Changing Worldviews

Next question for Seth:
In the same post I mentioned earlier, I commented that the RIAA as a good example of why *not* to focus on changing customer behavior. But the RIAA is having to deal with a changing customer worldview that does not include them, and they're fighting for relevance. In your book, you talk about aligning with your customers' worldviews... but what happens in mature industries (like the RIAA, or the traditional phone industry threatened by Skype) where changing worldviews -- stories that customers want to believe -- threaten these companies' very existence? As one person commented, "being hated is better than being dead." But surely there's another option here.

Seth replies...

Well, I'm not sure it's better than being dead! Over time, worldviews change. Sometimes they change in response to consistent and diligent work by the marketer (I think, for example, that Starbucks has thrived as the worldview about what to expect from a cup of coffee has changed) and sometimes they change DESPITE that work.

In the case of the RIAA, they made a huge mistake in the wake of Napster's initial success. They needed to see, in that moment, that the people who were most likely to believe the story of "music is free" were EXACTLY the people who would make up their next generation of music buyers.

They tried to counter with a story that was patently untrue. It was a story about how the artists would suffer. The problem is that this is inauthentic. It doesn't stand up to scrutiny. It doesn't spread.

They could have told a different story. The story of Rhapsody or the new Napster. A story of you get what you pay for and a story of all you can eat. It would have meant changing their business model, but on their terms, not on the terms forced on them.

Most of the time, when you see an industry crash and burn, it's because they were arrogant and unyielding in the face of a competitive threat. That just encourages the other side and makes their story easier to tell.

Comments

[steven streight vaspers the grate]

Yes, the disgusting RIAA, selfish and greedy and fearful, told a false story, a lie, a narrative no one believed nor wanted to hear.

Downloaders may actually buy more RIAA product than non-downloaders.

But the RIAA shuts their ears.