April 26, 2011
Can you imagine the day when CDs and DVDs will no longer exist?
When there will be no such thing as owning a physical music or film
library, and all forms of electronic entertainment will simply
reside somewhere in the cyber clouds?
Bob Frank has not only imagined it, he’s already making it
happen.
Frank
is Co-Founder and President of Qello, a multi-platform digital
broadcast syndication company that delivers high quality, streaming
concert film and entertainment content across a variety of
platforms. “We’re in the concert film and documentary business for
the time being,” he said, “and we acquire the rights to broadcast
them across various lanes of distribution beyond your cable box,
such as the Web, mobile phones, gaming consoles and the new
internet television. The Qello process is simple. Find it. Stream
it.”
As an executive in the music and entertainment industry for many
years, he began to realize that the influx of technology was
rapidly changing the ways in which consumers were choosing to
access these products. Wanting to get out in front of the new
developments, Frank got together with some partners to form a
company that they hope will let them ride the wave of technological
innovation well into the future.
“Over the past five years I watched the physical sales of
entertainment products continue to decrease, despite the industry’s
attempts to fight it,” he said. “Technology was at the heart of
these changes, and it was like a snowball rolling down a hill,
gathering more and more momentum. It became apparent that this
situation might be an opportunity for me to get involved with a
venture where I was going to be a big part of the future. I
connected with a few partners, raised private equity, licensed as
much product as we could, built a good technology platform and took
everything to market.”
Frank and his partners launched Qello a little over a year ago,
and are excited about the success of their new initiative. One of
their products, a documentary entitled “When You’re Strange” about
the legendary group The Doors, was named “Best Long Form Music
Video” at the 2011 Grammy Awards. He is also pleased with the way
that the consuming public has begun to incorporate the company’s
offerings into their buying patterns.
“We had the number 13 app at the iTunes store a few weeks ago,”
he noted proudly. “It’s an application you can acquire on your
mobile devices and then view just like you’re watching a movie on
your phone. For the younger consumer, that’s the way they access
entertainment, which means that besides being a part of the
present, we’re poised to become part of the future as well. For me,
seeing the wave start to move before it became reality was really
cool.”
As a successful executive and entrepreneur, Frank is eager to
describe where he believes that wave will be carrying the
entertainment industry, and those of us who enjoy its products, in
a few short years. He believes that just as vinyl record albums and
movies on film are rapidly phasing out of existence, consumers will
soon be able to store their music and movies in what he describes
as a “personal locker”, which will not exist physically but will be
a part of the “digital cloud”. He predicts that everyone will be
able to stream their selections in high quality onto whatever they
want at a time and place of their own choosing.
“If you want to watch a movie on your mobile device, you’ll
acquire it on that mobile device but be able to watch it on
multiple devices, such as your HDTV, your computer or your tablet.
You’ll have a password that gives you access across multiple
devices. You can watch the first 20 minutes of a movie on your
phone, then go home and start watching it at minute 21 on your TV.
And I guarantee that there will be other devices that we haven’t
even thought of yet.”
Although he graduated nearly 24 years ago, this loyal alumnus
has maintained his connection to the University in a variety of
ways. He regularly accepts St. John’s students as interns and
always gives resumes from St. John’s graduates seeking employment a
second look. He credits the University with encouraging his own
strong work ethic, and acknowledges that he has seen this
characteristic in most of the other alumni with whom he’s come into
contact.
“When I went to St. John’s it was a commuter school, and many of
us had to work after class,” he recalled. “It’s not just a commuter
school anymore, but many students still come from working class
families and need to work to help pay their tuition. St. John’s has
always taught the value of hard work, and that’s as true today as
it was when I was a student. I’ve found that St. John’s graduates
carry that work ethic over into their careers. I’m proud to say
that I’ve never met a slacker from St. John’s.”
Looking further unto the future, Frank doesn’t see the demise of
conventional movie theatres, even in the face of the onslaught of
new entertainment technologies. “I can’t see the big screen going
away,” he remarked, “because people will still pay for the
experience of going out for the evening, and movies will always be
a part of that. Going out to see a movie is a social experience,
and I don’t think that’s something technology will ever replace.
And that’s a good thing!”