Economic trends
1.Increasing market for US soccer fans, but lack of merchandise.
With a successful world cup 2014, soccer in the United States has gathered a lot of attention. Since then my generation is slowly but surely accepting soccer as a major sport (like how it is considered across the world), and the upcoming Copa America Tournament (which is the biggest soccer tournament the US have hosted since the 94 world cup) is only helping the cause. However with all this increased interest it seems there isn’t enough merchandise provided to meet the fan’s demand, apart from overpriced jerseys. The prototypical customers are all the new US soccer fans, and this opportunity should be easily exploited seeing how fast this demographic is growing. I saw this opportunity because I have been a fan of the USMNT for a while now and seen within the past couple years that people are gravitating toward the sport. In my experience searching for US soccer merchandise, everything has been very limited/overpriced.
2.Electric cars finally have the technology to be effective/profitable. (Tesla is making a huge impact in the market already making over 400,000 pre orders of their newest model). It seems that one issue with these newly popular electric cars are that they won’t last as many miles as the gas fueled ones. A potential solution to this is to create a portable emergency external battery to charge your car in situations where you can’t make it to an electric pump. I got this Idea from reading an article about tesla’s newest model car, and applying the concept from iphone portable chargers. The prototypical customer is anyone who owns an electric car. I believe this would prove useful, however might be difficult to market/advertise to the intended buyer because the majority of people still drive gas powered cars.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/31/11335272/tesla-model-3-announced-price-release-date-specs-preorder
Regulatory changes
1.Trump says that he’s going to build a wall between us and mexico if he wins, which might happen considering he is THE republican nominee. Creating a wall of that magnitude would be very costly and require a lot of time/resources. The opportunity that lies in this is for the design of the wall to attract tourist attention. Instead of building an ugly prison wall we might as well do what china did and build a world wonder. We can call it “The Great Wall of America” and make it accessible to hike as people do in china. This would create a way to create revenue from the wall rather than just accumulate debt. I got this idea because this election has caused me to hear way too much of Trump talking about this wall idea.
2.copyright music
In recent years there have been a lot lawsuits regarding copyright music. Usually artists find similarities in new songs to their own and try to get a piece of the pie. It can be difficult to determine whether or not songs are actually ripped off or just coincidentally slightly similar. Considering most pop songs are very similar already see link…
It may turn out that what you believe is your own invention of a song could share uncanny melodic similarities to other well known pop songs. Examples are of some famous/recent lawsuits are
blurred lines - robin thick was sued because it "copied" gotta give it up - marvin gaye
Stevie wonder (as a bystander) said himself that he believed they were separate songs, however robin thicke ended up having to pay 7.4 million to the family of marvin gaye.
Won’t back down tom petty sued stay with me sam smith. This one I agree is very suspicious that the melody lines up almost exactly, however it is still possible that sam smith had the tune in the back of his mind and did not consciously mimic tom petty. I know that some artists (ex. Bon Hiver) don’t listen to any other music than their own when writing an album, in order to ensure that their creativity is maximized, and that there are no other influences than their own.
To solve this problem I would propose to create a software, similar to the plagiarism detection in academic websites like canvas or turnitin.com, that reads a song and determines a percentage of plagiarism (how similar it is to other songs in the database). This software would gather information about the song key, rhythm/beat, melody, tempo, and other aspects of a song that make it unique and determine whether it could be a liability to release that particular song. The prototypical customer would be Studio’s, or independent artists that would use just to make sure that by chance it isn't too similar to another creation. I thought of this opportunity because I am a songwriter/musician myself and am aware of how similar many pop songs can be.
Beau,
ReplyDeleteThat is really insightful information and a spectacular idea regarding the music software. It would make a lot of sense for people to use it to avoid the legal hassles. I never heard of plagiarism software until I went back to college and it obviously serves its purpose well. The same could be applied to music. Excellent find and if you're into music you should try to develop it and maybe use it as your venture concept.
Hey Beau! I think creating the software would definitely be a good idea because it will create less problems among the music industry. Plagiarasim in the music industry has become a huge problem and I believe it is the same thing as any other type of plagiarism.
ReplyDeleteHey Beau, the music software that you explained is a great concept that I believe could be used by anybody that's trying to go big. The last thing you need when you're making a name for yourself is to have a lawsuit fall on you. The portable battery for Tesla was a good concept too. I can't remember if it was Tesla but I did hear somewhere that if those cars run out of juice completely, there's a huge price to bring back up. The portable would have a great purpose for long trips and potentially be part of the deal when you buy the car. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteHey Beau,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think all the economic trends you saw are very interesting and very viable. I too have noticed the increased interest in America soccer but have not thought of the lack of merchandise. The fan merchandise industry is huge and this is surely an untapped market. Also, the idea about a portable battery for electric cars is a HUGE game changer! The biggest fear of most electric car owners I know is that there battery will die on a long trip. This product would eliminate that fear. Also, the music software similar to turnitin is a great idea!
Beau,
ReplyDeleteIt seems like your previous experience has led you to choosing these specific opportunities, and they are each interesting in itself. I completely agree with your Tesla opportunity because I think America as a society is leading towards a more environmentally friendly society for the future, and Tesla as a product for the car industry is definitely benefiting from this change.
Beau,
ReplyDeleteI am a massive National Team and Arsenal supporter. I have a fairly easy time finding merchandise for both. Maybe your issue is MLS merchandise, as that very well could be a problem. I cannot wait to own plenty to Musk's technology, including both a car and an in-home battery that has been made available recently. A lot of people talk about helping to make a different and Elon Musk actually has. He's an inspiration.