For the third set of interviews from last week’s excellent SFMusicTech event, I talk with David Hyman, the current CEO of MOG, the co-founder of Addicted to Noise, former CEO of Gracenote and one of the smartest and most experienced pioneers of the digital music revolution.
Hyman’s MOG is one of the most interesting and important contemporary start-ups. Like Pandora and Spotify, MOG is pioneering a cloud based streaming service for accessing our music. So will MOG succeed? As Hyman told me, “it’s all about timing and I think our timing is good.”
He may well be right. Whether it’s MOG, Pandora or Spotify or some future Apple or Google streaming service, the music revolution will, I think, be streamed. And as Hyman told me, the ultimate success of this model depends on convincing consumers that they should ascend from the free to paid model. I hope Hyman is correct. There have been too many false dawns in the digital music business and its essential now for the industry to figure out a viable model that will both guarantee revenue and please consumers.
This is the concluding set of interviews from SFMusicTech. Please also check out my interviews with Brandon Boyd and of Mike Einziger of Incubus, Jonathan Carroll of Gowalla, Richard Conlon of BMI, and on the “new intimacy” in the industry.
Hyman on the history of digital music
Hyman on MOG
Hyman on the future of music
Thanks again to Jeff LaPenna and Zachary Ryan at BAMM.tv for providing the cameras, lighting and production assistance.
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