distribution and intellectual property rights transfer.

Remember how in the recent past, it was incredibly complicated for authors to navigate book publishing, printing houses, registration fees and other obstacles. Now, all it takes to publish is just to typing text in a publishing program. The new wave of indie authors has raised plenty of complaints, of course. Some people believe that now every single ‘hack writer’ can become an author. However, it’s evident that these thoughts stem from a fear of losing personal status, an inability to accept innovations, and other fears that stem from human defense mechanisms.

I am sure the intellectual property sphere will undergo a similar revolution. There’s just no question that technology is worlds ahead from legislation. It’s just up to society to acknowledge this reality and move forward. We have to provide new opportunities to content creators to distribute their work. If we don’t, we’re permitting artificial barriers to content creation, the production of intellectual property rights, and distribution independently. Creators have a right to select their terms of sale and use, and the value of their product.

I discussed distribution issues in my previous post, but it’s directly tied to the copyright issue we’re covering here. We have to provide the entire chain with every advantage of new technologies and legal solutions. If a content creator can control the entire process, the consumer can access the products they want without violating the creators’ rights. The sales conditions will benefit everyone involved. Currently, if you ask a musician how they sell their songs or how often they’re in rotation on the radio, they’re likely to burst into tears.

This isn’t about any party’s plight, but the absurd situation we’re currently in. Both authors and consumers need each other. However, no one’s talking about the causes of our current situation, or the army of invisible intermediaries that control buyer/seller relationships. The advent of the internet has revolutionized our processes and values, regardless of how stagnant they seemed before the age of technology. I’m convinced that we’ll soon witness considerable changes in the copyright and intellectual property spheres.

In my previous post, we discussed the future of digital content distribution. We covered the ways sellers and buyers may be able to find each other in a vast ocean of digital content, which expands more and more each year. This explosive growth of digital content and content creators has lead to both new opportunities and new questions. We certainly can sell products in millions, but do we know how to handle billions?

It's clear that we consciously or unconsciously buy because of word of mouth recommendations from friends and coworkers, instead of technological or marketing efforts. But what I find even worse is that there's a great number of content creators and content we’ve never heard of. You won't find them on the first page of search engines, local search, or major shopping sites.

There are many marketplaces, but this does not solve the problem discussed above and in my previous post. I believe these problems can also affect the biggest players in the content market. There is one company I like more than others, and I deeply respect its founder - Amazon. What Jeff Bezos did will go down in history as more and more buy from Amazon. It’s certainly a unique organization. However, if you look at the issue from a slightly different angle, it’s clear that Amazon and other power players aren’t prepared to meet the market’s current needs now or in the future.

There’s no question these brands could reconstruct their business model. However, no one can safely say if it will happen or what consequences it could have. Even today, it’s not always clear what major market places prioritize. Is it the distribution of material goods, the production of gadgets, educational programs, or centers for software development? How do they see their long term strategy for dealing with the constantly-growing number of content creators?

If we look at new companies operating in this field, even more questions come up. According to one organization conducting market research in this niche, there are no fundamentally new decisions for dealing with the issue of digital distribution. While some new brands are able to attract venture capital, they’re focusing on solving non-existent problems in my opinion. All they can offer content creators is a “buy” button which links to your product that you can place on your personal blog. It’s just a fantasy, pulled out of context of reality.

Their business model raises many questions as well. All of these companies take a commission on sales. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with this business model. In fact, I think in most cases intermediaries are only paid if there are successful sales. However, how can they hope to profit if their model just isn’t relevant? The majority of content creators have low-traffic web presences, which means there will be little-to-no sales. As a result, these intermediaries can hardly hope for much commission.

It is quite obvious that such problems don’t exist around payment exchange, ease of use, file storage, sharing among friends, or similar areas. I believe there’s really only one central issue that becomes worse with each passing year - "How do buyers get found?"

Pulling from old solutions, like offering a button to receive payment, won't solve the problem or stop it from getting worse. No one is going to buy anything from a blogger whose site traffic is 100 visitors a month. New brands creating marketplaces aren’t trying to solve the issue of helping content creators get found, but are only worsening the issue of helping buyers meet sellers.

For now, there is no distinct answer about how products will be sold in the future. However, I'm sure these will be a revolution in processes to increase benefits to both buyers and sellers. This article dives deeper into the issues we previously introduced on our blog, rather than solving them.

I hope we’ll see not just one, but several new solutions in this sphere. I can confidently say it’s a pressing issue. I talk often with content creators, rights holders, and digital sellers who all need new tools to launch and sell their products. The same applies to copywriting issues, which will be covered in-depth soon.

How will buyer-seller relationships unfold in the future? New distribution channels are needed in today’s world, where creating and publishing content is an option for everyone, but selling products remains a challenge. As more up-and-coming content creators appear, the problem becomes more serious.

Simply put, if I like Dave Brubeck, I’ll exclusively search for his music. However, if you are not Brubeck or Rihanna, you’ll struggle to be noticed because nobody’s heard of you, no matter how brilliant you music may be. A presence on Amazon or iTunes isn’t always enough if your buyer doesn’t know you exist.

You can certainly publish content on your blog, but who’s going to buy your book or music there? Your friends and family might, just to cheer you up. If your blog receives tens of thousands of unique visitors a day, that’s another story entirely. But in most cases, it’s just not that simple.

So, it’s clear that we need new distribution channels which support new types of relations with the rights holders - including modern payment and copyright verification methods. It’s critically important for these distribution channels to protect the interests of all people involved, from the initial content creators to the consumers.

CrowdSelling could be the right solution to this increasing problem. Honestly, it seems quite strange that no one has thought about this concept before. Specifically what I’m referring to is the opportunity to create an alternative distribution system powered by CrowdSelling. With the right approach, all stakeholders – content creators, buyers, rights-holders, publishers, and marketplaces, could benefit from this new approach.

Personally, I have a few suggestions I think are a good start, and could serve as an impetus for new developments and services. I’ll cover a few in my next blog post. If you’re interested in the topic and have any ideas to share, I’d love to hear your thoughts.