Image Credit
Taking a note from Seth Godin, I’m going to admit, my title is bogus and a small shot at the all too common blog posts declaring “X” dead. The things above aren’t dead, their status quo is dead. People crave seeing that which is unique. They need to hear stories. They want help discovering what’s new. They can’t help share their life through melody. They seek to be part of a community. This hasn’t changed. The means in which those needs are satisfied has.
The following is a short but hopefully positive and helpful list of examples of how "dying" industries (and more importantly, the people who work in them) shouldn't be so worried. (Side note, feel free to listen to MCR: Dead while reading this post)
"Creative is Dead: You can crowdsource all your design needs."
Sites like Haystack and Crowdspring are driving prices down for graphic design work, yes. Will this change, no. Is there a huge demand for talented designers to carry brands and organization's aesthetics from start to finish? A resounding YES. Do you think projects like THIS or THIS were crowdsourced? Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against crowdsourcing creative but it has its place. You didn't get into graphic design so you could spend your days designing logos. You want to be building something of magnitude. And social media isn't killing the need for design, it's only making it stronger.
"Journalism is Dead: Who needs reporters when everyone is a reporter?"
OK yes, those 15x22 drab looking sheets we call a newspaper are going away, and the profit model for selling those things is gone. But what industry has been able to sell a single product for hundreds of years without having to move on to a different focus? If Listerine, Kodak, or Ford sold the same product that long they would be a blip in history. The definition of journalism is "the collection and editing of news for presentation through the media." Let' dig deeper into that definition. How do you define "news" and "media?" In my mind, news equals stories, and media equals any entity in the world that can distribute data, words, or art.
Even if the bloated current state of journalism is changing, the people who are passionate story tellers are still going to be in demand. The reason that everyone can get their news through RSS and Twitter right now is because someone is scooping the story first. if that goes away, so does the "easy access" to news. There's going to be a smaller population of incredible journalists supplying us with breaking stories. There's also going to be a need for the rest of journalists to tell the stories that aren't being told. Reporters have become obsessed with getting the latest headlines around murders and balloon boys. There are a lot more interesting stories out there that need the public eye and instead of being first, journalism is shifting to being unique.
Twitter handles are getting book deals. News outlets are selling iPhone applications. People still spend money for quality journalism. The fat is getting cut, but the industry is far from dead.
"PR is Dead: There's no one left to Pitch."
The biggest misconception about public relations is that if mass media dies (newspapers specifically) so does PR. That couldn't be farther from the truth. PR has always been about getting someone else to tell your story. That second degree of separation of PR Agency > Media > Consumer is now being replaced by direct conversations with the consumer. The PR professional has a great deal of work to do to revitalize the industry, but they are in a prime position to take the role of shepherds of brands in the social space. Start reading the likes of Tac Anderson, Brian Solis, and Daniel Honigman. PR isn't dead, it's growing into a front runner as the kind of agency leading the next phase of communication between brand and consumer.
Music is Dead: You can’t be a musician; people just pirate your music for free"
As my friend Brian Mazzaferri from I Fight Dragons says, "It's a great time to MAKE A LIVING as a musician." Perhaps the days of the mogul musician and the overpaid record producer are over, but I have no doubt in my mind that MORE people can be a musician today than they could 10 years ago. Let's call it a redistribution of music wealth. Every musician now has a direct line from their mouth to your eardrums. They don't have to fight to get signed by a record or get radio plays. And who cares if people are downloading their music for free? Don't be fooled into thinking you're hurting the actual musicians. The major source of revenue for musicians are LIVE shows and merchandise and you can't download that.
U2 and Foo Fighters streamed their concerts for free. Radiohead and NIN gave away their albums. These are bands that are established and have "the most to lose" from their industry being flipped on their head, but they are taking these actions because they know it will build their fans base, and thus the size of their live audience.
"Local is Dead: It’s cheaper to shop at big box stores that have everything in one place."
Have you noticed that the largest stores you shop in do everything they can to feel more local? They create custom subsections of their stores and host events for their neighborhood. They do this because people want it. Sure we're in a recession and people want to find the best price, but all is not lost.
The entire city of Austin Texas is living proof that Local is very much alive. The organic food movement is driving up the number of farmer's markets across the country. And when it comes to fashion, local stores define the best you can get. The digital age continues to push us into being as unique as possible. Local is epitome of unique.
"Media Buying is Dead: No one clicks on ads anymore."
Banner ads continue to have lower click through rates and new reports show that less than 20% of users are even doing the clicking. But is that from ineffectiveness, or a lack of evolution? Look at some of the latest trends in banner advertising for luxury auto or consumer electronics. There are claims that media buying can't drive sales anymore. It can, but planners need to be swayed by relevance and creativity, not by which vendor takes them out for steak.
Social media is the rising star gaining attention and ad budgets, but it needs support with media buys. There are creative ways to boost a brand's efforts in social media and the planners who discover this sooner are going to be in high demand among media agencies.
"Art is Dead: No one appreciates art, and no one will pay for it."
It may have taken him a decade to achieve the fusion of art and entrprenuership but Hugh McLeod is living proof that art is very much alive. His cartoons led to a book, and a full digital art store, which based on his tweets, is moving lots of product.
I've given up a top spot on my blog (see widget the right) to showcase Hugh's art so he can gain awareness and sell more work. Art is dead? Far from it.
"Blogging is Dead: Posterous and Twitter have a better ROI than a Blog."
There’s something to be said for owning your own territory. Twitter and Posterous are wonderful tools, but as Morpheus said in the Matrix, "they are still based in a world that is built on rules." A blog is yours and you can do anything you want with it. In social media you can get away with just having a presence on a few key tools, but in reality, you're not going to have the respect of your community. It's just too easy to game the system and without a blog, you've haven't proven you've earned it. Moving away from blogging is a recent trend, but it's being sold in by people who have spent years doing it. They earned their stripes already, but most of us haven't. Blog away.
Be a Phoenix.
In case you haven't picked up on my tone, despite the skull image and the title, this is a positive post. I'm not one to write about motivational crap on this blog...that's not my thing. But I grew sick of reading posts declaring the death of industries and not lending any kind of advice on how to either redirect or transform all the great talent out there that people could apply to changing business models. You know how to do something(s) very well. Don't be discouraged by the naysayers out there, because even if the most common way your talent was needed is going way, there WILL be a need for it somewhere.
Friday, November 20, 2009 at 10:35AM 
A recent MediaPost article by Dave Morgan covered Netflix' vacation policy, or rather the lack of one.
