Strategically Speaking

During the early fall of 2023, as sales continued to grow and bigger opportunities started to present themselves the executive team reviewed Ion Concert Media's strategic plan and adopted a few changes. This article contains a summary of those changes.

The main company objectives were not altered. Ion Concert Media is committed to a top-line objective to develop and deploy innovative and artistic tools for live performers. We have set a goal to replace click tracks as the industry standard sync solution. Our Muséik software and the accompanying Ion Content Library remain the flagship products in this pursuit. However, recent developments have led us to reconsider some of our strategies to achieve this goal.

CONTENT PRODUCTION

This strategic bullet point is really more of a clarification than a new concept. We realized long ago that controlling compelling content is critical for our success. To that end we have always budgeted some time and resources for in-house content production to develop titles wholly owned by the company. 

But historically we have stopped short of treating the company like a video production studio and we have avoided bigger projects that might distract customers and investors alike from the Muséik software, which has always been seen as the core of our value proposition.

Our new strategic guidelines embrace the value and transformational power high end content production can achieve for the company. We are still not a video production studio in the traditional sense. Rather, like Netflix™, we are a platform that recognizes the value of controlling valuable content.

LOW-TECH AND NON-MUSÉIK PRODUCTS

Along with clarifying our views on the role of content production in our strategic plan we have also adopted a more global view in what our product lines should include. Until recently all our product development efforts were focussed first on making sure there was a need for the Muséik platform. Going forward we will let go a bit. Not everything we sell needs to have a technology component, and Muséik is not the only technology we will embrace. 

This shift is driven by two realizations. First, Muséik has already proven itself. Our market exposure may still be small, but the customers we do have recognize the transformational power of our platform. We no longer need to 'protect it' by forcing all our products to use it. Second, we recognize that there are compelling and valuable assets out there that simply do not benefit from adding Muséik. 

To be clear, this is not the same as saying we have lowered our standards. We will continue to deploy the very best solutions in all that we offer. It is simply an acknowledgement that Muséik is not the best solution in every case. 

In real terms what this shift in strategy means is that you will start seeing more products like live event scenting, equipment and simple set rentals, and digital products that require no syncing or other syncing technologies.

MAIN OBJECTIVE: OPENING NEW MARKET SEGMENTS

We believe the shifts described above will position the company to be better prepared for the deployment of our technology across multiple market segments. From the very beginning Ion Concert Media has sought to establish Muséik as the preferred sync solution across multiple market segments: education, worship, theater and commercial music. To date our efforts to gain traction beyond the education sector have been disappointing. Our adjusted strategy does not abandon this multi-sector objective, but rather shifts our thinking about how entry into new market segments might occur.

Behavioral change has been one of the most significant and persistent barriers to entry from the very beginning.  Rather than always leading every sale with our proprietary technology, even if that means losing a sale,  we now will take a more global view of what our customers need and how we can provide value and service to them. We believe that this new approach will make Ion Concert Media more approachable to customers that have shown reluctance to learn about Muséik in the past. Earning the trust of these customers - in any way we can - will inevitably lead to opportunities to introduce Muséik in a non-threatening, natural progression. Call it the back-door approach if you like, we are viewing it as providing an excellent customer experience that focusses on offering the best tools for any job. 

SO WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN, REALLY?

It means that Ion Concert Media will keep its dedication to developing superior tools for live event producers, but along the way it will also:

• redouble its efforts to create stunning high value content, thereby increasing the value of the Ion Content Library and establishing a reputation for high production standards and the highest artistry.

• provide a wide range of products and services to our customers aimed at helping them produce compelling and immersive live event productions.

• increase its customer base in both numbers and types of customers, earning brand trust and building working relationships with a diverse clientele.

• continually seek opportunities to introduce our proprietary platform, not as a rigid "our way or the highway" sales pitch, but as one option in an array of tools and solutions offered.