The Experience Economy

There are three main basics in economies of the past, let’s say 70 years ago (these are estimates scrawled on the back of an envelope paraphrased from The Experience Economy).

1. Commodity (3%)
2. Goods (17%)
3. Services (80%)

Now there is a fourth.

4. Experience

Here’s how it plays out with Starbucks (again estimated on the back of an envelope).

1. Commodity – bean (pennies)
2. Goods – coffee ($.05 – $.20)
3. Services – paying employees ($.50 – $1.00)
4. Experience – sitting and reading, listening to music, comfy chair ($2.00 – $5.00)

Something to ponder the next time you sit down to the Venti double non-fat-soy-latte. Also are people buying art because they want to talk to the artist? This is what Damien Hirst is banking on.

Check out the book Experience Economy, or wikipedia

National Geographic Recycling Game is Green and Hyphy

I found this today, and was really impressed with National Geographic’s commitment to changing youth attitudes about the importance of recycling.

In my experience, having fun with recycling and sustainability issues, is key to making the message stick that if we all make small lifestyle changes, a great good will come from it.
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/NGKids/Game/GameFiles/RecycleRoundUp/ngk_recycle_game.swf?rand=79030.14726957024″ height=”430″ width=”500″ /]

I am working on a new song that will act at a theme for my new website greenandhyphy.com where Bay Area slang, world politics, and hyphy beats are combined for a positive message about recycling and sustainability and some critique of current lifestyles and consumer trends. Here are a couple of lines…

Living green is thug, that’s why I choose it,
They throw it out, I rinse and re-use it.

Play this in the club, let me see your hands
While I’m struttin’ in my Vans
I won’t leave a carbon footprint da da da da da
da da da da da

I’m thrilled to keep affecting change by having fun, being excited about new green tech and clean tech, *getting hyphy*, and giving examples of easy things to do such as switching to compact fluorescent bulbs, doing anything to reduce carbon emissions like skating, biking, walking taking MUNI through The City. In my job I work with a lot of youth, and I have to say it’s been really exciting watching the kids make positive choices and tell their friends about how they can do the same. 😀

Hirst hopes to revolutionise art market with ‘Golden Calf’

Hirst hopes to revolutionise art market with ‘Golden Calf’ – News, Art & Architecture – The Independent

a collection of previously unseen work by Damien Hirst that will be auctioned off this summer in a move that could revolutionise the sale of contemporary art.

A living artist has never before put a collection of brand new work straight on to the open market. Such pieces are usually sold through galleries and art dealers, usually to buyers who are known to them.

This method gives more control to the artist and opens up the sale to a much wider group of prospective buyers. Yesterday, art experts were predicting that the auction – the highlight of which is the gold calf, Hirst’s largest ever formaldehyde work – could mark a turning point in the way artists sell their work. Indeed, Hirst himself hinted that “the world’s changing – ultimately I need to see where this road leads”, adding that such an auction “[felt] like a natural evolution for contemporary art”.

GAAA! 12 million pounds to a single artist…how does Hirst get that market up so high? A true artrockstar, oh how I want to play these games…How about the goal of making the worlds most expensive piece of art…100 million dollars for the platinum skull covered in diamonds? Is it the fact that it’s produced by Hirst, the fact that it’s got material (diamonds and platinum) worth, or branding and marketing, a status symbol to own the most expensive and luxurious object…or is it as Tom Marioni has defined the artist as an individual “getting away with something”?