Oct 27.2009 - Civitavecchia, Italy

DKP : Today marks the end of the 12 day European Cruise, the last of 3 for the Dream since it's Inaugural September 21st. The days have passed at what feels like lightning speed, even our Room Steward remarks that my constant comings and goings down our hallway appear to him as if I have had NO vacation. I keep telling him that this is not really a "vacation" for us, but it's very hard for non-internet based entrepeneurs to understand.

Our laptops and our internet connection and the very quite corners around the ship ARE our office. Even back in the states, we do more business by iPhone then some can imagine, we even sample our radio stations as we drive around town through the FlyCast app and by plugging the iPhone into the car's MP3 adapter. Folks we meet along the way are eternally fascinated by this lifestyle and business-style choice... but mostly, they just don't understand how it works.

So as I sit up on deck waiting for my parents and their friends to embark the vessel, I will take this time to tel you how it works. Our business is built on the philosophy of STRUCTURED MOBILITY. If you're going to pioneer a business, why not make it mobile... right? Since when does sitting tucked away in an office help spread the excitement about the very thing you are pioneering and inventing?? So, Sandy and I and the staff met in one fine location after another (Jazz Cruises, Mexico, Bahamas) until we came up with a model where travel could be a key part.

We literally looked into the vacuum of what was becoming of the FM Radio model and we built a soul-filled anti radio model that would offer respite for those who LOVE new music, creative programming and sophicitacted and fun web site layouts. We built an online Piazza for the passionate Smooth Jazz fans, the elevated Chill Out after hours crowd and the independently minded GoGirls of the world. We designed these unique online gathering spots to respect the music as well as the listener and site visitor, something, we as consumers, felt was sorely lacking from the "music industry."

We designed a clever and comprehensive marketing platform for the labels as well as the independents to allow the world of new fans to experience their talent and to easily purchase it in it's various forms. We set up systems to allow for automation of busy work that frees up time for us to be creative and to continue to invent even more efficient platforms and helpful content for the fans of integral music.

Needless to say, we all know that we no longer exist in a vacuum of the old paradigm in music, or the US Music scene... we exist as a global community - hence the global piazza concept - where like-minded people gather to lighten each other's realities. Traveling and being out amongst these people brings us invaluable information about how other cultures communicate, how they experience and use music in their lives, how and why they spend their money on music.

I guess you could say, instead of paying huge amounts of money to "consultants" to advise from within the vacuum of the old paradigm, we are doing the research by going direct to the people... we are watching, listening and loving what we see and making direct changes to our business as necessary as opposed to sitting people in a stark conference room and asking them to listen to bits of old beatles tunes to calculate what "tests well" which results in bad ratings, flipping formats and ultimately sucks the life out of music, especially as a creative business model in my opinion.

So here's to Research & Development the old fashion way!