Book announcement

People have access to vastly more music, video and other entertainment than ten years ago. In the case of music, record companies are releasing twice as many new albums per year. Not only that, but some are 'rescuing' old and deleted tracks for release in the digital marketplace.

So how do people find out about all this material? How do they judge what they might like? I'm writing a book that addresses these questions. The title is Net, Blogs and Rock'n'Roll: Who knows what's next in media and music in the new era of digital discovery and the download culture (the lengthy subtitle may change). It will be published in 2007 by Nicholas Brealey Publishing, UK publishers of John Battelle's The Search and many other titles on digital enterprise and learning.

Here's a chapter outline, which comes with all the usual disclaimers about being subject to change. [Update, August 2006: more or less inevitably, the disclaimers have come into effect. While the areas covered by the book continue to be broadly as shown below, the structure has changed. I have a new chapter outline, but I'm not going to tempt fate by publishing it until much later. Update, July 2007: the chapter outline below is now an updated version]

	Preface — Discovery
1	Use a Little TLC
	The three strands of digital discovery in action — Trying out, Links and Community — foraging as a metaphor for discovery behaviour
2	The vibe-raters
	Understanding the audience: the spectrum from obsessive to casual fans — how discovery habits and patterns differ between them — the dynamics of pioneers and followers
3	Fans as creators
	The new opinion leaders: meet the bloggers — hobbyists who create resources for digital discovery — the communities that grow around them
4	Wise and foolish crowds
	Following the leader and following the herd — using others' tastes as a guide for your own — how the hit parade is changing as a measure of what we like
5	Who knows?
	Professional media vs. amateur bloggers — competing and co-operating to guide discovery — reaching down the 'Long Tail'
6	Cracking the code of content
	Automatic matching of songs and films to your tastes — how changing listening and viewing habits affect what we like and want
7	The new seekers
	Picking up discovery clues — information pull and push — how new breeds of tools for searching, browsing and monitoring help us make discoveries
8	Buzz building
	Getting the word out — viral and word-of-mouth carriers for your message — the ethics of blog marketing — innovative licensing to help spread recommendations
9	Accelerating digital discovery
	The Net, Blogs and Rock'n'Roll recipe — what is Web 2.0 and how can it boost digital discovery methods? — how the power of the Net is extending to events and social spaces
10	Future consumers: Sharing experiences
	Future audiences — the home multimedia hobbyist — the teenage fan — festival networking — fan clubs as the ultimate archivists
11	Future media: Designing for discovery
	Future industries — reinventing listings services — documentary production and tagging — cultivating discovery in social networks — charting the celestial jukebox
12	Future culture: Who knows who's next
	Where is our culture heading in the era of digital discovery? — nail it all down vs. stir it up — who's in charge and what they can do

If you know of any instances of discovery of music or other media, or if you're professionally involved in any discovery service and willing to be interviewed, please get in touch.