112 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JANUARY 27, 2020
Soapbox
“In the name of convenience, consumers now welcome monthly subscription models that
cost the equivalent of a craft coffee.”Napster and the Lessons of Consumer Behavior
A digital exec examines how publishers can navigate the streaming space
By Shannon Bex
for companies like Disney and Netflix. Though they
may differ in the content offered, they are 100% in
agreement about what consumers want: a library
of content they can access on demand, provided at
a reasonable price. This is the current culture of
consumption, and in the name of convenience, con-
sumers now welcome monthly subscription models
that cost the equivalent of a craft coffee.
If the publishing industry doesn’t fully step into
the ring does it stand a fighting chance in delivering
content that the modern consumer wants? Regardless of what the
current subscription landscape looks like, digital advancement is
still met with apprehension. Instead of allowing change to happen
to us, we must be open to exploring all opportunities that digital
can lead to—no matter what direction that evolution might take.
One hundred years ago, the notorious publisher William
Randolph Hearst wasn’t afraid to innovate. “We must be alarm-
ingly enterprising,” he said, “and we must be startlingly original,
and do new and striking things which constitute a revolution.”
The truth is that if we don’t keep evolving, consumers will find
another way to acquire the content they want, leaving book-
sellers behind to play catch-up.
But what does a digital strategy revolution look like for pub-
lishing? As we take a page from the other multimedia industries,
what can we learn? How can we be ahead of the curve before our
consumer demands outweigh our digital capabilities? No doubt
one factor holding publishers back is the fear that digital will
affect physical sales. But a properly executed digital strategy
doesn’t have to be the enemy of print. If done right, digital offers
considerable added value by bringing content to a larger audi-
ence that will then fuel physical sales. Books are not going
anywhere—the smell, the feel, and the experience of letting a
comfy chair engulf you by a roaring fire is something no AI
simulator can replicate. So what is truly stopping us?
To learn from the mistakes of others and put their experiences
to use is a powerful position to be in. I believe that the book
industry is poised to meet consumers where they are and formu-
late a digital strategy that both diversifies and strengthens the
current publishing model. ■Riffling through music store bins at the mall was
once as much a rite of passage for teens as heading to
the soda fountain was for an earlier generation. But
starting in the early 2000s, adults and teens alike
abandoned CDs for a more convenient alternative.
There are lessons to be learned about consumer
behavior and what happened as digital delivery of
music came into being. Though we can agree books
are a format destined to last, publishing should have
a plan for how to respond as consumer behaviors
continue to evolve.S
ubscription-based music services have understandably
caused publishers to look over their shoulders to see if
there’s a similar revolution in the offing for publishing. But
to blame streaming platforms such as Spotify and Pandora for
the collapse of Tower Records and other bricks-and-mortar music
retailers would confuse the effect with the cause. The origins of
the shift in consumer behavior toward streaming lie elsewhere.
The story that gets told is that Napster turned the music
industry upside down by aiding and abetting digital theft and
copyright infringement. But the problem with this narrative (to
borrow a phrase) is that Napster didn’t steal records—people did.
The focus on the what ignored the underlying reasons for why.
People had to be frustrated enough to steal music in the name of
convenience, which forced the hand of the music industry.
If publishers want to write a different ending and avoid a
similar fate, we need to learn the lessons imparted by one of the
most disruptive technological paradigm shifts of our time while
diving deeper to understand the human behavior that caused it.
It turns out people are more than willing to pay for what they
want—but what they want is the kind of accessibility and
variety of content at their fingertips that allows them to curate
their own choices. The music industry was reluctant to acknowl-
edge what consumers wanted, which led to a frightening power
struggle between labels, artists, and customers that lasted many
years longer than necessary and resulted in a major loss of sales
and profits. To avoid a similar fate, publishers must be willing
to listen to what customers want and to take actionable steps to
meet their needs.
The flow of income accrued by the unlimited, subscription-
based streaming models for music and video has now hit its stride,
and these models have become very profitable, which is great newsShannon Bex is a cofounder of Vooks, a new streaming platform for children’s
storybooks. Prior to starting Vooks, Bex was a recording artist for Atlantic
Records and president of her own indie label.©benjamin edwards