Re: Products, Services, and Looping Gear "Packages"

[Joshua Carroll <josh@infinivert.com>]

That would be a great idea!  You could list your items on ebay with a 
description that says something like "Better than the Boss RC-50!," and 
include some video clips of you looping with a laptop system.  Then, if 
you could put together a quick-start manual that describes how to use 
the system as a whole and included some basic e-mail support, you could 
make a killing!  If I had the cash, I'd be all over it.

I wonder, though, if there's enough of a market looking for pre-fab 
packages that would cost upward of $1000 to make it worth your time?  
And what about beginners who already own laptops?  When I started 
looking around a loopers for the first time (not long ago), I was 
looking at the RC-50, but wasn't convinced.  I figured I already owned a 
laptop, so that was the way to go.  If I didn't own a laptop already, 
the price alone would have been enough to steer me back to the Boss unit 
or a Boomerang or something similar.

Perhaps some low-level consulting would be a nice addition to this 
business model so you could hear the customer's vision and current gear 
and say "no, I don't think your laptop's up to par as-is, but I could 
sell you more RAM, a firewire audio card, and your choice of MIDI 
controllers and you'd be able to do exactly what you're describing."  
You could then put together a custom package for the individual customer.

Just a thought...

--Josh



Krispen Hartung wrote:
> I got to thinking wiht my day job hat on, and these days when it is 
> becoming harder and harder to make money off of technological 
> products, because of competition, pricing preasures, consolidation, 
> and the overall commotization of consumer products, the long term 
> money is in services.
>
> How do services pertain to looping gear?  I may be giving away a great 
> marketing/business opportunity here, but it seems to me if someone had 
> the resources they could sell "laptop looping packages".  Part of the 
> problem with some folks getting into laptop looping is that it can be 
> painful buying a laptop that will do the job, buying all the gear to 
> connect to it and get started, upgrading, etc, etc. These things take 
> time for the looping consumer, and time is money. And there are risks 
> that come along with building your own laptop system, such as teh 
> overall system not working as expected because of hardware/software 
> compatibility, and so on. And this too equates to time or rework, 
> which again equates to money.
>
> So basically the "laptop looping package" would be a system that 
> someone experience and knowledgeable would construct and test, and 
> then sell as a ready to go looping system. You could sell different 
> types and grades of packages, For instance, a very basic setup might 
> include an entry level laptop, inexpensive cardbus soundcard, Mobius 
> installed, and a cheap MIDI controller like the MIDI Mouse, MIDI 
> Moose, or some other small controller. Then your totally kick ass 
> package might include a screaming Intel Duo machine, an external 
> firewire audio/midi interface, and a Behringer controller. Or better 
> yet, the deluxe pacakge would include a VST host and a ton of free VST 
> effects, all ready to work.
>
> The Service here, which you can't bottle up or put in a box, is the 
> expertise and knowledge of constructing a looping kit or ensemble that 
> works right out of the box.  So, if I were a new looper interested in 
> getting a laptop looping system, I would buy one of these package, 
> turn it on, and it would essentially work immediately, everthing down 
> to the Behringer buttons mapped to Mobius functions, buttons labeled, 
> etc. Then of course, I could customize it after that point.
>
> It wouldn't take much to get started on this idea. I don't have the 
> time to do it, but if I did I would assemble just 2-3 looping packages 
> and sell them...and then use the profit to buy more packages, etc.
>
> Incidentally, there are a lot of smart cookies making money hand over 
> fist using this re-packaging concept on eBay. Folk are actually buying 
> products on eBay, packaging them up based on a theme of some sort, and 
> selling them for a profit. Why would people buy something like this 
> when they could buy the individual items themselves? Well, this sort 
> of answers the question...the value is in the service or the 
> convienence of not having to do the research or spend the time to do 
> this.
>
> 
>**************************************************************************
> 
>
> Krispen Hartung / Improvisational Looping Guitar
> www.krispenhartung.com / www.myspace.com/krispenhartung
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