What The Music Business Must Learn from Pokemon GO
What got music here is not ultimately what will get it to where it’s going. And where it’s going is anyone’s guess. As soon as downloads and MP3’s appeared to be the new paradigm, streaming services soon took over. And just when everyone was ready to declare the physical format for music dead, a vinyl resurgence has presses mothballed for 35 years coming back on line to help fill robust worldwide demand.
It’s that yearning for something material in the digital age, yet enhancing the material with the digital that has given rise to Pokemon GO, and made it one of the most significant cultural phenomena in recent memory. What does this have to do with music? We may not know exactly for weeks or months, but it will have a musical impact, and has already. And ultimately, the impact of Pokemon GO on music will be huge. Whatever it is. When you have just as many Android users now using Pokemon GO as the social network Twitter, you have a widespread cultural immersion that is going to have very real economic and cultural ramifications on everything else.
Instead of having joggers running through parks listening to Spotify playlists, they’re now chasing down pocket monsters with their smartphones. Instead of consumers keeping up with their favorite bands and artists on social media, they’re engaging in Pokemon business in a virtual world. Undoubtedly it’s a craze that will level off at some point, or will be replaced by something even more immersive, or will possibly continue if Nintendo is able to add features to keep users engaged. And everything else people use to recreate will get squeezed, including, if not especially, music: made vulnerable by the medium’s move to the smartphone, and putting it in direct competition with things like super-viral gaming apps that enthrall the entire world out of the blue.
Yet the enchantment the world has found with Pokemon Go could give the folks in the music delivery business some important insight on how to keep consumers engaged moving forward. For too long the factors of time and location have been missing from the music curation experience. They used to be there, when local DJ’s would piggy-back off the local weather or news events to pick the right song for the moment. Today with syndication, nationalized playlists, and the implosion of radio, that’s mostly gone. Pokemon GO knows what time of day it is and where you are in relation to your environment. If you’re by the water, water Pokemon appear. If you’re in the forest, woodland Pokemon appear.
Why should searching for music be any different? Services like Spotify and Apple Music give listeners access to massive archives of music, but that has proven to be just as much of a problem as it is a solution. It’s the aching question when you pull up your music listening app and find yourself staring at the search bar: “What do I want to listen to?” This used to not be a problem because you listened to whatever you had, or whatever they played on the radio. Now we’re burdened by choice.
Playlists are good place to start, but they still operate on a “One Size Fits All” approach. What if your music app used GPS to figure out where you, used your clock to figure out when you are there, imported your preferences from previous interfaces with the app, and delivered the appropriate song for the appropriate time and place, just like the Pokemon popping up in front of you?
Forget searching for and finding fictitious pocket monsters, how about finding the perfect song to help get us through those everyday moments we all must slog through, or enhance those moments we set aside to enjoy life and our surroundings? Imagine a playlist that starts to play as soon as you enter a city park, custom curated to your preferences of genre and era, and perfectly timed for the trail you’re looking to traverse. What about a road trip enhanced by the perfect songs timed to coincide with significant landmarks, and synced up to your location and progress via GPS?
Imagine the chills you’d experience if your streaming app knew you were on the New Jersey Turnpike, and pulled up Simon & Garfunkel’s “America” suddenly, or played Waylon Jennings’ “Luckenbach, TX” as you neared the legendary town on U.S. 290, or dialed up Eddie Rabbitt’s “I Love A Rainy Night,” or Tom Waits’ “Diamonds On My Windshield” right as wet stuff starts falling from the sky on a dark, autumn evening? These are the possibilities that Pokemon GO could open up for music as technology continues to solve problems that years ago we didn’t even know we had.
Perhaps music should be embarrassed that a gaming company figured this out before they did, especially with the rampant competition in the streaming space. But it’s coming. All of this is coming to music, and coming soon. It has to. Because otherwise, folks will be running around all of God’s creation looking for fictitious monsters, while music, which for thousands of years has proven to be the perfect and most universal thing to enhance the human experience and foster escapism, goes forgotten.
July 13, 2016 @ 8:20 am
Thought-provoking article, imagine the possibilities. Nicely done
July 13, 2016 @ 9:00 am
So, instead of a Pokemon, the fans shoukd look for a song or a virtual fav artist (in a digital sense)? This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of! People chasing virtual toys! Many of them supposedly grown adults!!!
SMH!
July 13, 2016 @ 10:11 am
Hate to break this to you, but we may be grown adults but back in 1996 a lot of us were either in diapers or in my case I would’ve been in the first grade when we got Pokemon in the states.
You might call it chasing our inner child, I like to call it keeping a piece of our youth alive. Besides I think Pokemon Go is onto something, I think you might see some obesity levels dropping a bit. Won’t happen overnight but the first steps are being taken.
BTW Kyle, something tells me you got kid relatives and adult playing this thing aren’t you?
July 13, 2016 @ 10:43 am
“Pokemon GO” is not just a Pokemon phenomenon. That recognizable brand helped launch the app, but it’s the game play and the use of smartphones that in my opinion has made it so massive.
I don’t know anybody who is playing the game, and I haven’t downloaded it myself. Pokemon was also after my time as a kid. But what I can tell you is that in about a week or so, the next thing we’re going to hear is how Spotify streams are down, YouTube views are down, social network activity is down, and it’s all due to how Pokemon GO is occupying so many people’s time.
There will always be a place for folks to cozy up with a record and listen to it from beginning to end. But when folks are out and about, a lot of the same technology in Pokemon GO will be used to find the right song for the right place and time, custom served to you. How we get there will be interesting to witness.
July 13, 2016 @ 12:28 pm
ElectricOutcast: I wish I can give you all the likes in the world for that comment, I’m 27 and I still enjoy playing Pokemon, got several Pokemon games and preordered Pokemon Moon plus alongside having Pokemon Go which I am enjoying a lot!
Why do I have to stop liking and playing things or watching things just cause they are more targeted for kids?
July 13, 2016 @ 1:12 pm
I’m 33 and I loved playing Pokémon on the Gameboy Color and I still love playing it now and again with a Gameboy Color emulator. It may have been targeted at kids but that doesn’t mean kids are the only ones who can enjoy it.
July 13, 2016 @ 6:15 pm
Hey, I have no problem with anyone going back to their childhood. I love some of the games from my youth, but you just won’t see me chasing virtual toys around town.
July 13, 2016 @ 9:41 pm
I was a mighty Freshman in HS when Pokemon came out, and I didn’t have time for a kids game, and never got into the series. This game got me into it. It’s not just the game, it’s the fact that the entire world(at least public property) is the game, and I can go out on adventures with friends. It’s more than just another Pokemon game, it’s a whole new way to play, my little brother(15 years younger than me) has been playing the game it’s based off of, apparently it was a little known adventure game that Nintendo used the code from to build this(and one of the reasons a Poke-gym in my town is called “The Big Muff.”) Like Trigger said, this may be a kids game, but it’s an evolution of entertainment, and the entertainment world needs to keep an eye on it… Remember when people thought home video was a joke and only for people that could afford expensive players and $100+ VHS tapes? afew years later you could get tapes cheaper, and company’s had to get on board or get left behind.
July 18, 2016 @ 6:07 pm
Interesting I can get every Sega Master System Game on one website. That keeps my childhood alive for me. So I don’t see it as really that different.
Never heard of this until now but I just hope it doesn’t create more in the way zombies staring at there phones as they walk through life because if another person runs into me with their head down…
July 13, 2016 @ 5:43 pm
Pokemon Go has brought back my childhood and in my city has been insanely popular. I’ve met new people and got in touch with old friends I haven’t seen in years thanks to this game. I’ve seen everyone from elementary and middle schoolers to college kids to young adults and even middle-aged adults playing Pokemon in the past few days.
Furthermore, the game has already shown signs that it is helping people with anxiety and depression get outside and find enjoyment, plus it’s getting people tons of exercise. I’ve walked more in the past few days than I have in the past few months.
Pokemon Go is taking over and it doesn’t matter whether you like it or not. That’s the reality. And it’s making steps for other games in the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality genres to come to popularity.
I think the possibilities that Pokemon Go brings is amazing and is making people more social, and is good for peoples’ mental and physical health.
And yes, I’m a 22 year old who’s not afraid to say that I play Pokemon Go…a lot.
July 13, 2016 @ 5:45 pm
Also, I have a friend who battles depression and he’s gotten up and left his house looking for Pokemon before 8:00 in the morning the last 3 days. That is something that would’ve been impossible before Pokemon go came out.
July 13, 2016 @ 9:48 pm
I saw one of my states congressmen running around hunting Pokemon the other day… that was interesting.
July 14, 2016 @ 8:07 am
And one more thing, people have been sitting on their asses playing games like candy crush for years and nobody bats an eye, but as soon as a game comes out that encourages people to leave and explore their neighborhood and get exercise…suddenly that’s crazy??
SMH
July 13, 2016 @ 9:09 am
Some very brilliant ideas presented in this article. The one thing that does need to change in this Country to fully enhance and allow this idea to flourish will be having higher data limits or no data caps from the big mobile carriers. T-Mobile does allow streaming of music to not count against customers data limits, but outside of them and their (still limited) network coverage, the big boys (Verizon and AT&T) still hold a stranglehold on customers at about 2GB of data/month. That pretty much kills music streaming (in this form) for a lot of folks and proves further that data caps are evil. It really is a smart idea though, one that could really take off if one of the streaming companies with enough development funds behind them jumped onto.
July 13, 2016 @ 10:07 am
Man, even you’re talking about Pokemon Go. How big is this app?! Pokemon hasn’t gotten this much attention in a long time.
July 13, 2016 @ 10:45 am
It’s nearly as big as Twitter in five days. That’s growth I’m not sure any of us can even fathom at this point.
July 13, 2016 @ 10:28 am
It confounds me how a fad that initially took the world by storm in the late 90s has been enjoying quite a random renaissance. And I wasn’t even aware Pokemon was back until my Facebook News Feed was inundated with Pokemon references five days ago.
This trend will undeniably influence the music industry among others. I can’t say I’m thrilled that will be the case, however.
The main reason why I dread this more than can identify silver linings is that, when all is said and bought, who benefits most? Multinational companies. Much like Google is siphoning away ad dollars from localized news outlets, local retailers in smaller communities are the biggest losers because there’s much less incentive for digital retailers to invest in jobs in smaller cities and towns. Internet companies place all their chips on the table in larger cities and, thus, we see regional inequity continue to take effect that affects us in countless walks of life.
It also deprives us of the intimacy of the listening experience. Now seeking out music has become like a daily chore. Not to mention that, as augmented reality evolves in a way other industries adapt to it, what you cautioned earlier this week in your Facebook commentary will only worsen as music artists act more like CEOs than ever before and, thus, some try to sell you ideology and political beliefs more than anything, And given the insular nature of this technology, it would only further crystallize partisanship in our culture! =(
*
I for one am feeling very pessimistic about what Pokemon Go will mean in the grander scheme of things. I consider it capitalism at its most pernicious. But I nonetheless admire how other individuals and entrepreneurs are searching for potential positives that could help smaller, localized economies and inspire more empathy.
July 13, 2016 @ 10:32 am
Not to mention my phone was stolen six weeks ago and, because I have so little money at the moment, having a phone versus not having one only further illustrates a culture of haves and have-nots! =P
July 13, 2016 @ 2:34 pm
Wow! I thought PCs and laptops were the delineator in schools, but now with smart phones there’s another thing to separate income levels.
July 13, 2016 @ 2:49 pm
I’d argue phones are more crucial in climbing the social ladder than PCs.
Professionals are constantly requesting phone numbers when inquiring about opportunities, mostly as a matter of trust and follow-through. It can be crippling when you don’t have one. But I know plenty who lack a home computer and string along just fine.
July 13, 2016 @ 10:31 am
streaming?
nah bro, I own my stuff
gps data and computer programs written by someone else creating sonic landscape for me?
nah bro, choice isn’t a “burden” to me, it’s “freedom”
ideally, it’s me and the producer, a one on one market — everything else is added noise and cost
ymmv
July 13, 2016 @ 10:54 am
nah bro
July 13, 2016 @ 11:03 am
Nah bro, choice isn’t a “burden” to me, it’s “freedom”
*Bald Eagle screeches in the distance as a single tear rolls down my face*
July 13, 2016 @ 11:41 am
fine, but irony has no guts
July 13, 2016 @ 12:51 pm
One thing I think the Pokemon GO phenomenon is teaching us is that the real world matters, but it can be enhanced by technology. Nobody is telling you to stop owning your music. As I mentioned above, vinyl sales are skyrocketing, and it’s because people still want to own something, and there’s nothing compared to putting a record on while you’re at home. But a lot of folks listen to music when they’re not at home, or not in their car. It doesn’t have to be one or the other, physical or digital. Like Pokemon GO, it occurs in the real world, but it is enhanced by technology. Of course, this isn’t for everyone. But seeing how streaming has taken over, obviously that approach is for a lot of folks.
July 13, 2016 @ 11:09 am
Interesting article on location and all this what I’m going to call ‘smart’ streaming services. I don’t stream but I do have some thoughts on the general idea.
I for one, don’t want my phone knowing where I am and what I’m doing. My location settings are turned off, because I don’t think apps and other programs on my phone need to know where I’m at at all times. Maybe it’s just paranoia, but with hackers and thieves becoming more proficient all the time, I keep my location turned off. Smartphones are becoming too smart for our own good.
July 13, 2016 @ 12:54 pm
I don’t like technology tracking my movements either. But let’s say you were on a road trip and wanted to participate in some sort of curated streaming music experience, you could switch it on temporarily and turn it off when you’re done.
Mark Cuban is developing technologies that go back and erase our digital footprints are a certain period of time. Potentially you could use something like that just in case anyone wanted to retrace your steps.
July 13, 2016 @ 1:06 pm
I understand it can be turned off and on and what-not. As I said, I personally don’t stream, but have all of my music saved on my phone in the Play Music app. And interestingly enough, if I have my mobile data turned on, or am connected to wifi, Play already gives me a suggestion when I open the app, displaying a message such as this one it shows right now,
It’s Wednesday afternoon, Play something for… (and gives me the choices of)
Today’s biggest hits
Summer break
Brand new music
Working out
Working to a beat
Laughing out loud
So to a certain extent, this technology is already here and being implemented. And if I am seeing it, I would assume others who actively use a streaming service are seeing and probably using it. Not using locations per se, but giving a user options based on the time of day and year.
July 13, 2016 @ 11:12 am
I like to catch women. Gotta catch ’em all!
July 16, 2016 @ 8:09 pm
Some Pokemon players are female and some of em are actually hot. I guarantee that you go to a Honky Tonk next time you might find a lady with her smartphone playing this thing. Just saying.
July 13, 2016 @ 11:24 am
It’s coming, y’all. Immersive, pervasive VR. The LSD manufacturers are going to go broke. Who needs chemistry when your whole world can be psychedelic?
Microsoft will have one of these strapped on every man, woman, child, and misbehaving dog.
I’ll have to re-buy all my porn in Hololens format. 😉
https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us
July 13, 2016 @ 11:43 am
“It’s coming, y’all. Immersive, pervasive VR.”
I guess AR isn’t profitable enough.
July 13, 2016 @ 11:33 am
This is a very interested in concept. I would at least be interested in a “smart” music service that you suggest. For example, recently I took an auto tour of the Yorktown Battlefield in Virginia. For $4, I bought a CD in the gift shop that synced up with the drive, and you are prompted to play certain tracks at guideposts. Some of them had narrative, others ambient music. It really was an engrossing experience. For something similar that would automatically sync up to my daily life would be intriguing, and I would at least try it. While I enjoy curating my CD and vinyl collections, I also enjoy managing my Amazon Prime playlists as well.
I have played Pokémon Go with my kids, and it is actually a surprisingly fun game. I know absolutely nothing about Pokémon, but that isn’t necessary. It has several critics, but my seven year old got up this morning and asked if he could take a walk around the neighborhood with me. Admittedly, it was to play the game, but he has never wanted to do that before- he would usually be hunched over his DS while I got ready in the morning. We spent two hours in the park yesterday evening playing and walked close to four miles. I am not too proud to say a little phone app is bringing us together so that we have a shared language and experience.
Thinking about this article and my kid’s experience, I wonder how he would like to experience music. He is at a formidable age, and if expects “Pocket Monsters” to know where and when to appear, it would be feasible for him to have similar expectations for his music. We could go on about how his generation is entitled, but these are his experiences. They will shape the future. As Trigger said, I am curious as to how we get there.
July 13, 2016 @ 12:59 pm
Great insight.
July 15, 2016 @ 12:43 am
You struck up a point that I hadn’t considered – many tourists spots, particularly museums, are already utilizing audio and language-enhanced tours. It’s already common for the museums, sites, and attractions to have guided tours that match a particular spot with a relevant piece of music. If you’re in the Baroque art section, they’ll play some Bach; if you’re in French Impressionism, maybe they’ll play Debussy. One of the more impressive ones I’ve seen was at a museum in Barcelona. Each guest had a complementary custom phone for the tour, and you could use the phone to “enhance” your surroundings. You could transform a plain wall into what it would have looked like 200 years ago.
Something like this could definitely be done on a grander scale, but it would take a committed and major tech company (or non-tech company who wants to invest in the tech) to do so. One of my favorite parts of Pokemon Go so far is finding out all the random landmarks that I have never noticed. Even in my hometown, where I’ve lived for 25 years, I just discovered a Jewish temple 5 blocks down, as well as a Holocaust Memorial. While it’s unfortunate that it took a game like Pokemon Go to give incentive for people to explore their surroundings, it also highlights the extent that technology can seamlessly introduce cultural education into its core functions.
I can only imagine something like what Trigger wrote regarding music – not just for driving, but walking around a city and discovering its history – especially musical history. If I wanted to be transported back to Berkeley in the 60s, it would be amazing to have some kind of function that synced location with time. It can be difficult connecting with a location’s past, especially when oftentimes the only artifact that people have to reference are landmarks and plaques. Music is one of the best ways to capture the “feel” of an era or locale, and I don’t think this is utilized enough. A function that does that doesn’t have to be used just historically – I bet you could do something with discovering local trends, which could not only help keep someone up to date with music, but also assist local artists get discovered.
July 13, 2016 @ 11:43 am
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/11/pokemon-go-is-a-hacker-s-dream.html
http://nypost.com/2016/07/09/pokemon-go-is-afflicting-players-with-real-world-injuries/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/12/al-franken-pokemon-go-privacy-concerns
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/11/pokemon-go-privacy-security-full-access-google-account
I have enough issues with my info bing stored, accessed and shared. I don’t have anything g to hide, but its still MY info. I hate being targeted because I visited some website, or looked up that particular product! Target advertising is not a good thing!
July 13, 2016 @ 12:25 pm
You mean “Jen” is not reducible to an algorithm???
July 13, 2016 @ 11:48 am
Trigger, I hate your commenting platform! I know I just posted something, and it not here. Grr!
Anyway, I just found this on my newsfeed, and need to go back to find the rest of the links I posted a minute ago…
http://patch.com/new-jersey/barnegat-manahawkin/heads-phones-down-warning-long-beach-township-police-pokemon-go?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&utm_term=police+%26+fire&utm_campaign=recirc&utm_content=aol
July 13, 2016 @ 12:37 pm
Jen,
When you post multiple links in a comment, it is going to be sent to moderation to be approved. The reason for this is because this is a common practice from spammers. Saving Country Music actually receives about 700 spam comments a day, but the system is able to filter them out. I check often for comments that need to be approved, but if I’m eating lunch, taking a shower, etc, it may take a little time. They will always get posted though and usually in a timely manner, as long as they are appropriate.
July 13, 2016 @ 12:42 pm
OK. I just know a lot of times I leave a comment somewhere and it doesn’t show up. Thank you for clarifying.
July 13, 2016 @ 11:50 am
Here, I just typed in pokemon go warnings, and this is the Google list:
https://www.google.com/search?q=pokemon.go+warnings&oq=pokemon.go+warnings&aqs=chrome..69i57.7623j0j4&client=ms-android-hms-tmobile-us&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
July 13, 2016 @ 12:26 pm
I have my face in my phone way to much as it is. Last thing I need is another diversion from life. Gonna have to say Pokeman No.
July 14, 2016 @ 12:44 am
This has actually been great for “face in the phone” types!
July 13, 2016 @ 12:30 pm
I figured this would be one of the weakest streaming weeks for the music industry in recent memory because so many fewer people would be listening to Spotify on their way to work or school and instead be playing this game. I’d like to see how much of a drop streaming took this week compared to last.
July 13, 2016 @ 12:57 pm
I’m telling you, this is what we’re going to be hearing about next week, and not just with music, but everything.
Eventually this craze will probably trail off, or there will be multiple games like this that take over, not just one. But I have a sense the technology behind it is here to stay. Music will have to get on board if it wants to compete.
July 13, 2016 @ 12:41 pm
I love how you combined Pokemon Go and something about music to make a really great post Trigger, not gonna lie I did a big geeky grin when I saw the title lol.
July 13, 2016 @ 4:30 pm
Funny you write this article today. I visited 3 towns today (on the way to and from the record store) stopping solely to play Pokemon Go, and conquering 2 gyms in the process. I then bought two vinyl albums and sat down and listened to both of them front to back when I got home 🙂
July 13, 2016 @ 8:04 pm
Enjoyed the article, interesting perspective on how we can use technology and music to enhance out every day lives through the creation of an experience which ultimately brings out some type of emotion, all according to your location. All of this is neat and dandy, but I would do damn near anything to stop all this development and get back to the simple life when people enjoyed the newspaper, drink a cup of coffee in the morning and actually have a substantial conversation with somebody instead of indulging in games where mythical creatures control where human beings go. Anyways thanks for the post, and God bless.
July 13, 2016 @ 8:12 pm
I, too, thought Pokémon Go was stupid. Then I started reading about all the people with anxiety, depression, agoraphobia, etc. who are leaving their homes for the first time in a very long time. It gives them a reason to go outside and something besides themselves to think about when they are out there. More people are getting exercise. I have seen more out walking in my neighborhood than ever before! It’s not my cup of tea but it works for many.
July 14, 2016 @ 2:58 am
There is a potentially worrisome side to this as well.
With all the news about racial injustice and violence in recent months, I’ve heard quite a few openly acknowledging the possibility that if, say, a black or Muslim person was pacing back and forth between one Poke stop and a “gym” multiple times in a public space……………that it would rouse intense feelings of suspicion among law enforcement and potentially result in a wave of uncomfortable questionings at best, wrongful accusations at worst.
Obviously these fears have always existed long before the release of this game. But they are very legitimate ones, and it will be interesting to see if there are situations reported in the days ahead centered around individuals of various social minorities being reported by neighbors, law enforcement and so forth as potential spies, sex offenders, stalkers, etc…………………all because the way what is likely a fun game with very good intentions nonetheless inspires a lot of erratic movement due to the trials and errors of augmented reality.
July 14, 2016 @ 1:20 am
I can see something like that happening. Although Pokemon Go, I must admit has gotten me to hike just to catch a few more of the monsters. Not that I care about the monsters or anything, it’s addicting to me, and if I can climb up a rocky hill while listening to this new music device, I may just want to listen to either something country or perhaps maybe something a little more of the hard rock thing to suit the mood. I like the idea a lot, but at the moment I can’t imagine what a particular song at a certain time can do after it happened because I often “use” the Pokemon as souvenirs for where I have gone to at a particular time.
July 14, 2016 @ 7:35 am
I’m currently 19, so yes, I grew up with Pokemon. I also grew up playing it (seriously, my childhood was consumed by video games. I didn’t get into music until I was 13).
The only reason I haven’t played this is because I can’t get it to download onto my device. I have played with a friend though and it is certainly addicting. If I had the chance I would probably play it, but even so, I have my own music blog to take care of first and foremost (well, second to family and school of course). I wouldn’t spend the whole day playing it. I can’t afford to.
I’ve always been different from the majority of my generation (something I like actually), and therefore I’m not one to rely on “playlists”. I use streaming, but really only for review purposes or if I want to listen to music that I don’t yet have the money to buy (yes, I’m also a millennial who is also a strong advocate of purchasing music). I normally walk around my hometown anyway listening to music since that’s what relaxes me. I get in a different mindset when I’m listening to music while walking and it often helps my writing process for reviews and such.
I wish I had more to add to this discussion given my age, but really all this article made me realize was just how much I’m on the outside looking in. I just wanted to share a viewpoint from someone who is part of this “entitled” generation.