Establishing Value: 101

Do you know this man with the bullhorn? His article in Wired magazine stopped me in my tracks. He is the songwriter and vocalist for the most popular song ever streamed on Spotify as well as a top download on Pandora. Take a listen to Wake Me Up and tell me if the "value" resonates with you. He received only a small percentage of the revenue totaling a little over $4000 because of antiquated music licensing rules that have been in place since before digital media even existed.

He raises several important points that for me, parallel struggles to identify and quantify value in healthcare. Did you know that a song like Imagine by John Lennon has the same value as Who Let The Dogs Out? No disrespect to the Baha Men but think about what we might value as a society and how that might resonate as we struggle to define value in healthcare. What measures do you feel are intrinsic to value?

Music execs and pharma seem to be at the same party...

Aloe Blacc eloquently articulates an argument for value and who the real stakeholders are.

I, for one, can no longer stand on the sidelines and watch as the vast majority of songwriters are left out in the cold, while streaming company executives build their fortunes in stock options and bonuses on the back of our hard work. Songwriting is truly a labor of love, one that often does not result in wealth. But I know the work we create has real value. And I believe policymakers will one day recognize that a system that allows digital streaming services to enjoy enormous profits while music creators struggle is imbalanced and broken.

Until that day comes, I will do my part to try to convince people that the music they love won’t exist without us, and that we, as songwriters, cannot continue to exist like this. And you can do your part to protect the music you love by buying albums and urging streaming services to uphold the value of songwriting. After all, if songwriters cannot afford to make music, who will?

Healthcare costs are bankrupting our society and becoming political fodder for governance and oversight issues that strip the consumer and taxpayer of their inalienable rights. Each and every day I hear about policies that assign healthcare providers more administrative tasks to complete just for compliance to evolving requirements for compensation--meaning that clinical decisions are being legislated far away from the medical offices and hospitals across the US. 

I think this is an important time to join the discussions--before the music is silenced and we all need bullhorns to communicate.

Are you including value measures in your medical content? Do you know where to start? Stay tuned right here as we get the conversation started...