Billboard MECCA: Upstarts and Established Players

I want to share a few quick thoughts about my day at the Billboard MECCA portion of the CTIA Wireless conference and then come back later in the week with coverage from others as well as a more in-depth look at certain points.

What I was most struck by was the difference in the way the upstarts spoke, such as Peter Adderton of Amp'd Mobile and David Bluhm of GoTV Networks, and the way various bigwigs from more established media and mobile communication companies spoke.  The bigwigs often made good points but they were just so boring to listen to while the upstarts had the passion one would expect of folks seemingly coming out of left field to take on giant corporate enterprises.  Beyond the passion, the upstarts also seemed to give out more information about what they were doing.

That said, while I had a great chat with David Bluhm about what he's up to, Peter Adderton was totally uninterested in any kind of exchange and avoided it until I forced his attention my way.  You know, he may have always been like that with people he couldn't identify as useful to his agenda but it is a reminder that as folks move up they often take on the mannerisms of the people they initially set themselves up against.  Of course, Adderton is a very busy man but the lack of exchange or even a few seconds of pretend interest from someone who talked about starting out as "two guys in a garage" makes me think of how an upstart like Google ends up looking more and more like an unfeeling behemoth like Microsoft, Web 2.0 notwithstanding.

That's also why I try to get back to people who email me with questions about how to contact this or that hard to reach individual or how to break into the music biz, if only to tell them that I don't know these guys and I don't know how to do much of anything besides write a blog!  And it's why I'm sorry that I don't always get back to folks.  Even though I'm mostly a nobody, it's crazy how many people want my attention now.

Speaking of upstarts and established companies, I finally met Rafat Ali from PaidContent.org and found out that they are no longer working with Billboard PostPlay which is currently on hiatus (guess I hadn't been reading it lately).  Basically he said that it was a good experiment but the bottom line was that he didn't own it and I definitely feel that.  Blogging totally changes one's perspective as a writer and a business person.  While Rafat didn't say he's not open to future partnerships, I know I'm already much more willing to turn down interesting opportunities that I would have grabbed just a year ago.