[FA Worldmusic] FW: Gerd Leonhard: "The End of Control" now available online, for free

[Ian Menzies]

Somewhat fortuitously, this just arrived in my inbox....

-----Original Message-----
From: Gerd Leonhard [mailto:gerd at gerdleonhard.com]
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 12:11 AM
To: ian at menziesmixedmedia.com
Subject: {Disarmed} Gerd Leonhard: new book "The End of Control" now
available online, for free




Greetings everyone,

There are quite few newsworthy items this month so let me dive right in.

1) Today, I am very happy to announce that I am releasing my new book "The
End of Control" online, for free. You can now get a new chapter per week,
via the website, RSS, email, pdf, MP3 or video, at www.endofcontrol.com.
Yes, I may eventually offer a printed, tree-wasting version, as well - but
in the meantime, just fire up your RSS feeds.

The End of Control (EoC) book expands on the key topics introduced in my
previous book  "The Future of Music"  while escalating the debate out of the
music realm and into media at large. EoC addresses the single most important
issue underlying many debates about the future of media: who controls what,
why, when, and where, and how can digital content still generate revenues
when most of the traditional ways of controlling its flow (i.e.,
distribution) are no longer available. In the book I will argue that in the
future, controlling distribution is replaced with earning, receiving, and
maintaining attention; that in medias future friction is fiction; and that
the people formerly known as consumers now literally run the show.

I believe that this radical shift will require media purveyors to switch
from a push to a pull approach. Pointing out ways to monetize digital
content in the future, I will reveal the bold new paradigm that  has been
dangling in front of our noses since the advent of the Web browser: by
letting go of our obsession with control, we receive new streams of revenue
and plenty of growth opportunities in return.

If you are wondering why I am releasing my new book this way, here's a quote
from my press release: Recent technological and economic shifts convinced
me that I needed to get my new book to market quickly, in order to help the
decision-makers who need it most. I value my reputation, increasing the
velocity of exposure, and another crack at thought-leading a lot more than
generating marginal revenues from selling physical embodiments of my ideas 
at least for this first phase. Even though my last book was quite successful
and certainly looks nice on the bookshelf, I think that reading really
focused content via RSS, blogs, email, or other electronic means is the way
forward if you are primarily concerned with reaching a large, engaged, and
global audience. Today, media is first and foremost about one-click access,
and only then about hard copies  access comes first; ownership second. I
hope my readers will enjoy reading my chapters in this way and I look
forward to having many good conversations.

You can also read my intro to the book.

The End of Control will also be released as audio and on video via my
chat-enabled Kyte.tv channel and via my YouTube channel. EoC is edited by
David Battino, co-author of The Art of Digital Music and audio editor for O
Reilly Digital Media.

2) You may have noticed that my blogging activities have switched from
GerdLeonhard.net to www.mediafuturist.com, so if you have missed my last few
posts that may be why; please be sure to use the correct RSS feed for my
daily blog postings. Some of my best postings have now been summarized here,
btw.

3) I have been getting more involved with the "Music Like Water" concept and
in various efforts to  design and implement the Music Flat Rate. You can
read more about this at my MusicLikeWater.com blog category. This will also
be the main subject of my keynote speech at an upcoming Music Flat Rate
event in Iceland on October 17, 2007. If you feel like really going North...
meet me there ;).


4) In my quest to investigate whatever Web2orwhatever.0 potentially
time-wasting idea comes along, I have recently been spending some time on
Facebook, and must say that find it quite intriguing - sort of a microcosm
of social media. Incidentally, my latest venture, music-widget and MusicAPI
company Sonific, is releasing its Facebook application very soon (yes, I
know, we've been saying that for a while but it's really coming now!).

So here is what I'd like you to do: add me as your 'friend' (used loosely in
the web2.0 way;) on Facebook so that I can invite you to the Sonific Music
Facebook app as soon as it's live. If you're not yet on Facebook and don't
care to try it, well, ok... so be it.  In regards to Sonific, you may want
to keep an eye on my Sonific-specific blog postings to get the latest
updates, and of course, if you don't use music on your blogs or network
profiles yet, well... you have some catching up to do (as we like to say:
Don't be lame - Add Music!).

5) If you are also into collecting frequent flyer miles and investigating
the canyons of successive jet-lags, you can catch up with me at various
public speaking gigs, such as:
Nokia CEO Summit Asia 2007 (invitation only), Bali, Indonesia, Oct 4, 2007
Iceland 'Who is in Control' event Oct 17, 2007
Tampere Musikki Media Conference (Finnish Popkomm equivalent) Oct 19-21
Munich Mediadays November 8 / 9, 2007
LeWeb3 2007, Paris / France Dec 11 / 12, 2007  **** This is an event I would
highly recommend to anyone that wants to dive head-first into some very
cutting edge conversations on Media, Blogging and Webwhatever.0. But hurry
up - tickets will be hard to get soon.

6) As far as my speaking activities go, I will soon get into more video and
TV stuff and will make an announcement about this on October 10... so stay
curious until then.

That's it for now - hope you enjoyed this latest newsletter, and thanks for
reading. If for any reason you want to change your subscription status, feel
free use the links below (but please don't become a stranger)

Cheerio,
Gerd Leonhard


PS:  See here why it is important to not bark up the wrong tree

Contact:
Gerd Leonhard
gleonhard at pobox.com

EU: +41 79 79 353 84







            This message was sent from Gerd Leonhard to
ian at menziesmixedmedia.com. It was sent from: Gerd Leonhard, Terrassenstrasse
26, Arlesheim, BL 4144, Switzerland. You can modify/update your subscription
via the link below.





      Manage your subscription
      Receive our messages as an RSS feed