AMP'S TAKE ON MOBILE WEBSITES

AMP is going to be working hard to bring Artist specific mobile websites to it's members at an affordable price. There is no doubt that this is the wave of the future. This is a required tool for all artist to have to compete in the digital age. We are also working on a social media model to use as a companion tool to help you monetize your  product. As it say's in the article below from the New York Times, " It's a requirement not an option. Good reading!

FW: Is Your Company Late to the Mobile Party? - The Wall Street Journal.

Inbox

x

Article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal...

Is Your Company Late to the Mobile Party?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304724404577293101039435424.html

By ED NASH  (Mr. Nash is the president of Altius Management in Nashville, Tenn that appear to be in the music and events management business.)

Web 3.0 isn't coming—it's already here. And it's all about mobile interaction. If your company doesn't have a mobile website—a site specifically designed and coded for each mobile platform—you're already seriously behind the times. The marketplace demands content and the available delivery pipelines are exponentially more diverse and interactive than ever before.

Our businesses compete in a technological environment in which information is coming and going from every direction in all conceivable digital forms. Suddenly, the ability to explore a fully interactive website or a full-length video doesn't require anything more than a small hand-held device. Wireless data delivery is faster and easier than ever, and consumers want what they want right now—whether they are sitting in front of a desktop, riding on a train holding a tablet, or walking down the street, smartphone in hand.

All of these factors make the development and implementation of dedicated mobile websites absolutely critical to success. According to a 2011 report by comScore, fully half of the total population of the U.S. uses mobile media—an incredible 20% increase in a single year.

World-wide, there are 1.2 billion mobile Web users. In the U.S. alone, 25% of users access the Web exclusively through mobile devices, and that number is significantly higher in many other parts of the world, such as 70% in Egypt and 59% in India.

Mobile Web growth stats aren't slowing down either. They'll continue to balloon, just as network availability, access speed, software and hardware devices will continue to revolutionize mobile interaction and ease of use.

So how can a global company survive without a great mobile website? With stats and trends as they are, I'd rather not wait around to find out.

Case in point: A mobile Web solution was recently shown to me by a friend in charge of marketing at a major record label. He had contracted the development of mobile sites for several of their acts, and has been impressed at the potential for a Web platform that is simple, appealing and intuitive. In the not-too-distant past, fans performing a mobile search for their favorite music artist would find themselves on a traditional website that was barely viewable on their hand-held device, slow to load, and nearly impossible to navigate—much less interact with.

Today's Web 3.0 is different—it is fast, easy, clean and interactive. Viewing videos, hearing music, buying products, signing up for email lists, and checking tour dates on a mobile device is now simple, convenient and attractive—the way it should be.

The solutions, despite what you might think, are not expensive. The technology is broadly available and the process of using existing Web elements to "skin" (i.e. optimize) a site for mobile use isn't altogether difficult.

Yet much of the business world remains woefully unprepared. I've heard from more than one large corporation that mobile Web integration is in the works for 2014—no that's not a misprint. Given the fierce competition, I truly hope that these companies can stay in business until then. If they want to survive, they need to bump up the time frame just a bit—like today.

If your company is going to compete in a web-based world, it must be broadly accessible and elegantly intuitive—Steve Jobs taught us that. The technological landscape has changed immeasurably since I started my first business over 20 years ago. In that time, I've learned that change can be very profitable for innovators and early-adopters, or very costly if you're the last to show up to the party. For those who aren't ready for Web 3.0, get your dancing shoes on—the party is already in full swing, and you're late.

Mr. Nash is the president of Altius Management in Nashville, Tenn.