Brian Feener

There’s no way in life or in business that we can be right all the time. Its just not possible.

We have to be able to admit from time to time that we need editors.

It is often not a formalized relationship. A friend, a colleague, a mentor or a direct can be an editor. They can help take a good paper to great, or a save a terrible presentation from happening.

And yes, this applies to absolutely everything that you create.  Another set of eyes is invaluable.

(This post is a ‘thank you’ to Damone.)

Sweedish singer Lykke Li sat down and spoke with W+K Radio to talk about some of the particulars of her music videos.

Her overall point is a little disjointed as she comes to the final conclusion that she wants to hang over a pool of sharks because it’s important for artists to be good live BUT she does illustrate the point that while the music video is still important, the traditional distribution model is all but dead.

VH1 plays their videos in the morning, overnight, and then the rest of the day is a series of trainwreck-reality (to which I often fall victim, but that’s another story for another day). MTV hasnt played a video since the Buggles.

Two reactions:

1. CHANGING BIZ MODELS

We’re always going to see business models change.  The interesting point here is that people are now producers of passionate content. The guy/gal who couldn’t get a job at The Big Newspaper is now able to go down the career path that they want in spite of the social, political, demographic, geographic or whateverographic barriers.  Ultimately, if you’re good at what you do, you have a chance to do it for a career. [I understand that there's a bit of luck involved, but so is the case for any business/career.]  Lykke Li is an example of a person who has a passion, a bit of intellectual acumen and a bit of foresight to understand a changing market place.  It’s a combination that will lead to success.

2. SHOW ME THE MONEY

While she is the producer of content, she has a separate revenue stream to support it.  Her videos are the way many of her fans connect with her, but her business is primarily the production and execution of quality live performances.  While video may be an important piece of the overall business, the closer to the production, the more OTHER stuff needs to be done in order to support it.

Lykke Li. “I’m Good I’m Gone” (YouTube)

Buy her album, DRM-Free:

Youth Novels

Found this through my RSS feeds: at Meaning of Dope.

Raekwon of the Wu Tang Clan gets it. Why is so hard for our financial leaders and elected officials to do the same?

Watch CBS Videos Online

Google Latitude has been getting a lot of coverage lately and my two cents is this:

There is a difference between a tool and a problem solver.

Take the case of a standard claw hammer.

If I am trying to type out a word document or play the guitar, a hammer retains its status of being a tool but it doesn’t help me solve the problem of writing a story or playing a song.

However, if I have nail I need to put in the wall, the tool becomes a problem solver.

While I’m sure someone will figure out what to use Latitude for, I’m not entirely sure that the technology as it stands is valuable. It’s going to be up to us (the masses) to do the next part of figuring out what the nail is and then using Latitude to fix it.

(Also, this is why Twitter is great for some people and useless to others. Some people don’t have a social network problem they need fixin’.)

The restaurant I went to yesterday and had a service window for the food. Of course my food sat there for only a couple of minutes but it felt like forever.

It got me thinking that having something so close tha you can taste it is worse than having its far away that you can’t see it.

Online, its knowing that the capabilities are out there but not being utilized. Slow loading video isn’t acceptable anymore. Not having an RSS feed is amateur. Download problems are avoidable.

It is easy to do your homework on a nightly-basis. I don’t mind holding you to a higher standard if you want to sit in the smart class.