When I got back from Philly last week, I called up Michael [Brooke] at Concrete Wave to say hey, see what's shakin', and to give him the lowdown on some of the stuff that I saw and experienced at The Worlds. While we were chatting it up on the phone, I marveled out loud at how much headway the small companies of the world seem to be making against the Big Boyz of The Industry.
"I can see a really great future ahead for a small brand like Unity, for example, to break out and really make a dent in the market. On the other hand, I kinda fear for the Per Welinders [of Blitz Distribution] of the world. I seriously think that those guys are done, man..."
Michael sounded surprised. "How do you figure that?! Unity can't be selling that many boards...!"
I agreed that Unity, by themselves, might not be selling in a whole year anywhere near what Blitz probably sells in a single day. Maybe even, in a single hour. Either way, it's probably a drop in the bucket to an industry kingpin like Per Welinder.
"But, you're looking at the small picture here Mike", I said. "It's not 'Unity' against 'Blitz', per se. But what it is, is fifty thousand small companies, against The Big Five..." Or big six, or big seven, or whatever you wanna call it these days.
Mike immediately sensed where I was going. "It's a death by a thousand cuts..."
"Exactly! Say Unity sells like, twenty boards a month or something...". Which I immediately told Mike was probably, a highly conservative number. I mean, the dudes just added a whole bunch of legendary street pros to their team (Tyrone Olson, Frankie Hill, Ron Allen). They're probably selling quite a bit more than twenty boards a month! But, just for argument's sake, I went with the tiny little number.
"So, Unity sells twenty boards a month, then. Do you believe that, Mike? Is that a good number for you...?"
"Sure! I suppose."
"Okay, then. Now, multiply that twenty-boards-a-month by a thousand small companies"... which again, is probably a senselessly conservative little number right now... "and all of a sudden, you've just accounted for about 20,000 decks each and every month, heading into the marketplace..."
I added: "Those are decks that are not being made by the Big Whatevers. And also... maybe more significantly... those boards aren't being bought at core retailers...! Or even at a Zumiez, or any other kind of 'retailer', for that matter. As so many of these companies sell direct-to-consumer...!"
"That's a pretty big shadow market", Mike concurred. Why yes, it certainly is...
Even while I was in Philly at The Worlds, I actually came across several new, small companies that I'd never even heard of. As I get out of the office more and more (which is something that I've been encouraging the IASC dudes to do for quite a few years now)... all I see out there is more and more energy... and more and more small companies both creating that energy, as well as benefiting from it. Which strikes a pretty good balance, really. One example of a "small company" that I saw in Philly was this one called "Activist". Their boards utilize tons of color fades and true-blue screenprinting to get those visual effects going on. And they were hella cool cats, too. I hope to hear from them sooner than later.
But, y'know what's even more significant? The price! Just before I left for Philly, I wrote that "Changing Face Of The Industry" piece where I "assumed" that the low-barrel price of a branded deck might settle in at around $45. Which would be roughly comparable to a shop deck, for the most part. Well, check out that flyer. Thirty fuckin' bucks...! That's pretty much, dirt cheap. Looks like my week-old "assumption" might not have been quite as accurate as I would've hoped, huh...?
If I'd had thirty bones on me at The Worlds, I surely woulda dropped it on that big blue Grosso-esque shape. Indeed, if they ever bother to get a hold of me? I might still do just that...
Another "brand" that I met in Philly was Mike Rogers from Grind For Life. If you don't know (I didn't), Mike is a Florida skating legend that was diagnosed some time back with cancer. From the looks of things, it might have been "eye cancer", since he's never seen without a sizable eye patch covering his right socket.
I didn't really wanna ask too many tough and personal questions of Mike... but, what I was asking all about were these super-sharp, super-colorful, and super-quality decks that they had for sale at the Grind For Life booth...! The price?! A measly forty bucks! ($45, if you order it online and have it shipped straight to your door). Now, here's a board that is fully silkscreened, made at PS Stix (some of the best wood on the planet)... and, every penny of the proceeds goes to an awesome cause. This, is a board that I'm gonna feel really good about buying (because, we all know that I'm gonna get one asap!).
But, where's the typical "skate brand" and "skate shop" in this equation...?! Nowhere to be found, man...
The question becomes: What is IASC gonna do about all of this? For my part, I could see something like an "Under The Radar: Why You Should Only Support Shitty Mega-Brands" report coming out of some committee, somewhere. IASC seems to misguidedly think that they can exert some sort of "control" over the market, and bend it to their will and whims. The problem is, it's a policy failure to even contemplate such a strategy. It's failed before (everyone remembers "Under Fire: Why Blanks Suck Ass", right...?). And, it's doomed to fail perpetually. IASC lives in the shadow of the marketplace, not the other way around. IASC has very little control over anything at all. Hell, IASC can't even control IASC half the fucking time. Let alone, anything else.
At first glance, this seems to be a situation wholly without precedent. And this may be true, insofar as skateboarding is concerned. Maybe. Of course, whole books have been written (and, movies made) about the ass-raping that World Industries gave to the Big Five in the late eighties/early nineties. Clearly, precedents exist for just this sort of paradigm shift. It's not entirely implausible to believe that exactly such a revolution could materialize all over again.
But, I'd like to pick on an entirely unrelated industry for just a second. My pick? The Music Industry! You see, in the olden days (before the internet), the way that we were exposed to new music... and, the way we bought music... was vastly more retarded than it is today. In those days, a band made an album that the record label thought was credible and marketable enough for release. The records got made, the record label promo-ed the hell out of it, the label machine paid off the right dj's to get the favorable airplay that they desired, and the band went on a lifelong tour to support it. There was also a shit-ton of press coverage, hype, and hoopla... all of which was aimed at getting the kids in the door of the record store, and ponying up their hard-earned allowance for the flavor-of-the-moment. The artists succeeded (sometimes), the record stores thrived (generally), and the record labels made millions (always). However, we also got stuck with bazillion-records-selling "artists" like Peter Fucking Frampton, and swede-disco-sensations ABBA. Why, or how, we had to suffer these audible travesties is way, way beyond me. But in any rate, I largely blame the big, evil record labels for all of it. If for no other reason that they're the most convenient target.
With the internet, however, all of this has been turned on it's head. The RIAA for a time was to pull their hair out to stop the "illegal downloading menace". The solution? Invent "legal downloading", and move forward unfettered. The internet won that battle, and won it quite handily I might add. So, how do we go about buying music these days...? Oh, I don't know. Maybe, look online for some upcoming shows. Stop in at MySpace to listen to some songs. Find a couple bands you like, go to the show. Have a blast. Meet the band! That's always a bonus. And then, go ahead and buy the album at the merch table...? I don't know how you're doing it these days, but that's generally how my life rolls.
So: Who won in this epic battle between the RIAA, and the internet?! We did! The music lovers of the world absolutelywon out. Because far better music is happening out there, and it's more widely accessible than ever. And I'd have to say that the artists won out, as well. Because they're free to make the music they wanna make (instead of having to make what the labels want them to make), and their pay is at least a little bit more in line with their actual market value.
The losers, of course, are the RIAA labels (Sony, Warner Bros, Artista, et cetera... essentially, the IASC of the music industry)... and, the retailers. And, it's not just the mom-and-pop retailer that's suffered, either! Oh, no! Even global giants like Wal-Mart have severely cut back the foot-space that they dedicate to music sales. Because only total dinosaurs actually go to a store, and buy music these days...! Who in the hell are you kidding, and which decade are you stuck in...?!
Nope: In today's music industry, it's all about the music lover, and the music maker. I can easily, easily see the same exact paradigm shift happening in skateboarding.
Here's another one! "Gauge The Situation". Again, another small company that was displaying at the little trade-show area at The Worlds in Philly. Just like the music industry, I think that the future of the skate industry is going to be all about the product, the people behind it, and the skaters that support those people. Relate-ability is going to count for a lot, and companies are going to have much more engaging messages than just "We're an enormous company! Buy our shit, because everyone else seems to be buying it!" These little micro-companies (just like micro-labels... or even micro-brews, if we want to talk "beer" instead of "music"...) are going to continue bringing more and more new ideas and new vibes to the table, and the skaters are probably gonna love being the focus of their energies.
Sure: The Heavies will still do well for a time. They'll do well in a market that isn't completely clued in yet to the vast possibilities out there. But as that market gets more saavy, and more demanding of the brands... they'll start bailing from the Big Guys. That's already well underway.
So: How are IASC's major heavies gonna compete in this new paradigm? The blunt truth of the matter is, I don't think that they can. Small is beautiful, and big is ugly.
End of story.
