MECCA roundtable: user-generated content

The first roundtable discussion was fully-loaded, with some intense disagreement between the panel members, which included: John Harrobin, VP of digital media and marketing at Verizon Wireless, Greg Ballard, CEO of Glu Mobile, Rio Caraeff, VP and GM of Universal Music, Michael Arrietta, SVP, digital distribution and mobile entertainment at Sony and Rob Tercek, the founder of Multimedia Networks. Sony’s Michael Arrietta made a quick reference to the company’s very recent acquisition of Grouper after indicating that user-generated content will be somewhat important to the mobile platform. Arriette said: “We are totally embracing the user-gen market absolutely. We just bought Grouper… [I gave user-generated content a 3 out of 5 for importance] because I see there will be a balance between professional and user generated content—I think some people will want to watch two guys lighting themselves on fire and jumping off a roof while others will want to watch Spiderman.”

-Brian [1]